This session describes how students in a historically high-poverty, low-performing high school were inspired, supported, encouraged, and guided through a year-long college admissions and financial aid planning process and how research-responsive strategies providing mentoring, inspiring leadership, supporting rigorous course taking, and guiding students to the point of self-efficacy resulted in the inaugural 15-student College Planning Cohort being accepted into 48 two-year and four-year colleges and universities, being offered over $3.3 million in scholarships and institutional grants, and becoming a ‘Tipping Point’ for a shift in school and community expectations. The success of these 15 students (our first Gates Millennium Scholar, Meyerhoff Scholar, and Questbridge Finalist) inspired an eight-fold increase in 113 students signing up for the 2016 college planning boot camp and cohort. The cultural shift has had an unbelievable impact on students, staff, parents, and the community.