Our Mission

Budding Branches was born from the recognition that finding the perfect college match is extremely confusing and difficult. For starters, there are thousands of colleges and universities in the United States. Moreover, many admissions offices present the same story, no matter the reality. Inequity in access to information on colleges also leaves many students blind during the application process. Yet, most high schoolers need to choose a future curriculum, social setting, and home from the very limited information that they have.

The Budding Branches team believes that the most influential and helpful college advice comes from college students themselves. After all, high schoolers are looking for the students’, not the faculty’s or admissions officers’, perspectives. Just as different flower and leaf buds are connected by a network of branches, Budding Branches aims to connect driven and promising students with one another. More specifically, Budding Branches introduces high school juniors and seniors with college volunteers who are attending the respective colleges of interest.

High school students will have the opportunity to ask Budding Branches’ volunteers any questions about their college’s extracurriculars, campus, academics, social life, and more during 1-on-1 calls or college panels. Through these conversations, Budding Branches provides honest and personal impressions of higher education institutions from those who know them best.

In general, Budding Branches focuses on sharing “what the college experience is like” versus “how to get into college.” Budding Branches will not formally provide feedback on applications or essays. Moreover, while Budding Branches does not formally limit its services to certain groups of people, the organization aims to mostly assist those who do not have adequate support during the application process.