UPchieve Student Gets into 19 out of 21 Colleges Before Heading to Yale

BROOKLYN, N.Y. - July 14, 2022 - PRLog -- NEW YORK – New York City student Aaron Custodio recently got into 19 of the 21 colleges he applied to by using free, 24/7 college counseling service UPchieve. UPchieve is an edtech nonprofit that provides free tutoring and college counseling to low-income high school students.

A first-generation college student, Aaron will be heading to Yale in the fall, where he plans to major in political science. In addition to Yale, Aaron also got into Ivy League schools Brown and Columbia.

"I was really anxious about the college application process," Aaron said. "In the end, the help I got from UPchieve coaches helped me feel confident enough to apply to 21 colleges."

Aaron attended Bard High School in Queens, where he was captain of his school's wrestling team. In addition, he served as vice president of the Reclamation Project's Jamaica branch, and he founded LatinoRise Initiative, a student-led organization that seeks to educate Latino families on the American education system. Aaron is also interested in music, and both sings and plays the guitar.

He's considering becoming an immigration lawyer, and he hopes to one day be a policymaker in government so he can change the systemic immigration issues he sees impacting his local community.

Aly Murray struggled with college applications just like Aaron. Frustrated with the status quo and the lack of accessibility in the educational space, she founded UPchieve. Murray says, "I found that a lot of struggles I experienced on that path could have been resolved if I'd had the opportunity to get more support during the process. Building UPchieve  really is about building the platform I wish I'd had when I was younger."

Aaron found the help from UPchieve's college counselors indispensable, saying: "The coaches were super helpful and I didn't feel judged. I didn't feel like I was being a burden. The 24/7 support was huge for me because there were times I pulled all-nighters and there was always a coach ready to help."

Started in 2016 by recent college graduate Aly Murray, UPchieve aims to democratize access to academic support so that all students have an equal opportunity to finish high school, attend college, and achieve upward mobility. UPchieve's goal is to reach all low-income high school students in the US by 2030.

To learn more about Aaron and watch his interview, please visit https://upchieve.org/blog/how-a-high-school-student-got-into-19-colleges.

For more information on UPchieve, please visit Upchieve.org.