This is a one part interview with Michael, a Michigan high school senior, who got into Vanderbilt through a diversity program.
Transcript
Kamila
Hey college kids.
Kamila
Welcome back to my podcast.
Kamila
Who cares about College in today’s episode I’ll be interviewing Ethan, so if you could introduce yourself.
Ethan
Hi my name is Ethan Brielle.
Ethan
I’m I’m from the Bay Area in California.
Ethan
My major that I applied for is either pre pharm or pharmacology and drug development.
Ethan
If they didn’t have that, I applied for Biological Sciences.
Ethan
I’m a senior and I am entering our College in my next year.
Ethan
I don’t plan on taking a gap year.
Ethan
Some of the colleges.
Ethan
That I got into are Cal State, Long Beach, Chapman University, University of Pacific, UC Davis, UC Santa Barbara.
Ethan
UC, Riverside UC Santa Cruz, UC Berkeley and University of Southern California.
Kamila
Did you get?
Kamila
Into all the UCS I’ve lost count.
Ethan
No, I got waitlisted to UC San Diego, Irvine in LA.
Kamila
OK, OK Oh yeah I forgot about UCLA all right.
Kamila
So let’s start from the very basics.
Kamila
So this is like just to get an idea of like what the expectations were for education and what resources you had going into the college process.
Kamila
So number one.
Kamila
Can you explain how education is in your family?
Kamila
Are you like a first Gen student or did your parents go to college here?
Kamila
Do you have any siblings to look up to?
Kamila
So can you and.
Kamila
You know what were your parents expectations for you going to college?
Ethan
And so my parents are from the Philippines.
Ethan
They did.
Ethan
They did College in the Philippines and others is here and they’re kind of lenient, but have always like encouraged that I do well in school and they haven’t been like really strict.
Ethan
Saying that, you have to like get all A’s, but they always like. Have the ideology that if you do well in school you can go to like.
Ethan
A good college and then have a successful life after I have an older sister that’s in college right now, she goes to UC Santa Cruz for psychology, so I kind of look up to her in that aspect that.
Ethan
You know I should pursue a higher education and I I also have a younger sister that I’m encouraging to do well in school as well so she can go to a good college.
Kamila
Alright, and one thing you mentioned you listened a lot of schools like Chapman.
Kamila
I’m not sure where that is, but like the majority of your schools are in California, was that like a choice by you?
Kamila
We can get into this later, but is this a choice by you to stay in California, or were your parents more like you can go where you want, just, you know, stay close to us.
Ethan
It was mostly my decision.
Ethan
I didn’t want to be too close to home, but I didn’t want to go like super far away like across the country I did apply to some schools out of state like Tufts and Upenn.
Ethan
I got waitlisted to Tufts and then I got rejected from Upenn, but it was just out of my own comfort.
Ethan
Like I wanted to experience a new environment, but I wanted to be able to visit my family a lot more often than I would if I had to go like in the East Coast.
Kamila
All right, so let’s get into the resources you had in terms of like which school you went to, and then we’ll get into the different parts of your application.
Kamila
So throughout high school, what kind of column school did you go to?
Kamila
Was it you know public school like one of those magnet schools or private school?
Kamila
And then?
Kamila
How would you?
Kamila
Say they like prepare or like help their students in the college.
Kamila
Process in terms of offering like advanced courses and offering like counsel guidance counselors.
Kamila
So can you tell us what resources you had going into college?
Ethan
Yeah, so I go to a public school and I wouldn’t say that I got like.
Ethan
A lot of help from my school, like in terms of helping me with my application, but but it’s also just me like doing things on my own rather than scheme.
Ethan
Uh, at most I would say that I’d ask like some of my closest teachers for some feedback on my essays, but I wouldn’t say that they had like any specific programs to help me like.
Ethan
Help provide feedback for like any of my college application processes.
Kamila
So mainly it was just like Googling.
Kamila
OK, and did your school have any AP or IB system?
Ethan
Ah yes, we have an EPI system.
Ethan
For reference, I took nine APS over my four years.
Ethan
Yeah, our school does offer a lot of AP’s and they pay for AP exams, which I’m grateful for.
Ethan
Yeah but yeah.
Kamila
Alright, so yeah, that was actually my next question.
Kamila
We’re gonna get into like GPA and like grades and stuff so you said you already took nine APS.
Kamila
If you don’t mind me asking, is there a reason that your school like pays for those AP exams like not even like they pay some of it and you pay something they just pay for everything.
Ethan
Yeah, so they pay for AP exams and they also pay far every year.
Ethan
They have like 1 S 8 exam at our school and they pay for that one.
Ethan
If you take outside of school, obviously you have to pay for.
Ethan
That one, but everything that all the tests that we take actually pay for.
Ethan
Sorry, I’ll sloas the question again, I’m sorry.
Kamila
Service OK, so I mean, that’s pretty much it.
Kamila
You took nine APS and your school pays for them, so let’s get onto your GPA.
Kamila
Can you tell us what your unweighted GPA was? The one out of 4.0 and then the weighted one and also give give the scale for the weighted one as well.
Ethan
Oh yes, so for non weighted out of four it’s 3.97 and then for weighted it’s 4.54.
Kamila
All right, and did your.
Kamila
School do like valedictorian stuff like that.
Ethan
They did in past years, but I know they removed rankings over.
Ethan
The recent years, so I’m not exactly sure if they’re still doing that.
Ethan
’cause that graduation was still virtual for us like the past year, so I’m unsure if they’re I’m still doing that.
