611: Admission Nutrients (Part 5 of 6: Service to Others / Community Impact): Important Ingredients for a Well-Balanced College Admission Process—And Life with Nathan Faust

The College Essay Guy - Episode 611 - Nathan Faust V2 
  
Mon, Jul 21, 2025 10:21AM   50:04 
SUMMARY KEYWORDS 
Service to others, community impact, college applications, Loyola Marymount University, Jesuit education, reflection and discernment, intellectual curiosity, consistent engagement, leadership and initiative, collaboration, personal statement, supplemental essays, educational opportunity, empathy, compassion. 
SPEAKERS 
Tom Campbell, Nathan Faust 
Tom Campbell 00:00 
T
Tom, hello there, friends, and welcome back to the college sa guy podcast. My name is Tom Campbell, college sa guys Community Manager, and I'm really excited to dive into today's topic, which is all about service to others and community impact, which is one of our illustrious at this point, if you've been following along with the podcast, our illustrious, legendary admission nutrients that create for not just a healthy college process, but also a well balanced and nutritious life. Now, doesn't that just sound scrumptious? So we've done a couple episodes now featuring different admissions officers from several different colleges and universities, giving a little bit more insight into how these nutrients actually show up in college applications and what students and families can do, and counselors as well, in terms of guiding students can do. And think about when really trying to guide students along a health a healthy High School process that will set them up for success in college, in other steps in their lives. And we feel really strongly at college sai and colleges do as well, from their mission statements, value statements, everything along those lines, that service to other people and impacting your your community in a meaningful way is going to really be one of those key nutrients to keep in mind. And on this episode, I'm joined by Nathan Faust, who is an admission counselor at Loyola Marymount University, right down the street actually, ish, from where I live in Los Angeles, who is going to talk a lot about from his perspective as an admission reader at LMU, where this nutrient ends up showing up for students. Specifically, we'll be moving through a few key points in the podcast, starting with why service to others and community impact is an important nutrient to cultivate, not just for college, but for life. Nathan's going to spend some time talking about some broader PSAs about the college process from his point of view. Then we'll talk about a little bit about tips on translating and communicating your service and community impact initiatives to admission officers. And we'll also share some examples of how this nutrient might overlap with the other nutrients that are also important in your college application, things like intellectual curiosity, consistent engagement, collaboration and leadership andor initiative. We'll round things off with a series of but what ifs from students, families and counselors who are maybe worried about particularities that may have come up with any 
service related endeavors throughout your high school journey, and what that might mean for your college process? Too long to agree, it's all going to be all right, but first, let's meet Nathan. So Nathan is a Loyola Marymount University graduate who earned both his BA and his BA in 2019 and his MA in 2023 in English from the University after brief after brief stints in finance and sports management. He joined the admission team in 2021 he's passionate about educational opportunity, enjoys connecting with students and values demystifying the admission process. He's currently regionally based in the Pacific Northwest, recruiting students from Oregon and Washington. Nathan enjoys creative writing, the highs and lows of cheering for the Portland Trailblazers, camping in mosquito less places and spending time with friends also in mosquito less places. We hope you enjoyed the episode. 
T 
Tom Campbell 03:07 
All right. Nathan, so wonderful to be with you. Thank you so much for taking the time to be on the podcast today. How are things going in sunny, sunny Portland, if I remember correctly, you told me it is sunny and 92 degrees, or maybe it's just 92 degrees and not sunny. I don't know, chicken or the egg. Yeah, 
N 
Nathan Faust 03:24 
somehow Portland, looking out the window right now, it is somehow still cloudy and yet 92 degrees as well. It's that wonderful benefit of all the heat without the sunshine, but it's still my favorite place in the world. Happy to be here, and thanks for having me today. 
T 
Tom Campbell 03:35 
That is such a beautiful response, and a very grass is greener life lemons out of lemonade attitude, and that is really what we need at this point in our lives, don't we? So thank you so much for talking and diving into this topic of service to others and community impact, and how this nutrient, as we call it at college, sa Kai, is something that can really make for a meaningful high school experience, life experience in general, but also is something that colleges really do actively want to see in students in some way, shape or form. So before we kind of get into that, I'd love to know a little bit more about you know, we both have the commonality of Jesuit education running through our veins. So for Nathan, as we just established, Loyola Marymount, through and through, still kicking there. I know how that goes, because as a Holy Cross, College of the Holy Cross graduate a fellow wonder, wonderful Jesuit institution, there's a lot of parallel values and aspects and facets of a Jesuit education that both Holy Cross and LMU really cultivate and really want students to know and value in in terms of their education. So I'd love to hear a little bit more about Yeah, Lola and Marymount give a plug for give a plug for your alma mater and your current institution and how service to others is really a meaningful facet of university. 
