This is a one part interview with Phil, a Washington high school senior, who will be attending USC fall 2022.
Transcript
Kamila
Hey college kids welcome.
Kamila
Back to my podcast.
Kamila
Who cares about College in today’s episode I’ll be interviewing Phil so if you could introduce yourself.
Phil
Sure, heaven, and still I am from Washington.
Phil
I’m going to be taking psychology as major and I’m going to USC.
Kamila
Do you see our state?
Phil
Uh state?
Kamila
All right, all right.
Kamila
So number one.
Kamila
Can you give us your demographics?
Kamila
What did the college admissions officers see upon application?
Phil
I remember all.
Phil
The things but.
Phil
Uh, I am Korean American.
Phil
I identify as male heterosexual.
Phil
Are there any of these?
Kamila
Relative socioeconomic status.
Kamila
Like middle class middle class.
Kamila
Uhm, Upper middle middle class.
Kamila
Alright, so let’s get into.
Kamila
First, let’s talk about like how college is.
Kamila
Viewed in your.
Kamila
Family how you approach.
Kamila
Call it the.
Kamila
College process going into high school.
Kamila
So I’m just going to give you a bunch of questions, but you can like answer however you want.
Kamila
So what was that kind of a dynamic in your family?
Kamila
Did your parents expect you to go to college and USC is a very prestigious college?
Kamila
So did they expect you to go something prestigious?
Kamila
Did you have like siblings to look up to in terms of the college process?
Kamila
So yeah, let’s start with that and then we can get into high school.
Phil
I’m sure OK.
Phil
Uhm, so I do have three siblings all.
Phil
Older than me all who went to college and I guess I wanted.
Phil
To go to college as well.
Phil
My parents, it was, I would say it wasn’t really like an expectation.
Phil
They pushed onto me, but it was just more something I wanted to do and and so.
Phil
Like going into high school like I sort of.
Phil
Knew I would.
Phil
Be going to college after.
Phil
And I think it was a combination of just like what my family.
Phil
So they.
Phil
Were expecting what I wanted.
Phil
To do with what I understood growing up.
Kamila
And then we’ll have to get into this like in detail.
Kamila
But were your siblings?
Kamila
They were, they’re all older than you.
Kamila
Were they any?
Kamila
Like help in the college process were there your main source for like questions you had about it?
Phil
Yeah, one of them was, uhm I talked with.
Phil
Him a lot about.
Phil
I guess the stresses of college processes and sort of like navigating certain things and also how I should navigate like looking through college websites or things like that and talking about like essays and stuff.
Phil
Just sort of more.
Phil
I guess general questions I had before I even got to like writing essays.
Phil
We also just talked about like the college processes itself and like he gave me tips on how I could like go looking for pieces of information about colleges and that kind of stuff.
Kamila
All right, so let’s get into your approach to college, which you know more or less start at the beginning of high school.
Kamila
So coming into high school, what was your approach like?
Kamila
Were you very set like, OK?
Kamila
I don’t know exactly which college I want to go to.
Kamila
I don’t know what.
Kamila
I want to do but I really wanted to try my best to.
Kamila
Get into the best college possible.
Kamila
So were you like planning?
Kamila
You know, joining all these clubs, making sure you took really.
Kamila
Hard classes or.
Kamila
Were you more going through high school and then you know junior year comes like?
Kamila
The end of junior year and you’re like.
Kamila
Oh, it’s dawned upon me.
Kamila
I really need to.
Kamila
Start so which one were you?
Phil
I would say more stored planning, but not really like I spent my first two years is trying to adjust to high school doing the best that I could and obviously in my sophomore year.
Phil
We got coded.
Phil
Up so I spent that year trying to adjust to that.
Phil
But I guess.
Phil
I spent like I just can.
Phil
I tried to do the best that I could with the classes that I had.
Phil
I don’t really have a.
Phil
Game plan at this.
Phil
Like freshman or sophomore year, going into them at all I was more so they get like adjusting to being in high school and and doing all those kinds of things.
Phil
I did sign up for clubs and would be getting more sort of fun rather than like oh I want to do this.
Phil
For college, so for example.
Phil
I signed up for my school gaming club, which is like a board gaming club but just met for like 2 hours and then I also play trombone and I’ve been playing triple prolapse so I signed up for my schools concert bands, which are a lot of fun.
Phil
And then as I continued, I wrote for the.
Phil
School newspaper for a.
Phil
Bit I did high school debate for a few years and as I continued through I tried to find a few clubs that I wanted to commit to commit most of my time to and to this sort of stand out.
Phil
Are my schools jazz band.
Phil
My schools K pop club UM.
Phil
And so I guess for jazz bands, that jazz was always something that I really enjoyed listening to.
Phil
I actually listened to it a lot with my dad when I was little because he would drive me to elementary school and we would listen to it like on the radio, like a little USB that he had and.
Phil
And so he.
Phil
Also did.
Phil
For that, and so I got to spend more time playing trombone, and I was able to play jazz and it was a really fun experience.
Phil
And actually, the first time I had a jazz concert in high school, we played songs that I had listened to when I was like 5 or 6 and so I was really excited to like play those in front of my parents and from my school.
Phil
So it was.
Phil
It was really amazing time and as I continued to invest more time in it, I got to learn more about like improvisational skills and like having confidence in my playing.
Phil
And then like being able to help others who came into the program after meeting to the club.
Phil
And it was just really fun experience.
Phil
I got to also perform, I see here.
Phil
Project and like they lead leading up to graduation.
Phil
So that was really fun and.
Kamila
So I’m going to stop you there.
Kamila
I’m going to get a little bit more.
Kamila
Into trombone, so I.
Kamila
You just.
Kamila
Played the trombone right.
Kamila
It wasn’t like multiple instruments.
Kamila
You put that yeah, and so you were.
Phil
Know it.
