The Matchlighters Scholars Program pairs high-achieving students from low-income households with experienced college counselors – and it's totally free.

In 2015, a student I’d never met before wrote me an email that read:

"I come from a single parent household, my father does not support us in any way at all and my mother has just recently been let go of due to financial struggles, but I would like to ask for your help. Please light a little match to guide me through this."

And, just like that, the Matchlighters Scholarship was born. 

The Matchlighters Scholarship connects generous and experienced college counselors with low-income, high-achieving students from around the world to deliver college admissions help to those who need it most.

The scholarship comprises 10 hours of one-on-one support in navigating the complex college admissions process, from experienced counselors — at no cost.

It’s awarded to high-achieving students who have solid grades, but just need a little extra help. 

 
 
Counselor and Teacher Application

Are you interested in volunteering to help high-achieving students from low-income households write great college essays and/or develop an awesome and balanced college list?

We could use your experience and generous heart.


Commitments of Volunteer Counselors:

  1. Work with one student for 10 hours, unless a different agreement is made in writing with the Program Director.

  2. Respond within two business days to emails from the Program Director to work with a student and requests for feedback from Scholars, unless written prior notice of unavailability is given to the Program Director or Scholar.

  3. Make a reasonable effort to reach out to students. Our goal is for this program to be student-driven and that they take ownership over it. That said, we also know that some gentle nudging and a quick email check-in from a counselor every two weeks or so can be helpful and motivational, especially as the senior year course load kicks in.

Why the above? We think these guidelines are important and the minimum commitment needed for Matchlighters Scholars to have a solid experience.  Responding to emails promptly will allow us to connect students with other counselors if you're too busy, and responding to emails from students will allow you to schedule sessions more effectively.

While we understand that life gets busy, we'd prefer that counselors only commit to work with students if they can agree to be available for the full 10 hours. 

Frequently asked questions for counselors

Have a student you’d like to nominate for the scholarship? Want to help spread the word about Matchlighters at your work or school?

Are you a high school counselor who works with low-income or free and reduced lunch students? Do you have a student who could use some extra support? Share this page with them!

Download a Matchlighters flyer for your school here.

Here’s where a few of our
Matchlighters scholars ended up:

  • Agnes Scott

  • Amherst

  • Ashoka University

  • Barnard

  • Baruch College

  • Boston University

  • Carnegie Mellon

  • Columbia University

  • Cornell

  • CSU - Los Angeles

  • Dartmouth

  • Davidson

  • Drexel

  • Georgia Tech

  • Grinnell

  • Harvard

  • Kenyon

  • Los Angeles Southwest College

  • Loyola University Chicago

  • Macalester

  • Middlebury

  • Minerva

  • MIT

  • Mount Holyoke

  • Northwestern

  • NYU

  • NYU - Abu Dhabi

  • Rhodes College

  • Stanford

  • Swarthmore

  • Tufts

  • Tulane

  • UC Berkeley

  • UC Davis

  • UC Irvine

  • UCLA

  • UC Merced

  • UC San Diego

  • UC Santa Barbara

  • UC Santa Cruz

  • University of Chicago

  • University of Florida

  • University of Georgia

  • University of Michigan - Ann Arbor

  • University of Pennsylvania

  • University of Texas, Austin

  • University of Wisconsin - Madison

  • Vanderbilt

  • Wesleyan

  • Williams

  • Yale

WHAT our matchlighters ARE SAYING

“Learning about the College Essay Guy and Matchlighters scholarship was life-changing for me. Slowly my confusion and anxiety about the application process disappeared - the kind support of your team allowed me to enjoy it and to learn from this process more than I could ever dream of. Mark, my counselor, has been the kindest and the most supportive person. He helped me on the weekends, holidays and even couple of hours before the deadlines - I can not imagine a more helpful, caring and devoted counselor. His feedback was always informative and useful. Any resources on the website were always available to me - everyone on the team ready to give every advice they have and ready to help at any time. I can not imagine having gone so far in the process if it wasn’t for your amazing team. I am so thankful!”
— Anastasiia, Matchlighters Scholar
“I just wanted to say a big THANK YOU to you for creating such a wonderful scholarship program. Without Matchlighters and my amazing counselor, I would have never been able to complete and compose such great essays that help me get admitted to Harvard, UPenn, Duke, JHU, Rice, and UCLA! I still cannot believe what happened this past month and all of that incredible news would not have been a reality without the Matchlighters program. I want to personally thank you for putting the effort in organizing this program and helping me match up with my counselor.”
— Khoa, Matchlighters Scholar
“Sandy Clingman is the best counselor in the world. She was super patient as well as extremely quick and helpful with her essay coaching. She always went the extra mile when helping me. If this program runs on counselors with a heart as big as Sandy’s, this program will continue seeing success for many years to come. I would not be in the position I am today without you guys.”
— Peter, Matchlighters Scholar
“I remember signing up for Matchlighers thinking it was my last call for hope because I was so desperately seeking assistance with not only my college essay, but with the application process in general. Being both first-generation AND low-income, I found it quite difficult to navigate the college admissions process because at home, no one had experience regarding this topic and at my small public high school, the resources were limited. Once I found out I was accepted, I was immediately set up with my two counselors whom I can never repay for the help they provided. My essay counselor had so much patience with me and didn’t at all mind the fact that I was changing my essay topic every other day. He worked with what I gave him and encouraged me to get out of my comfort zone; overall, I couldn’t be happier with my essay. My college list developer was so incredibly kind and insightful, and best of all, she was willing to work around my schedule and set up appointments with me when I was available. I’m extremely grateful for the opportunity to be a Matchlighters scholar. Thanks again :)”
— Angela, Matchlighters Scholar
 
 

Have a question, comment, or idea? Email us at matchlighters@collegeessayguy.com