Tan M. Lam is the President of the Tu Luong Foundation, a Seattle-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization whose key project is Ivy Aspirations.

I failed elementary school for two years. The last days of the Vietnam War were also my last days of school. After the war, schools were used mostly for propaganda. My dad decided to pull me out of 4th grade. In 1980, I escaped from the Communists using a small fishing boat and, after two years as a refugee in two countries, I re-settled in Dallas.

After nine years of failing and dropping out of school, I got back in as a sophomore, and trying to catch up without English skills was extremely difficult. Today, English is still my second language.

One day, I saw a photo of Dartmouth College and I could not help but dream to be there some day. With a low B grade average and combined SAT score of 660, my dream quickly vanished. Seven years later, I got in as a graduate student and earned my master degree from Dartmouth. My extracurricular activities ("ECs") were big factors for admission because my grade and test scores were the lowest on Dartmouth’s list.

At Dartmouth, I established Tu Luong Foundation ("TLF") to provide medical and education services for refugees. TLF has developed Ivy Aspirations, a website designed to provide online tutoring, admissions consulting, networking opportunities, and ECs to help students gain admission to some of the top colleges.

There are many programs designed to help people get into elite schools, but TLF strives to be different. Almost all Ivy League students have similar academic credentials and ECs. Our services focus on providing students with new, innovative and lucrative ECs that will have a national impact. We will work with students to establish new charities, or assist in the implementation of our current national charity programs. These can also be done without much altering of student schedules by using the Internet at times that are convenient to students to create leverage and boosting impact for thousands of nonprofits through online collaboration and information sharing. Each student will have his or her own project to create a bigger impression and stronger portfolio for top college admissions.

As a former refugee, I know what it takes to make big things happen from little or nothing. What are some ECs? Students can get involved with U.S. Grantmakers-Grantseekers Conference, Nonprofit Online Training Series, etc. For entrepreneurial skills, we offer the Virtual Exhibition Center for conferences and tradeshows online. Since helping students gain admission to one of the Ivy League schools and other top colleges is important, we are teaming up with more than 20 consultants from all eight Ivy League universities to work together to help students achieve their career objectives.

Editors Postscript. I had the opportunity to interview Mr. Lam at length and was impressed by his background and resourcefulness. I truly believe that being involved with the work of a group such as this can help and strengthen one professionally. I strongly encourage you to become more familiar with their programs – KJP.