Phil
Was digital bug.
Kamila
You said you were playing for quite a while.
Kamila
When did you start playing trombone?
Phil
I started playing trombone in elementary school of 5th grade.
Kamila
Oh wow.
Phil
We were able like as fifth graders.
Phil
We were able to like, take up an instrument for the first time.
Kamila
I remember those days.
Kamila
It starts in 3rd grade with the.
Phil
Recorder then you actually move off and like.
Kamila
They recorded like the platinum belt.
Phil
For the.
Kamila
Yeah, yeah.
Phil
Yes, yes.
Phil
I had like a little like plastic foam cleaner like you do.
Phil
Yeah, so that actually played piano when I was little alert, but I started grew out of it because I enjoyed playing Charlotte more, UM.
Phil
And so I started there when I went to middle school.
Phil
UM, which didn’t actually have a band program, so I spent my time taking.
Phil
Like lessons outside of.
Phil
It because I wanted to keep doing trombone.
Phil
And then once I got to high school, I was able to really continue that trombone I.
Phil
I guess like having more fun with it.
Kamila
Yeah, and I’m going.
Kamila
To have you, if you know to the best of your ability, explain like how a concert band works in like a high school.
Kamila
So I mean my I was in my husband’s like a music. It’s not a music high school, but there’s some pretty good musicians in my high school.
Kamila
And I know like.
Kamila
You have the whole band, but there are also different levels, like if you’re a better violin player, you’ll have, like, you know first or their second chair, third chair.
Kamila
So can you explain how concert band works and specifically for trombone water, like the different levels, you know the better players or just like that sounds bad, but like you know the more experienced.
Phil
Like the different levels of like Trump mode.
Kamila
Yeah, the particular.
Phil
In my high school OK?
Kamila
Levels and like how significant do they look on like a college application?
Kamila
Do you think like does it really impressive if you’re first chair for violin?
Kamila
I keep using Val and this only one.
Kamila
I know, but yeah.
Phil
You know, I understand and answer that question about like the significance.
Phil
I’m not really sure.
Phil
I’m sure it helps, but let me I guess.
Phil
Just go through the process.
Phil
So in in my high school as a trombone player.
Phil
Uhm, because every trouble play you could be playing in just concert fans or the orchestras.
Phil
And so I chose the concert bands.
Phil
So there are, I guess, three concert bands that I played at my high school.
Phil
The first one really once a week on.
Phil
I think it was Tuesday.
Phil
On Wednesdays.
Phil
For a set amount of times like an hour and a half, and then we would just play.
Phil
There would be like the first and second chair trombone and that and then the everyone had to do what was known as the Concert for Performance Band, which was on Thursdays and we met for, I think, a week, two hours where we just played songs together.
Phil
That had first, second and third chairs.
Phil
From bones and I started out in freshman year in the Trumbull and you know secretary trouble for the Gypsy bands and.
Phil
And so as I spent time in those bands, I progressively moved through the chairs.
Phil
But once I came to sophomore year, I moved from the Tuesday night to the Jazz band.
Phil
Which was on another day.
Phil
I think it was.
Phil
It doesn’t.
Phil
Matter it doesn’t.
Phil
Matter, which also had its own set of chairs, and it was first, second, third, and fourth chair in jazz bands and and I started in second chair.
Phil
Come to jazz by idea and then I I spent the next two years in first year and so I had a lot of fun with that.
Phil
But I I feel like.
Phil
In terms of how like, just like the college process, I feel like.
Phil
It helps but.
Phil
I think it’s more of the dedication.
Phil
You put into it.
Phil
Rather than just the position that you play right.
Phil
So if you’re like consistently there all the time, if you’re putting in.
Phil
The work if.
Phil
You’re like spending hours, and if you’re getting genuine enjoyment out of it, I think that’s more important than just like a chair, because you’re able to talk.
Phil
About it with.
Phil
More energy, you’re able to really engage with the material and that sort of really shows how when you bring it up.
Phil
When you talk about it.
Kamila
And I know that some of my friends who do play instruments they play for our school.
Kamila
Obviously they do like jazz band, Symphony Orchestra, but also they do stuff outside of school.
Kamila
So I’m in Maryland, so some of them play for the Baltimore Youth City Symphony Orchestra.
Kamila
So did you have anything like that where you played outside of?
Kamila
School, there’s just.
Phil
I did not.
Phil
I just played at school.
Kamila
OK, OK and one last thing, before we move on I’m going to need some jazz recommendations like seriously.
Kamila
Do you have any heart?
Phil
OK, UM Glenn Miller is a good trombonist player.
Phil
He made a lot of big band stuff, so I definitely recommend that in the moods.
Phil
A good one brown little jug so classic.
Phil
There’s also, well Benny Goodman sing, Sing, Sing always a great one.
Phil
I would take five.
Phil
It’s another great one, but.
Phil
I also like say.
Phil
There’s quite a few like combo stuff, so like UM.
Phil
There’s like a lot of like rock’n’roll jazz as well, or like bossa Nova jazz. When I played a lot and that.
Phil
Was really fun.
Phil
So if we look into.
Phil
The over I can’t think of any specific songs from those categories off the top of my head.
Kamila
OK, I need that ’cause.
Kamila
Like I’ve always loved like.
Kamila
This sound of jazz I’ve.
Kamila
Just never gotten into it and now it’s like summer break and I’m like OK.
Phil
It’s the time.
Kamila
Let’s get into it all right.
Kamila
So I think we covered good amount of Jasmine.
Kamila
You’re playing trombone and you were dedicated for a really long time, which I’m sure you put on your college application.
Kamila
So another thing that you mentioned was.
Kamila
You said one of the big things.
Kamila
Is K pop?
Kamila
Groups so I want to leave that for like a little bit later you said board game club and then debate club.
Kamila
Do you want to just do a quick like?
