MentorsHow it worksAboutBecome a mentorGet matched

College applications are stressful. They’re a lot less stressful with someone who just did it.

Running Start matches your student with a mentor who was accepted to a top university last year — and hands over the real application that got them in.

11th & 12th grade

I need help with my college application

  • Get matched with a mentor who was just accepted to a top school
  • One-on-one help with their essays, activities and awards
  • Their real Common App, UC application and PIQs to work from
Find my mentor→9th & 10th grade

I need a four-year plan for my high schooler

  • Which classes to take, and which ones actually matter
  • Which activities to build now — and which to drop
  • A clear direction, mapped out by someone who just got in
Build our plan→

$200 for 4 one-on-one sessions. Their full application included. Book more any time.

Our mentors accepted to

HarvardStanfordYalePrincetonMITUPennColumbiaCornellCaltechUC BerkeleyUCLAUSCUniversity of MichiganUVANYUUC San DiegoCal Poly SLOPurdueHarvardStanfordYalePrincetonMITUPennColumbiaCornellCaltechUC BerkeleyUCLAUSCUniversity of MichiganUVANYUUC San DiegoCal Poly SLOPurdue
What's included

Every mentor hands over their whole application.

Not samples. Not templates. The exact materials that got them into a top school — plus one-on-one mentorship from the student who wrote them.

1

Their real Common App

The actual Common App essay that got your mentor into a top school. Not a template — the real one.

2

Their real UC application & PIQs

The full UC application and all four Personal Insight Questions, exactly as they were submitted.

3

Their activities & awards list

How they described what they did, and in what order. This is the section families guess at most.

4

4 one-on-one sessions

45 minutes a week with that same mentor, working on your student's own essays, activities and awards.

The mentors

These are the applications your student gets to read.

Browse all mentors
Alisha, UC Berkeley

Now at

UC Berkeley

’30
T20

Alisha

Cognitive Science & Data Science

Accepted to

UC BerkeleyUniversity of MichiganCal Poly SLO

What got them in

  • Neuroscience research intern, Hotchkiss Brain Institute — Dr. Naweed Syed's brain-on-chip lab
  • HealthTech AI intern at TeqDr — processed 1,000+ ECGs to train arrhythmia-detection models
  • Published in an international peer-reviewed medical journal (Annals of KEMU)

+2 more on their profile

Coaches you on

Essays & personal storyUC PIQs & Common AppResearch & pre-med apps
Book Alisha →See their full record
Jared, Cal Poly SLO

Now at

Cal Poly SLO

’30

Jared

Electrical Engineering

Accepted to

Cal Poly SLOUC Santa BarbaraUC Irvine

What got them in

  • Published independent research on piezoelectric energy harvesting
  • USACO Silver Division (national) · AP Scholar with Distinction
  • Founded a soccer-gear drive — $10k of equipment to 200+ families

+2 more on their profile

Coaches you on

UC PIQs & essaysEngineering & CS appsResearch & project spikes
Book Jared →See their full record
Shriya, UC Berkeley

Now at

UC Berkeley

’30
T20

Shriya

Chemistry

Accepted to

UC BerkeleyUC San DiegoPurdue+1

What got them in

  • Neuroscience research intern under Georgetown professors — chemotherapy-induced neurotoxicity
  • 3-year medical assistant internship at a gastroenterology clinic — 12 hrs/week
  • Founded a SNEHA Foundation partnership — medical devices and supplies to 15+ schools in rural India

+2 more on their profile

Coaches you on

Finding opportunities that fitResearch & pre-med appsUC PIQs & Common App
Book Shriya →See their full record
Rubab, University of Virginia

Now at

University of Virginia

’30

Rubab

Biology (Pre-Med)

Accepted to

University of VirginiaUC San Diego

What got them in

  • Cardio-oncology research intern, VCU Pauley Heart Center — MRI analysis under Dr. Gregory Hundley
  • Varsity Mock Trial captain — two Outstanding Witness Awards, competed at William & Mary Law
  • Founder & President, Pakistani Students Association

+2 more on their profile

Coaches you on

Time management & study skillsResearch & pre-med appsActivities & leadership
Book Rubab →See their full record
Jadon, UC Irvine

