Interview With April From GWU

My first ever interview with the one and only April from George Washington University.

Transcription

Kamila
Hey guys. Hey college kids. Welcome back to my podcast. Who cares about college? This is episode three. And today I’m going to be interviewing April. So April if you don’t mind introducing yourself. Hello, my

April
name is April I am somewhere between a sophomore and junior at the George Washington University. I’m a criminal justice major. And yeah, I’m from Massachusetts, Cape Cod, Massachusetts. So I’m glad to be here talking with you all.

Kamila
Cool. Cool. Cool. So April, and I met through my tour guide when I went to GW Her name is Jess. So Jess and April are friends and then they contact me to get contacted me together. And actually Jess is a criminal justice major. So that’s very interesting. You guys may have some classes together.

April
She did copy me actually, I was a criminal justice made. clear that up. But yeah, we do have we have one class together. And then a lot of the classes we both taken them so we can give each other advice on professors and grading and stuff like that, which is really nice.

Kamila
That’s cool. Yeah, I heard she came in as like an astrophysics major or something. That’s like totally different from what she’s doing now. That’s good. That’s yeah, to find her major. Okay, so I want to start from like the very beginning. So when did you start thinking about you know, applying to college? Are you like me, and like, super nerdy and like, started this in seventh grade? Or did you do it last minute and really didn’t know what to like do until like, junior year. So what happened?

April
Um, I definitely wish I had started getting advice a lot earlier than I did. I have a mom who’s like super hands on and really involved in my school and everything. So she was kind of the one who got me started in the college research process. And we started that my sophomore year of high school just like looking up different schools with programs in the major that I thought I would be interested in at the time. And just places that I knew like I was going to do something in the humanities. So schools with like a really strong humanities program, places that were close to home or in a city because I wanted to be in a city. So we just kind of started like Googling and like looking at different colleges and stuff like that. And then we started touring the summer of my sophomore year. So that was kind of the earliest things that I did to start preparing for college. But I definitely wish I’d started like talking to other people who had been through the experience a lot sooner. So I think that’s a really great opportunity.

Kamila
Good. So like, on average, how many colleges do you think you went to? Or like toured or were interested in?

April
This is going to be a really crazy answer that I bet you won’t hear from anyone out. But we went on 26 college tours, which was way too many. It was kind of fun, just because we made it like the summer like touring and vacations. And we got to go to different places in New England, like where I’m from Drive to different schools, but they definitely got repetitive after a while. And all the schools kind of started to blend together. So that was really hard to keep separated. And like about half of them I didn’t even apply to

Kamila
oh, I say also Yeah, still apply to like a good amount like over 10.

April
Yeah, I applied to 13. So actually, exactly half of them I applied to

Kamila
Oh, wow. Was it a lot of pressure? Were you like super stressed? Or were you Are you like a chill person about it.

April
I was a very chill person, but my mom was not. So she kept like drilling me about like facts about the colleges and stuff after we left, like make sure that I would remember everything from the tour that we had went on. And most of the time, I didn’t really remember the details, which she was kind of like upset about after we like spent all of our time going on the tour and everything. But yeah, I was pretty chill about it. A lot of the schools, I could kind of tell right away, whether I would like them or not. And then others. I enjoyed the tour. But then once I started researching them some more there were like a lot of parts of their education that didn’t really align with what I was looking for. So I think that’s kind of like what knocked off a lot of the schools.

Kamila
Yeah, I like I kind of understand you like I’ve been to not 26 I mean, I hope I’ll go to 26 in the future, right. But I’ve been to about like 10 or 15 schools, and I understand what you’re saying, like they kind of do mesh together. And I’m kind of for myself, I’m looking for that school that stands out that I’m able to remember like so distinctively. And I just think about like every single day. So was GW that’s cool for you.

April
Um, this sounds kind of depressing, but not really. I mean, I definitely enjoyed the school. And by the time I’d finished touring all the schools and figured out which ones I was applying to, I had ones that were more of my favorite and ones that I didn’t really like as much and GW was definitely it was in my top five. So that’s really good. That’s saying something. But yeah, it was it didn’t really like stand out as like this is the one but I definitely there were a lot of things that I objectively liked about it. And then I did enjoy like being on the campus as well. It had a really cool feel to it.