Kamila
Should be on that like if you were in it for a long time and.
Kamila
Like how much time you put into it?
Phil
Sure, UM gaming club.
Phil
Was just something something I’ve been at since freshman year and and I ended up being on like the club board for the last two years I.
Phil
I didn’t say I put.
Phil
A lot of effort into it during my sophomore.
Phil
And junior years.
Phil
But as we got for my senior year to a lot of people with club and I was able to show people the ropes and then transition the leadership off to them for that club.
Phil
But I spent it mainly as sort of like.
Phil
Uhm, one of the clubs I used to as a time to relax from my academic stuff.
Phil
It was just us yelling at each other in like.
Phil
Uhm, for like 2 hours or so, playing board games playing I guess like betrayal games we played mafia, what?
Phil
And it was just a really I.
Phil
Guess like time to.
Phil
Build community around those kinds of games and.
Phil
Then ask for debate.
Phil
I did debate for three years, freshman sophomore, junior and I spent.
Phil
I didn’t say I spent a substantial amount of time in them when I participated in tournaments.
Phil
I, I will say I have not.
Phil
I never had a losing record at a debate.
Phil
20 months.
Phil
But I’ve never had a winning one either.
Phil
’cause I’m tired.
Phil
I’ve gone like I’ve got I’ve got.
Phil
Like 4/4.
Phil
For like all the tournaments I wanted I had.
Phil
Like an even amount of wins and losses for every single one of them.
Kamila
So you came out neutral.
Phil
Yes, yes I did.
Phil
But it was really fun I.
Phil
Got to do with different people and.
Phil
I I was able.
Phil
To really like, understand how like debate process is working, like preparation for debate tournaments works so.
Phil
Like the amount of time needed, like I would spend a few hours like finding articles about like the topic we were discussing and then I would like put them into sort of like organizational like formats.
Phil
So for example, like things, I could say things I could use to talk about my opponents and other that kind of stuff, and I would have to prepare for like a whole bunch of different.
Phil
Moments I would have to discuss or talk about and so like through those.
Phil
I was able to like see.
Phil
Uhm, so just like how discussing a certain topic like could work and sort of like the arguments 1 needs to sort of like.
Phil
Think about and work their.
Phil
Way around, like thinking on.
Phil
The spot, like those kinds of skills.
Kamila
And with Debbie, I know that like I mean with a lot of things in high school you can like go you know regionals like I don’t know if it’s regional or states for whatever like county like their states, regional conditionals.
Phil
Yeah, yeah.
Kamila
So did you progress up to, like, you know, read whatever counties, states, regionals?
Phil
Not really, no.
Phil
This is a club that I also took for front.
Phil
And more so learning.
Phil
The skills of how to debate, how to format arguments, how to create counter arguments, how to defend your own ideas and stuff like.
Phil
That I didn’t really have any interest in taking debate to the next level.
Phil
I know it was a very competitive atmosphere and it was a cool, but I wasn’t.
Phil
Like all that fully invested in so for me, I wanted to sort of invest in clubs that I found a lot more interesting and some some calls that I had a bigger, bigger connection to.
Phil
So yeah.
Kamila
And with clubs like debate like you can choose whether you want to like move on to compete.
Kamila
’cause I know like not everyone is going to want to so they like ask you right but like who wants to actually?
Kamila
TRA go to nationals and stuff.
Phil
Yeah, they like they gave us options.
Phil
It was more like an opt in if you want to do this let us know and I chose not to.
Phil
OK.
Kamila
All right, so you mentioned.
Kamila
Another big thing was K pop group.
Kamila
I just gotta let you take it from here.
Kamila
It started.
Kamila
What is it?
Kamila
What was your role?
Phil
Sure, so so the story how I started in freshman year.
Phil
I took bio and I had a.
Kamila
Biota capable right.
Phil
Yeah, I found this.
Phil
It makes sense.
Phil
And I had a just like a senior.
Phil
Friend who would help me?
Phil
Study bio and then this was like I think the went near the end of winter of my freshman year.
Phil
One day we were studying.
Phil
We finished early and so he said, OK, we’re.
Phil
Done, you’re coming with me to.
Phil
K Pop club and there was like as.
Phil
A fresh I was like.
Phil
OK, sure and then we went to the club meeting and I’ve met all the K pop.
Phil
But people it was actually really fun time.
Phil
And so when the spring rolled around, I went back to the club and I started doing a dance performances with them.
Phil
And so I actually.
Phil
Uhm, data performance with them.
Phil
My first performance for high school gave.
Phil
Up on that.
Phil
During and and after that summer, I started to listen to more Kpop.
Phil
I hadn’t listened to it a little bit before.
Phil
Maybe like when I was 1011, but that was more so in passing and not like something I actively wanted to listen to. But after Joey became Pope club and dancing for the first time
Phil
I was inspired.
Phil
I would say to go back and I continue to talk with this person and and so I would listen to more music.
Phil
Trying to just like find certain songs that I liked.
Phil
I chose to do it more so for the music and I continue to delve deeper into it.
Phil
Because I am trained and I think it’s something really cool to see.
Phil
So listening to music and create it and then like that.
Phil
Sort of like perform.
Phil
I found like it’s firing at my collar to do more of it, and so when sophomore year came around, I continued to be a part of the club.
Phil
Although I wanted to focus a bit more on academics at that point, so I acted more as like a sort of tech person helping the dancers in the background, like practicing food performances.
Phil
And like getting the songs in order and all that kind of stuff.
Phil
Helping the brainstorm like ideas come.
Phil
But this was fall and then in the winter I continued to dance again.
Phil
I actually performed with them for our schools we just like.
Phil
Bipap athlete conference.
Phil
That my school is hosting how we performed for that.
Phil
We also performed for a talent.
Phil
Show that’s us.