Kamila
OK, alright, so let’s get onto SAT or AC T based on which one you took. So which exam did you take and then tell us about the preparations that you had for the exam. How many times you took the exam and then what your super score was.
Ethan
Yes, I took the SAT exam.
Ethan
Uhm, twice I took the city over the ACT just ’cause our school paid for the city so I didn’t want to learn a completely new test.
Ethan
The first one I took outside of school actually and I it was in March, March last year I think March 13th and.
Ethan
I prepared two months in advance, the only.
Ethan
The only study materials I did prior to that two months studying period was the PSAT during my sophomore year, so I didn’t really prepare for.
Ethan
That one that.
Ethan
Much and then the way I went about it was I actually had a tutor for like the first three weeks and.
Ethan
I I didn’t have the best experience.
Ethan
I don’t think that was for me.
Ethan
Just because, like he had like a very like strict plan that I went to in a ton of work on top of my school work.
Ethan
So I decided to stop that tutoring thing and then self study on my own and I thought it was a lot more effective because I already knew what I had to study.
Ethan
Uhm, I bought some prep books online, so for math I used college Panda, which I would highly recommend, but I didn’t buy any books for the English portion.
Ethan
I just use Khan Academy for that.
Ethan
The first Test I scored a.
Ethan
I think it was a 1440.
Ethan
But I wanted a score around the 1500s, so I took it again 2 weeks later for my school and I ended up getting a 1520 on that.
Speaker 1
Wow, how did?
Kamila
You do that.
Ethan
I think I was.
Ethan
I was just really lucky on the English section like I was very surprised I got a 760 split on the on that city so I got a 760 on the English section and a 760 on my Mac.
Ethan
My super score. Unfortunately it was also a 1520 ’cause I scored the exact same on my math that second time around, but I did like.
Ethan
Extremely well.
Ethan
Compared to my last one on my English section, but yeah.
Kamila
Alright, so I have some questions here.
Kamila
2 weeks like so.
Kamila
This was like entirely luck with the I know the English section tends to be the more annoying section so like but two weeks it’s like so are you saying it’s like purely luck that you got such an improvement?
Ethan
I wouldn’t say that just because that first time I had a lot of nerves, so I didn’t.
Ethan
I had like 2 minutes left on the English section and.
Ethan
And I had like about like 10 questions to answer, so I was kind of just bubbling in whatever I didn’t have, so that’s why I didn’t really do that that well that first time that second time I was kind of feeling it, like getting the pacing down so.
Speaker 1
Only 5.
Ethan
When you’re taking the S80, one thing I would recommend is taking a bunch of practice tests just so you can, you know, get used to.
Ethan
How would feel like being in the environment taking a test and also getting used to like your pacing and what you’re comfortable with.
Ethan
’cause that’s in my opinion, all that’s that it’s about.
Ethan
It’s nothing like super advanced or super complicated because it’s a standardized test.
Ethan
Everyone should be able to do it so.
Ethan
So yeah, the more times you take your practice test, the better you do, and that’s what I think.
Kamila
Alright, and I want to get quickly get back to your to the fact that you did tutoring to for three weeks to help with your first essay.
Kamila
T so you again you said you did tutoring it didn’t work out for you, so you went on doing individual studying.
Kamila
Can you tell us exactly because tutors aren’t cheap at all like and people are like should I?
Kamila
If you’re not like?
Kamila
You know, if you don’t have a lot of money, you’re like, should I invest?
Kamila
Should I not invest in a tutor?
Kamila
So like what exactly does a tutor do that is different?
Kamila
If you were to do it yourself like what, what?
Kamila
What work do they actually give you?
Ethan
So with those practice books I got, sometimes they wouldn’t like explain it in the best way that I.
Ethan
Could understand it.
Ethan
So the tutor they would just like try and break it down for you so that you could understand it and like give you some tips and strategies.
Ethan
Of the next time a question like that comes around, I wasn’t there long enough to like actually get the gist of like what he did, ’cause I only met with him like three times, and then it would just mostly be like what types of questions that come.
Ethan
Any trends that pop up in the test and like what types of questions that would pop up in the test, and if those questions for it to pop up.
Ethan
What is the best way of approaching approaching it and like for the English section?
Ethan
For example, he broke down like the questions into like several categories.
Ethan
And if the question falls into a certain category, it would say oh usually when that question comes up, that answer can.
Ethan
Pop up like around here.
Ethan
Something like that.
Speaker 1
Yeah, yeah.
Kamila
Uh, OK, so who would you recommend a two to four versus not?
Kamila
Do you think that it just didn’t work for you or it’s that like you didn’t meet enough to understand?
Kamila
Like get the hang of actually tutoring.
Kamila
So who would you recommend it for?
Kamila
And then how long would you recommend it for?
Ethan
I would say that if you know how to study effectively, you wouldn’t really need a tutor ’cause.
Ethan
Like you would know, like what things you should work on.
Ethan
So basically, if you know your strengths and weaknesses, I wouldn’t get a tutor just because you could be studying on your own in that time rather than doing the homework that your tutor assigned you or just going to those sessions in general.
Ethan
Yeah, I I’d say that I’m I’m not.
Ethan
Like I, I’d prefer not having a tutor over having one.
Ethan
It was just something my mom offered.
Ethan
Just yeah, it was just something my mom offered, so I decided to try it out to see if it was like anything different but.
Ethan
But I I don’t think it’s not worth.
Ethan
It in my opinion.