Kamila
That’s good. That’s good. And in Washington is like of course a really good city like I live near here. So I know there’s like so many stuff and for your major, especially criminal justice, this is like the ideal place to be. Wait so if you change your major to Criminal Justice, what did it start off as originally?

April
I actually started off undeclared, because I didn’t want like when I applied to any schools, I didn’t want choosing a major to like, decide whether they accepted me or not. Because I know some schools will do that they’re looking for more students of a certain major in a particular year, I didn’t really want to limit myself by doing that. I thought I was gonna end up majoring in psychology. But I chose to minor instead of majoring in it, because there were a lot of like research base classes that were involved. And that wasn’t really the route that I wanted to go. So I’m doing like criminal justice and then minor in psychology, so I can focus more on like, the pure, like sociology classes and just have like a background and like the human brain science, which is really cool.

Kamila
That’s really cool. So yeah, I was thinking of like moving majoring. I mean, minoring in psychology as well, when I went to college, like I feel it’d be useful to know how people like, you know, work and stuff.

April
Yeah, absolutely. And like a lot of my classes double count as well. Like, there’s a few that I’ve taken for psychology that actually count towards the criminal justice, like elective courses, which is cool. So it shows like how interrelated the fields are.

Kamila
That’s good, that’s good. And it’s good that GW has, like just mentioned, a undeclared kind of like position. I know a lot of colleges force you to choose a college even though they guarantee that you can, like, you know, switch out of it when you get there. But it’s cool, that GW gives you the option to be undeclared if you want to. And you don’t really know what you’re doing, right.

April
Yeah, exactly. That was the best because I wanted to, like take a few classes and kind of I was pretty sure what I was doing. But I I wanted to have the chance to be able to figure out and not have to like, I don’t know, it’s a lot easier to join something than to back out of something. Yeah, sure. Yeah. Yeah, that was nice.

Kamila
So as for your high school transcript, I know GW so for anyone that doesn’t know GW, last time I searched it up, I think it had like about a 40% acceptance rate, and it is a private institution. So it is harder to get into. So April, I’m curious. What was your high school transcript? Like? Do you think it was like on the high end with like a bunch of APS low end? Or like middle or did you feel like there was some people more qualified at GW in terms of their high school transcript.

April
Um, I feel like there’s no like, weird like way to say this kind of without seeming like a flex. But I think I definitely was on the higher end of things just because I was fortunate enough to go to like a super elite like private high school, which was a really great experience. And it definitely, like helped boost my transcript and my experiences there. I got like really good grades. They’re like all A’s, so I had a good GPA. So that was good. I also my school offered a lot of APS, which was also like a huge transcript booster. I think I took like seven while I was in high school, which was great for like the credits and then to be able to, like put that on my transcript as well. So yeah, I mean, there’s a lot of other kids who have gone to kind of those like elite like private schools as well. So I don’t really think I stood out in that way. But I was kind of just among the other people who were here because a lot of kids here have had the opportunity to do that are from like New England or the Mid Atlantic. Which I found out kind of after I came here I ended up like meeting a lot of people who had gone to schools that my school like played against in sports and stuff so it is kind of like a smaller world once you get here. But um, yeah, I think the thing that maybe made my application standout was just the amount of clubs I was involved in. I was like the leader for a lot of different things. I was super involved in stuff at my school and I think maybe that combined with like, my good grades and good AP scores and stuff like that. Definitely helped my application.

Kamila
So other any like, so in terms of your APS, I know that you came in undeclared. But did you have like were your APS kind of all over the place in the stem and the humanities and stuff? Or did you focus specifically on like, a certain area in your APS because I know, colleges like to see like more elite colleges like to see a lot of APS but they also like to see sometimes if a student has a little bit of direction, like if they’re more like stem oriented, and maybe they want to be a doctor, then they take a bunch of like STEM classes. So did you do that or were your APS kind of just all over the place?