Phil
In turn, is really fun and it was my first taste of like actual like prepping and performing for like a full on performance and so I really sort of enjoyed that and.
Phil
When spring hit, we couldn’t really do anything ’cause it’s covered and and then in my junior year I was on the board.
Phil
But The thing is, most of the members in the club at the time had just graduated.
Phil
So at that point it was just me in this.
Phil
One Sr. And so for.
Phil
The fall winter.
Phil
We were just by ourselves.
Phil
We both spent a lot of time in our academic, so it wasn’t something we could like actively work on, but we did a duo performance for a talent show in the winter.
Phil
And because of that we got more interest in our club and so in the spring we got a lot of incoming.
Phil
We got a lot of freshmen who really, really wanted to do hip hop and and we were able to actually.
Phil
Uhm, practice and perform a K pop dance to introduce an incoming speaker at our school and we actually paid a music video.
Phil
On it to come.
Phil
And so it was like we spent maybe like two to three weeks practicing with like eight people this performance.
Phil
And then we.
Phil
Spent like an entire Saturday afternoon like going to places and recording for a video and and it was like a really.
Phil
I was like one of the first.
Phil
Times I was able.
Phil
To sort of like, do and like really invest in.
Phil
That, like in a club and.
Phil
It made me want to keep on doing it and so over the next summer.
Phil
At that point.
Phil
I was the head of the club as the year before.
Phil
I was also the I guess like Vice tries to the senior who was there.
Phil
And so I gathered the software freshmen who are now sophomores we made together this performance over the summer and we performed for.
Phil
Our fall talent show.
Kamila
Which was.
Phil
Really fun and then we can.
Phil
We got a.
Phil
Lot of popularity from that.
Phil
And we were actually.
Phil
We’re getting more people involved with the club.
Phil
We hosted club meetings where we taught dances where we talked about KPOP, where we made pot.
Phil
We made a playlist for people to listen to music we.
Phil
Got started on social media that kind of stuff.
Phil
And then in the winter we had another performance.
Phil
Uhm, which was one I choreographed for the first time with the sophomore.
Phil
Yeah, we choreographed for I think maybe 2 weeks and then we spent another two to three weeks teaching the group of seven.
Phil
Of us, the total the bands.
Phil
And that was the first time I spends a lot of time choreographing a dance, really like sitting down, writing, like writing all the different formations that we had to do, and then like timing it to the music, spending like a few hours just sitting down, listening to the music, figuring out like how would it like how would it?
Phil
Sounded like we had.
Phil
So people do.
Phil
This and how would it look and like how would the flow of the piece go and just sort of working through that for the first time?
Phil
There’s sort of a step up for me and like saying, OK, I’m like this is what I want to be doing.
Phil
I really like doing this and I think exploring this part of Kpop club was dumb.
Phil
Like another level of leadership for me that I.
Phil
Really enjoy it.
Phil
’cause in the past I had written out like formation diets for certain songs that we’re covering to help new people coming into Kpop club.
Phil
How to like find their places and like how to move through like between different people and so.
Phil
I think giving that guy sort of.
Phil
Inspired me to like OK, why don’t I make this guy for something I?
Phil
Made and sort.
Phil
Of running with that and keeping it going.
Phil
And so I did that.
Phil
And then in the spring I I.
Phil
Did it again.
Phil
But this time it was for a dance that.
Phil
Was for all seniors.
Phil
So I spent like a few weeks making the whole thing and then we spent maybe a month working on a 4 minute long song.
Phil
Uhm, just like with eight of us, and I also learned like how to adjust if people get injured.
Phil
People get sick, scheduling doesn’t work out, people can’t make it to every single meeting.
Phil
Learning how to sort of work with the people you have in the moment and like keeping it going and.
Phil
As a leader, being able to maintain energy and excitement for other people to bounce that off, bounce energy off of.
Phil
And I saw a lot of time doing that.
Phil
Uhm, especially in like weeks where we had a lot of academic work where people could make it, and so I would like add extra try to like add extra energy into the situation ’cause I knew people weren’t going to be there and like I made it light it up, make jokes about it and then I like continue to like make jokes until like.
Phil
Uh, when people came back or people had like the time, and by then those jokes have allowed me to create a very sort of like a very focused but very laid back kind of group, where, like we sort of understood what was going on like we really like, laugh about it, and flat laugh at something with each other over time.
Phil
Very lightheartedly, but we were able to really get it down and get it focused and get it performance running, and so yeah.
Kamila
The vibes in that club must’ve been like.
Kamila
Just like stuff.
Phil
They were.
Kamila
Yeah alright so.
Kamila
Would you say we covered like your main extracurriculars?
Kamila
Or do you want?
Kamila
Are there a couple more?
Kamila
That you want to talk about.
Phil
Uhm, I guess.
Phil
One more I did, uh Korean martial art.
Phil
I did create sword martial arts for.
Kamila
I did.
Kamila
Not have birds.
Phil
Yeah, I so I did a consulting martial arts for about five years, six years.
Kamila
With this during high school.
Phil
This started in middle.
Phil
School, but it I did do it through.
Phil
A bit of high school and.
Phil
I actually got my black belt.
Phil
I think freshman year or sophomore year it was another one of those things where I took it to learn more about my culture, but.
Phil
Also just for.
Phil
Fun like it was something that I.
Phil
Mean one of my older brothers.
Phil
I would.
Phil
And and like the community, there was like a.
Phil
Few towns over.
Phil
From my group and it was really.
Phil
It was really like good time especially.
Phil
When I could.
Phil
Learning, I guess skills and how to do that.
Phil
But also like how it connects with my culture, how I personally feel about it and like the private, I feel like talking about and thinking on like my experiences there and like being able to both like lead in that area in that sort of environment but also just.
Phil
Like having fun with it.
