Shahaf tells us about his journey of having to go to community college due to finances, but then eventually working hard to make it into Boston University as a junior.
Transcription
Kamila
Hey college kids. Welcome back to my podcast. Today’s interview is a little special because I’m interviewing my first transfer student. So Shar Hoff, who’s currently a junior at Boston University transferred from community college. It was really interesting learning about community college and the transfer application process. So I hope you enjoy as much as I did.
Hey, college kids, welcome back to my podcast, who cares about college? Today I am interviewing Shahab so could you please introduce yourself?
Shahaf
Hi, everybody. My name is Shahaf. I am a computer science junior student here at Boston University in the College of Arts and Sciences, and a recent transfer from a small community college in California.
Kamila
Definitely get to the community college and transferring to Boston University a little bit later, but let’s go to high school. So how how would you how would you say you approach the college process or just high school in general? Were you pressured to you know achieve higher education? Were you pressured to make sure your grades were all set? Or perhaps it was like your parents who put this pressure on you or were they more like lenient on you.
Shahaf
So going into college was definitely a default idea in my family. I have three younger siblings every single one of them is expected to go to college and pursue higher education and the green whatever they want of course, right. Computer science is something that I’ve been passionate for, you know, for a while ever since freshman year of high school. But when it comes to my college experience on the individual level, I have a very unique experience I would say rather than the average American student so I moved from Israel when I was 15, meaning a little bit after sophomore year high school started moved in a move to do the United States a small city in in deep California I did not speak barely any English didn’t have any friends was had a huge cultural gaps, etc, etc. And going into high school in California all expected, he’s kind of like have the Disney movie experience, you know, I thought I’m going to have my own locker and I’m going to go watch basketball games and football games on Friday nights and then have fun with my friends later go to restaurants go in and out, you know, um, but it wasn’t like that at all. For the first year I struggled a lot. I took ESL classes English second language, struggled a lot with how to make friends, cultural gaps, the language barrier, etc, etc. So when it comes to the college experience, again, it wasn’t until I submitted my college applications to a bunch of UCS University of California as UC Davis, UC San Diego, that I realized how expensive college really is, you know, all I had in mind is okay, college is going to be as cheap as in Israel, which is, for the most part subsidized by the government to a certain extent. And I thought, you know, I’m just gonna go to college, there’s no going to be any financial toll on it. It’s not going to be a financial barrier. I’m just going to go to college, have fun, maybe join a fraternity and make the most out of the college experience as a freshman and a sophomore, then I can worry about academics. But it wasn’t what I expected at all. As soon as I got into some of the colleges that I wanted to the University of the Pacific, I think was one of my top choices back in California. I realized how expensive the cost of colleges are more. My parents realized that they came up to me towards a few weeks before I graduated from high school, and they’re like, so we can really, we can’t really send you to college, we don’t have the financial means. So we can kind of to the really realization that average American family saves a lot of money from the moment their child is born. So they can go to college in the future. My parents did not have that savings, we didn’t never need it. That was not something that we took into account. So in the three years of me being in high school in California, we didn’t even realize that it’s going to be easier for my younger siblings, yes, because my parents finally put some money to savings for them. But I had to make the tough call of either taking a lot of loans of loans, and struggling in the future or go to community college, save some money for my pup save some money for myself make the smart decision, however, sacrifice the college experience that I seeked so much desire so much. So I made a tough call. I didn’t get to go to parties. I didn’t get to join a fraternity. I didn’t get to live in dorm with freshmen make all the good memories that a lot of y’all out there have. And that’s unfortunate, you know, a really, really is. But at the end of the day, the two years that I spent in community college not only I finished with four associate’s degrees and the top 5% of my class, but I only managed to transfer to a good school. I worked almost 40 hours a week two jobs to well over the recommended amount of units per student. And I ended the day sorry for my own which I worked my ass off. I worked my ass off to get into college they wanted and have the financial means to to afford it
Kamila
now That is, you came here at 50. So it’s not like you were in middle school you came when most people in your grid had already done a year of high school. So I’m curious about how did your high school experience in itself and like your application differ from others? So you did say you were put in the was it the SEL classes? Yes.
Shahaf
So I was put into ESL, only my sophomore year of high school.
Kamila
So and that’s interesting. So are you put into that class? And I know, because there are people at my school who come to and they learn English that way. But were you also put into standard math classes with other people who were just, you know, in the high school as well, were you put into, you know, math, history, science classes, amongst other people? Did you like struggle with that, because because of the language barrier,
Shahaf
my math was actually surprisingly fine. Back in Israel, I was, you know, well, more advanced math class or with other people. So that gave me kind of an advantage. So instead of putting me with the other accelerated groups or advanced group here, and they just pulled me with the regular people, and my math was completely fine. There wasn’t a lot of English, but there will there was a little bit of a struggle, but not as much as with the liberal arts and classes that required a lot of readings and writings.
Kamila
And in the end, yeah, in the end, like the statistical stuff that you put, that’s like your high school transcript. In the end, what did your unweighted and weighted GPA end up being?