April
Um, I kind of think that idea of being more focused in one career is really only like applicable for STEM because I know a lot of schools if you’re in like stem or engineering, you have to apply to that specific school. And they have a very, like fast track. So I think that’s great if you’re going into the sciences and you have a bunch of math and science APS as a concentration. But if you’re going into the humanities on a lot of my like tours and info sessions, I was told that I would have to like show that I was strong kind of in every subject in order to be admitted, like as a humanities major, and I actually wanted to drop my science senior year because my school lets you only take like three years of science and then double up in another subject. But yeah, I was told by college admissions officers that I should keep taking science so I actually took like an AP science my senior year. I took APs and like everything but math. I think that was the only thing that I didn’t really because I knew I was never going to use that in college. So I thought that like having science and having like humanities and history, languages, and everything would be fine.

Kamila
But did you take Spanish or French? I’m just curious about that. Yeah,

April
I took Spanish there were a bunch of like languages offered at my school. But I’d taken Spanish throughout middle school in high school. And I actually like, was fairly, like high up in Spanish classes. I started in like a higher class. So I was able to take like both of the Spanish APS, which was nice.

Kamila
So are you a certified bilingual?

April
Um, I wouldn’t say that. Just because I haven’t really had a ton of chances to use my Spanish. I’m very comfortable like, listening. I will listen in on people’s conversations all the time. Yeah, that’s

April
a little perk of it.

April
Exactly. It’s so nice. But yeah, speaking not as much I get a little bit nervous when talking to native speakers, almost, they just kind of sit back and like, observe what other people have to say.

Kamila
I see. That’s really cool. So during high school, this is more general questions. Not really, not really for college. But through high school. Do you think that you like, enjoyed it? Was it like, I know you took seven APs. And that’s a really heavy load. So were you able to like enjoy the ride? Because you said you also had a lot of extracurricular, so not the high school experience. But did you genuinely feel like you were having a good time? And it wasn’t just about college? Did you feel like there was an aspect like, Oh, I’m actually living my life here.

April
Yeah, I definitely think that happened a lot for me. And my high school is just like, known for being crazy rigorous, they actually required you to do like, either a sport or activity after school every season. So really, our school day didn’t end until like 6pm. And then like, for a lot of my clubs and stuff, I would have meetings after that. So I’d really be on campus until like nine each night. And then I go home, do my homework and wake up again. So that was like, that was pretty crazy. But because it was a small school, like a lot of my friends were in my classes and in like clubs and stuff, and I would get like meals with them in between. So my school was a boarding school. So it was nice to be able to have kind of all my friends in one place, like know that they would all be there. And so I didn’t really miss out on the social aspects of things. But my schedule was so much more jammed packed than it was when I started college.

Kamila
Interesting. So did you do a I know you did a lot of clubs, like you said, but did you do any sports? Or like even like tried out? Maybe cross country your freshman year?

April
Uh, yeah, I did soccer for three years. I did track for four years. And then in the winters? I did I was the stage manager for the school musical. So I did that

Kamila
day, you did have a really good application, I need to bump it up a little bit. Yeah. So

April
definitely not, you’ll be fine. Just like play up the strengths that you already have. Because chances are like, you’re overlooking a lot of things that you do and you don’t even think about, it’s all about like remembering those things that don’t seem like anything important to you. But they definitely are.

Kamila
So in like, what kind of clubs did you have, if you don’t have to name like the specifics, but can you give like a number, and like how long you were in it. And if you can give the name of the club that would be really ideal. Um,

April
let’s see, trying to think about that. There are definitely a lot I was involved in the poetry club because I love poetry. So that was something that I really focused on. We had, there’s a national organization called I’m that girl. It’s about like empowering women leaders. And it’s about advocating for just like being a girl and like that experience on campus in high schools and colleges. So we had like a school chapter of that organization, which was really awesome. That was created, I believe, my sophomore year. And I was in that until I graduated, which was awesome. I was also involved in a lot of like literature, magazines, and clubs like that, because that’s something that I was really interested in. So like, we had like a school literary magazine, we had like a magazine, that was for a bunch of different private schools, we all contributed things. So I helped. I was like an editor for both of those. And then we also started a fashion magazine. A couple of my friends started that my senior year. So I would do photo shoots and style and edit and help with that. Which was awesome. It was definitely more art space than like humanities, like, like more academic humanities, which didn’t really I don’t know if it helps my application. But because I was so involved, I learned a lot of like, awesome skills. And I was able to like talk that up and like go on my interviews and stuff like that, which was really

Kamila
cool. And even, like, you’re telling me right now, like you had this like literature magazine, if you did, like if you did become a leader in that, that does kind of show like, you know, your like writing and you like you can handle it got kind of connected into criminal justice here. You know, there’s like a lot of writing when you’re in politics, and you know, like, I don’t really know about this area, but like, I feel like you would know a lot about writing like my brother, he wants to be a lawyer and we keep telling him you need to write a lot you need to know how to write you need to be interested in writing. So that’s really cool.