Now at

UC Irvine

’29

Jadon

Biological Sciences

Accepted to

UC IrvineUC Santa Barbara

What got them in

  • Student Research Trainee, Salk Institute
  • Alzheimer's research at Cognitive Synergy (UC San Diego)
  • Founder & Captain, UC Berkeley BioEHSC research team

+1 more on their profile

Coaches you on

UC PIQs & essaysResearch spikesPre-med & STEM apps
Book Jadon →See their full record
Nayuka, UC Irvine

Now at

UC Irvine

’28

Nayuka

Biological & Psychological Sciences

Accepted to

UC IrvineUC Santa BarbaraCal Poly SLO

What got them in

  • Senior Class President · National Honor Society
  • Occupational Therapy intern, North County OT
  • 100+ hours as an inpatient hospital volunteer

+1 more on their profile

Coaches you on

UC PIQs & essaysFirst-gen guidancePre-health & psychology
Book Nayuka →See their full record
How it works

Two minutes to match. Then you're working.

Book once and the whole month is set — same mentor, same time, already on the calendar. Nothing to renew, nothing to cancel.

01

Take the 2-minute quiz

Tell us your grade, where your student is headed, and what they need help with. We match you to a mentor who has done that exact thing.

02

Book four sessions — $200

One payment, four weekly 45-minute sessions, the same mentor every time. Their application materials arrive before session one.

03

Keep going as long as you need

Most families finish the four sessions and book another round to carry the application all the way through. Same mentor, same rate, whenever you want them.

The real cost

Private admissions consultants run $3,000 to $10,000 a package. Many of them bill $200 an hour — the price of this entire month — and none of them will show you a real accepted application, because they don’t have one.

Our mentors do. They got in last cycle, under this year’s rules, reading this year’s prompts. That is not a cheaper version of consulting. It is a different thing, and it is better.

Their real Common App & UC application — the one that got them accepted
4 one-on-one sessions with the same mentor, one per week
A school list, a spike, and a draft that has been torn apart and rebuilt
A free 7-minute call first, so you can decide before you pay anything
$200

One payment. 4 sessions. Materials included. No retainer, no hourly, no upsell.

Get Matched →
Questions

The objections, answered straight.

If you're skeptical of a $200 price tag in a $10,000 industry, you should be. Here's the honest version.

$200 for the whole month. What's the catch?

There isn't one — there's just no overhead. Our mentors are current college students, not full-time consultants with an office, a sales team and a marketing budget. They earn real money per package and we keep the operation small. That's the entire reason this is $200 instead of $5,000.

Do you guarantee admission?

No — and be careful with anyone who does, because that is not a claim a person can honestly make. Here is what we do guarantee: four 45-minute sessions with the same mentor, and the real application materials that got them accepted, in your student's hands before the first session.

My kid already has a school counselor.

The average U.S. public high school counselor carries around 380 students; the recommended caseload is 250. Even a great one has minutes per student per year, spread across transcripts, schedules and crises. This is four dedicated hours on the application itself, from someone who just got into the kind of school your kid is aiming at.

How do you know the mentors are real?

Every mentor submits their actual Common App or UC application, their acceptance record and their résumé before they are allowed on the platform, and a person reviews all of it. What you see on a mentor's profile is drawn from those documents — not a bio they wrote about themselves.

What exactly does my student walk away with?

Their mentor's real Common App essay, real UC application and all four PIQs, and their activities and awards list — the exact materials that got that mentor accepted. Plus four 45-minute one-on-one sessions working on your student's own version of each.

Can we book more than four sessions?

Yes, and most families do. Four sessions is where everyone starts. If your student wants to carry the application all the way through with the same mentor, you book another round at the same rate — as many as you want, whenever you want. There is no subscription and no commitment either way.

How long does the whole thing take?

The four sessions run once a week, so about a month. How far the application gets in that time depends on your student — where they're starting, how much they write between sessions, and how many schools they're applying to. Some finish a Common App essay and a full activities list in four sessions; others use the time to build a plan and then book more. We won't put a number on it, because anyone who does is guessing.

What if it isn't the right fit?

Tell us and we'll re-match. We pair on two axes — the path your student is on and the specific thing that is broken — so a mismatch is rare, but it isn't your problem to solve if it happens.

The application gets submitted either way.

The only question is whether it’s the one your student could have written, or the one they did. Four sessions. $200. Start with a free 7-minute call and decide from there.

Get Matched →