Shahaf
So I actually I, I’m very, I very, I care very much about my academics, I would say I, if there’s one thing that I prioritize above all, is family, and then academics. So my GPA, I think, I think I got three B’s overall throughout high school. I’m not counting my freshman year back in Israel. But I got about three B’s, I think my unweighted GPA was about 393392. Then my weighted GPA, took a few AP classes, and I won IB class as well, throughout my junior and senior year, and I think it was about 4200. That’s
Kamila
actually very good. And so they just calculated based on sophomore junior and senior year in that high school.
Shahaf
Yes, they did not call my freshman year, unfortunately.
Kamila
Hmm, interesting. This is this is very interesting. Okay. And you did say you took a couple AP and IB classes. So again, as a high school is really confusing to the ordinary person coming in as, like someone who doesn’t understand the American education system. It must be really hard. So did you not understand like, I need a lot of APS, a lot of IVs to get into college, just because that’s what a lot of like, top colleges want to see. So did you understand how college worked in how you needed to craft your application? Or was it again, more like you just went through high school did what your counselors told you,
Shahaf
I when I when I thought of college applications, I actually didn’t put my mind into college applications until my junior year, until after I signed up for a few AP classes. But at the end of the day, like I said, academic is very important for you already for me as it should be for a lot of people out there. Um, it’s I once I finished the classes, and I saw that in math and computer science, I’m, I hate to be cocky but more advanced than the other average person, I would say, then I decided, okay, might as well to the next level, you know, I don’t want to I finished the introductory classes, I finished the regular classes. Let’s take the AP ones, why not? So my junior year I took AP Computer Science, IB history just because they wanted to challenge my writing. And also AP environmental science, just because my counselor recommended an easy AP class that could boost my GPA at a time I remember I was very confused. I was like, I don’t know what it means. I don’t know what this GPA thing is all about. I’m just going to try my best to get good grades. But then later, I found out that I got rejected that I accepted to colleges that, yes, he matters, the GPA matters. So to a certain extent, I am thankful for that one counselor that pushed me to take more AP classes.
Kamila
That’s interesting. But in general, did you like was there nobody to like help you understand? Again, the American education system, it’s really confusing. I’m still confused about it. And like tell you about college apps. So like you did say there was that one counselor to push you but overall, was there like nobody there to like help you and guide you through the process?
Shahaf
No, not a lot of guidance. We hadn’t one family friend whom was relatively who’s also from Israel and moved Eurodollar a younger age. I think she’s around her 40s or 50s. And she helped us a lot in understanding what the system here looks like. But she didn’t help me as much as I would like to. I’ll be honest, um, what? where I got most of my information from was mainly the course catalog. I just read every single word in the course catalog every single word in this school catalog that I get for freshmen for new incoming students. I spent my entire summer before I came to high school over there between my freshman and sophomore years. I remember reading in on the plane to the United States and really just reading about it trying to make every word translated so many words. And remember, there are so many translation above the words and really try to absorb as much information as possible about the academic and the school educational system here in the United States. So there’s an extent I did come with a certain knowledge of what AP classes are, but I didn’t realize what their significance and importance is.
Kamila
And let’s move on to another part. That’s like, again, like high school transcript. So sa t and AC t, I get so when did you kind of take it? Did you have any preparations for it? And then what did your score ended up being for that? Whether you took the LSAT or AC t.
Shahaf
So our school offered the free PSAT for every sophomore, I believe, every the end of sophomore year. So I took the PSAT I did actually, surprisingly well, on the math, I think I got around 6076 70, which is was okay for me as a sophomore. And then I did pretty bad on the English I think I got below 400, which you would expect from somebody who barely spoke English at a time. So I took the PSAT I was pretty disappointed myself, considering the friends that I surrounded myself with, they all started getting good grades, and I’m like, wow, I, I barely booked 1000. You know, like, I have to improve academics. And those little numbers are very important for me, for some reason are very important to me for some reason. So I spent the summer studying a little more, I start reading a lot of books in English, did a little bit more math. And then I actually managed to improve my sd score a lot more. So I took it once in the end of my junior year, once beginning of senior year, and I also took it as a transfer students right before I transferred to
Kamila
B, you need to take it as a transfer student
Shahaf
depends to what schools you apply to. I applied to Columbia and Yale. So yeah, interesting. And B, you also required one and you don’t have to take admission as a transfer student if you have a score from high school, but I wasn’t very satisfied with my score from high school. So I decided to take it again in my sophomore year of college.
Kamila
If you don’t mind sharing, what was your score in high school for like the super score?
Shahaf
VSAT was 1000. The first time I took it, I think I got like around 12 102nd time I took it beginning my senior year was around 1310. I think when I took it as a sophomore in college, I got a 1450 which is then when I was satisfied enough.
Kamila
I mean, that’s in for the LSAT itself, because standardized tests is some knowledge mainly like being prepared, you know, the practice books and the tutoring. So did you have access to any of that? Or was it you just like going into the test and trying your best?
Shahaf
I bought one book, I did a few math practice exams, but the book was about 1000 pages long. I only read 20 of those.