April
Yeah, yeah, writing is like a great universal skill just to have him to be able to do and I feel like if you can write anything then you can like Talk through anything as well. So it’s definitely like good for communication, like for interviews and stuff when you go to college and for jobs. So yeah, it’s super cool.

Kamila
Yeah, I think like English is one of the most useful classes that you will ever take in high school. Like you go through like a phase where you’re like, this is also pointless. Why do I need to know, graphs and algebra or something, but like writing is the one thing that you know, like, I will need this. I need to know how you know how to write properly. I need to know proper grammar and stuff like that. So it’s good that you had that concentration? Yeah, I think that really boosted your application. I mean, I’m not an admissions officer. If I was, I think you could be maybe, yeah. So in terms of, so did you take your you lived in Massachusetts? So you took the LSAT?

April
I took both actually, I really submitted the AC T. Yeah. But I had the option to take both.

Kamila
Okay. It’s cool. It’s good. Did you do you mind sharing your scores.

April
I honestly my sh t scores. I took both test twice. The LSAT and a CT, my LSAT scores were very average. And since I didn’t submit that anywhere, I honestly like do not remember what I got on that. I think it was like in the high 30s, low 1400, something like that. And then my AC T, I ended I don’t remember what my first score was. But it was kind of funny because for my first round of the AC T and for both of the SH T’s I took like an LSAT prep class that was available in my high school. And I studied a lot for those. And then the second time I took the AC T I just it was literally like September like 10th or something it was right after like summer ended. I had not like studied at all over the summer not been taking any classes, like was not prepared. And I ended up doing better the second time on the AC t, which is pretty crazy. And yeah, I ended up getting a 34 on that, which that’s really good gi application. Thank you. So yeah, it was like it wasn’t like, oh, this girl did genius. But I think it like didn’t hurt my application, which is what I wanted. In the end, I didn’t want my test scores to be like that sore thumb that kind of stuck out.

Kamila
I see. So when you know, for standardized testing, you do obviously need to prepare if you like if you care a lot, even a little bit about college. So when did you start preparing for the standardized test, or like just doing practice tests,

April
I took, I took the LSAT course like the second half, I believe in my junior year. And I think I took like the first round of both of those tests at the end of my junior year. I maybe I don’t know, I would recommend for other people to start preparing earlier than that, just to get yourself acquainted. But for me, I felt like I am the kind of person who really can’t study for things for a long time. Like, that’s just never how I’ve been able to learn. I’m a very like study at the last minute, which is very counterintuitive. And I definitely don’t recommend that anybody else do that. I would just recommend that like you treat it like any other normal test. So however you learn best for tests in school, really just know that about yourself and try to employ that when it comes to the LSAT and the AC t. So whether that’s like buying booklets and studying out of booklets, whether that’s like taking notes and repeating information out loud to yourself, or having like family members or friends just like quiz you on random questions. I think those are all like great ways to prepare, depending on how you best work and but yeah, I do think there is a point where it’s a little bit too early though, because some of the information on like those tests may be stuff that you haven’t even learned yet, like, what classes you’re taking in high school. So I think it can be really intimidating if you start preparing, like really in your sophomore year, like the end of freshman year and like, the stuff will seem so challenging. But then once you get to like that end of junior beginning of senior year, it’s stuff that you like learned in class already.

Kamila
I see this interesting because in I don’t know if your school did this, but in my school, like I don’t go to an elite school I go to well, maybe elite in my county, but I go to a public school. And the thing is we’re known for like rigorous academics so they make us it’s required no matter what math level you aren’t no matter what English level you are. You’re doing the PSAT in your ninth grade year. And I did that. So I think Did you do anything like that? Do you think like if you did, did it prepare you for the actual standardized test?