Kamila
All right, so let’s get onto.
Kamila
We’ve done grades and, like standardized testing, let’s get onto extracurriculars now.
Kamila
So you did say that you were looking into pharmacology in college.
Kamila
So number one, when did that interest like you know, pop up like when did you start like think seriously thinking like oh this is what I want to pursue.
Kamila
And then did it influence the extracurriculars that you had, or or your extracurriculars?
Kamila
Kind of completely out of line with what you actually want to do in college.
Ethan
Yeah, so I’d say generally my extracurriculars.
Ethan
Or I’d say it’s like half and half like some of it does deal with this.
Ethan
And it doesn’t come.
Ethan
So I didn’t start thinking about pharmacology until.
Ethan
Uh, I’d say sophomore or junior year Ish.
Ethan
It’s I’d say that’s like pretty like compared to some students that I met.
Ethan
I’ve always just I.
Ethan
Generally I’ve always had like an interest in the stem field, both my parents being nurses, so I thought I’d pursue a similar field, but I didn’t know exactly what, and it wasn’t until like chemistry.
Ethan
Honors Slash AP Chemistry where I thought.
Ethan
Yeah, I really do enjoy chemistry so I I tried to find like a a job somewhere there, but one of the projects that I did in the latter half of junior year.
Ethan
My AP Chem teacher wanted everyone to like teach the class or something so he would like give us a week.
Ethan
Or two to come up with like a a class lesson or whatever, just to present to the class and.
Ethan
I don’t want to be lazy, ’cause I I’d say I was kind of close to my AP chem teacher, so I didn’t really want to disappoint him.
Ethan
So my class lesson was on like drug delivery with supramolecular chemistry.
Ethan
Something like that.
Ethan
And then I ended up teaching the class.
Ethan
But that was like a general introduction in the applications.
Ethan
Supramolecular chemistry could give to like the medical industry, and I had a lot more fun with that project than I.
Ethan
Thought I did.
Ethan
So then after that I was kind of like set.
Ethan
Yeah, I really do want to get to like a Hospice.
Ethan
Setting and it probably just be making medicine.
Kamila
All right, so we can actually get into your list of extracurriculars now, so I know like throughout high school you’re going to have extracurriculars that you did like here and there.
Kamila
That didn’t really matter, but can you give me like the list of the main extracurriculars that you did throughout high school, and then we can do, like, uh, dive into each one like where you got started?
Kamila
You know your time.
Kamila
Commitment and stuff like that.
Ethan
I have my common.
Ethan
App pulled up.
Ethan
Do you want me to just straight off those 10?
Kamila
That’s great you booked.
Ethan
OK.
Kamila
You filled out all 10.
Ethan
Yeah, but I wouldn’t say like.
Ethan
All of them are like what do you call it?
Ethan
Has substance.
Kamila
OK.
Ethan
Or maybe I could be wrong.
Ethan
I’ll just feed it anyways, just not the.
Ethan
The one I put at the top was a program I’ve been in for six years. It’s called the 49ers STEM Leadership Institute.
Ethan
So do you just want me to list it and then we’ll go into each one after?
Ethan
Or do you want me?
Ethan
To explain after.
Kamila
Yeah, I think because it’s important to know what you actually wrote on your college app, ’cause that’s what the colleges so and that’s what they based their decision off of.
Kamila
But you can go into it and.
Kamila
Like because some people as they’re listening right now, they may find interest in what you’re talking about, ’cause they’ve never heard of it before.
Kamila
So if you could like elaborate on the main ones and then we can just like go through and see what you wrote for colleges.
Ethan
Yeah, so first one being the 49ers team Leadership institute.
Ethan
They start recruiting in the middle of 6th grade and then basically this program was sponsored by the 49ers team for our district and you would be selected for a cohort of 59 other students and it it would go through like stemming.
Ethan
Richmond training or training or UM.
Ethan
Learn about like different fields in like the stem.
Ethan
This time area, I guess the best way to describe it for me is they kind of teach you how to be a take initiative and like be independent with like starting up projects.
Ethan
And it’s also like a sampler plate so like it’s not like.
Ethan
Geared towards like 1 field where you where everyone just like goes into robotics and learns coding.
Ethan
They kind of give like introductory stuff to like the medical field or engineering stuff like that so you can know what you want to do in college. I’d say that because of the 49ers stepping leadership institute I I was able to.
Ethan
I was able to like.
Ethan
Realized I wanted to go into the hospital setting.
Ethan
Every year we have competitions that we would enter, so that would be like a middle school floor.
Ethan
First Lego League, which is robotics competition and then that would be in the first semester.
Ethan
2nd semester would be makers fair which is a local like Creators Fair or creator space where like everyone can show off their cool creations.
Ethan
And then that was one track and then we have a second track called Explore Vision which is.
Ethan
Like they give you a prompt and then you come up with like a research paper and then try to solve that problem with your paper and any implications for the future and then the latter half of that track is called tech champ.
Ethan
The tech challenge and I’d say it’s like similar to the first Little League.
Ethan
In that they give you like a problem and then you have to build something in order to solve that problem and then you get points based on how.
Ethan
Many like our.
Ethan
Points like by meeting certain criteria that would generally be our middle school thing.
Ethan
And it’s an extracurricular, so it’s not.
Ethan
Uhm, really like embedded into school so we would have to meet like every Wednesday and then every other Saturday.
Ethan
Just to work on those projects, but just being in the in the SL I program.
