Not every student has someone to help them find their story.
Now they do.

Hi there — from the founder of Arzo.

I immigrated to the US with my family in elementary school. I was the first person in my family to learn English, figure out how to pay our utility bills, and navigate the American school system entirely on my own. By the time senior year arrived, the college application caught me off guard. My school counselors, who did their best, were stretched across hundreds of students. My peers — as I later found out — had parents who'd been through it, alumni networks to tap, even private counselors for one-on-one support. I had none of that.

I had to build my own network, find my own opportunities, figure out the processes nobody told me about. I was fortunate to be accepted to Yale with a full ride through QuestBridge, along with many other top universities. My parents were proud — though they mostly just wanted to know why I hadn't gotten into Harvard.

Almost a decade later, I've interviewed applicants for Yale as an alumni interviewer. Having been on both sides of this process, I can say this clearly: the difference between essays that work and ones that don't almost never comes down to talent or grades. It comes down to whether a student can find — and share — their real story.

Looking back, the application process was the first time in my life I'd slowed down and actually thought about myself: what had shaped me, what I genuinely cared about, what I wanted my next chapter to be. The self-reflection and iterations that college essays demand turned out to be one of the hardest, most valuable things I'd ever done.

Arzo is the resource I wish I had, built so you don't have to figure it out alone. College applications changed my life. I hope Arzo gets to be part of yours.