April
Yeah, I took the PSAT for two years as well. I don’t remember if it was, like sophomore and junior freshmen and sophomore year, I can’t remember. But I thought yeah, that was very helpful. It basically is just like a baby as it is like pretty much the same thing, but a little bit like toned down for those like younger years in high school, like taking into account what you haven’t learned yet. Um, so yeah, I do think that’s a great learning experience for you to be able to learn about the test. And I would try just experimenting with different like study ways to see how you can best prepare for that and definitely use that to your advantage because the SCT really is like the same thing. So don’t psych yourself out for that.

Kamila
Okay, that’s good. So now let’s move on to like you know your app. Part. So did you submit all your APS on to like the thing? Did you take the test for all seven aps that you did?

April
Yeah, I took the test for all seven. In hindsight GW actually doesn’t accept English APS, because we have our own like University Writing. Oh, yeah, I heard about that. Yeah, so that was, that was very unfortunate, because like English was an AP that I definitely would have taken anyway, I personally, I chose to take the test for all of them. My junior year, it was actually required in my high school to take the tests. And then my senior year, they made it optional for some reason. That’s, um, yeah, it was, I think it was because they were forcing students to take the test. And because the kids like, knew that their colleges didn’t accept AP credits, they would just like sleep during the test, like not try and then that would bring down our school’s average score. So I think that that’s why it made it optional, because they wanted the people who are actually going to try to take the test. And yeah, it does. It’s pretty crazy, though. I can’t like imagine not even trying, like, even if you didn’t

April
really sleep. Yes, that’s a bit much.

April
Yeah, it did happen. The whole which is crazy. But yeah, so I took all of my tests, all of them like, definitely came in handy, especially like the science ones, that was super helpful, because that got me out of a lot of like, prerequisite classes. So yeah, he

Kamila
does accept certain credits. What so GW does accept your credits? Oh, that’s so good.

April
Up to 24 AP credits, which I think is like, that’s like six tests, I don’t remember it like depends on the subject, because different ones are worth different point values, I think. But yeah, they do accept them. Most of the time, it will both get you out of a class and give you credit going into college, which is really nice. That is at GW Yeah, which is awesome. I’m actually graduating a year early, which is really cool. Like because of that. And then because of a couple of like college classes that I took, like, in the summer, during my high school. So I know like a bunch of people who are graduating a semester early, because they came in with AP credits and stuff like that. So that’s like, something that’s really cool. If that’s what you want to do. If not, then like take the elective classes, I would definitely recommend if you can like, just like branch out and take classes that you wouldn’t normally take and stay the full four years. But if that’s not really something you want to do, then if you come in with AP credits, you can definitely graduate early here.

Kamila
That that’s amazing. Like, yeah, I definitely want to graduate early. For me, it’s terms of money, like, I don’t, it’s like one whole year more, so I can subtract that. But that’s very interesting, because when I went to you know, I think my first first ever college show was MIT. And then right after that, like an hour after we went to Harvard, and they didn’t accept any like, as far as I’ve heard, so that’s really good that they accept, I was really disappointed that, you know, Harvard or something wouldn’t accept me AP credits, but that’s really good. I really appreciate that. So do you think the AP class prepares you for college? Like was it as rigorous as your college classes when you went into college?

April
Um, I think the thing that prepared me most for the college classes, my high school actually changed our schedule my senior year, so that instead of like, six, like 15 minute periods, they did for like hour and 15 minute classes a day, which I hated that my senior year of high school, it was absolutely terrible, but they kept telling me would adjust you for college classes, which were longer and then college class, like wouldn’t even feel any different. And that’s like, exactly what happened to all my friends here were like kind of struggling to adjust to the long classes, and I was fine. So that was really awesome. I think that was like the biggest thing that helped me adjust. As far as the rigor it really it depends on the professor and it depends on the field that you’re going into. Because I know like, writing for me, I hadn’t really had the chance to take a lot of social sciences classes in high school. And that was something that I took a lot of in college, and writing for English, like writing essays for English classes, and writing for the social sciences is super different. Just because there you have to be like super concise when writing for like the social sciences like that. And that was something that we weren’t really allowed to do in English. I remembered there be like minimum page requirements and stuff like that.

