The Bronx Scholars Opportunity Program (BSOP)
The BSOP award is for rising seniors who live in the NYC Metro Area and who will be first-generation college students.
Seeking BSOP Applicants for Summer 2021!
We are The Admissions Angle, an independent college consultant group located in the South Bronx, and we want to help in the mission of equity in higher education. We spend hours creating free college admissions content on our blog and social media platforms, as well as mentor students directly in their daunting college admissions journeys.
We are now accepting applications for our Bronx Scholars Opportunity Program (BSOP), which aims to help motivated high school students maximize their education potential, both in regards to admissions and merit-based financial aid, through one-on-one expert guidance.
Applicants must meet four basic criteria to be considered.
- Must be a rising senior with plans to graduate high school in the Spring/Summer of 2022.
- Scholars should be low-income, first-generation college applicants.
- Must live in one of NYC’s five burroughs.
- Willing to participate in our Pay-It-Forward program the following summer (Summer 2022)
Beyond that, all we ask for is big dreams and a great attitude!
Recipients of the BSOP Award will receive:
- A Customized College Roadmap (CCR) with a personalized Admissions Angle strategy and timeline of necessary steps
- 10 one-on-one Zoom meetings with access to project management software to keep mentors, students, and parents on the same page
- College list featuring dream, reach, and safety schools based on student’s achievements with counseling on suggested majors
- Resume check with customized resume template, suggestions for effective presentation of accomplishments, and edits for grammar and content
- Personal Statement Essay brainstorming, drafting, and editing for grammar and content
- Supplemental Essay coaching with complete list of necessary supplements with brainstorming for content
- Common Application Profile instructions and check
- College Application Lab Online Course access to get on-demand answers to college applications questions directly from Alex or Noelle.
Total services are valued at approximately $3,750 for each recipient.
The Pay-It-Forward Initiative
Recipients of the BSOP Award automatically commit to serving as a junior mentor for the summer immediately following their senior year as part of our pay-it-forward initiative. The length of service will amount to about a one-week virtual training session in addition to twenty hours of mentoring younger students.
The Pay-It-Forward initiative is part of our effort to scale impact in the NYC metro area. With The Admissions Angle’s proven strategies and a bit of help from the local community, we can help students reach and even surpass their college dreams for a better, brighter future.
Meet Our 2020 Scholars/2021 Mentors
Violet, UNC Chapel Hill
Violet will be attending the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in the Fall. She is a first-generation American and a first-generation college student, born and raised in Queens, NY. Throughout her high school career, she was heavily involved in many activities, such as Key Club, in which she was the first Black president, as well as a competitive step team and varsity lacrosse team. Last summer she interned at her local State Senator’s office where she was able to work on a legislative research project in regards to diversity and inclusion in NYC public schools. As of now, she wants to attend law school and hopefully, one day have a career in politics. She is passionate about studying poverty, immigration, mass incarceration, education, and so much more.
Matthew is a rising freshman at Cornell University and will be studying either Environmental Engineering or Computer Science. He’s been a Boy Scout for nearly 8 years now and enjoys going on long hikes and spending time outdoors. His time as a Boy Scout introduced him to sustainability and environmental science, and in the future, he wants to make a positive impact on our environment. He’s also pretty into sports and enjoys playing and watching them, especially the NBA. He also plays on his school’s Ultimate Frisbee team and plans to continue playing Ultimate throughout college!
Matthew, Cornell University
Apply today!
To apply for the BSOP Award, please fill out this form. Applications are accepted on a rolling basis. Recipients will be notified by phone or email.
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Please share this information with every motivated, hard working rising senior in the Bronx! You can download a flyer here for easy distribution.
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We want to help you get to know us!
Toggle through our FAQs below, visit The Admissions Angle Blog, and schedule a call with us to learn more.
An Admissions Angle is an admissions strategy, which is based on the student’s interests, talents, and achievements. Some people prefer to think of an Admissions Angle as a sort of “major” for high schoolers, but it’s much more than that. An Admissions Angle is about cultivating a unique college profile that allows a student to demonstrate why they are the perfect candidate for their dream school.