Kamila
Okay, okay. And for the schools that you did apply to because you did say you apply to the UC schools in Cal Fornia. What did you fall like below average average or above average with that LSAT score
Shahaf
way below average? I mean, I applied for a computer science major, right? I didn’t want to fly for undeclared and have better chances. I didn’t want to apply for an easier major and have better chances of getting in I decided to apply for computer science because I feel competitive. However I will. However, my grades and credentials I will say weren’t competitive enough. So applying with a 1310 a CT score in a way did you feel for two? Yeah, it is good for some majors. But no, for computer science, no. For schools like UCLA, or UC San Diego. It closes I got was whitelisted at UC Davis. But as I said, I ended up going to community college considering how much it cost and my parents couldn’t afford it. So
Kamila
I mean, I mean your LSAT scores better than some people who like live in America, so that’s great. And let’s move on to the more like fun stuff, which is like the extracurriculars recommendation letters essays on college apps. So let’s start with extracurriculars. Which extracurriculars like did you do? And I know you started you came in sophomore year. So can you tell us like how long you did them for like if you put them off till you learn the English and then like started them junior year.
Shahaf
Sophomore year. I didn’t do any extracurriculars. I didn’t understand what they are. I didn’t realize there are clubs at school that I could join to, you know, I didn’t realize that was a thing. I thought there are only sports teams that I can consider. I did try out for the JV basketball team. I believe I made it and then I got rejected from JV junior year. But I did play varsity wrestling cross country and volleyball my junior and senior year. So that was pretty much all the extracurriculars that I did. I also joined this cybersecurity club my senior year, but that’s really just about it.
Kamila
So juniors, that is that’s a lot of sports. How did you handle all of that?
Shahaf
Yeah, try for triathletes it’s every every sim every trimesters we have trimesters back in high school. every trimester we have a different sports I just moved along in along one to another.
Kamila
So you didn’t know there was like clubs until like your senior year you did say you do This one club, but you didn’t know there were like any clubs that your high school offered.
Shahaf
So that’s something that I even considered about asking because it’s not something that I was aware of, for, especially for students who are coming from other countries there, you don’t really get a lot of help. I’ll be honest, you don’t really get a lot of help a lot of exposure to all the opportunities. Like I said, all I get is a small catalog, and I’ll read about is the classes that in the academic opportunities.
Kamila
Yeah. I have a question about Israel. And this is I’ll give a little backstory to this. So I’m a sophomore in high school right now. And I’m going through college apps that are that I’m looking at my extracurriculars, and my grades and such. And my dad, and my, my parents are from other countries, right? They went, they went there, they were educated there. They came here when I was still a little kid. So what for them college was like you take an exam, and that exam determines which college you can go to there’s no like extracurriculars, essays, recommendation letters, and like they do in America was that the same for you back in Israel did they just have some sort of exam that all students needed to take, and then place into, like their college based on their score?
Shahaf
Back in Israel, for every single citizen, no matter your religion, your gender whatsoever, you’re required to go after high school, two or three years service in the military, right? So you don’t go straight to the university. And that’s something you take care of after you get off your service. Some people, if they’re smart, the military decides to exam exempt them from their service, and they go straight to university. I was on that track. You take a psychometric, which is kind of like the SCT exam, which just asks you a bunch of questions about the Hebrew language, English and math. Based on the score, you have better chances of getting to other colleges, but extra curricular activities and essays don’t matter. They’re not part of applications. It’s merely just grades and sad.
Kamila
Yeah, that’s I think that’s how most countries do it. It’s like my parents are still confused. Like, what are these extracurriculars? recommendation letters essays? Okay. So we’ve gone through that, and let’s go to actual college application, the actual college application the common app? So can you explain a little bit about the UC system? How do they structure college applications? Do they have a special system where you fill out the application and it goes to all UC schools? Or do they still each use the common app and you had to fill each one out individually?
Shahaf
So the UCS ask, they have one unified application you apply and then you fill all the information for one college. And then you go ahead and select which one of the UCS you want to apply to I believe I applied to four being UCLA, Berkeley, San Diego and Davies. Um, and yeah, I remember not getting into any of them just getting wait listed at Davis. And that’s about it. Unfortunately. However, I could tell you more about my application experience as a transfer that was way more rigorous. I had way more extracurriculars, I put way more effort into my essays, mainly because I learned my lesson from the college applications as a senior in high school as a junior senior in high school. So I was a junior senior in high school again, I had no idea what extracurriculars meant I had no idea that I need to put effort and actually fix the grammar on my essays, and I no idea that I could actually apply for schools out of state, the only schools that I ever considered those schools, my friends consider, which are the UCs, right. As a transfer, I learned more because I heard more stories of people getting into Princeton, or Tulane or rice universities, or BU, you know, and I was like, you know, it’s, it’s something that I ever never considered the entire American culture revolves around the college experience and college applications. Why wouldn’t I do more research about it? So one day, I did more research as a freshman, as soon as I as a senior in freshman, senior in high school, a freshman in college, and I did more research and then my application in sophomore year of college as a transfer student was amazing. If you asked me,
Kamila
we’ll get to that. I just want to quickly like get through, get to college, community college, and then we’ll definitely get to that, because that’s very interesting. You’re the first transfer student I’ve had. So again, quickly going through, you did apply to the UC schools. You said in the beginning that you apply to a couple others and you got into one but you couldn’t afford the price tag or
Shahaf
Yeah, I got into a few colleges, like the University of Arizona NAU. I got into you in our I believe I got into the University of Pacific, I think I got into Davies off the waitlist, too. But again, it was the cost that just we couldn’t afford it. You know, I didn’t get any scholarships, besides 500 bucks here and there. And the price was just way too overwhelming for my parents to afford. So it was either taking loans again or going to community college.