Nathan Faust 04:49 
N
Absolutely. Thank you. So Loyola Marymount University. We're a 7000 person undergraduate school in Los Angeles, California. We're the Jesuit school of Southern California as well. If you all know. Think that they are the Jesuits took order of Catholic priests have been around for over 
know. Think that they are the Jesuits took order of Catholic priests have been around for over 500 years. Their ministry is a really strong focus on the power of education as a transformative force in the world itself. And so everything we do at LMU is seen through a three fold lens, the encouragement of learning, the education of the whole person, in the service of faith and promotion of justice. And what I really, honestly, what really attracted me to LMU from the beginning was just the focus on reflection and discernment, which is part of the Jesuit process itself, in considering the actions that you take in not just this is the course that I'm taking, but why am I taking this class? If I'm a business student, I'm going to learn about the world as a whole. I'm going to learn about different cultures, I'm going to learn about different philosophies, I'm going to learn about different perspectives. I'm going to learn about different art movements, so I'm able to go into different spaces and be able to properly engage with people who are there as they are. We also have the idea of, why do you want a job or an internship? Are you doing it for a particular reason? Money is a great reason. Are you looking for other motivation? Are you looking for experience? It's about thinking why you're doing the things that you do. So Alameda challenges students to do this. And really, I believe this comes back around considering service incredibly well. So of all schools of all sizes around the country, we're the number four in terms of amount of community service hours done, with over 200,000 done every year, and we require students to do zero service hours overall. And what I think that really speaks to is just the fact that LMU students understand the power that they hold in the world as they are, that I think the college sets people up incredibly well to look in the future and say like you're going to be an incredible, amazing person one day you can truly make changes. What I appreciate about LMU is that it grabbed him by the shoulders and said, Hey, you can do that right now too. Here's all the opportunity you want, and we're able to help you get there 
T 
Tom Campbell 06:36 
as well. Awesome. Well, I love what you had to say about the hours and that you you brought up hours in general, and I'm very surprised and impressed. So that is a quite the shiny like brochure level stat that if I'm thinking back to my admissions days, I'm like, Oh, I'd definitely be folding that into an information session every single time it's on the brochure. Of course it is, yes, probably on the marquee as you drive through the gates. But something that I think it's I like that you brought up the idea of hours because for high school students or families, tuning in the association to hours with service is such an intertwined, Inter, interconnected concept that schools often cultivate for students. And the idea of racking up service hours as some form of a metric of this shows that I'm a good person that cares about other people is I've been very big into Yes. And lately, I think you also mentioned that you do improv 
N 
Nathan Faust 07:34 
or yeah, yes and I do, yes, yes and you do. 
Tom Campbell 07:39 
T
Thank you for working with me. Yes, the commitment to service hours can, as with LMU students, show your commitment to other people. And ideally, there's a little bit more of a zooming out and conceptualizing of how you spend your time for other people beyond yourself, beyond hours, people in college admissions. And I would be curious to hear your take on this. 
Nathan, on this, Nathan, aren't really looking and scanning for the number of hours in your college application. I really can't think of a single time where I did that for a student. Can Can you? 
N 
Nathan Faust 08:12 
I think that students have an interesting and unique perspective that does make a lot of sense about the application. But at the same time, I think that students believe we're looking for particular elements, when reality, what we're looking for are students expressing themselves and who they are. And I know that that can sound kind of easy, almost like kind of a filler answer, but the thing is, it's the truth. Where you have millions of students applying to college every year, you have hundreds of 1000s of different activities and hundreds of 1000s of interests. There's going to be overlap, there's going to be repeats. Someone will do more hours than you, but the thing is, they're not you, and they don't have your perspective. They don't understand what you're taking from that experience. And so I remember when I was in high school, we had a service hours requirement, and I remember sitting there looking at the requirement and thinking, Okay, I need to do X amount of service hours in order to graduate high school. Yeah. And it introduced a unique perspective where service became a checkbox for me, rather than something that I actually felt fulfilled in doing and so transparently I didn't do more service than what was required in high school. Like I really didn't. And what I found is that in coming to college at LMU, where there's many, many service opportunities, such as through the Center for Service and action, in coming to LMU, when presented with opportunities to do service, but not the requirement of doing it. I was able to approach service from the sense of, why am I doing this, and how do I want to contribute? And so one of the projects that I did in high school when my service projects, I'm adopted. And so I started an adoptee affinity group at the agency that I was adopted from. Of just to start building community. And that stopped when I went to college, but then two years later, I realized actually I missed that, because that was really driving me, and I thought I was doing some good there, and so that's something I've been doing for the last roughly four years. Now, when it comes to service, there's the idea of hours and the quantifiable things, it's kind of like, Oh, I do 20 activities, but I'm a junior Olympian. That's my one activity who has more on that end. Like, you can't compare one student to another student. That's not how this works. What we're looking for is whether or not a student is qualified to attend the institution, given the parameters that the institution is working with. And so it's not about being better or doing more. It's saying, what did you take from this experience, and how are you able to reflect 
Tom Campbell 10:49 
T
on that? Yeah, yeah. I love that kind of that person motivation that prompted you to want to do your work at the adoption agency. And I think I feel like I had a very similar approach to service too when I was in high school, and it wasn't until going to Holy Cross and having a little bit more of an intentional environment that really asked me to reflect more on, like my gifts and talents. And, you know, we talked a little bit about the Jesuit concept of magis and how that is like a philosophy of wanting to achieve more based on kind of what you're able to do, but also what you're able to push yourself into. When it comes to discomfort, that's really something that I experienced firsthand through the Jesuit volunteer corps. So when I run college lots of students who go to Jesuit Colleges and Universities, and even those who don't participate in this post grad service program and the intake process for it, I feel like I wish high schools did 