In America, the average public high school assigns 482 students to one counselor. The average student receives only 38 minutes of counseling in four years of attendance. Moreover, many master’s degree programs for high school counselors spend little to no time teaching college admissions strategies, rather focusing on social and emotional issues. Coupled with the fact that admissions strategies are evolving year to year, it is impossible for a high school counselor to have the same knowledge as a college consultant, whose only job is to understand admissions and support their students.
Mentorship begins by finding the sweet spot: where do the student’s talents and passions align, and how can this alignment be manipulated into something with admissions value? This sweet spot will develop into an Admissions Angle, or college application strategy.
The process of mentorship involves working with students one-on-one through weekly or biweekly Skype meetings. At these meetings, we advise on class selection, test planning, competitions and contests, extracurricular activities, leadership opportunities, independent research, and so much more. We also serve as an intermediary between the student and the parents, working to improve communication and find balance in each party’s goals.
Mentorship services are recommended for students in 9th-11th grades who need support building their extracurricular activities and organizing their admissions strategies. Application services are for students in the second semester of 11th grade and beginning of 12th grade and are focused on consolidating materials, crafting essays, making a college list, and submitting applications.
We work with students from 8th-12th grade, but we also offer transfer application services for current college students.
For students in grade 8, we recommend Best Foot Forward, a 6-month program to curate and understand the student’s interests and passions. We do so in the hopes of establishing an Admissions Angle as early as possible.
For students in grade 9-11, the Best Foot Forward program is a good place to start, but we also recommend either our Essential Mentorship or Prime Mentorship. These programs are more comprehensive and assume that the student has already established an Admissions Angle.
For students in grades 11 and 12, we generally wrap up the mentorship programs and encourage either our Essential Application or Prime Application service.
To learn more about the specific options we can offer your family, schedule your free initial consultation today.
While we are based in New York, we often travel to cities, states, and countries where our clients live and try to meet each family face to face once per year, as our schedules permit. However, 100% of our services are handled remotely via project management software, Skype meetings, shared files, and messaging.
The longer we work with a student, the better their admissions results turn out to be. By following our suggestions consistently throughout high school, students will apply to college with a complete admissions profile specifically catered to their dream schools.
That said, we recommend meeting with a consultant at any step of the high school process, particularly for self-motivated students who might need a boost in the right direction. Any amount of personal attention from a consultant will help.
Each consultant works with about ten to twenty students at a time based on seniority and experience. We limit our numbers to ensure that each student receives the attention he or she deserves.
We promise that we will never have two students in the same grade from the same school using the same Admissions Angle. To do so would severely undermine the integrity of our process.
While we believe everyone could benefit from a college consultant, we strongly recommend our services for the following students: Students applying to five or more schools, students applying to Top-30 colleges, students whose parents have not recently undergone the application process, students whose parents do not have the time to ensure quality control, and students who are extra headstrong.
For more information on the above criteria, check out our blog: Do I need a college consultant?
We are proud to offer a range of affordable services, drawing from our philosophy that every family should have access to a competitive college application opportunity.
Our prices are assessed on the individual needs of the family, which are determined during the free consultation process. When we present you with your Customized College Roadmap (CCR), we will recommend whether we think you would benefit from our services. If you would, we will present you with two or three different options of tiered prices for you to choose from.
A Customized College Roadmap (CCR) is an excellent tool that we offer during the initial consultation process, based on information from the student and the parent. Your CCR will include the following:
- Personalized Admissions Angle strategy
- Suggested extracurricular activities to support strategy
- Timeline for standardized tests
- Advice on course selection, summer programs, and internships
- Preliminary college list
Everything starts with the initial consultation process. Our process is financially free and obligation free. Moreover, you can count on a low-pressure approach.
The free consultation is three steps: 1) The consultant meets the parent one-on-one to discuss the student. 2) The consultant meets the student one-on-one to discuss interests and goals. 3) The consultant meets with the parent and student together to present the CCR. After the presentation of the CCR, we will recommend services and discuss next steps.