Case Studies

Discover how candidates like you have achieved college admission and career placement with Lighthouse Creativity.

Students often need a lot more space to fill out the Honors & Awards section on their college application, and their resume and job application as well. But how many of them can truly claim something original and unique to their own without basing their capabilities solely on the knowledge they acquired in school?

Audacity to create the new. Maturity to face negative reactions. Confidence to go against everyone’s expectations. Optimism to achieve the unknown and unseen beyond their imagination.

We sow the opportunities for both geniuses and non-geniuses to succeed in originating and practicing each of the four characteristics that drive their performance results - no matter what their problems, what their fears, and what their constraints are.

Case Studies : College Admission

Student K Gets Accepted to University of Chicago.

Client profile : Male at a private day school. 3.3 GPA. Mediocre compared to the overall class average. An international student with no specific talents. Changes made through consulting : The student was struggling with the attendance problem at school. Teachers and administrators gave him many warnings. We spoke with them, and recommended that the student and family strongly consider transferring into a new private boarding school where teachers we knew would give him very

Student K Gets Accepted to Stanford.

Client profile : Male at a Catholic high school. 4.3 weighted GPA, 1540 SAT, 9 AP courses with strong scores. Academically high-performing within a competitive applicant pool targeting computer science and STEM majors. Extracurricular involvement was strong but aligned with typical high-achieving CS-focused applicants, without a clearly differentiated narrative at the baseline. Changes made through consulting : During the COVID-19, the student became concerned about health ri

Student B Gets Accepted to Harvard.

Client profile : Male at an international high school outside the United States. 3.5 GPA, 1420 SAT. No AP curriculum was available. Limited formal leadership roles and no major academic distinctions. At the time of initial consultation, the student had not secured admission to any college. Changes made through consulting : Our consultants designed and implemented intensive training for the student in reading comprehension, analytical thinking, and research methodology. The st

Student P Gets Accepted to Harvard.

Client profile : Male at a large, highly competitive magnet school. 3.8 GPA, 1480 SAT, top 10% of class. Strong STEM coursework consistent with peer cohort. Active participation in established clubs and competitions but without distinctive independent initiatives prior to consulting. Changes made through consulting : Our consultants helped the student expand personal interest in building computers into a broader social-impact initiative. Under mentorship and financial advisor

Student W Gets Accepted to Columbia.

Client profile : Male at a small international high school in Asia with limited AP offerings. 3.7 GPA, 1400 SAT, 3 AP courses completed. Academic performance was solid but not exceptional relative to the competitive applicant pool across the states. Extracurricular profile was average and was not developed in depth. No major awards or formal leadership distinctions. Changes made through consulting : During the COVID-19, the student identified vulnerabilities facing small busi

Student A Gets Accepted to Columbia.

Client profile : Male at a top 30 private boarding school. 3.7 GPA, 1320 SAT. Entered 10th grade and faced initial language and cultural adjustment challenges. Participated in human rights-related activities but without significant leadership titles, awards, or measurable impact at the outset. Changes made through consulting : Our consultants structured the student’s existing interests into a coherent social innovation pathway. The student’s involvement in a local human right

Student K Gets Accepted to Yale.

Client profile : Male at a top 50 private boarding school. 3.8 GPA, 1380 SAT, 8 AP courses completed. Academic performance was strong but not top-tier within a highly competitive environment. No national or state-level awards. Extracurricular involvement was conventional, primarily humanities-oriented activities without a defined academic specialization or spike. Changes made through consulting : Through structured advising, this student’s intellectual curiosity in the humani

Case Studies : Career Placement

Candidate L Joined UBS.

Client profile : Male. Graduated from Vanderbilt University. 3.9 GPA. Unique background from Asia. Very well traveled everywhere. Changes made through consulting : He took a few years away from college to complete the mandatory military service back home. As an international student, he knew that he needed more preparation to do. Before he returned to enter the last year of college, we suggested a few things he can do to highlight his future destinations. In the process, he e

Candidate W Joined Deloitte.

Client profile : Female. Graduated from Boston University. 3.8 GPA. Majored in Economics. Part timed at many different establishments for all undergraduate years. Loved to cook. Changes made through consulting : As she clearly set her goal on getting the highest paying job possible, we walked her through many questions that helped her think about herself from different angles. Most notably, she learned that she cared most about sharing her values, among which was empathy. Mor

Candidate P Joined Raytheon.

Client profile : Male. Graduated from University of Michigan. 3.7 GPA. Primary interests were computer science and economics. Interned for fintech startups. Offered writing help to friends and their friends. Changes made through consulting : Examining his experience of interning for fintech startups, we discovered that he had such a great enthusiasm for games. More often, he created games to play with people both offline and online. We suggested that he use his gaming experie

Candidate K Joined Goldman Sachs.

Client profile : Female. Graduated from Princeton. 3.8 GPA. Worked for NGOs. Submitted applications for graduate school admission, but was uncertain of future direction beyond school. Traveled extensively across Europe and Africa. Changes made through consulting : Given the high probability of getting accepted for graduate school, we suggested that she spend some time meeting and speaking with our friends at Goldman Sachs. She did and hit it off with a few thinkers that were

Candidate S Joined Jefferies.

Client profile : Male. Graduated from George Washington University. 3.6 GPA. Interned for a few management consulting firms including BCG for 2 years. Spent much time lifting weights, and loved nights out with friends. He needed to move out of his parents’ house, and looked for a destination. Changes made through consulting : His needs pointed him towards MBA, the only plausible option at that point. We examined much of his information, and identified sources of advantage tha

Candidate A Joined Blackstone.

Client profile : Female. Graduated from Columbia University. 3.7 GPA. Well rounded. Dancer and painter. Worked at a very small family owned store on breaks. No internship, nothing impressive in particular. Sent out over 130 resumes to potential employers of many different industries. No interview invitation received. Changes made through consulting : Before advising on strategy, we squeezed almost every detail from her pre-college years through college years, identifying her

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