As seniors at DBHS prepare to wrap up their high school experience, some have already decided where the next chapter of their life story will take place. Although the year is just about halfway done, many seniors have already been accepted to the colleges they will attend.
Many of these seniors have been accepted to some of the most prestigious schools in the country, including Yale, MIT, Cornell, Princeton, Duke, Emory, and NYU among others. One of these students is senior class president Justin Kung, who was accepted to Yale University.
“I chose Yale for its open curriculum to explore my interdisciplinary interests, research opportunities, and people-friendly environment as Yale emphasizes peer-to-peer connections and fosters a strong sense of community and collaboration,” Kung said.
Having done multiple extracurriculars, Kung said that thanks to the amount of work he put into his high school career, he was decently prepared for the college admissions process.
“Overall the college admission process centers around a lot of writing, whether it be describing each of your most important activities, or writing an essay about your deepest passions and hidden secrets,” Kung said. “For me, the writing wasn’t that bad, but the introspection that it took to form words to describe certain experiences certainly took a long time.”
Melody Zhang was another senior fortunate enough to hear back from her early decision choice: the Stern School of Business at NYU.
“I originally chose ED1 to NYU because I knew I would ultimately raise my admission chances from around 7% to about 15%,” Zhang said. “Although that doesn’t seem like a drastic increase in admission chances, I felt that NYU would be the perfect place for me to hone my skills to jump into investment banking or financial consulting. I also just love New York City in general, and I wanted to move to the East Coast to experience a change in environment from California.”
Like all the other seniors applying to college, she had to navigate the at times tricky admissions process.
“The college admissions process was very fast-paced and reflective, especially if you are applying to private schools,” Zhang said. “In my opinion, writing your personal statement for private schools really forces you to think about what you’ve learned in life, whether it centers on overcoming adversity or discovering what you value in life.”
All of these seniors were extremely ecstatic when they received the news that they had been accepted into some of the most selective schools in the country. This can be shown by the reaction of Alton Hsiung, who was accepted into Princeton University.
“I wasn’t expecting myself to have a big reaction but because of how I opened it in front of a lot of people by accident I felt really hyped up,” Hsiung said.
With the school year rapidly coming to a close, current seniors will soon be faced with regular decision admissions, while the Class of 2025 is set to be the next batch of seniors impatiently waiting for their results in due time.
“I would like to encourage underclassmen to just try,” Zhang said. “Whether that is by taking a long shot in the college admission process or signing up for a competition you don’t think you’ll win in, I hope you guys all put your best foot forward in life.”
