Stand Out for College

Applying to college has become easier in many ways thanks to the College App, an undergraduate college admission application that allows students to apply to several schools at a time

But standing out among hundreds of thousands of students is perhaps the most challenging part of the always stressful process.

Ron Feuchs, founder of Stand Out for College, has devised a way that allows students to tell their story to admissions officers to increase their chances at getting into some of the country’s best colleges and universities.

It’s a strategy he first used many years ago as a young college graduate. At the time, Feuchs wanted to pursue a master’s degree at a prestigious school, but didn’t have the GRE test results to make the cut.

That didn’t stop Feuchs from applying to Columbia University’s MBA Program. Feuchs made it to Columbia using a strategy that focused on a community service project, which demonstrated his individuality and passion, and pitched his story to more than a dozen local newspapers in his native New Jersey. That caught the attention of the school’s admission counselors.

“I needed to prove to the colleges that I was applying to that I had done something special,” he said.

At the time, Feuchs, who opened a car polishing business to pay for college at Rutgers, polished 100 cars in 100 hours, donating the money he raised to the American Cancer Society.

“I sent in my application with the press clippings, which allowed the admissions officers to put a face to my name,” Feuchs said.

His community service record, more than his academic standing, got him accepted into the Ivy League school. Years later, Feuchs used the same strategy to help his three daughters get into Brown, UCLA and Syracuse.

Since establishing Stand Out for College last year, he’s been helping students throughout the tristate area get into their dream schools.

Feuchs said that while more students are applying to a greater number of colleges due to the ease of the application process, the number of spots at top schools remains relatively unchanged. More than 39,000 students apply to Harvard each year, 3,200 of them valedictorians, but only 2,000 freshmen are accepted each year, he said.

“The need to stand out and really put a face to a name is more important than ever,” Feuchs said.

While many students seek out his counseling service in their junior year of high school, Feuchs prefers to work with freshmen and sophomores in an effort to get to know them better and create a “richer story.”

Some of his recent success stories include a student who had a passion for fishing and turned it into a fundraiser for a local hospital, a swimmer who raised money for a well in Africa and a student tutor who raised money for a local nonprofit organization. All of them got into their chosen schools, he said.

Feuchs said his company takes a micro-targeted approach.

“We do exhaustive research to find the right people at the right schools,” said Feuchs, reiterating the importance of finding the decisionmakers in each college’s admissions department to help students craft their communication with schools to ensure success.

While Feuchs said a student’s GPA and test scores provide a glimpse of a student to admissions officers, community service projects provide for excellent college essay material.

“It shows that the student is unique as well as having commitment and passion, and also demonstrates what she or he will bring to a college campus,” he said.

Feuchs said it may take up to a year, to come up with a project that ignites a student’s passion and will bolster his or her college application.

“The whole reason this business started is because it made an enormous difference in my own life,” said Feuchs. “When we work with our clients, we see how they grow and gain confidence, and to us, that’s very, very gratifying.”

For more information on Stand Out for College, contact Feuchs at 914-977-3705 or by e-mailing ron@standoutforcollege.com.