Ethan
They do tell you that yeah, they do make you take certain courses so.
Ethan
There’s stemming in middle school.
Ethan
It wasn’t that big of a difference, they would just make you go like one math level higher than you would normally take, and then in high school.
Ethan
Uhm, the tracks are like very, very similar, so the first one was FTC.
Ethan
So rather than building like robots out of Legos, you would start using like metal pieces and stuff like that and then.
Ethan
Maker Faire was still the same and then the second track was also the same, but something that they’re implementing this year was called.
Ethan
Tinker, track soum
Ethan
Being in slic, you do have the privilege of using the lab spaces so we call them the call it the fab lab at the high school.
Ethan
So just some like machines that we use is the 3D printer, the sewing machine, the shopbot, which is like this huge like wood carving machine. I could carve wood on like a.
Ethan
On a 3D plane and then we also have a laser cutter. So Tinker Track allows us to understand.
Ethan
I guess it’s the opportunity to complete some projects while also understanding how to use the machines in the lab.
Kamila
So it seems like you guys have quite a number of projects like you do over the years and then competitions that you.
Kamila
Enter into.
Kamila
So when you’re like applying to college.
Kamila
Are you like?
Kamila
Joining national competitions not specifically for this program, but they’re preparing you for competitions that are done nationwide.
Kamila
Or like within your district or within your state.
Ethan
Yeah, so I I felt like for example, FLL’s uh, national competition, but it starts off like regional. And then if you do super well you keep stepping up.
Kamila
And how far did your team get with that?
Kamila
Well, well, mainly in high school.
Kamila
Let’s keep it to high school.
Ethan
In high school my team specifically, we made it past regionals but we didn’t get past that.
Ethan
But I know some of my friends and at a different team in the same program actually like made it to state.
Kamila
OK.
Kamila
What bothers me? It’s 49ers, but there are 59 students, yeah?
Kamila
All right, so that seems like a really big commitment.
Kamila
And did you have?
Kamila
Did your parents have to pay for the.
Kamila
Program or was it funds?
Ethan
No, it was. It was funded by the 49ers, so like everything there.
Ethan
Was was free.
Kamila
OK, that’s amazing.
Kamila
Alright, next extracurriculars.
Speaker 1
Right?
Kamila
Let’s get into those.
Ethan
The the one I put second was a volunteer extracurricular, so I was a lead publicist for a cafe, a nonprofit cafe, which is why they let me get volunteer hours for that.
Ethan
So one of the main projects that I worked on I.
Ethan
Worked on.
Ethan
Was a campaign called Hashtag Coffee for Heroes and it was brought up in like the pandemic or or like a lot of first responders for like very busy and you know, tired with like having to deal with like a lot of cases, so they’re obviously being like overworked.
Ethan
So we decided that we would provide like local hospitals and clinics with free drinks and pastries so.
Ethan
During my time there I I was able to provide like 4 local hospitals and like 6 clinics with like $800.00 of $800 worth of free drinks and pastries and then aside from that I would create a lot of like promotional promotional materials.
Ethan
Like photos, videos, Flyers etc.
Kamila
How did you?
Ethan
And this I’m signed up.
Kamila
Get this position to begin with.
Ethan
So, so it was actually through stent, where the.
Ethan
The faculty was trying to like teach us how to try and find internships and they bought like a student over to talk about their experience with that.
Ethan
And then they looked through indeed.
Ethan
So, after seeing that I was like, hey, I really need to do more.
Ethan
So I looked on indeed.
Ethan
And then I eventually found this and I’ve been doing it since sophomore year and then stopped.
Ethan
Uhm this January.
Kamila
And then you kind of already told me what you did, but is that almost exactly what you wrote on the college app, like the amount of hospitals and clinics you provided with?
Kamila
All right, all right.
Kamila
And I forgot to ask for the STEM leadership program that you were in for six years.
Kamila
What position did you put for that?
Kamila
’cause it is it like a?
Kamila
Do they give you positions like you that you you would have in a club like President, Vice President?
Kamila
Or was it just like you were a member?
Kamila
Everyone was member in it?
Ethan
Bring it up, yeah, on there I just called.
Ethan
I just put down student leader ’cause that’s what they would just call all of us so.
Ethan
I just put that down.
Kamila
You gotta do what you gotta do.
Kamila
All right, it’s OK anymore.
Kamila
Main extracurriculars that you did.
Ethan
Yeah, so I’m.
Ethan
I’m just going to read off the the clubs that I did in school ’cause I didn’t put that I didn’t.
Ethan
Say any of that in here.
Ethan
One one of the clubs I was pretty involved in was Red Cross Club.
Ethan
I was a publicist and then some projects that we did was deliver notes of support to 1st responders.
Ethan
I’m kind of similar to like my time at the cafe and then we also assembled care packages for homeless and farmers.
Ethan
And then arranged.
Ethan
Elementary school supply kits for local elementary schools.
Kamila
And you said you were a publicist for that.
Ethan
Yeah, so I would be in charge of making Flyers and getting that stuff out.
Kamila
Next time I’m waiting for you.
Ethan
Yeah, sorry.
Ethan
And then I did that from sophomore to senior year and then another one that I’m.
Ethan
Uh, involved in his film Makers Club and I’ve been involved in that for all four years so.
Ethan
So here we’ll like talk about films like Learn how to shoot films, learn how to use the camera, and then from time to time we do have do invite guest speakers so.
Ethan
One of which we last year we had two.
