Building a College List

​Join this session for a breakdown of how to effectively build a balanced list. We'll go over the different types of schools available, key factors to consider when searching for schools, and how to keep a good mix of a variety of schools on your list.

We will be featuring two guest panelists: Emma Huerta & Talya Jeter. Below are their biographies:

1. ​Emma Huerta

   • ​Emma Huerta is an incoming freshman at the University of Chicago, hoping to major in Philosophy or Law, Letters, and Society. She graduated from Cooper City High School in South Florida as Co-Salutatorian of her class. During high school, Emma participated in a variety of activities and held various club leadership positions while balancing her course load, serving as Online Editor-in-Chief of the school newspaper, President of the National English Honor Society, Co-Founder and President of Future Law Professionals of America, and more. She also has been a ballet dancer since she was 6 years old, and hopes to continue dancing in college.

   • ​In the summer of her junior year, Emma was admitted to and participated in multiple selective college fly-in programs, including Swarthmore College’s Discover Swarthmore program (“DiscoSwat”) and the University of Pennsylvania’s Penn Early Exploration Program (PEEP) and Penn In Focus (PIF) programs. Last year, Emma applied to 20 U.S. colleges and was accepted to 15 schools, including the University of Pennsylvania, Barnard College of Columbia University, the University of Florida, and Williams College. She also has received scholarships from both universities and organizations alike, such as the Hispanic Scholarship Fund, the Burger King Foundation, and the Hispanic Heritage Fund. As she begins her first year of college in Chicago, Emma is happy to answer any questions and provide information about the college application process. You can reach her via email at emmah@uchicago.edu or LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/emmahuerta/.
     

2. ​Talya Jeter

   • ​Talya Jeter is a junior at Duke University majoring in biomedical engineering and neuroscience. Her current research is involved with improving the math identity of middle school girl's in STEM. In her free time, she plays for the Duke League of Legends team and is the editor-in-chief for the DukEngineer magazine. She also has her own business called College Calm with Talya where she provides college prep services, resources, and digital content.