Testimonials

ESRAA M.
Student 

“I got some support from the counselor at school, but she has a lot of students who need her help. She put me in contact with SICC. They volunteered to help. My advisor and coach met with me several times. They explained college options, financial aid, and applications. They also talked about career choices. It was really helpful. Affording college is a big issue for me, and the advice they’ve given me my senior year has been huge for me.”

N. KALRA, M.D.
Parent 

“David and his team provided crucial advice and a valuable different perspective from the college counselors at my daughter’s day school. He reviewed essays, recommendation letters, college choices, and strategized with us. Most importantly, he helped us understand how to use my daughters’ next semesters to expand their social entrepreneurship and community service work in such a way that it was more focused for admissions officers. Both my daughters were admitted into several elite universities and they ended up choosing Chicago and Yale. The help we got from David and SICC surely made a significant difference for my family.”

PROF. BRIAN LEWIS
David and Marie Winton Green Chair in String Performance and Pedagogy, University of Texas-Austin Butler School of Music
Artistic Director of the Starling-Delay Symposium on Violin Studies at the Juilliard School of Music

“MusiCommunity is an excellent initiative and is much needed. It is my honor to be on the advisory board.”

JEFFREY L., DDS
Parent

“We worked with David only for a few months while our daughter was going through a tough time beginning her senior year. She wasn’t excited about college and didn’t want to be away from home. We desperately wanted her to spread her wings. Even during the very first meeting, David reassured her and reduced the anxiety and tension we all had about her future. I just remember nodding again and again at what he said during our meetings. She listened to him. With his help, and feedback from one of his Coaches, she ended up applying to a handful of great schools she wasn’t seriously considering earlier. She got into all of them. She decided on Purdue where she is extremely happy. We’re also thrilled that her program is ranked top-ten in the country. My family is very happy we had help from David exactly when we needed it most.”

C. BAYAN, M.D.
Parent

“We engaged SICC to help us keep our sons on track as high school got so busy. College prep and applications were very stressful, and mental health and our relationship was most important to me. That’s why we began working with David. He also brought Gordana onto our team for help with medical research advice and networking, and Andrew for coaching on the MusiCommunity project and an inclusivity project they called We The People. They already had the GPAs and APs and great test scores, but this work they did with SICC filled a gap in their resumes. It was great to see small passion projects grow into something that made a difference for kids in a number of school districts. My oldest is at Harvard now, and my youngest just got into Berkeley!”

M. HAMZA
Parent

“We emigrated to the United States from Sudan when our daughter was in primary school. The staff at her high school didn’t have the time to support her very much so we asked Social Impact Career Coaching. They volunteered to help her with all her college applications. We were very proud that she got into a selective liberal arts college. But when her financial aid was reduced for her second year they helped her get a much better award so she could continue her degree program. We are very thankful for their help over the last two years.”

MARIA O.
Student

“I am interested in human rights and want my college major and whatever job I get to be in that area. I’ve had great teachers in high school who inspired me, but I also needed more help to understand my options. I needed support also because this is all new to my family. David and Samer gave me a lot of support at a critical time for me and they did it for free. I’m on my way in my studies now and I’m grateful for all their help.”

MATTI B.
Student

“Working with SICC on MusiCommunity has been really rewarding for me so far. I’m planning on majoring in music at the University of Iowa, and my experience taking leadership with a group like this is important for me. Seeing the kids we’re teaching have fun and learn makes me very glad that I can be a part of this.”

PROF. JEFF CAMPBELL
Chair of Jazz Studies, Eastman School of Music

“I commend the MusiCommunity project and your organization for this initiative. I’m glad to support and help in any way I can.”

PROF. DAVID BARG
Conductor-clinician for the Education Departments of the New York Philharmonic and Omaha Symphonies

“MusiCommunity is a big-minded and generous-of-heart project. I pledge to always be available to help your organization with this venture.”

JULIEN C.
Student

“My SICC coaches gave me a huge amount of detailed help on my applications, they did it at the last minute, and they helped me for free. I’d also been following their model of finding ways to make a social impact with my activities, and I know that’s helped too. I took charge of my application process and didn’t depend on my parents to help me directly, so the support from my coaches was key.”

PROF. LARRY LIVINGSTON
Chair, Department of Conducting, USC Thornton School of Music

“I applaud MusiCommunity and admire the project. I predict that MusiCommunity will be adopted or created in parallel across the country in the ensuing months. I’m honored to serve as an advisor and am grateful for your organization for the leadership.”

MIKALEY L.
Student

“Before I worked with David, I was planning on living at home and going to a local college or university. He talked to me and met with me and my parents. He gave some incredibly important advice that helped me see where I could go and how I could balance my goals with my studies. His advice and support inspired me to apply to several more schools. I’m planning on attending St. Louis University and I’m so excited to get started in the fall. I’m really fortunate we were able to work with David right when I needed to make some big decisions. He helped me think big, but still be practical, and it’s already made a real difference in my life.”