Ethan
We had one who helped with the animation for Coraline, if you know what that movie is and then another one who shot like a music video for Snoop Dogg.
Ethan
So that was pretty cool.
Ethan
Uhm, yeah.
Ethan
So it was kind of a small club, but it was like really nice just so everyone can learn.
Ethan
I wouldn’t have to like go everywhere and like teach everyone how to use a camera.
Ethan
But yeah, yeah filmmaking and photography are like one of my favorite things to do in my free time so.
Ethan
I was pretty involved in that club.
Kamila
And what was your position like that you put on your college app?
Ethan
I was President this year.
Ethan
I was Vice president last year.
Kamila
All right, all right.
Ethan
And then.
Ethan
That’s actually kind of those are my 2 main clubs, but just going back to volunteering this year at the beginning of the year since I was interested with, uh.
Ethan
The medical field I volunteer at a clinic.
Ethan
Uhm, I would have started earlier like way earlier, but obviously COVID happen and then, especially if you’re volunteering in a medical setting, they’re pretty strict about COVID COVID guidelines, so I couldn’t actually like start volunteering until it started this year and it.
Ethan
It was at a pediatric clinic, so.
Ethan
I couldn’t really do like too much other than like welcome patients and then show them to their room.
Ethan
But I also organize patient files and then made sure that they were like signed correctly and built so I had to collaborate with like the nurses and the secretaries to make sure everything was in order.
Ethan
And then from time to time, if the doctor like asked permission from the parents, he would let me in the room and see or shadow them to see what it was like to have an appointment.
Ethan
So I got to see like, uhm, him trying to comfort children like crying all the time.
Ethan
Uhm, but yeah, it was pretty interesting.
Kamila
Did you realize Pediatrics is not for you?
Ethan
Yeah, I don’t know if I could.
Ethan
He seemed really comfortable doing like baby voices and then I can’t.
Ethan
That’s not, that’s not.
Kamila
But you’re like you said it was volunteer.
Kamila
So like I assume you didn’t get paid, but would you call yourself like an unpaid unpaid intern there?
Ethan
Uhm, not really.
Ethan
I wouldn’t say that.
Ethan
I contributed like.
Ethan
Uhm, I know some people are getting paid for like research.
Ethan
I definitely did not do that so I don’t know if I should be getting paid for like what I did there.
Ethan
Yeah yeah, I also have to meet the required volunteer requirements for school.
Ethan
So that’s also a reason why I wanted volunteer hours rather than getting paid.
Kamila
All right, so if those are your like main extracurriculars, you can just quickly.
Kamila
Also, why did you like, did you?
Kamila
I don’t know here somewhere that you needed to fill out.
Kamila
Like all 10 spaces on the common app in terms of extracurriculars.
Kamila
Like was there a reason that you put you filled out all 10 spaces?
Ethan
I just thought yeah, actually I take back what I said about like maybe some stuff wasn’t like a so since I just thought like some stuff like important to me.
Ethan
And then I also heard that like on the common app that having a trend on on your on your application really helps just so.
Ethan
The tip is like if an admission officer was to read your application, they should be able to find out like what major you’re applying for without having to actually see it on your application.
Ethan
So I just added the stuff that I thought might help.
Ethan
Help them like gather the idea of like what I wanted to go to so it just so happened that I filled out 10/10 spaces for that.
Kamila
Yeah, right, and I should have asked this at the beginning, but matters will ask it now.
Kamila
So you said that you weren’t set on pharmacology until that kind of like the end of junior year when you had to give a presentation in your chemistry class.
Kamila
Just kind of me right now.
Kamila
I think I’m gonna have to.
Kamila
Do that once AP exams are.
Kamila
Over but you said you.
Kamila
Weren’t sure until then so.
Kamila
When you came into high school and you said you were like interested in stem but beyond that, did you really not have much direction in what exact extracurriculars you wanted to do?
Kamila
You just kind of like, saw opportunities.
Kamila
It sounded interesting, and you grabbed up them.
Ethan
Yeah, so it was mostly just me trying to explore and it was also opportunities like giving through stand as well like.
Ethan
The faculty would like send a lot of emails saying, hey, this thing’s open or this student is trying to send this student trying to start.
Ethan
Yeah, the students trying to start like a program and wants to know if you guys are interested.
Ethan
Uhm, so I learn about all of those opportunities through there and also just searching online and.
Ethan
But because of like the competitions that I did in my earlier year system, I thought I would go into like robotics, robotics or like mechanical engineering, but I didn’t find myself like very, very passionate with that.
Ethan
But yeah, it wasn’t until like Ken Klotz that I.
Ethan
Thought I would go into like pharmacology.
Kamila
All right, so like I’m kind of in the exact same position as you.
Kamila
I’ve really loved chemistry, and I know pharmacology is like one way you could like actually apply chemistry in your life.
Kamila
So like how much of chemistry actually used in pharmacology.
Kamila
Like if you know just just wondering.
Ethan
Uh, my.
Ethan
I don’t think I know like too much, but I have talked actually talked to a student yesterday that goes to.
Ethan
Chapman about their pharmacy program and they do a lot of labs.
Ethan
Uhm, so I’d say that in itself is using a lot of chemistry for that.
Ethan
So yeah, I don’t know like 2 too much about that, but just based on like student experiences from their uni.
Ethan
Uhm, it seems like they do deal with a a lot of chemistry and light.
Kamila
And so it’s like more more so the development of pharmacist pharmacology like medicines.
Kamila
And stuff all right, all right.