this in a way to try and match and align students with opportunities that are in the community, that are a best match for a student's gifts and talents and where they really shine. And for me, like I'm a little bit of like a silly, Goofy, young at heart kind of person. So when I think back to my service and like endeavors where I felt like I was the most impactful, it was working with younger kids, and I think especially being like a teen boy, working with kids and kind of being that presence. It was something that I frequently was told from coordinators of different initiatives, like, oh, like, it's so nice for it's so nice for the kids to see like a like a young man like you, engaging with them on their level, and being that playful and just connecting with them in that way. So when I was looking into placements for Jesuit Volunteer Corps, I was they had all these different options that were out there, lots of different causes and populations and needs that are present in our world, in our society, and many of them are ones that I had an interest in, of course, but I I really ended up mentioning jokingly to the person who did the interview with me, Matt Salazar, I was like, I want to be a stay at home dad. So I feel like something with like children and families would be great, because I feel like, called to be a dad, and these days I actually have, like, really rethought that, but I ended up getting placed with the childbirth and parenting Assistance Program in Spokane, Washington. Runs a Catholic charity Spokane, and they told me they were like, so you're actually going to be the first male Jesuit volunteer in this position. And they said they're like, just so you know, many of the families who are coming to this program have traumatic past experiences with different men in their lives. It's a lot of you know women who have Yeah, past bad experiences with men who have younger kids, who are just looking for support. There's a support group that we run. We do a daycare program where you actually take care of kids while they're receiving mental health counseling for free. So it's an amazing program. Shout out to kappa. It's not a sorority, it's it's something completely different. It's not a sorority, it's a transformative community, which I guess some people might say that sorority is. 
N 
Nathan Faust 13:57 
I've been asked about that actually, coming from the Jesuit perspective, when you're going into a space with reflection discernment, that's a lot of responsibility to have on your shoulders in saying, I'm going to the first person in this role. And so understanding that as a service opportunity too that does require looking into yourself was that hard to do at 2223 
Tom Campbell 14:18 
T
it definitely really made me have to accept that people were going to be coming at me and seeing who I was, just in the way that I presented myself with preconceived notions and associations and negativity with people who matched my demographic and who I was, and I saw that less as an opportunity to be like, well, it's a shame that they won't see me for who I am, and like, woe is me, and more of an opportunity to be like, How can I show up for these people to show them that I'm you can trust me, and then I'm here for you and for your kids, because it's something that I really believe is essential. The whole, the whole concept, actually, of Kappa, is that, you know, they're, you know, people talk about the sanctity. Of life, a lot in different religious traditions and how this is one of the best ways to show up with that if you're going to, you know, preach that this is something that you believe in, actually show up for those who really need support and are struggling with this new actor in their lives, having kids, maybe when they weren't expecting that path and choosing to go forward with it, but needing help along the way, so that, yeah, it was a it was an amazing experience. It definitely had some 
challenging moments where there were some families who didn't want to leave their kids with me, and, yeah, it just had to be that kind of consistent showing up And side note, consistent engagement. Spoiler alert, we're getting to that in a minute of showing up and showing that I was there with good intentions and ready to understand the world that they were coming from and the challenges that they have related to people like myself, and not that. Let not let that hold me back from actually wanting to be present and make a difference. There, it 
N 
Nathan Faust 15:55 
really sounds like, I mean, it sounds like you balance empathy and compassion both incredibly well there, both of which, I mean, I personally think are really important in approaching in approaching service overall, but in like, in how you said that, you're able to take yourself out of the idea that, Oh, this is about me. No, it's not about me. This is their experience, and I understand that I play x part in it, being able to say that that's empathy, and that's understanding other people and then compassion, at the same time, being able to understand where people are coming from as well, and just say, like, I mean, relating your story isn't mine, but in saying that the solution that I need may not be the solution that you need as well, and recognizing people as they are. And so I think that really being able to have that, I've said it three times now, but have that discernment and that reflection, ability to say, like, what am I able to do versus what am I feeling? How am I able to be here for other people and not just for myself? I think that really undermines the importance and value of service 
Tom Campbell 16:54 
T
in itself. Yeah, yeah. So beyond our institutions and our own personal backgrounds. Just wanted to touch and plug that. You know, the theme of the admission nutrients is really that these are qualities that are not just good for quote, unquote, getting you into college, but they're also really good for you as people based on and it's proven by science. So one study, for example, that I found that was related to our research was in 2022 there's a resident psychologist, Susan Albers at the Cleveland Clinic, who talks about all of the different feel good chemicals that you and people say this. They're like, I love doing service work because it makes me feel good. There's actually science that backs up that doing work for other people and stepping into a state of compassion, stepping beyond just being like, oh, there are woes that people are experiencing, and that's too bad to actually stepping and doing something related to that. They help with serotonin, which regulates your mood. They help with dopamine, which gives you a sense of pleasure. Oxytocin, creating creates a sense of connection with other people. For so for you stem kiddos out there, I know there's many of you, it's like the last poll we did, it was like over half of our students are like, I want to major in STEM this is good for you from a biological standpoint. And there's also some really interesting insights that there's an article called Why I changed my mind about volunteering, by a woman named Rachel Cohen from Vox and she talks about how in recent years, there's actually been a real shift away from people attending and kind of being involved from a civic standpoint. And there is lots of evidence that these types of initiatives, especially when there's a group, communal mentality to them, they make people happier, they boost self esteem, physical health, your lifespan. And there's also a lot of kind of examples from even like in the employee, employer and corporate world. We've also talked about how admission nutrients are good, not just for yourself personally, but also they set you up with skills professionally. And when you look at there's a study from the University of Oxford, Oxford where they researched over 45,000 employees whose companies 
