How this Chicago startup helps high school students find their passions

by Sam Dewey
February 4, 2016

Faique Moqeet isn’t like most other students.

A senior at Northwestern studying philosophy, business, and entrepreneurship, he’s unlocked a few achievements most young people in or applying for university will most likely never tack on to their resumes.

Take, for instance, the fact that he came into college with about $100,000 worth of scholarships. It’s an enviable feat, considering the current, debt-laden milieu students across the country graduate into. (By now, it’s sad, common knowledge that each year’s graduates are more indebted than ever before).

But even more impressive than netting that cash in the first place is how he’s putting that incredible and particularly insightful experience to good use. After becoming somewhat of a beacon for friends and family looking for admission tips of the trade, Moqeet thought long and hard about how to turn his personal experience into something more accessible.

“This experience planted a seed in me to want to do this in a scalable way where I can help a lot of students at once,” he said.

That’s where

, the startup Moqeet launched last summer, comes into play. The idea is to create a sort of one-stop-shop for admissions advice. With Admit Hero, students can develop their interests professionally and academically through content, actionable guides, and curated extra-curricular activities tailor-made to suit their developing interests.

Most high school students, he said, either don’t know where precisely their interest lie or don’t know how to tangibly pursue and develop those passions. They could turn to the web, Moqeet said, but there’s too much content and not enough quality to do much of anything with. Where one article might say a perfect SAT is paramount to get into Harvard, another might advise that it’s all about your personal essay — in effect, rendering scores of content contradictory or useless.

“It can be very stressful for students,” he said.

Admit Hero aims to solve that pain point by personalizing the experience. Say you’re a high school senior and you know you like math, but you’re not entirely sure what you can do with it. Admit Hero might suggest a summer math class at a local community college to give you a quick taste, or pair you with content written by a math major about their experience with the major, or find scholarships that have scored well in math.

Moqeet said there are a lot of competitors who offer ambition-hungry students to get a leg up on their peers, but that’s not the goal of his company.

“It’s not about gaming the admissions system or getting into the best universities,” he said. “It’s about becoming a better student.”

Moqeet said he’s still weighing his post-graduation options. Although he’s interested in continuing his work on Admit Hero, come May he might consider taking a tech project management gig until Admit Hero gains enough traction.

Admit Hero is expected to launch by the end of the quarter.

Photo via Admit Hero. 

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