Kamila
So we did your extracurriculars. Recommendation letters are kind of like self-explanatory at this point, and they’re not like too important with, you know, over the years they’re getting less and less important. So let’s get onto your.
Kamila
Essays and then we can talk about the colleges that you applied to, which ones you got accepted, deferred and rejected from so.
Kamila
Tell me how which the common app essay prompt did you choose?
Kamila
How did you approach the common app essay and you don’t have to give like a word by word thing?
Kamila
And if you’re not comfortable with sharing your topic, you don’t have to.
Kamila
But if you can, can you give us like the general topic that you did choose to write about in your common app?
Ethan
Yes, so the prompt that I chose was discuss an accomplishment, event or realization that sparked a period of personal growth and a new understanding of yourself or others.
Ethan
So in this prompt I basically talked about.
Ethan
My passion for cameras and photography and how it’s like very shy, a shy and reserved person.
Ethan
In my earlier years of high school and apparently that my CHEM honors teacher had like a similar passion for that.
Ethan
So we connected over that and then.
Ethan
Started talking a lot and it’s basically how my passion for cameras transitioned into my passion for chemistry and learning how to interact with others.
Ethan
Yeah, so basically if I had to like.
Ethan
Take out extract like themes.
Ethan
From here it would be like from arts to sciences and then from being reserved to.
Ethan
Being engaging.
Kamila
So is it like I guess I don’t know how the exact word for it, but it was like the medium that like transitioned you from art to chemistry.
Kamila
Was it your chemistry teacher?
Kamila
Is that like what all right?
Kamila
All right, all right and?
Kamila
Let’s talk about the let’s talk about the colleges that you apply to.
Kamila
Then we could talk about like.
Kamila
The little how would you say the little essays that you did at?
Kamila
Least for.
Kamila
Like some of the colleges.
Kamila
So you did say you applied to a bunch of UC schools and I am still to this day very confused about how the UC system works.
Kamila
So can you give us like an explanation of what?
Kamila
The UC system is how it works.
Kamila
There’s like however many colleges like.
Kamila
Yeah, just explain the whole thing, I don’t.
Kamila
Know what to ask?
Ethan
Yeah, so yeah, the UC system is just a public school system just in California.
Ethan
They have an entirely different.
Ethan
App which I am not too much of like I’m not that big of a fan of their application. I like the common app better so in in their app you have to write 4 essays and then you have a maximum of 350 words for all of.
Ethan
Them and they do this because they want to see like all the different sides of you.
Ethan
But personally, I don’t think that they can.
Ethan
Really get anything out of 350 words.
Ethan
And then they have ECS and awards section like.
Ethan
Together and you have 20 spaces for that, and then what else?
Ethan
They don’t accept letters of recommendation, which I really wanted because I feel like my teachers could come, you know, write a lot of stuff.
Ethan
About me.
Ethan
I I think they do accept like other wars.
Ethan
For specific programs, or if you get into like a specific state stage in the in the process, but I haven’t heard anything about that, and then they’re also test optional.
Ethan
But yeah, that’s kind of the main difference between the common app and then.
Kamila
We so they don’t have a big essay.
Ethan
Then you see is.
Ethan
No, the F4 you have four 350 award, they don’t. They don’t have supplementals for individual schools either, so your your 4 essays are going to go to like all the UC schools you applied to. Yeah, so yeah, it’s a weird application.
Kamila
Oh my God.
Kamila
And as I understand it, when you’re applying you at the end of it, you just check off which UC schools you want to apply to.
Kamila
So you’re not applying to all of them.
Ethan
Yeah, so they have a section where you.
Ethan
You like say which you season, then which majors like.
Ethan
In the same page.
Kamila
Wait, can they see which other UC’s you applied to?
Ethan
No, each the decision process for HTC is independent, so they don’t know if you got into like Irvine. Yeah, if you got into LA, they don’t know if you got rejected from Irvine, so yeah.
Kamila
That that sounds awful.
Kamila
OK, tell us about how you approach the UC system.
Kamila
What first of all, what are the prompts and like?
Kamila
What are the what are the problems?
Ethan
I’d say they were kind of similar in most parts that coming up from the top of my head.
Ethan
I know there’s one like how have you helped your community and then another one on.
Ethan
Honestly, that’s the only thing I can remember.
Ethan
It’s been a long time since I looked at my obligation.
Kamila
But they.
Kamila
They don’t even have like individual like why UCLA, why USC?
Ethan
Yeah, no, that’s that’s what.
Ethan
I wanted ’cause I thought.
Ethan
That was kind of my niche.
Ethan
Yeah no, those same 4 essays are going to be submitted to all of the colleges to apply to in this system.
Kamila
You know colleges are all like we want to have someone.
Kamila
That’s the best fit for us when it’s like.
Ethan
You think right, yeah.
Kamila
Reversal diesel all right.
Kamila
So tell us which UC did you click apply for?
Ethan
OK, I applied to all of them except UC Merced, so if you’re not familiar with the other UC schools, that’s Davis Riverside Santa Cruz.
Ethan
Irvine, San Diego, LA Berkeley, and I think Merced being the last one, so that’s like 7 UC’s I I got accepted into four being Davis Santa Cruz.
Ethan
Uhm, said oh, Santa Barbara is when I figure out, yeah David.
Kamila
Yeah, I was like I’m.
Kamila
Pretty sure that’s like one of the UC’s.
Ethan
Santa Cruz.
Ethan
Yeah, this is a lot I forgot.