offered wellness benefits like massages, coaching sessions, mindfulness workshops. And according to this study, out of 45,000 employees, the only option that seemed to actually have a positive effect on well being were those jobs that provided workers with opportunities for charity and volunteering. I also found this really interesting article from Forbes called Why meaningful long term volunteer opportunities are the key to engaging your top talent. And the article kind of goes into how corporate sponsored volunteering programs. They traditionally consist of activities designed to serve those in need at a variety of sites. And they're kind of more of these, like, one time, you know, you go and paint a mural and call it a day, and are like, we did it. We did a team, right? But they kind of outline how that approach has lots of different shortcomings and drawbacks, and that when you're not spending a significant amount of time and effort and energy in a community, you don't necessarily feel as connected to the work or as inspired by it, and there's very little evidence, according to the study, that lasting change occurs inside communities being served when you're doing these kind of like I like to call them like band aid service opportunities, so a. Was a researcher Christina Gibson from Pepperdine. She ended up doing all these studies of different companies who did these, what she calls corporate community co Development Service programs where employees actually lived and worked at at risk communities for periods of between six weeks and three months. And the benefits of that were night and day in terms of companies and programs that did the kind of more the band Aidy approach that I mentioned before. So I bring these examples only to bring up kind of how there's a lot of value in not just committing to serving other people in smatterings across the board, but really thinking about causes and populations that are most in alignment with your gifts, talents, the things that kind of really drive and motivate you, and to be able to align your high school experience with that, it's going to allow you to want to engage with it more consistently. It's going to want to have you be more motivated to maybe take on leadership with that endeavor more broadly, you're going to be more curious about how you can do it better. And all of those are additional admission nutrients that are going to be covered in spotlight in a little more of a clear, explicit way in the second half of this podcast. So, Nathan, I don't know if that brings up any kind of thoughts or musings for you about your own experience, your work with students, things that you've seen in college applications, but yeah, there's, I think a lot of benefit to time is really, I'd say so, which is funny, because we kind of were going in here being like, hours are hours are the problem, but in a way, actually, hours are also the key to the most success. It's about how you approach the hours, not just as checking off the box and, you know, getting them done through a smattering of different options, but really thinking about, okay, if I have this hour requirement. What's going to be the thing that actually makes me want to surpass that truly and genuinely at like my in my heart of hearts, yeah, 
Nathan Faust 21:48 
N
honestly, it's that question right there. What makes me want to surpass this hour requirement? What makes me want to go above and beyond? What makes, well, there's a difference in the connotation between what I would say, like hours versus time, whereas with hours, that's like on a college application of how is this gonna work? Whereas time, maybe you can only, maybe you only have one hour a month you're able to give to an organization, and maybe that's the hour that you give, but if that's the hour that you give 100% of yourself to, I think that matters, and it definitely matters to the people who are receiving your assistance, and it matters to the impact that you make. It's not about time in that regard. It's what do you how do you spend your time? How are you using that time? If you there's a i hope i Don't misquote him, but Bruce Lee had that one quote, where it's I don't fear the man who's practiced 10,000 kicks. I fear the man who's practiced one kick 10,000 times. Where it's not about how much you're doing, it's 
about how consistently do you do something. How do you practice something? Where do you put your time and where do you put your effort? Yeah, conscious reflection. I remember senior year LMU class, I was taking ethics course called The Good Life, and we talked about Aristotle, where we had the idea of perfect practice, where in discussing virtue ethics, how we're able to, how we're able to become virtuous people, and the way we're able to do that is by doing the same things again and again, the correct way, proper practice. And it's, it's like if you're playing sports, if you're shooting free throws, it's not about, oh, how many free throws do I shoot until I can make them all? It's how do I get my form Correct? How do I get consistent with it? And how do I go again and again and again? If you go out there for 10 hours with good consistency, that's gonna be so much better than 100 hours just doing whatever you wanna 
T 
Tom Campbell 23:38 
do. Yeah, so zooming in a little bit more explicitly into the actual application process, right? Translating, as we call it, experiences that you've been involved with high school that represent service to others and community impact to that admission officer, audience that is not always the most intuitive process. A lot of times we're kind of thinking about, you know, really, and something that I voice frequently on a lot of our podcast, Nathan, is a lot of times students spend so much time on the what, but not as much on the why. And I know that's something that you came in with in the beginning of this episode. So when you're thinking about, you know, you're at LMU, it's reading season, you're about to start diving into applications, and you start to see certain patterns of things that you're like. I wish this was approached slightly differently. What might be some of those things that you start to notice, especially when it comes to this communication around service in college applications, and how can we remedy that pattern for students who are tuning in 
N 
Nathan Faust 24:35 
Absolutely So, service is unique, just starting off very specifically because you're intentionally interacting with the world in a way beyond yourself. But the application wants you to brag about yourself and like, gas yourself up as much as you can. So you're supposed to be humble about something in a space where you need to talk about achieving it. So that's 
T 
Tom Campbell 25:00 
really yes and yes 
Nathan Faust 25:03 
N
really hard to figure out. And so it's just like I often see students shrink away from the service because, understandably, they don't want to sound like they're using their good action as a means for an end of, quote, unquote, getting into college. And so I think that what really stands out to me there is it's just like, as you said, it's not about what you did, it's about the why in it, and how you took that away, and how you move forward, where I explain to students that if you write an awesome essay about your grandma, that's 600 on the personal statement. It's 600 words, and the final 50 words or just like, I like my grandma, I want to be like her awesome. I've 