Kamila
Like college is like 20 page papers. No,

April
it’s really not really.

April
Are you kidding? Yeah. No,

April
even as someone who takes humanities, like the longest paper I’ve had to write has been like 12 pages. And that was a final paper. Like 12 or 13 pages, I think. Yeah. All those movies have been a lie. Are you kidding? Yeah, definitely. It’s like it. I mean, that also depends what you’re in. Because I know like a lot of like law and like pre law classes. You’re gonna have super long readings. I’m in one law class right now. And we have a ton of readings for that. But as far as Yeah, as far as writing goes, like even for my English courses that I’ve taken in college, they’re not dramatically harder like I think has like college for me. I’m also biased because I went to like a really have high school, but college for me is even like a little bit easier than high school academically at times.

Kamila
Interesting, interesting. So let’s so we’ve gotten, you know, standardized test scores, and we’ve gotten, you know, your APs and your like, class, you know, your rigor in high school. So you said you applied to 13 colleges, and I know, you don’t want to, like say the actual names of them, but can you like, give like examples of the colleges and like, what you wrote for their essays and stuff? Like, how did you know what to write for their essays? Like, I know, some are specific, but maybe like, more general, the Common Application? What did you write about?

April
Yeah, sure. Um, so as far as I’ll give you, like, I won’t say the names of the schools, but I’ll give you like a breakdown of like the different schools that I applied to, because I’m from Massachusetts, and the Northeast has just a really great like system of schools there. Yeah. I applied to, I think about like five schools in Massachusetts, like three or four schools in Connecticut. A couple of schools like in New York City in Pennsylvania, and then a couple in DC. So it’s pretty, like concentrated in that area. And then one in California, too. I forgot about that. But yeah, I toured like mostly schools in those states like Pennsylvania, New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, California and DC Maryland area. Yeah, so that was just kind of the breakdown. Three of those were Ivy League, maybe like three or four of those were like little IVs, or like just really like competitive, rigorous schools. And then the rest were there. We’re trying to think I don’t think there were any, like public colleges. But yeah, the rest I think we’re just private colleges that maybe were not like super tough to get into but also weren’t like, easy either. So I kind of somewhere in between. I would say like the three Ivy League’s were kind of my reach schools. And then I had like, maybe like five or so schools that I thought were kind of safety ish. And then the rest kind of like wide in between. I saw um, yeah, so I think I had a good good max, I was still a little bit nervous about getting in everywhere. But just, you’ll be like that with whatever schools you apply to. As far as the applications for the schools go, a lot of schools have very similar essay questions like, besides the common app essay, a lot of the supplemental questions are like exactly the same for different schools. And people always talk about I’m sure, like, every single tour you’ve been on, they always say like, Oh, don’t copy and paste from school to school, because then you’ll leave in like the name of the school by accident. And they’ll be really insulted when you apply. Like everybody said that, to me, that was like, the number one piece of advice people gave me. And that is definitely true, like always proofread your work. But on the other hand, if you’re answering these questions in a way that’s like meaningful to you, and you put like your whole heart into your answer, then I don’t see why you can’t use that for more than one school. Like, if the question is the same, then your answer is gonna be the same. If you’re passionate about your answer, like no matter what school it is, so like, maybe don’t like copy and paste like word for word, but honestly, like copy and paste sections of it, and like make question like, make answers to the questions that you feel are meaningful. But also, like, if you’re applying to a lot of schools, like borrow stuff from other essays, as they’re like, relevant to your application, I don’t see why you should like have to write like a whole new body of work. If you wrote something before for another school that was really meaningful, you felt that you wrote it really well. You’re proud of your work, then just like borrow from that a lot. And I feel like that was something that really helped me because I was able to make my essays, I was able to have the time to write personal answers, because I borrowed from different essays to create my answers to the supplemental questions like that was something that made it so that I was able to actually, like, put time into the questions that needed work to answer.