Kamila
Hold up so I’ve never heard of this because I do martial arts as well and I’m not like obviously the most knowledgeable on the different martial arts, but like Korean sword martial arts like that’s like just sword fighting like once you.
Kamila
See movies like.
Phil
I mean, it’s not really like that’s.
Phil
More like a very flashy kind of stuff. Martial art I did was more about like self-defense and and I guess like this is played with a blade so you would start with like a like a very heavy like wooden blazes.
Kamila
Did you use a real one ever?
Phil
Uhm, no I did not.
Phil
I did not get.
Phil
To the level.
Phil
Where I could like have a blade.
Phil
Like a full on metal blade my brother.
Phil
No, but you know, I stepped it with like.
Phil
Uh, a I guess like fake metal sword.
Phil
It was just like a very dull.
Phil
Blade, but it was made of.
Phil
Metal and and so I did that.
Phil
I started with like a very heavy.
Phil
Wood sword with.
Phil
Like a bamboo sword along with it to practice more.
Phil
Like faster moving self.
Phil
Defense is then after a while I got a wooden like another writer riddled with the scabbard like a sheep, and then when I got to my black belt I was given like.
Phil
The dull metal sword.
Phil
You practice with.
Kamila
That’s so cool, well, but they’re like they’re like no strikes in this right?
Kamila
It’s purely just learning how to defend yourself with the sword like no punching or thinking.
Kamila
Nothing like that.
Phil
No country, no kicking.
Phil
All any like offensive self-defense moves were done.
Phil
With the sword it’s all that is so.
Kamila
Cool my God.
Kamila
I’ve met people who’ve done martial arts like like I do you.
Kamila
Know with strikes.
Kamila
And stuff never never stored this amazing.
Kamila
All right, so let’s get into your grade and one thing before we start with that is.
Kamila
The kind of.
Kamila
High school you went to, so just give us like.
Kamila
A quick you.
Kamila
Know description of your high.
Kamila
School number was like private public.
Kamila
Was it a public school that had?
Kamila
A lot of.
Kamila
I guess high achieving students who were all like competing to get into top schools.
Kamila
So was the like the air competitive?
Kamila
Did you have the resources to you know, prepare for like the 80 take AP classes?
Kamila
And make sure you were like on top of your.
Phil
Yeah, so I went to a.
Phil
Private high school and I would.
Phil
Say I definitely have the resources to prepare for standardized testing and the college process and.
Phil
Stuff like that so.
Phil
So should I go into like my like?
Kamila
Well yeah, I’m gonna I’m gonna start asking about.
Phil
OK, OK.
Kamila
Anything so so?
Kamila
Did you have Epi’s or was it?
Kamila
An IB school.
Phil
I had a case.
Kamila
AP’s OK so coming in that we don’t have to do the specific APS, but by the time you did apply to college, including senior.
Kamila
Year how many?
Kamila
APS are on your application.
Phil
If you courses or AP tests.
Kamila
Courses and then you can say how many of the tests you took.
Phil
Again, I had five AP courses.
Kamila
And then.
Kamila
Leave it, oh, you weren’t COVID year weren’t sure.
Phil
Yeah, I mean junior year.
Phil
My sophomore junior year were covered, but summer was still covered less so or like we like the world understood how to handle it better.
Kamila
By that point.
Kamila
That’s true, so understanding.
Kamila
OK, and did you take any of the AP tests?
Phil
I took a.
Phil
I took three, it took bio calc in Spanish.
Kamila
Alright, and then what was your GPA by the end of?
Kamila
Well, by the time college absolutely round.
Kamila
So number one your unweighted, which is the one out of four point.
Kamila
Oh, and then waited and can you give?
Kamila
The scale for your.
Kamila
School or is it like out of 4.55?
Kamila
5.5.
Phil
I don’t remember.
Kamila
You’re still in school, buddy.
Phil
I’m not, I’m I’m done, I’m done.
Kamila
Right, that’s that’s true.
Phil
All that’s gone.
Kamila
Out there and.
Phil
I’m enjoying my summer, UM.
Phil
But it was, I don’t know, sorry, I got consistent errors with a few pluses here and there, but I was.
Kamila
OK.
Kamila
Alright, so you were like really close to 4.0. Alright yeah yeah, I think people can get the idea with like mostly straight days right? So and then we’re going to get into SATACT.
Kamila
Well before that I want to know.
Kamila
So you said your intent, your intended.
Kamila
Major is psych.
Kamila
Right?
Kamila
OK, how did you?
Kamila
’cause that’s not like a math.
Kamila
It’s not like you know.
Kamila
Something like that’s easily picked up in school.
Phil
Right?
Kamila
You’re like I have a passion for it.
Kamila
So how did you did any of your classes like Spark an interest in psych?
Kamila
Was it something else?
Phil
I would say my history class instead of art and combining it with like biology courses.
Phil
Uhm, so it’s like a lot of like this request is.
Phil
I took some sort of with the arguments that I ended up making for like essays I have spray were more about like.
Phil
How people think why people do?
Phil
Things you know if we have to like do a certain thing, why should we do a certain thing versus the other thing that could have been?
Phil
Done and stuff like that.
Kamila
All right, so it was just like naturally just this like soon you just naturally had the brain for it.
Kamila
Think about it.
Phil
Yeah, yeah and.
Kamila
I think like.
Phil
Because I liked history and bio at the time, like my.
Phil
YouTube search history.
Phil
Also pushed me in that direction ’cause.
Kamila
We can’t forget the listening ears of our laptops and iPhones.
Phil
Yeah, I mean also.
Phil
Just like ’cause I would listen to sort of like like online channels on YouTube about.
Phil
Like simplifying history or like talking about biology, or like the weird parts of nature and like making like making comedy out of it.
Phil
Or for example talking about like how you can insert.
Phil
Uhm, like certain ideas into major concepts that like some people like my overlook and I sort of wondered, why do people do certain things?
