Introducing ILUMIN Education's New Educational Consultant: Joshua Del Mundo
Elton Lin
Joshua has a BS in Political Science from Texas A&M University and is currently in Chicago, Illinois. Joshua grew up in Texas, then worked in Shanghai, before making his way to Chicago - he's had the opportunity to work with both American and international students and their families since 2012. His experiences include:
10 years as a college admissions consultant
4 years in Shanghai, China working with local and international students
8 years in test prep, tutoring and training tutors in SAT, ACT, GMAT, GRE, LSAT
And he loves animals, fostering several over the past few years. He is currently caring for a young cat and an eight year old deaf dog.
Joshua understands that the college admissions process can be daunting, so he prioritizes managing the calendar to ensure that families are aware of important tasks and deadlines every step of the way.
We asked Joshua five questions to get to know him a little better:
What is one of your favorite aspects of working with students?
I love having a hand in the development of students over the course of one, two, three or more years. Watching a high school freshman go from uncertain about their future to confident and secure as they begin writing their college application essays as a rising senior is incredibly gratifying. Even rising seniors can change significantly within a year as they explore potential career paths and write their personal statements.
Helping students find their passions, pursue opportunities, and achieve their goals is an endlessly rewarding experience.
What advice do you have for students as they start writing their personal statements?
A personal statement is an opportunity to demonstrate values and qualities that you’ll be bringing with you to a college campus. Colleges will see a student’s transcript, activities list, recommendation letters - the personal statement gives us a chance to share something that admissions offices would not otherwise learn. This isn’t the space to give a year to year breakdown of a student’s time in high school. Students should instead focus on important events or experiences that have significantly influenced their worldview.
What is one thing you want your students to know about choosing fields of study?
I'm a firm believer in focusing on exploring careers before looking at majors. Reflect on what’s most important - the type of interactions you want, how much you enjoy working independently or within a team, whether sitting in front of a computer all day is for you, and more!
Once you find fields of interest, then we can start looking at majors that can lead us there. And even then, majors don’t dictate much beyond the courses that you’ll need to take in college. There are physics majors with law degrees and design majors in finance. College is the next step, and a very important one, but it’s far from the last!
What should parents and families consider when selecting college lists?
The first step is understanding what the family values - elements like price, proximity to home, prestige, size, and much more will help them parse through the thousands of US colleges. A lot of families can tend to adhere to the US News rankings as gospel, but even if a family values the name brand, it’s important to explore how that college performs in the student’s chosen field. Texas A&M University and the University of Colorado-Boulder aren’t among the most selective colleges in the country, but these schools produce heavily recruited engineers after graduation.
It’s important to evaluate how the student compares to a college’s incoming class, and ensure that a balanced list of Reach, Target, and Likely colleges is constructed.
What is one way you can help?
Along with working with students on essays, building a college list, and exploring careers and majors, I focus on helping families manage the process from the moment that I begin working with them. The college admissions process can be very stressful, and I recognize that my primary role is to give families the peace of mind that we are putting the student’s best foot forward at every step. I ensure that we’re on target and ahead of schedule with every deadline and application.