learned nothing about you, and all I know is I can admit your grandma maybe, but like, she's not applying, so I don't know what to do with that. Reverse the ratio, yeah, like, completely, I mean, like, that's what it is. The thing is, like we're admission counselors. Overall, there's this old joke that it's like, we're admission counselors, we're not denial counselors. It's very specific, like, you're fine. Thank you. Very hard to actually like, fight for you and make this happen and make this work. And so in talking about service, you are able to speak about the things that you've that about your experience, but tell me what you're doing, because the longer you focus on what you did, the less you focus on what you're doing and what you're going to do next, what you took from that. So being able to speak about service, yes, I did this. What we're looking for is the higher level thinking, reflection and discernment again, and just the ability to process the experience, to say, like, well, how does this lead to what I do now? So if the trip, quote, unquote, changed your life, okay, how did it change your life? How are you showing that it changed your life going forward? What are you doing differently? One of the tips they give students is that, instead of service, imagine you're getting paid to do this, so you're not getting a good feeling or helping out of it. What are you understanding about yourself through this? What do you learn from a job? What do you learn from a sport? What do you learn from a club? What do you learn from serving? How you engage in a community and so as you approach the world, how is that viewpoint that you have show itself in the world. How do you approach other people? How do you understand the power that you hold as an individual? How do you understand what service is in itself? A lot of times people imagine service as individually going and helping other people. Service is when you put other things before yourself consciously and cognizantly, and then you stick with it. That's kind of how it goes. And so sometimes, if it's like, oh, I went and cleaned up the beach. I raised money and donated it, I went and spent time with someone who needs help. Those are all acts of service. Service doesn't need to be some giant world changing thing. Service can be sitting next to someone who's sad and saying, I'm here for you and I see you, but it's you cognizantly doing that which makes it service. And it's not saying I'm a good person for sitting next to them and holding their hand. It's saying I was able to be in community with other people. I'm able to understand and be empathetic and being able to see people as they are. So the service, when you discuss the service don't have it be something that trivializes another person's life or experience, because that effectively positions you, in my eyes, as different or an evaluator of them, when service in itself is about being outside of yourself. 
Tom Campbell 28:45 
T
Yeah, I I really like what you were touching on with the point about service comes in many forms, because that, I feel like, is one of the the reasons why we call this nutrient service to others slash community impact, is that any form of making an impact on a community member or even an individual, rooted in doing something good for someone beyond yourself and taking steps towards that counts, quote, unquote. And people are always like, what counts? Right? That counts, and it's about the way you communicate it in your application. So actually wanted to share just an excerpt from a personal statement from a student who the personal statement was kind of about their love of filmmaking, which is kind of apropos, because LMU, shout out to LMU. They have a wonderful filmmaking school and program it is on the more competitive events, so definitely, just be aware of that. But it's amazing program. Mission to lmu.edu send an email you like, there's a there's a reason it's so competitive, because you're right in the heart of Los Angeles. I mean, the list goes on and on, but shout out to them. It's great. But coincidentally, this is just an example essay that I pulled in for this sake of this podcast. And the essay talks about lots of different skills, qualities, values, interests a student has around filmmaking, but there's a particular paragraph that. Really does exemplify service to others and 
its connection to film. So it starts out rooted at the core of my storytelling is the notion of identity, a switch in my life that has never been truly on or off, merely stuck at a cultural in between, born in America, raised in Saudi Arabia and nurtured by a Korean family, I felt like an intruder in three different homes, the feeling has only intensified throughout the pandemic. Hate Crimes targeting Asian Americans spiked by 150% these are headlines in quotes. Assaults against Muslims in the US surpassed 2001 levels as an AAPI, as AAPI, violence in America has escalated. Apathy sets into my antidote building an empathy bridge between three different cultures, from sending letters and bags of groceries to Asian elders and queens to facilitating school conversations around middle school oppression in America to creating films exposing the darkness of the American dream, I've resolved to shine a spotlight on my communities and defend their Place in their rightful home, in advocating for their truths. I've also found my identity a third culture kid embracing the complexity of her three homes. Click, that's the click of her camera. So the theme she carries out throughout the essay, but that sentence really about the three different ways that she kind of shows up for the different communities and identities. She's a part of sending letters to Asian elders in Queens, facilitating conversations about Middle Eastern oppression, creating the films, exposing an American Dream. Those are all forms of service to others that don't really fit into the neat like this is a service program that was run by my school per se, but the sending letters and bags of groceries to Asian elders that may have been independent the conversations there's, there's multiple different ways to go about doing this. And yeah, I'd love to hear just your thoughts about this kind of section and this personal statement overall. Like, if you were coming across this on your on your quote, unquote desk, aka computer screen, yeah, absolutely. I mean, I 
N 
Nathan Faust 31:53 
think it's, I think it's brilliant. I mean, well, from an English perspective and the mission counselor perspective too, reading through what I'm able to see is as I mean, with quoting the headlines showing that you under you're able to speak to the current state, and you're not just kind of saying things, you know, but we're also see that building an empathy bridge between three cultures shows like an intentional reflection on self as well. But also we see the student highlighting their skills and abilities within talking about service too. So sending letters and bags of groceries to Asian elders at Queens, this shows care and shows drive and initiative, facilitating school conversations about Middle Eastern oppression America, teaching understanding, working to hear other people, creating films exposing the darkness of the American dream. Well, one, I think that's really just a really cool idea. But two also at the same time, saying, This is applying film. This is how I'm using my talent and how I'm using my passion to still help the world and help the future. So it still ties people back where it's saying I understand that, like my interest is my own, and I'm still going to use it in my way to help where it doesn't necessarily need to be Oh, service needs to look like this. As we're talking about service doesn't need to look like anything. Service needs to help people or help a cause. 