Ethan
OK, yeah Davis, Santa Cruz, Santa Barbara and then.
Ethan
Uhm, Riverside and then.
Ethan
The top one out of like all the schools in the UC system that I got applied that I applied to Berkeley, which was kind of surprised about because that came out like last from all the.
Ethan
And then I got waitlisted to San Diego, Irvine and UCLA and I’m just going to Add all three of those came out on the same day and that was a very humbling experience because I opened send you a first like a prior to like applying, I thought out of anywhere like San Diego would have been like my target school.
Ethan
Because I kind of like I.
Ethan
Thought I would end up going there.
Kamila
But you got it to USC too, right?
Ethan
And I saw that.
Ethan
Yeah, so I’m I’m I’m not I I’m not mad about that.
Ethan
I’m definitely not mad about that.
Ethan
So it was.
Ethan
It was just a little surprising to.
Ethan
So waitlisted at San Diego, we listed Irvine and I opened my L A1 last I was like please and I got waitlisted there so it is what it is. I’m fine with that though.
Kamila
It’s kind of like it just shows how BS it is though.
Kamila
Like you got into Berkeley, but you didn’t get into like and those are not bad schools like they’re not bad school, but like Berkeley is the most like prestigious one.
Ethan
Yeah, I know.
Ethan
Yeah definitely yeah.
Kamila
I guess you could say or UCLA and Berkeley like OK?
Kamila
So you got into those and then can you tell us the other schools that you apply to?
Ethan
Yeah, so the ones.
Ethan
I put on my common app, UM.
Ethan
Tufts Upenn USC.
Kamila
Uhm, USC comment.
Kamila
Oh my God.
Kamila
It’s like you see it’s.
Ethan
Yeah, it’s a private so.
Kamila
Oh my God.
Kamila
Oh my God yeah OK.
Ethan
And then San Francisco and Chapman.
Ethan
So right off the bat.
Ethan
Yeah, Upenn was my last decision.
Ethan
It came out on Thursday.
Ethan
I got rejected from there and then parts that was tough.
Ethan
I got wait listed there and then I got into.
Ethan
University of San Francisco.
Ethan
Uhm for nursing.
Ethan
I wasn’t into nursing by my parents.
Ethan
Kind of pushed for that, and that was kind of my only nursing school so I don’t see myself going.
Ethan
There and then.
Ethan
I’ve gone into, oh, I forgot University of Pacific.
Ethan
I applied there but it was just for like Biological Sciences as a safety school and then Chapman I got in through their pre pharm program so.
Ethan
Sort of like.
Ethan
Five years and then four years of undergrad and four years of grad school.
Ethan
It’s kind of just.
Ethan
Put into five and then.
Kamila
Where is Chapman located?
Ethan
It’s in orange, CA, so basically SoCal. It’s like right next to Irvine and then.
Kamila
Oh, OK.
Ethan
Very close to Disneyland.
Ethan
And then for USC I got in for pharmacology and drug development and I got my decision earlier actually than most people.
Ethan
So you see, specifically they have two deadlines, so if you submit before December 1st, you can be considered.
Ethan
For like a merit merit scholarship, scholarship and then.
Ethan
After that it would just be like a regular decision and you would know by like April 1st so.
Ethan
The different types of merits are like yeah, the full tuition, your trustee, and then your presidential, which is your half and then the Deans, which is your quarter and some smaller ones.
Ethan
The way I found.
Ethan
Out about my decision.
Ethan
Uhm, my friend didn’t like my friend like knew that there is a deadline coming up for the scholarships.
Ethan
And then he told me that like you see, you see scholarship notifications are actually coming out today and I didn’t know that and and then after school.
Kamila
Did you get one?
Ethan
But just school I was at the gym with my friends and then I saw an e-mail from USC saying your polo has been updated.
Ethan
So also yeah so all my friends were working out I I just opened my e-mail and then.
Ethan
It said view your application status, opened it and I see a bunch of like peace signs like going through like just falling from like the top of the browser.
Ethan
It’s like congratulations, you’ve been even admitted to like USC or whatever, and then at the bottom it said.
Ethan
You’ve been selected as a finalist for like the Merit Scholarship or whatever.
Kamila
Which one, huh?
Ethan
You don’t know you don’t know yet and they said please check your portal to like learn how to.
Ethan
Uhm, signed up for your interview.
Ethan
So then I sent it from an interview and the way it works is that you get interviewed by the department you got accepted into.
Ethan
So for me it’s a school of pharmacy and then.
Ethan
I spent like a good month trying to prepare for that and and I’d say I thought like, OK, I was pretty satisfied with my own responses, but I didn’t end up getting like the the top award like the full scholarship that I have. I ended up getting like 1/4 amount of like yeah.
Kamila
No, that’s good.
Ethan
Which I’m still like.
Ethan
Grateful for actually.
Ethan
I’m glad that I made it this far.
Ethan
Sure, yeah.
Ethan
Humble, I guess.
Ethan
Humble right I I think.
Ethan
3% of the first round students are considered finalists, so I was like very surprised. Definitely ego boost, but yeah, so they got back to me.
Ethan
And then I got the quarter and it’s renewable for four years.
Ethan
So essentially that kind of adds up to like one full year of tuition.
Ethan
Uhm, but yeah.
Kamila
All right so.
Kamila
Oh, there’s quite a bit of questions I have to ask, so first talking about the USCU or not USC.
Kamila
But like I guess, broadly, financial aid in general is financial aid a problem for your family or your parents?