Kamila
Okay, and so, you did choose Community College, let’s talk about your experience as a community college student, and then we can go to transfer application and then, you know, Boston University and then comparing Community College versus a university or like a liberal arts college, for example. So coming into community college, again, how was the procedure? Do you get this you get list of courses? Or are you able to choose your courses? How does it work? Or do you have like a bunch of standard classes that everybody needs to take.
Shahaf
So community college can be extremely frustrating. There are three main routes that you can take extremely, extremely frustrated when it started. But there are three main routes that you can take the first route is that transformation garden guarantee, every community college in every state has its own program. So for example, my school’s Las Positas College had a specified program for computer science students that if you get a 3.2 GPA and two for computer science classes, and a few math and physics classes, you’re guaranteed to transfer to UC Davis, which is a great school, by the way. Um, I know for example, for Los Angeles City College, if you get a certain Japan take certain classes, you might even get into UCLA, right? Like your chances go, you tend just to get into a certain program at a certain school get better depends on depending on which community college in which area you go to. Yeah, but um, yeah, that’s pretty much it at the end of the day. As a community college student, again, I did a lot, we’ll get to the extracurriculars fine in a second, I believe. But yeah, when it comes to planning my academics after it was really frustrated that I am not going to get a college experience and realize that I’m going to a community college for my first two years, being 19 and 20, I’m losing two of my best years to just working hard working two jobs and the he more than the recommended amount of units, I realized that I have to plan everything ahead. And that’s the second course you know. So that’s the second option that I said, besides the tag the transformation guarantee. The second option, again, is plan everything to the smallest detail. So when you go to a community college, you can take different paths, different paths, each school that you want to transfer to, which you have to decide ahead of time, has different requirements for different majors. So for example, I’ll give you an example UCLA might require for very specific computer science classes, while Boston University mile might require five classes that are completely different. Meaning if you want to apply to both, you have to take all nine classes together, to have the chance to write even be considered as an applicant. Which is unfortunate, because I ended up taking 90 units over not Well, I think 9093 units over the span of two years, which is a lot. It sounds like a lot. I think three classes every summer, I took six to seven classes every semester, he was tough. I would study on I don’t pull up way too many all nighters. But I mean, look around, now I’m getting a scholarship, I have a financial aid that allows me to afford the school really well. And I’m going to a top 50 school in the nation, as a computer science student, you know, I’m more than happy. And I’m getting my master’s and my bachelor’s and master’s together. I’ll say more about that in a sec. But yeah, that brings me into the third option, what you can do is just focus on one that a lot of students do that you can focus on one school that you really want to get into, take the minimal classes, which is like you can take three classes per semester and you’re guaranteed to get in, if you just put, if you’re sure that you can get the A’s and that you want, then you’re good. I’ll give you an example. Let’s say that you want to go to Chico State, which is a great party school, for anybody who wants to go to a party school out there, and you go to Las Positas College, you can take three to four classes a semester, very laid back, let’s say that your English major is going to be laid back and you know, you can just apply, take those three classes, make sure you get some good GPA, 3.5 or above. And if you think if you’re sure enough in your capabilities, I’m doing it in your abilities. If you think you’re capable enough, you’re going to get in, it’s inevitable. But yeah, that’s pretty much the three routes, you know, Transfer Admission Guarantee or plan everything to the smallest detail if you want to apply to a bunch of schools. Or if you want to apply to just one school that that’s the only school you’re interested in, just take very, very specific classes.
Kamila
And how did you choose? So let’s go You did say you were like, even senior year, you were like researching and saw freshman year coming into community college. Can you tell me how did you choose which colleges that you wanted to apply to? Because I assume you chose the second option where it’s like, you know, fine, fine print, look at every detail and applied to a wide range of schools. So how did you choose the schools that you wanted to apply to?
Shahaf
Yes, so I knew that I because I didn’t get to live by myself. I lived. I lived with my parents, I drove every single day to school, I didn’t really get a college experience of having a roommate and living with my parents being independent. Because I didn’t get that I decided okay, as much as I love my family, and again, family comes for before anything. I want to move as far away from here as possible. I want to be independent. I want to get my own experience, you know, so I was like, You know what, let’s move to the other side of the country. So I applied to a bunch of school on the East Coast. I applied to Columbia. I applied to Northeastern Northwestern, I applied to be you applied to yo I didn’t apply to a few UCS, UCLA and UC Berkeley just because I kind of wanted to get redemption if that that makes any sense, um, was not worth the 70 bucks that I dropped on each application. Um, but yeah, that’s pretty much it. So I applied to all those schools, I think I applied to a few more here and there, I think a total of nine schools, maybe 10, I got into a few. And BU was the best school that not only offered in person activity, which is what I wanted, after two years of not having any college experience that also gave me enough scholarships also gave me enough financial aid and enough opportunities, you know, that I could actually not only afford it for the long term, but could also enjoy for some extent, the college experience while other schools just online.