Tom Campbell 33:11 
T
Yeah. And I think what you were kind of connecting with those examples and the different values, or, you know, other nutrients, like teaching, curiosity with filmmaking, connects greatly to the other nutrients too, that are a big part of just a holistic, you know, complete application. Something I was going to ask you as well is just kind of in thinking about, kind of, when students are in that brainstorming stage of like, okay, like, there's all these spaces in my 
application to talk about who I am. There's a personal statement, there's maybe an additional information section. It can be easy to kind of maybe think of like the, quote, unquote, like low hanging fruit, and be like, Okay, well, someone at college, Jessica, I told me, I have to write about service to others, to, you know, get into college a that's not worth saying. It's not that simplistic. There's nuance to everything. But sometimes it might be like, well, I should go and talk about my service project that I do for school, and I like that this I like this example because it shows that there's a lot more variety of your life experience that you can use and leverage and write about in your application that maybe isn't as box Checky or isn't the formal way that you pursue it, and yet it still communicates the value and the nutrient that colleges are eager to see is a part of your life in some way shape. Or form or multiple ways, but thinking about kind of this is a personal statement example. This is an excerpt of a full 650 word personal statement. We're not reading the whole thing on here, but in your advice to students around you know, there's the activities list, there's recommendation letters, there's all these different components. As an admission officer, when you're thinking about service to others, where do you feel like you're usually seeing this show up mostly, or kind of where you're typically assessing this? And you know, for students who are kind of like, I'm cramped for space, you like, I don't know if I have enough space to write about service to others in my personal statement, per se, what might be your advice about how to just ensure that this quality. Or this nutrient gets noticed, and maybe leveraging some of those other spaces to do 
Nathan Faust 35:03 
N
so start the Additional Information section. You can write anything you want in there. So I recommend putting more context in there as well, because it is good for us to know those things about about the individual overall. And if there's details that we're not understanding about you, additional information is the way to go. But so as I'm reading an application, speaking through the perspective, and doing a holistic review where we're looking at every part of the application in the argument for admission. What I'm looking for is places where I'm able to learn about you as an individual. And a lot of the time, I find that students think writing about sad things on essays is because it's you need to write about sad story and hardship. It's not about that what you're writing about in like an essay an application, is I don't know any well. I don't know anything about you, except for what you put on the application. So the purpose of this is to help me understand more about you. And so tragedy and service are often spaces where you're able to, like easily see qualities that you can pull out, but on the application itself, we're going to be looking for these qualities in every space. So on the activities list, when you're writing about the service that you do, think about it and think about why do you do this? And how does this matter to you? I've with your personal statement, that's a space where you're going to be talking a lot about yourself. If service is the place, if service is the, excuse me, if service is the activity you have that explains the most about you and properly frames your life and your passion, your responsibilities, I'd say, put in the personal statement if that's something you're really able to dive deep on. But at the same time, if it's an activity that you do that matters to you and is important, but the same time doesn't have the same kind of story, and you're not seeing that in there. Have it in the activity section, but just make sure you reflect on what you're doing. Because if I if someone says, I worked 100 hours here, and they think that's quote, unquote enough. Okay, someone else worked 500 someone else worked 1000 there's always going to be someone who's doing more, but I'm not comparing you to them. What I'm looking for is during your 100 hours, 500 hours or 1000 hours, what did you take away from that experience? How do you approach 
Tom Campbell 37:15 
T
the world differently? So Nathan, we had this excerpt from this personal statement that talks a little bit about service to others. We know we talked a little bit about the activities list, the Additional Information section, being spaces, but many students at college SDI spend their or are applying to colleges that have supplemental essays, these additional opportunities to talk about some of these admission nutrients in more depth. So there's one excerpt that I wanted to read, actually, from a student who a couple years ago, wrote a response for Princeton University, and the question reads, Princeton has a long standing commitment to service and civic engagement. Tell us how your story intersects or will intersect with these ideals. Please respond in an essay of about 250 words. So the student goes on to say, the issue of educational injustice is deeply important to me. School closures during the pandemic exacerbated this inequality, with many public institutions staying closed the 2028 to 2021 school year, as opposed to their private school counterparts, and the students educational experience being less optimal. As a result, according to the California Department of Education, students of color account for 75% of public school enrollment, making them the primary victims understanding this disparity and driven by the values of service instilled through My Sacred Heart education, I decided to