Inside Extracurriculars: Entrepreneurship, Startups, & Creative Ventures

About Joanna

A proud alumna of Georgetown University, Joanna has decades of experience in the college admissions and standardized testing space. She’s a longtime admissions interviewer and current member of the Board of Governors at Georgetown, has worked for standardized test agencies (the Graduate Management Admission Council and HR Certification Institute) and prep companies (Veritas Prep), partnered with a great many admissions offices, and served as a college admissions consultant for hundreds of applicants to elite programs. As a nonprofit marketing executive, she focuses her efforts on educational technology and higher education, and volunteers her spare time at a variety of athletic and military organizations including Dog Tag Bakery, Team Red White & Blue, the Ironman Foundation, and the Pat Tillman Foundation.

About the class

Admissions officers love to see creative students who take initiative, leave an impact, and get involved in their communities beyond just their school. Consequently, more and more students are seeking to build their own thing, from founding companies and nonprofits to launching podcasts and video channels while pursuing independent research and projects.

But not all independent ventures are viewed equally, and not every teenager is prepared to start something successful from scratch. Join admissions insider Joanna Graham to investigate how schools assess these types of activities, how to set your venture up for success, and how to determine whether your ROI (a term every entrepreneur should know!) is better from investing time in a startup project or joining and thriving in established pursuits.