ANETA G.
Parent

“My daughter was unsure about plans for college and didn’t even know how to find her path. We couldn’t afford hiring a college counselor from a company, so we turned to SICC. Our SICC Advisor helped her believe in herself. He inspired her to focus on her classes, study hard for her ACT, and make tough choices to change her life. She was admitted to her top two universities, and now she is preparing to spend a semester studying at a prestigious university in Europe. I’m so proud of her! I strongly recommend SICC to anyone.”

ANNETTE D.
Parent

“We spent thousands of dollars to engage a college counseling agency. They provided my daughter some suggestions and basic information to narrow her college choices, but the agency's feedback was cursory and unhelpful in general. We reached out to SICC just weeks before the deadline. Our SICC Advisor gave detailed suggestions about her application and the all-important personal statement that helped the admission committee understand the reasons for her borderline grades, and allowed her other achievements to shine. As a result, she was admitted to her top school: Ohio University with its prestigious Scripps School of Journalism. We are very grateful for the timely and significant help our SICC Advisor provided.”

RAY T.
Student

“My two years working with David on three social entrepreneurship team projects was really great. He gave me life and career advice that helped me prepare for law school. I also asked him to write my reference letter. With his help, I got in to the University of Wisconsin. That was my top choice school. They gave me a great financial aid package. Not having huge loans allows me to continue my social entrepreneurship work, and I’m very happy with my law career now.”

IRENA K.
Student

“David worked extensively with me to prepare my Fulbright Fellowship application. It funded my entire program in public policy at the University of Maryland. The fellowship and degree opened the door for my career at The World Bank. I am very glad I worked with him, and I enthusiastically recommend SICC as a unique and much-needed organization. I really like that they are a non-profit and it gives me confidence in their mission. Their approach to help students get in to a great degree program and make it affordable, I’m sure will help many others like me.”

CLAY JENKINS
Professor of Trumpet, Eastman School of Music

“MusiCommunity is an amazing project. I am so impressed that your team has created such a worthwhile and helpful organization.”

DARIJUS S.
Student

“I had an ambitious plan to pursue doctoral studies in piano performance at the Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music. I knew the odds were against me because it’s one of the top conservatories in the world. David worked closely with me through the long application process. He helped me prepare for GRE and TOEFL tests, and helped me with every part of the actual application. CCM also offered me a very generous aid package with a teaching assistantship. It’s great that other students can benefit from this level of direct help through Social Impact College Coaching. Without that help, graduate school would have been impossible.”

KATHARINE D.
Student

“I had withdrawn from college during my first semester because I ended up not liking my nursing major and didn't connect with the campus community like I thought I would. David opened my eyes to social entrepreneurship. He encouraged me to get some experience working in early childhood education. I began taking classes at The Ohio State University while I helped manage an afterschool program. I also took his advice to study abroad. I had the most amazing month doing social entrepreneurship work in Tanzania and raised money to provide forearm crutches to a boy with disabilities. It was probably the single most meaningful and powerful experience in my life. It gave me new purpose and direction. The support and insight I got from David helped me discover things about myself I didn't see yet. He believed in me."

DANIELLE S.
Student

"I desperately needed help with my college applications because I was swamped with my job and other responsibilities. David coached me through the entire process. He even helped me prepare for standardized tests since I didn't have time to enroll in a specialized class, and wanted really focused help anyway. He knew when to push, and he knew when to let go and allow me to make my own decisions. Working with him is so empowering. His coaching came at the ideal time for me and was given sensitively every step of the way, past every roadblock. It ended up being exactly what I needed. It changed my life.”

GRACE A.
Student

"As an international student, I really needed extra help to understand my options. David worked with me on career advice and scholarship applications. The financial side of studying aviation is very expensive. Finding the right program, balancing work and studies, and making it affordable is really hard. He helped me with all of that, and I feel like I'm in a better place now. He also did research for me to help explore options in different programs. His professional connections and knowledge of higher education opened doors for me. That is huge when you don't have connections on your own. David took the time to get to know me as a person. That helped me put together strong applications. He spent hours with me working on my essays. I'm very proud of them now. I trust his advice completely. "  

CHRISTINE B.
Parent, Student

“Mid-way through a successful career, I decided to return to graduate school to become a counselor. I needed a lot of support. SICC was extremely helpful from the beginning, from researching potential graduate programs, investigating financial aid options, prepping referees to write effective reference letters, and preparing the application itself. Doing it all alone would have been impossible with my hectic schedule. SICC was a lifesaver. I got into one of the top programs in the country. David also had ideas about how to network months before I got to campus. That process opened the door for a T.A. position for me, worth almost $30,000 and an entire year of graduate school paid for. Without help from SICC, I likely wouldn’t have even mounted an application, much less got to where I am.”