start tutor digital, a nonprofit, free tutoring and technology service for Bay Area students. My interest in tutoring began in middle school through volunteering as a peer tutor. In high school, I created a Tutoring Club, giving my peers the opportunity to help younger elementary school students on financial aid with their homework. With the club being sidetracked by COVID-19, I joined eight to six Valencia, an organization dedicated to supporting under resourced students. This experience prompted me to transition my old club to a remote format, adopting, adapting the adapting to restrictions imposed by the pandemic. I worked with my friend to rebrand the club, naming it tutor digital, registering it as a nonprofit, designing a website and recruiting additional tutors. These efforts helped expand our reach to include local public schools. Through our efforts, we've helped to provide tutoring services to 34 students, while also identifying other opportunities to support public school students, such as donating upwards of 60 iPads and creating a book donation program. So the reason that I love this example is because it literally encapsulates every admission nutrients, right? You have this intellectual curiosity for educational inequity and how it can be solved and addressed. And he kind of goes into with the stats of what the gravitas of kind of then the the pressingness of this, this issue. Right from the beginning, he talks about leadership and initiative. He started out being involved in a club for many years in middle school, consistent engagement, leading and initiating his own club in. His own school. But then he also talks about collaboration, right? The pandemic caused his own initiative to be suspended, so he collaborated with the pre existing organization and teamed up with a friend to make this other initiative, tutor, digital happen, right? So that's literally every admission, nutrients, service to others, consistent engagement, leadership and initiative, collaboration and intellectual curiosity in one single supplemental essay response, right? So I hope what this illustrates for those of you are listening and tuning in is that oftentimes you can find experiences that you've been involved in and write about them in a way that can really help all these nutrients shine. So thinking about your application strategically, and knowing that just like with our diets, you know, we're supposedly supposed to be restricted to 2000 calories per day. I don't know about you, Nathan, but I sometimes go a little bit beyond that. But those limits are met in place for us to stay healthy, and those are these limits are also put in place with the college application to make you be choosy and thoughtful about what you want to what you want to share, and which stories and experiences are going to have the most quote, unquote bang for your buck. All right, so as we kind of venture towards the last end of the podcast, I wanted to do a little bit of, like a rapid fire section called the but what ifs I did this with a previous guest? Shout out to Deshaun Alexander, what a great guy. And it basically is kind of a series of, like the kind of for the college 
counselors out there who are constantly getting these questions and fielding them from students all the time, and maybe admissions officers. It's the but, what ifs the but what ifs I couldn't do this, or I had to do this, or I could, I'm not sure about service. It's the things that kind of, sometimes are kind of running in students minds that getting some clarity around just quickly to the point, well, I think really helped dial down some anxiety. So mine, if I could launch right in let's tackle it so. But what if I did this mission trip and it really transformed me, but someone told me I shouldn't write about this for my application. What would you say? 
N 
Nathan Faust 41:52 
I would say that. I mean, the purpose of the application, again, is for me to understand who you are, and if that mission trip tells me a lot of value, and tells me a lot about your values, and it shows how you are as a human being. Fantastic. However, if you're going to be writing about doing a service for and with other people, I want to see that you're respecting them as individuals, and that you're not using them as plot points in your story. And so the way that you're going to want to do that again is by writing about how you took the lesson, like what you learned from that experience, how you're taking it forward, if the essay, if the first three sentences of your essay unedited are, I went to this space, I did this action. This was transformative in these ways, and then the rest of your essay discusses your life right now based on those transformative actions. That is a very non prosaic way to speak about what you took from a space, because the more you talk about what you did, one, the less you talk about what you're doing. And two, the easier it is to get into a cycle of, isn't this a good thing to do? 
T 
Tom Campbell 43:00 
Yeah, yeah, I that's, I mean, such an important distinction. And I think, full disclosure, I actually wrote my personal statement about a mission trip essay. My dad does nonprofit work in Haiti, but I was comforted in seeing that I could have done it, gone about it way worse. But I actually talked about using my gifts of art and card making and art in general. And I probably could have spent a little bit more time talking about how I did that when I came back home afterward, but that's a great piece of advice and learning from experience to share with you all. All right, next. But what if? But what if I quit my service endeavor. I was told I'm supposed to be consistently engaged. What does this mean if I quit? Is that bad? I mean, 
N 
Nathan Faust 43:40 
it sounds like you learned something by yourself. So I guess what I'd ask is, why did you quit, and what are you doing now? That 
T 
Tom Campbell 43:47 
is a great answer, and lots of the rooms in the application to talk about that. But what if the program closed and I could, I wanted to keep going with it, but I could no longer do that. 