Phil
Why do we talk about certain things and why do we?
Phil
Not talk about.
Phil
Other things, and I guess like the pandemic added to this.
Phil
Uhm, I also was like.
Phil
Uhm, and as an Asian American in America, it was a complicated time.
Phil
For it’s complicated for everyone.
Phil
Uhm, but I think.
Phil
Like sitting in my room, sophomore spring.
Phil
Thinking about what I wanted to do with my last two years of high school, what I.
Phil
Want to do in my life I I.
Phil
Sort of wondered why people do.
Phil
Uhm, why people do things the way they do it and like why people choose to do or say certain things and how we believe in certain concepts but not others.
Phil
Why we’re swayed by opinion.
Phil
That sort of got me interested in like psychology and like how, why, why?
Phil
People do what?
Phil
They do so yeah.
Kamila
Alright, so I just I was just curious there ’cause you know psych?
Kamila
Is not something you just like Oh yeah.
Kamila
This is a pass.
Phil
Yeah, yeah.
Kamila
So OK, so let’s get into SATT. So again, I’m going to let you take it from here.
Kamila
Which one did you take?
Kamila
What preparations?
Kamila
Did you do and how many times you took?
Kamila
It and then.
Kamila
What was your super score in the end?
Phil
Sure, uhm so I.
Phil
Took both because I wanted to see which will work better for me.
Phil
They were about the same so I just like took them both to see just just ’cause up.
Phil
But also I guess just like they were different styles so I wanted to definitely see.
Phil
Uhm, which wants you to do better and maybe cut out the just cause for it?
Phil
So in terms of like my.
Phil
Prep for standardized testing I used.
Phil
A lot of.
Phil
Like free online material.
Phil
So like I think College Board had.
Phil
Like free exams that I would.
Phil
Use and stuff like that.
Kamila
So you chose the S80.
Phil
I chose the city and then I also like.
Phil
Fabric asked exams that I could do online.
Phil
And and like ones that you could download and print.
Phil
So I did both of those and I.
Phil
Just like got.
Phil
Books for both the city and the city and and I just spent my time studying both of them up. I took the S80.
Phil
Once and I think I.
Phil
Took up the AC twice.
Phil
I’m gonna ask for like my scores.
Phil
Uhm SA T mid 15.
Phil
Hundreds AC T high 30s.
Kamila
OK, so you.
Kamila
Were like top percentile for basically any school you wanted to get into.
Kamila
That that is that is good.
Kamila
Misty hundreds in high 30s.
Kamila
Yeah that’s good alright.
Kamila
So yeah, that’s pretty standard preparations.
Kamila
Who would you recommend like for you was the same, but like I’m sure there were differences and I’ve taken both as.
Kamila
Well, so I’ve heard like esmel, I’ve heard I also know, but SFC is more like English.
Kamila
Heavy like it’s not that the math is bad, but like it’s pretty standard math and English is more like dense, but then the ECT.
Kamila
It’s more spread out.
Kamila
English is not that emphasized.
Kamila
And then you also have that like weird as science section so.
Kamila
Who would you recommend this 84 in?
Kamila
The 84
Phil
I said, uhm.
Phil
OK, for me the difference between the AC T and the city is more so on how you how I approached it, because for me the AC T felt a lot faster.
Phil
You have less time to think you how to.
Phil
Some sort of pick an answer and sort of move on and sort of spend a lot less time thinking over the answers where they see you had more time to think over the answers and it was really needed for the English sections.
Phil
And so, like I would say, if you like if your strengths lie.
Phil
In sort of thinking through certain problems, thinking through questions.
Phil
And you are not the strongest with fast-paced answering questions. I would say definitely take the S80. It may be a bit English heavy but I found it more comfortable to sort of. Sit down and think about my answers and some of them like I didn’t necessarily need to.
Phil
Think on but just having that extra time to go back.
Phil
Double check and be confident in that was really helpful and I personally preferred the S.
Phil
80 But if you enjoy fast-paced questions, you’re not really looking for like a lengthy section. You’re looking more for. I want to do this. I want to do this answer. I want to go through.
Phil
And you’re OK with sort of glancing through passages, picking out different key types of information you prefer doing that rather than just like reading through the information to get like the big picture ideas, then I would.
Phil
Recommend the AC2.
Kamila
Same same that science section caught me by surprise that was.
Kamila
That was so bad.
Kamila
Right?
Kamila
So we’ve got through the main things.
Kamila
One last thing before we do college process like your application and stuff.
Kamila
And that’s what you were looking for.
Kamila
In school, let’s talk about.
Kamila
Your common app essay or you know?
Kamila
Do you know?
Kamila
USC is not in the UC system, so alright, so you did comment.
Kamila
After that.
Kamila
All right, so can you tell us which prompt did you choose and what did you generally generally write about and what message were you trying to get across to the admissions officers from that essay?
Phil
I think it shows.
Phil
The first option, UM and I, chose to talk.
Phil
About my name
Phil
My full name including my creative name and and so.
Kamila
What’s the first option then with the identity?
Phil
I’ll start with.
Phil
Yeah I think was the identity one.
Phil
And I talked about my name.
Phil
Missile is also like when like the pandemic and like.
Phil
Things like the invasion here on my mind and I sort of reflected on what my identity meant to me and so reflecting on it, I realized and.
Phil
And I realized that.
Phil
It was something I wanted to take.
Phil
Pride in but I.
Phil
Didn’t want to sort of hide it.
Phil
And instantly I wanted to sort of say like this used to say like this is me. This is who I am and I’m proud of that ’cause it represents. My family represents, MyHeritage represents.
Phil
But I believe in what I want to do moving forward and so, uhm.
Phil
I wanted to show them that like the three different aspects of my name, my first name and last name and my trainer name.
Phil
And so I I sort of.