Kamila
And so, with your application, you said, obviously, you were going to move out of transfer at a community college to a university was so of course you’re you know, looking at the different credits you need to take and such. But was scholarships a big deal for you as well? Were you simultaneously taking a bunch of credits, taking a bunch of classes while also working and striving for a scholarship?
Shahaf
Yes, yes, all the time, I had to be on top of my academics all the time, I had to be on top of extracurriculars all the time, I applied to a lot of scholarships. I think outside scholarships covered about $16,000 inside scholarships from bu covered another $16,000. So not per semester, but generally be used per semester, but um, or per year, my bed, and then financial aid helps quite a lot too. And the rest, I pay for my savings, don’t forget, I did work two jobs for a total of 35 to 40 hours per week. I saved a lot of money, both as a server and as a software developer, intern. And yeah, that’s how it is, you know, work hard to get rewards later.
Kamila
And since you are a transfer applicant, can you tell us a little bit about how you should as a as a person who’s in community college who wants to transfer to a university or a college? How do you kind of craft your application that way? Obviously, you have really rigorous academics, but how do you play on your extracurriculars? Are you required to have like internships and jobs? How does it differ from like a regular university applicant like a Yeah, a senior in high school applying to university versus a trend a community college student applying for university.
Shahaf
So again, when you apply there are three different people who are blind, those who focus on academics, those who focus on extracurriculars, and those that are well rounded. Right. I wanted to be the well rounded one, just because they wanted to have a broad opportunities, I could apply some declare that could apply us math, they could even apply as a computer science major, which is what I wanted, but I wanted my opportunities open. So I decided to do a little bit of everything. I decided to have I when I before I started my first day of classes at a community college, I made a list a checkbox on a simple note card of exactly what I wanted to do. I said, I want to at least for three semesters, with a GPA of 4.0, which I accomplished, I wanted to be on the executive board of the student government, which I accomplished, I wanted to be the president of two clubs, which I was the president of the Alpha Gamma Sigma Honor Society, the biggest club that we have on campus. And the chess club, which I also founded. I wanted to be the vice president of the computer science club. I wanted to be the president, but I ended up settling for vice president. I did a lot of extracurriculars that ended the day I was also on the dive team as an athlete for my freshman year. Besides that, what else did I do? I wasn’t in math club. I let a lot of projects I even flew to Washington, DC to represent the student body of Las Positas. College as part of the ACC American Student Association of Community Colleges. And I also got to meet with legislators in in the Congress to talk about community college issues specifically. So yeah, I did I do, I did a lot for the student body on campus. And just because I wanted to prove in my college applications that I was passionate, because I was passionate about the college experience, I wanted to show them that if they have me on campus, I will do my best to the best of my ability to take care of their students, because I’m part of a community. And here be you, I am part of the community. As a matter of fact, I am running right now for the executive board and Student Government. I’m part of multiple different clubs on the executive board. This is my community here. And all I want to do is take care of it.
Kamila
Okay, I mean, that sounds great. And you did do a lot of art in community college. And as for your application, like, you know, high schoolers have a common app or coalition and then for your actual application. How did you How was it like formatted? Do you also have this big essay that you need to write like a 650 700 word essay you need to write? Are there like small supplementals that each colleges have? And then do you have to, like, you know, give an official transcript given official list of your extracurriculars. So how was it formatted there?
Shahaf
So the application process as a transfer student, again, was extremely extremely frustrating because I wanted to apply to a bunch of schools as a well rounded student right, meaning I filled out the comment application, I filled out the coalition application, I feel I filled out the UC application, I filled out the COC application because I applied to a range of schools. Um, each one of them had different requirements of essays. Each one of them had different requirements of filling out what classes extracurriculars jobs that you had. Um, but yeah, I mean, I ended up applying to about 10 schools, I think. I think one CSU for UCs and five privates, but, uh, yeah.
Kamila
And is, is applying as a transfer student more competitive than applying as a regular student, like, do the acceptance rates change? Or are they smaller? are they bigger?
Shahaf
So it’s actually really depends on depending on the school for, I would say, for about 80 70% of the schools in the United States, it’s much less competitive. I mean, you are going for two year, and the universities want to make it easier for students who are going to a community college for making the smart move to get as a transfer student, if they prove their worth, right. So to a certain extent, I mean, here to be we’ll give you an example. I think I noticed that this sticks. As a freshman, I think you have about 17% of getting in 17% acceptance rate. And that’s a transfer student, I think it’s just about 30, maybe a little bit below 29. But then again, it also depends on the major for so for computer scientists extremely more competitive.
Kamila
And so you did say how you had to like fill out the multiple applications. You as a transfer student, what advice would you give for other students who are in community college and are thinking about transferring to a higher institution like university or college? What advice would you give them as a transfer applicant that you wish you had known?