Kamila
Or like, just get into the schools and we’ll like, make it work out.
Ethan
Actually, yesterday I had a four hour conversation with my parents last night about financing.
Ethan
I’m with like a middle class family, but my sister is in college right now and then I’m going to be going into college and then after that in like 2 years.
Ethan
My younger sister is also going to be in college.
Ethan
So we’re still trying to figure everything out, uhm?
Ethan
Like I’ve talked to mainly, it’s between like 2 schools, USC and Chapman.
Ethan
Just ’cause Chapman has like to be accelerated and then.
Ethan
If I want like I have to like, be sure that I want to be in a pharmacist and then.
Ethan
But you see, like it gives me like time to explore other fields for pharmacology and then also the student life.
Ethan
There is.
Ethan
Like unmatched like, I don’t think Chapman student life can compare to at USC, so it’s also that.
Ethan
Yeah, but yeah, we’re really considering the finances and stuff before I choose and we’re actually going to the admitted student days on the 9th and 10th for Chapman and USC respectively, just to like get a gist of what it’s like being on the campus and.
Ethan
Uhm, well-being there like really make me happy and stuff like that.
Kamila
Alright, so one one thing I should have asked again like before, but I want to get out of the way before you start talking about your colleges.
Kamila
So when you said that like you wanted to stay in California, so that’s one California.
Kamila
So that’s one thing that influenced the colleges you applied for.
Kamila
And obviously a good pharmacology program as well.
Kamila
Were there other main like factors that you know?
Kamila
I guess.
Kamila
Made you like.
Kamila
Choose some schools over others or was that like the main two like staying in California and having a good pharmacology program.
Ethan
Those are the main other than like student life.
Ethan
I’d say location was a pretty big thing.
Ethan
’cause I I knew that I wanted to be in Socal mostly.
Ethan
Uhm yeah.
Ethan
Those those are kind of the main things.
Kamila
And is Chapman a private or public university?
Ethan
It’s a public university.
Kamila
OK yeah and then. Also, if you could tell us ’cause I’m not 100% sure on this, but the UC’s are public schools so you would be paying in state tuition for any of them, right?
Kamila
Well, I hope you the best of luck in figuring out your finances.
Kamila
Like I know if you have a sibling in college then your financial aid package is greater ’cause your parents have to like where the burden of like 2 kids in college.
Ethan
Yeah, I’m hoping for the best.
Kamila
But middle class struggles you.
Kamila
Yeah, much financial aid there.
Kamila
Well, that’s great.
Kamila
So you say you’re picking between Chapman and USC.
Ethan
Yeah, mainly those two, but they’re also trying to push for Berkeley.
Kamila
Of course they want.
Ethan
I I know.
Kamila
To push for birth me Oh my God, if I were you I just dumb pharmacology and go to Berkeley that is doing that.
Ethan
Oh my gosh.
Kamila
Like yeah for sure.
Ethan
No, it’s just so scary.
Ethan
’cause OK, I got it for chemical biology and then the e-mail I got.
Ethan
It’s like congratulations for getting the College of Chemistry.
Ethan
As you may know, one of our esteemed faculty.
Ethan
Ended up making CRISPR CAS nine and.
Ethan
Like can I?
Ethan
Can I actually go there like actually got even?
Ethan
Yeah, I don’t know.
Ethan
It’s just so daunting to see someone like great just go to the college.
Ethan
I would go to but.
Kamila
Listen, I’ve interviewed enough students to know that regardless of the procedure of the school, you’re going to have impostor syndrome anyway, so you might as well have impostor.
Kamila
Syndrome at one of the schools.
Kamila
All right, so I guess we’re wrapping up here ’cause you aren’t in college yet.
Kamila
We can’t really talk about your college experience, but can you give us any last advice?
Kamila
And this could be anything for high schoolers.
Kamila
You can give general life advice that maybe you wish you had followed or someone told you and you followed and you’re grateful for it.
Kamila
Or it can be something specific to the college process.
Kamila
Whichever one you want or both.
Ethan
I’d say that if an opportunity comes up and you’re unsure of like whether or not to take it, I’d say just take it anyways just so you can actually like know for sure if it’s something that you don’t want to do, or you do want to do so.
Ethan
Yeah, just seize the moment and just like do it anyways.
Ethan
And if you’re feeling like.
Ethan
A little lost.
Ethan
In the college application process like trust me everyone.
Ethan
‘s been there.
Ethan
Uhm, no one actually like knows like what the secret formula is to get into a college.
Ethan
But what they can tell is if you’re being yourself and like putting down stuff that’s like really important to you and impacted you.
Ethan
So yeah, staying genuine is the best way to fill out your college.
Ethan
Application and just know that everyone’s like there with you like everyone.
Ethan
No one has it set so.
Ethan
Don’t be worried if you have to explore like a bunch of different things just to fill out your application because you got it.
Kamila
Alright, thank you very much Ethan for coming.
Kamila
It’s not even like noon is it in California?
Ethan
Yeah, it’s it’s 1151 right now.
Kamila
Well have a good rest of your day.
Ethan
Yeah, thank you you too, thanks for.
Kamila
Having me bye bye bye.
Kamila
Thank you so much for listening to my episode with Ethan.
Kamila
I hope you subscribe so you know when new episodes are released next week, I’ll be releasing an episode with Michael who will be attending Vanderbilt this upcoming fall.
Kamila
Make sure to check out my blog called Reality Check dot COM For more college related content, but other than that I hope to see you next week.