Phil
Talked about some sort.
Phil
Of like how people came to me through my first name.
Phil
So the one I.
Phil
Used about being Phillip.
Phil
I talked about like.
Phil
The things I.
Phil
Didn’t like what I did at school.
Phil
What I did outside of school and like how people came slowly into that name and I talked about how.
Phil
Like because of the world.
Phil
In 2020 and 2021.
Phil
Uhm, I started to see my last name in a sort of a different way and.
Phil
And sort of just.
Phil
Like talking again, going back to like what I was talking about psychology.
Phil
People did certain things and.
Phil
Why I chose to do certain things as well when I was around my friends versus when I was at home and how they might have been different and then?
Phil
I reflected on.
Phil
The fact that I can’t change that, but I can’t change my last name.
Phil
Well, I can, but I can’t change what I can’t change who I am.
Phil
I can’t change what I represent physically and how I talk and like my family, sister.
Phil
I can’t change that and so I talked about coming to terms with who I am and owning my identity.
Phil
And and I talked about how, in a sophomore history presentation I did on Seoul, South Korea.
Phil
Uhm, I remember putting my full name for the first time in any presentation I had.
Phil
Ever done?
Phil
And I reflect on that as something that I’m.
Phil
Carlos now.
Phil
That’s that one slide sort of started for me.
Phil
A desire to explore Korean culture.
Phil
And being proud to write that out fully.
Phil
And so I talked about that and I talked about how I.
Phil
Forced myself, I didn’t force myself.
Phil
I chose to learn more about Korean.
Phil
I took an online creating class.
Phil
I started speaking it with my parents more.
Phil
I started writing sentences out because I’ve gone to create school in the past, but I chose to step away from it because.
Phil
It wasn’t meant for me it.
Phil
Wasn’t for me at that time.
Phil
Uhm, so I could read and write poetry and I didn’t understand the words that the characters formed though, and so.
Phil
I took time to sort of learn from the ground up how to speak Korean, and more than just like your hellos and goodbyes and you think useful like complex senses.
Phil
Saying what I liked, what I didn’t like, pointing things out and that kind of stuff when I got to the point where I was able to have like a conversation with my grandmother.
Phil
Who speaks only Korean?
Phil
Like 95.
Phil
I will make sure so I was able to talk with her like basic Korean and like they were saying is all your crew has gotten so well.
Phil
This is in Korean.
Phil
By the way, but you know your train is gone.
Phil
So well and.
Phil
It was just something that I was very excited to hear and inspiring to me to keep going.
Phil
To sort of embrace the tenacity and the energy of my Korean American identity.
Kamila
Alright, and this is a personal question, something I wonder.
Kamila
So like my name is not from my culture, it’s it’s like a pretty universal name Camilla.
Kamila
Like you, multiple cultures use it and you know my parents named it.
Kamila
It’s the name is prevalent in my country.
Kamila
You know it’s it’s there, so do you ever wish that like you had gone by your Korean name?
Kamila
Instead of getting like a like an Americanized name, do you ever wish that you had just started?
Kamila
And that’s how people knew you.
Kamila
’cause I do have friends who like have a Korean name, but they go by their English name like someone who I.
Kamila
Don’t even know their Korean name.
Phil
I mean, I don’t regret it.
Phil
I don’t regret going by my English name of my training, uhm?
Phil
I think.
Phil
I am proud of both names.
Phil
Uhm, I have had thoughts about like oh maybe.
Phil
I should ask.
Phil
Like my friends to call me my Korean name or like friends I have in creative communities to call me by my Korean name.
Phil
Uhm, but even then, like.
Phil
Having both names is something.
Phil
Like I think they’re fondly.
Phil
It isn’t something that like I wish I could replace.
Kamila
Right, alright, so let’s get into one.
Kamila
Less thing is what you were looking for in colleges.
Kamila
And then we’ll talk about why USC had all those.
Kamila
And then we’ll.
Kamila
Wrap up alright.
Kamila
So obviously you were like college is on your mind.
Kamila
It wasn’t something that just like came to you suddenly at the end of junior year.
Kamila
So when you did start looking at different colleges and you know realizing like oh, I need to make a college.
Kamila
Just now, what were the different characteristics you were looking for?
Phil
Also first thing I wanted a school in the city I grew up in.
Phil
A pretty like.
Phil
Rural suburban environments and I wanted something very different.
Kamila
Run the city.
Kamila
Suburbs forever yeah.
Phil
Yeah, and so I wanted that I I didn’t want a very small school either.
Phil
I wanted the opportunity to have like a big school so.
Phil
Honestly, I don’t think.
Phil
Pop like size itself wasn’t necessarily like a.
Phil
Big big thing for me.
Phil
One thing I did want was.
Phil
A very diverse community.
Phil
And and like having like multiple perspectives through, that was something I really wanted in a college I I also wanted something with a lot of academic rigor.
Phil
A very
Phil
A strong academic support system so advisors, career advisors and like stuff that would help me understand how to move forward in college and beyond college when it came to like finding.
Phil
A job or.
Phil
Learning how to like do internships and that kind of stuff.
Phil
And I also wanted like.
Phil
I I also in my college process, looked for colleges that had a K pop.
Phil
Dance group already there.
Kamila
That’s a must.
Kamila
Have my God.
Kamila
What are you saying?
Phil
Yes, of course.
Phil
I also looked for if schools had jazz bands, musical programs, that kind of stuff.
Phil
I also looked to see if they had psychology as a major, how their social science program was, you know, it was small.
Phil
It was big.
Phil
Are certain majors prioritized over others, or is there more of just like a Jewish model here?
Phil
Or support you kind of feel?
Phil
And as like a very step non STEMI person, I sort of like stepped away from I guess like those kinds of students where like they were known for their substandard math or compsci those types of colleges, didn’t interest me that much.
Phil
I I wasn’t too too.