Shahaf
Yeah, I’m going to give two advices. The first advice is for high school students out there that are considering the community college option. It is an option for any high school student out there considering it is an option that you must consider you’re going to save almost $100,000 to your parents for your future self and your you can still make the most out of college experience. You can join extracurriculars, you can go to internships, and you can arrange parties, you can make it happen, it’s totally up to you, and you save the money, it’s totally what you make out of it. While the opportunities might not be out there, like they are in a four year university, it’s an option every single person should consider the applications are free, classes are getting better. And the option of going to a community college becomes more and more popular. Take advantage of take advantage of it while it’s out there. And while it’s more accessible. And the second advice that I’m going to give is for those who are transfer students right now, and are considering transferring to other schools, look at the schools that you want to apply to have a very, very limited list and look at what they are paying attention to. Meaning if you are applying for computer science at Columbia, look at their computer science program, if they like more data science or more robotics or more, or if they are really proud of this one professor mentioned in your essays why you want to apply directly to them, make it special, make it about them. While it’s also about you. Say I want to go to that school because they want to be part of this community and be taught by that professor, make it about them make it seem like you’re interested in them specific race color, just like that. I actually got into Columbia off the waitlist, which is an accomplishment I’m really really proud of. But I decided not to go because they didn’t have such an attractive in person option as Boston University and they did not offer me as much scholarships. So like to, again, if finances is not an option apply is not a concern for you apply to as many schools as possible you have nothing to lose.
Kamila
And so you did say you apply to a wide range of schools. Can you tell us which schools that you apply to and then which schools you got I think they do the same right accepted wait listed and then rejected from
Shahaf
so I applied to four UCS being UCLA UC Berkeley, UC San Diego and Davis. Today we say target I did a Transfer Admission Guarantee, th e Tag and I got in because I had it above a 3.2 GPA. I think I had a 392 GPA as a transfer student after my last semester 392 And yes, I typed into UC Davis. I got into UC San Diego. And I was wait listed both at UCLA and Berkeley. I into one of them. I got rejected one of them. I did not I can remember specifically which one though. So this will be UCS. I also applied to San Jose State which I did not get into actually just because I did not fulfill all the requirements. That was all my bad. I forgot to take a few classes to transfer. But that’s okay. That was just a very, very backup school that I could care less about. No offense to my San Jose students out there. It’s an amazing school just not for me. But um, and then I applied to a few privates applied to Stanford yo. B, of course, Columbia, and I think North Eastern. Yeah. Or Northwest One of the one of these to Stanford I got rejected, Yo, I got an interview then got rejected. Bu I got in immediately without any hesitation, I, it was my actually safety school, because I knew I’m going to get in depending on like, considering my stats. Um, and then north western I got, or Northeastern, I go whitelisted. And that rejected unfortunately, Columbia, that was a whole different story I got wait listed. And then I got on the extended waitlist, meaning they take about 10 students from the waitlist didn’t make it in and didn’t get cut. And they’re like, Okay, depending on whether students are severe or not, you’re going to be out there, we’ll let you know, by the time to let me know, I already had everything packed and ready to go to Boston University. And I got in. So but that’s unfortunate. But I also decided not to cancel everything and go to Colombia because of the price the in person opportunities, etc, etc. So coffee did have a huge role to play into this.
Kamila
So you were transferring. So this is your junior year. That means last year before in the summertime, that was the summer between Community College in Boston University. Yes, correct. Okay, did that complicate anything for you in the application process? Or was it so smooth,
Shahaf
it didn’t really apply? Do anything because COVID happened like? So I think we got into the emergency. The National Emergency the person declared National Emergency a day after I submitted my last application. So it didn’t really affect me necessarily. The only thing it affected me is yellow just said they don’t want the LSAT score anymore, which I was like, okay with because my CT score wasn’t as competitive as others see as people who apply to Yale.
Kamila
I mean, that’s great. How did you feel when you got into Boston University, like,
Shahaf
I felt okay, because I knew I’m going to get in, I really wanted to get into Columbia on a scholarship or freaking yell on the scholarship. That’d be amazing. But Bo was the first school to get back to me. And I mean, I’m more more than thankful to be here. It’s an amazing school, amazing opportunities, amazing people, amazing community. I couldn’t ask for anything else, especially for someone who wanted the college experience and join a fraternity so badly. Everything that I ever wanted is here. So it’s kind of weird, you know, some food for thought. For those who listen, the most satisfying feeling out there is the realization that you have everything that should ever wanted, because you worked hard for it. Meaning if you worked hard for someone, and a few years later, you all of a sudden hunger, if you work hard for something, and all of a sudden fears later you have it. It’s the best feeling in the world to look back at it and be like, Wow, I worked hard for this thing. Finally I have it. That just means I accomplished everything that I’ve ever wanted. So think about that, and maybe use it as a motivation to work hard in the future, or even right now.
Kamila
I mean, that’s great. And like you got scholarship, and you’re like attending BU, but then we’re going to talk about Boston University experience. But unfortunately, COVID hit and just kind of not just for you, but for many people just shut down colleges. Again, online instruction or hybrid instruction. So can you tell me about your experience coming into Boston University with COVID being a factor and limiting a lot of the things that you could actually do? I mean, yeah,
Shahaf
I mean, we do have classes in person, oh, really get to sit next to anyone because there are like four seats between each one person I have to get tested every three or four days. Which reminds me of a COVID test right after this broadcast. But uh, yeah, so I mean, it is what it is. But I am more than thankful than anything for a lot of students what we have right now it’d be a BU is way less than they’ve had their, their previous years here. For me, it’s an amazing boost. You know, it’s an amazing opportunity, I get everything I want to do. I live with the few students that live with few best friends. I make the most out of my college experience. And I spend all day every day on campus, just because I love them the amazing community here. Maybe it’s because I’m extroverted. And maybe it’s because I would like to consider myself a people person, but I didn’t they College, and even high school is exactly what you make out of it. If you decide to stay in bed and watch a lot of TV rather than join another club. That’s totally fine. It’s totally up to you. But if you join a club and you do what you love to do, and you enjoy it, you’re going to make the most of the college you’re going to have an amazing memories and I would recommend it to everyone or at least be involved to a certain extent, be involved within extracurriculars not because you want to put it on your college applications, but because you’re passionate about them and you want to make the most out of the college experience itself in high school experience itself. And that’s coming from someone who only realized it a little late and regret not starting it earlier.