Nathan Faust 43:58 
N
N 
Nathan Faust 43:58 
What did you do next? Did you attempt to find another program. Did you start your own program? Did you join to a dif did you go to another area? How are you using that now, you don't control what happens in your life. You do control your reaction, your response. 
T 
Tom Campbell 44:10 
That has a beautiful that has a beautiful thought, Oh, I think so. That seems like a great example of that was. Seems like a great but what if to maybe explain in the challenges and circumstances section or additional information section. So typically spaces to write that, or can have a conversation with your college counselor who's writing a recommendation, and they can maybe mention, unfortunately, Timmy wasn't able to pursue x because the program shut down, but he was able to continue his commitment to this population. Cause through why see Timmy drive. Love Timmy. You are really getting after it. But what if I Well, what do I know? How do I know if this counts as service? We kind of touched on this a little bit before, but it really does seem to be the most, I'd say maybe one of the bigger concerns that we get a lot of 
N 
Nathan Faust 44:55 
Kimberly flip I mean, some things are more clearly service based than others. I. But service doesn't mean how impactful is the work you're doing and change the world. Service just means what do you do, like voluntarily? What do you voluntarily choose to do to help? And so if you're raising money, that's service. If you're working at a feedback that's service. If you're cleaning up like a park, that's service. If you're spending time with the lonely, if you're running a group of like an affinity group, that's service. Your example of the student who used their filmmaking skills to be able to serve the community, that's service. And so being able to just be out there and be others and think about how you are voluntarily using your time to help. That's service, 
T 
Tom Campbell 45:34 
all right. And one last, final one for you. But what if I didn't really take anything away from this service? Honestly, people ask me that question, but I quote, unquote, just like doing it. 
Nathan Faust 45:46 
N
Well, why do you like doing it? And are you going to keep doing it? And are you going to continue doing it? If you're going to continue doing it, why are you continuing doing it? If you like it? That sounded like very roundabout, and I will fully acknowledge that, but at the same time, it's just saying, like, Okay, I like, I like volunteering at this specific place. Is it because the people are nice? That teaches me I like working well in community? That shows me the importance of creating community. That shows me in the course of holding community in this area, if we speak about I enjoy serving food and realizing that the granola bar that I really would just would pass by means a lot more to this person than it does to me. What does that tell me about this world that I live in, and what am I going to do next now? So liking to do it is a great indication that there's a reason, if you like to do it, you like to do it, even if it's fun. Why is it fun? If you're playing kickball and it's why is kickball fun? I like keeping the ball and running. I 
feel like the wind on my face and stuff like that. That's a totally valid reason. That's great, but it's a lot more specific than it's fun. So think about what you're doing and think about why you're doing it. Think about what you like specifically. Think about what's worth it, and think about how you push yourself, 
T 
Tom Campbell 47:10 
yeah, building out those reflective habits for sure. All right, well, that's the end of my butt. What is thank you for playing along with my rapid fire game, and wanted to see Nathan if, just as we close out this podcast, if you had any kind of just closing words of wisdom to share with students that just this process is stressful, it involves a lot, anything that you want to just say to them. As we close out, there are 
N 
Nathan Faust 47:34 
so many schools in the country, and there's not one right place for you. There are going to be so many places where you're going to do so well. And what's most important is that you're happy, because where you're happy is where you're going to find success, and when you're applying to schools. I remember applying to schools and thinking was a giant indictment on me as a person, to not be accepted to a place when reality, there's just so much that was outside of my control. I don't know who else was applying. I don't know how many students graduates, graduated from a specific major. You don't know what an individual schools like evaluating for. Read the mission statement, though you really don't know much, except for the fact that you are applying. So apply as yourself, because the thing is, nobody else has your perspective. Not a single other person in the world has your perspective, and that's what makes your essay unique. If the two of us are just like sitting there and we see an octopus open a jar. You could say that you're so amazed at how nature adapts. Well, I could say that that completely freaks me out, because my dieting helmet is basically like a big circular jar. And both of those are valid things, but they're our own individual perspective on the situation. So that evaluation there, that's what sets you apart. Be yourself, trust yourself and reach out and ask admission counselors if you have any 
T 
Tom Campbell 48:47 
questions. Well, Said, incredible. Thank you for having me. Well, Nathan, lots of wisdom. That octopus in the jar image. I'm I have my own perception of that and my own perspective I could share. But for the sake of this podcast on the runtime, we will just wrap it there. Thank you so much for being here and for sharing your wisdom and expertise with our audience. We really appreciate it, and I hope that the trailblazers question mark, yeah, most epic season of all. 
Nathan Faust 49:15 
N
Thank you. I hope we make the playoffs and or win the championship one of the other but thanks for having me. Tom, 
T 
Tom Campbell 49:21 
thanks Nathan, take care. You too. Bye. All 
Tom Campbell 49:29 
T
right, friends, that's what we got on service to others slash community impact. We are going to be closing things out with a final admission nutrients, episode about intellectual curiosity with Hillary Dickman from Colorado College and the wonderful college essay guy, Ethan Sawyer himself, so if you missed him on the pod, don't worry, he's gonna be back in action next week. All right, stay tuned. We're looking forward to seeing you on the next one. As always, any resources or guides that we mentioned in the episode will be included in the show notes on college essay guy.com/podcast and we can't wait to see in the next one. Take care. Bye. Bye.