Phil
Concerned about prestige in any way I cared more for the vibe that I got and like how I felt like in that environment.
Phil
Like looking at their resources, listening to students, talk with that kind of stuff.
Kamila
And were you able to visit USC before you apply?
Phil
I was I did not on a college tour. I was in LA visiting family member and we just happened to be next to the USC campus and so we went. We stopped by I got the chance to look around and I fell in love with the campus.
Kamila
Alright, well it worked out.
Kamila
It’s great for you.
Kamila
So what’s your reaction upon getting into USC?
Phil
I I actually found out in my school’s library while I was working on an English project and so like I saw the e-mail come in through like my there.
Phil
Just like a little notification, the bottom right of my computer and I.
Phil
Was like froze I saw.
Phil
I realized it was coming out that day, but it like it sort of dawned on me.
Phil
Oh this is happening right now.
Phil
I sort of like.
Phil
Close all my other tabs and and I just opened the e-mail and then I opened the link.
Phil
I will like the congratulations you were accepted e-mail, it came out and I was.
Kamila
Like I.
Phil
Was still in my school.
Phil
Library so I had to.
Phil
Be very like calm.
Phil
About it, but like I got up and then just sort of like paced around, slightly shocked for a little bit.
Phil
And then I came.
Phil
Back to my computer.
Phil
I double checked that it was.
Phil
That I read what I.
Phil
Had read then I proceeded to coldly close my laptop walk out of.
Phil
The library and begin to celebrate.
Phil
I just like I walked off to just like a small part like a not as small but just.
Phil
Go part of my.
Phil
School where people.
Phil
Don’t usually go and I just like starting.
Phil
Some of it.
Phil
Yeah yeah, and I was just like static elated.
Phil
I was so happy I told my parents about it too.
Phil
They were there with me since the start of the process and like they had.
Phil
Understood like what getting into USC meant for me, and so they were happy for me as well.
Phil
And yeah.
Kamila
Well, that’s fantastic.
Kamila
OK so one last thing before, well, not one last thing, but second to last thing were finances in general or concern for you when you were applying to colleges.
Kamila
Or was
Kamila
It more.
Kamila
Like its final workout like were you looking specifically for like merit based schools or was it like?
Kamila
You weren’t that concerned about finances.
Phil
I was concerned about finances, yes, so I was looking for schools that would give me financial aid to go that definitely played into which schools I applied to for sure.
Kamila
Well, I hope it works out with USC.
Kamila
It’s not cheap school at.
Kamila
All alright, so one last thing I want you to do is give some advice.
Kamila
So this can be well.
Kamila
Let’s do this so.
Kamila
It is summer is coming right.
Kamila
Juniors who are now becoming seniors are going to apply to college so.
Kamila
Can you give one piece of advice for perhaps people who are going to come in as freshmen into high school?
Kamila
So, and this can be about anything, it can be about the college process.
Kamila
It can be general life advice, high school advice, whatever you want it to be, and then a second piece of advice for.
Kamila
Me juniors who.
Kamila
Are becoming for years.
Kamila
What did I do?
Phil
I see.
Phil
OK.
Phil
Alright, so one piece of advice I would give to freshmen entering high school would definitely be to come.
Phil
Use like freshman and sophomore you to explore to enjoy high school and like learn how to navigate high school.
Phil
I wouldn’t focus on like trying to or I need to do this course this course.
Phil
This course to get.
Phil
Into this college because.
Phil
A lot can change in high school.
Phil
You could have different preferences by the time you’re in junior year.
Phil
Or like you find this one course that you really like that didn’t fit with that plan and you haven’t entering high school.
Phil
I would take the time to.
Phil
Really explore different clubs, different opportunities and to do it for yourself and to do it for fun, not to do it necessarily.
Phil
For college always plays a role in that, but finding the things that you really enjoy and investing in those that is the advice that are.
Phil
Good and then for.
Phil
Juniors or into rising seniors like yourself I would.
Phil
Uhm, don’t be afraid to like use many different sort of like online resources and and learn when to say I don’t like this and I think for me like it’s it’s very easy to say what you don’t like versus what you like and so like if you’re having a hard time deciding what you want to do.
Phil
Figure out.
Phil
What you don’t want to do first?
Phil
And then like what you have left, I think will allow you just guide yourself one way or another.
Phil
Right, so for example, I didn’t really know how certain college campuses felt, and so because I couldn’t go to the room because of COVID.
Phil
What I ended up doing was searching YouTube and looking at like the day in the life videos and you know, they’re always a little bit sometimes on the cringey side, but.
Phil
I was able to use that to sort of get a sense and get a feel of like what school life is actually like for them, or whether it be a bit more chaotic or.
Phil
A bit more calm.
Phil
And sort of.
Phil
The feeling I got from those we can actually just give one more piece of words.
Phil
Another thing is.
Phil
Try to find the school that you find like then you have genuine excitement over, UM, not just for its prestige, for it’s one specific program, like if you find yourself like excited to go to that school, like if you could just go to the campus and without like a guy say I want to go here, that is.
Phil
Very valuable you don’t have to find that either right?
Phil
But I think just like being able to.
Phil
To find like a school that you really like depends on whether you can sustain liking that overview over like a week or so.
Phil
’cause if like you look at one school like it, look at another school and you don’t.
Phil
When you go back to the person you don’t really like it anymore.
Phil
Then I would say you should consider that in applying to.
Phil
That school or not?
Phil
But if you like swag, go to school or like look at school, be back to school and still.
Phil
Like it that says.
Phil
That you really like, that’s cool.
Kamila
All right, thank you.
Phil
So for.
Kamila
You’re on the.
Kamila
That coast right?
Kamila
You’re on the West Coast.
Kamila
Yes, yeah, alright, so you’re still still early, for you have a good rest of your day.
Phil
You too.