Kamila
But you ended up at an amazing college anyways. So I want to talk about, I guess two more main topics. So one is the differences between community college and university life, and just like academics. And then also you said you were on a bachelor and master program. So I want to get to that as well and how that works out. But first, let’s go to the differences. And I guess similarities as well between community college and university. How does it differ in terms of academics rigor, like how often do you get classwork? What are the different opportunities you have as well.
Shahaf
So I actually think that toughest computer science that I ever took was in my community college, you’ll be surprised, maybe it’s because here at Boston University, University, everything is online. But back then I had this one professor who was extremely rigorous, he guaranteed us that only two students are going to get A’s in this class. And I really worked hard for it. I worked so hard for his class, I’ve never worked that hard for a class before. I worked about two hours every single day for that class. And that wasn’t even reading the book, you know, just doing the actual work. I think it was in some CS 21. It was assembly and computer architecture class, which is a class for anyone studies, computer science out there, you know what I’m talking about. But, yeah, so when it comes to academics, so generally just the college life compared between the two. You live with your parents, or you live somewhere not on campus, and you drive every single day to campus, I live 15 minutes away, I drove woke up every single morning at 8am. And speak my spent by 9am, to 9pm, on campus, extracurriculars, standing on the library, etc, etc. Now, when it comes to academics, attendance is usually mandatory. Unlike here in college, then we do have in person classes, attendance is not mandatory, there are classes, so way too big for professors to actually keep track of them. In Community College, however, the ratio between the faculty or the professor to the students is much smaller. Meaning you can you can get away with not without showing up to class, the professor wants to give you attention. And if you’re not there for him to give you attention, well, you’re screwed. So make sure to come to class, it’s very, very important. At the end of the day, also, you are under a lot more pressure and community college because you want to transfer to a better school. So you’re under a lot of pressure to go to every class and make the most out of academics were here, people have the attitude that C’s get degrees, you know, I don’t care about getting an A but in community college, I every single person that I knew was like, No, I have to get the same this one class, I have to make the most out of the class, I need to get an A in this test because they want to transfer to a better school. When here doesn’t really matter C’s do get degrees. Now to demotivate anyone out there, going keep getting good grades.
Kamila
And you did say that you are part of this bachelor’s and master’s program. So can you explain how that works? And how that’s going to affect clause? So you’re going to get through junior senior year? And then after that, what’s going to happen?
Shahaf
Yes, yes. So um, I actually because I took so many credits, because it wasn’t sure which school I’m going to apply to community college. Because Boston University is a private institution and not a public university like when the UCs, they don’t even meet me on the credits that I transferred that transfer here. So because of that, I am going to be going to I’m going to be able to graduate a year, prior semester, but maybe even a year earlier, depending on how many summer classes they take, and get my bachelor’s earlier and then start a year towards my master’s. So it wasn’t University and I think a lot of other universities as well. It’s something that every single one of you should look into when you apply to colleges. They offer a lot of programs. So Boston University offers the BA MS program, meaning you get both your Bachelor’s and Master’s at the same time. So you take a mixed coursework of graduate, undergraduate and graduate courses. And then you might say a semester after you might complete it within four years, but you’re going to get your both your Bachelor’s and Master’s at the same time. So I’m getting my BA in computer science and MS in computer science on the same day of graduation, which is going to be a semester after my senior year.
Kamila
That’s, that’s really that’s really cool. So you’re saying like multiple colleges offered for like multiple majors?
Shahaf
I think so a BU is for multiple majors. I’m I think Columbia also offers a very similar program, you should really look into the schools when you apply and mentioned it on your essays I want to apply because you have an amazing computer science program, specifically the BMS program, which I want to be a part of, it’s an amazing opportunity, and I want to take care of it. But in your college applications, that proves colleges that you’re not just applying to them because of their name, rather because you did your research and you see what amazing opportunities they offer. Don’t just make it about you. It has to be about you but also make it about them. Just another tip for college applications and essays.
Kamila
And one last actually, I said two topics but I want to get through one more thing before we wrap up here. So one is can you just give us an overview of Boston University like the logistics you know, how big of a school just give us some like facts so we get to know the college The University better. So like, I guess acceptance rates, the popular undergraduate graduate population, the different colleges they have. So you did say you were in a college specifically for computer science. So can you just give us like an overview of Boston University?
