Student Story
Instead of trying to reverse-engineer a version of myself that colleges wanted to see, Steve helped me start from square one and build outward from who I actually am.
Where It Started
I grew up in a family with a serious track record. My oldest brother went to MIT, my second brother to Yale, and my sister to Harvard. All three of them were athletes, which was a real part of how they got in. I'm the only one who did not have a sport to lean on, so from the start I knew I would have to find my own way in.
That turned out to be harder than I expected because I'm interested in a lot of things: I love humanities and writing, East Asian studies, and singing. At a STEM magnet school, I knew I was holding onto a bunch of different passions without any sense of how they fit together.
My mom found Steve after listening to his podcasts. With 3 kids already at Ivy League Schools, she knew she did not want college prep to take over our relationship, and she wanted me to have an outside perspective. So she enrolled me in the Ivy League Challenge.
What Makes This Different
What sets Steve apart is where he starts. He is not trying to mold you into whatever he thinks colleges want. At its core, his goal is to help you become a genuinely good person who can use college as a stepping stone to do something meaningful, not just get in. The center of that is his work on core values, and I have never found anything like it anywhere else.
Naming What Matters
That work completely changed how I see myself. He helped us understand our core values, not just what we needed to say to get into college. Instead of trying to reverse-engineer a version of myself that college admissions officers wanted to see, he helped me start from square one and build outward. Through that exercise, I ended up with seven core values, and naming them helped me understand why I care about the things I care about, and how they all connect. Now I can name my core values off the top of my head.
- Faith
- Truth
- Compassion
- Courage
- Dialogue
- Excellence
- Curiosity
Memorable, Not Impressive
That is what finally gave me clarity: a clear sense of who I am, and how that runs through everything I have already done and everything I want to do next. Steve is great at explaining why you have to start there. Most students walk in believing they just need to be impressive, which is what he calls the impressiveness trap.
He helped us understand that the goal is not to be impressive, it is to be memorable, and that being yourself is what makes you memorable.
The best part is he doesn't just lecture about it. He walked us through real exercises, like visualizing our future, writing a bucket list, and answering core values questions in 90 seconds so you catch your honest first instinct.
What Steve Does Differently
Once you know who you are, the technical parts get so much easier. I love to write, and I have realized that essays, and even interviews, really come down to that same self-knowledge. I interview best when I can just say, off the cuff, who I am, with nothing rehearsed. Steve encourages us to keep track of insights or meaningful moments that could eventually turn into college essays, keeping a running list of things I could write about, just because ideas kept coming to me, and it became an incredibly useful resource when it was time to actually write my applications.
Why I'd Recommend It
I will be honest: I am skeptical of most college counseling programs. Whenever I look at another one, it feels like they are skipping the part that matters, the real work of understanding who the student is. The Ivy League Challenge goes deeper. A lot of programs fall back on a formula, and the result does not sound like your voice or come from your heart. Steve individualizes the whole thing because he genuinely loves getting to know people.
I would recommend it over any other program, and honestly, I do not think I would be where I am without it.
The Kind of Mentor Steve Is
More than anything, I want people to know what kind of person Steve is. His ability to inspire students is rare, and it comes from how much he actually cares. He has checked in on me long after the program ended, celebrated my wins, and kept opening doors for me. I leave every conversation with him feeling inspired. He shows you your potential, and then trusts you to go act on it. Not many people can do that.