Shahaf
Yes. So bu please, please apply. It’s an amazing school, we are committed to every single person out there. I’m extremely thankful for them to only being even just being accepted to this community. So the school is divided into colleges, usually every university out there is divided into colleges. For me, it’s the colleges of Arts and Sciences, meaning everybody who studies a science, physics, chemistry, biology, etc, etc. Psychology, every single person who studies some, I don’t know even languages like linguistics, Spanish, for example, a French Hebrew whatsoever. Everybody’s part of the CIA, yes. And computer science for some reason, just like math, I guess, is included within the school, college of arts and sciences. If you study computer engineering, or ever you’re going to be in the engineering college. But yeah, I think it’s it’s not just the US a lot of colleges out there are divided to that kind of portion and colleges as well. So yeah, bu is divided within different colleges. And each major makes you take different classes, different colleges, different schools, different buildings. But you also have to take Cobb units. So as a freshman, you have to take 24 units of pop credits, these are mainly just general education classes, just because they want you to get knowledge from broad other areas of study, you know, you can take liberal arts, or you can take theater or acting classes, and then you’re going to be in the School of Fine Arts and etc, etc, all the school of communication. So yeah, that’s about it pretty much about the structure. extracurriculars here are amazing. I recommend everybody join student government, or at least look into some of the committees that we have, because we are having big changes coming here to the school for the benefit of the student body, of course. And besides that, yeah, you wanted to hear a little bit of the acceptance rate, I think I said it before about 17% of the students were applying as freshmen get in. But then again, depends on the major I think for computer science, it’s much, much less. And for transfer students, it’s just below 30. You’re exactly 30, I believe.
Kamila
Yeah. And I have a question. So computer science, as I understand it, I don’t know if it’s for your case, specifically, or just in general, you said it was extremely competitive. It’s one of the most competitive majors. So when you’re applying to I guess we’ll talk specifically about Boston University. Let’s say you apply as an undeclared major. Is it easy to switch from undeclared to computer science or another really hard major? Or is it like restricted? Like do they only want a, like a set number of students in a major?
Shahaf
It’s very easy, I actually regret not doing it. Actually, if I were to apply to Yale as a math major or undeclared, I would have gotten in. But however, I did apply to Junior, so I didn’t have to declare my major. But if you’re transferring a software, or playing as a freshman, and you’re not confident enough in your ability to actually get into that specific major, computer science applies, undeclared, undeclared takes the exact average the mean of the acceptance rate. So while computer science might be 5%, and let’s say math might be 30% and average, both things like 17 then apply for apply for math, you know, however, if math is 12, computer science is five, and the average is 17. Then replace undeclared. undeclared is exactly applying for the average acceptance rate. So it really depends how confident you are in your SCT score, GPA, etc, etc.
Kamila
Okay, so we’re coming to an end here. And there’s one thing I do with everybody, but you kind of did it throughout the episode is advice. So what would you what advice would you give for number one high school students specifically, and this can be about anything this can be for students who are just coming into high school or students who are about to start that college application process? What advice would you give for them? And then number two, what advice would you give for current college students? Perhaps, or maybe community college students? Perhaps they’re lost? They don’t know what they’re doing. Like, the process is confusing. So what advice would you give for those two groups?
Shahaf
Okay, so I get a lot of advices for both of these groups throughout the year. I’m going to give some new ones for high school students don’t apply to school because they have a cool name don’t apply to Harvard because it’s Harvard don’t apply to Yale because it’s Yale don’t apply to Columbia, because it’s Columbia apply to school because they have a program that fits you specifically, I’d like to be you because they want it to be a part of the BA MS program. Right. I applied to Columbia because I liked some of their professors for computer science, not because of their name. If UC San Diego is a better school to you, rather than Harvard go to UC San Diego it really depends on the program doesn’t have to be extremely competitive. It does the name does have benefits but it’s something that my opinion outweigh its pros and cons etc etc. My college students out there, especially now with COVID, put yourself out there, ask questions, go to your counselors, go to your advisors go to anyone who might give you an advice. There is a saying in Hebrew me called Milam di e Scouty. Which means from every single person who is teaching something to me, I can learn something. So, go out there, put yourself out there, if there’s a club that you have the slightest interest in, go ahead, join it, and even try to be in a literary position, you have nothing to lose beside time and time is an illusion, right? And yeah, put yourself out there. Even in academics, if there’s an extra class that you want to take that you’re really really interested in, make the effort to take that class and get an A, put the effort into college. Again, it is what you make out of it. It is what you put into it, it is what you make out of it. And make the most out of it. That’s that’s all I have to say that’s coming from someone who realized it a little too late to make the most out of college. And please, please, please just have fun and enjoy. Always have a smile on your face. Everything is up to your attitude.
Kamila
I mean, that’s a great, great advice there. And then you did give a lot of good pieces of advice throughout the episode as well. So thank you so much for coming to the show half it was very, very good. I mean, first transfer student amazing story. So thank you very much.
Shahaf
Of course happy to help.
Kamila
Thank you have a good one. Have a good night. Bye take care. That’s it for my interview with Shaha I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did, make sure to subscribe because next week I’ll be releasing an interview with high school seniors who month now what makes two months application process special is that he was concentrating on BS MD programs, Bachelor of Science doctor of medicine programs, so he’s going to give us a rundown of his college application process and tell us what exactly BS MD programs are. You do not want to miss that. Also make sure to check out my blog, a college kid.com For more college related content. But other than that, I hope to see you in the next one.