Kamila
Yeah, that’s like, yeah, I understand what you’re saying. Because if you did apply to three IVs, like he’s like, as you said, so I know, I’ve watched a bunch of videos on YouTube about college, because that’s really all I do. So I really love like the reaction. I know there’s, like God on wormholes watch. Yeah. And then I, you know, they get you like, hyped up and you’re like, oh, I can do this. I can get into Harvard. And then, you know, like, reality. It’s like, you need to work really hard. And you don’t see the majority of the people who like don’t get in and stuff. Yeah, but still, it’s super fun. You feel so good for them. They’re like, Oh, you they must have worked. So yeah, I

April
started rooting for them. And then I’m lying in bed at like, 3am. And I’m like, Why do I want Emily to get into MIT so badly?

Kamila
That she got to choose between MIT or like Yale or something like almost exactly, yeah, she posts a video about which college she chooses next.

April
Very true. Yeah, that’s I don’t I don’t know why it’s so interesting. But it really it’s captivating to watch those.

Kamila
And they when they start crying, it’s so sweet. And you’re you want to like cry with them to like, oh, yeah, I hope that will be one day. Well, you’re already in college, but like me, I’m like, Oh,

April
I know. So it’s more sad that I Watch them.

Kamila
I guess so yeah. When I was in Northwestern, the girl who did our tour guide, she also watched the the YouTube videos when we started fangirling with each other like, oh my god, we watched this one and this one together. Yeah. That’s awesome. Where was I heading with this? Oh, yeah. So your IV, so you applied to Ivy League. So and I, you know, when I watched those videos, I see how like creative and like, very, like, personal they get with those essays. And I know that they only give you, let’s say, maybe 50 words or like 100 words. Some of them like go up to maybe like 202 50. And I can see how much effort they put in. So I so I think you’re right, like with this, like advice. If you do have like a really personal essay you wrote, especially if you’re writing for like an Ivy League, where they expect you to write like really nice, like, thought out essays I think you can recycle. So you must have impressed like the medium and like kind of like a little bit easier schools to get into.

April
Yeah, definitely. That’s yeah, that’s like probably the best advice I can give about essay writing. The other thing that I made sure to do is because you have such a limited word count, I would write everything that I was going to write. And then in my editing process, I would just go sentence by sentence and make sure none of the sentences repeated information. Because that was the biggest thing that I found myself doing was like saying the same thing just in a different way. And it is kind of like insulting to the admissions committee when they read your essay. And it’s just so redundant. So yeah, that’s the other thing I would make sure to like, look out for when you’re writing is just like to be as clear and concise as you can while still articulating everything that you want to say in such a short word count, which is a lot more challenging. Now, I think it’s about the same amount of challenge as it sounds, it’s pretty hard.

Kamila
Yeah, like when I write my, my, when I write my blog, in my articles and stuff, I don’t realize how much information I got and how much I want to write. And then I get to like, 3000 words, and I’m like, Oh, my God, and then I go back to college. I’m like, 50 words, how am I going to do this? So yeah, that must have been really stressful. So for your common app essay, I know that questions don’t really vary year to year, I think it’s relatively the same. So like, if you’re comfortable sharing, like, what did you write about? Or what was like the general idea about it? Behind dresser?

April
Yeah, so for one of my English classes, actually, I think it was AP Lang my junior year, at the end of the year, our final project was to write a draft of a college essay, which was really awesome. And I think it was cool that they gave us the opportunity to work that out in class, because we had, like other classmates, edit them and give suggestions. And we went through a ton of examples of like, those cliche essays that everybody tells you not to write like the dead relative, or like the winning sports game, like, I’m sure you’ve heard of like, they’re so like that.

Kamila
Yeah, I get, I guess, the admissions officers. As soon as they read that they’re like, Oh, not this again.

April
Yeah, no, that that must be horrible. I read like three of them in class, and I was already tired of it. Yeah. Yeah, so that was a really cool experience to have, it definitely got me started. I was also very fortunate to be close to a lot of the teachers in my English department. So even over the summer, I kept like setting it sending them like my edits. So they could give me feedback on that, which was just a great resource to have. I didn’t really end up like looking back on it. I actually didn’t really like my common app essay that I wrote. I thought, I thought it was like, Cool. And I wrote it. I was trying to be like, quirky. And whatever, without being cliche, but I just didn’t really think it made me like stand out in any way. I don’t really think it had like that. That like, I don’t know, like feeling that you’re supposed to have when you write I don’t know. You didn’t feel like it represented you. I felt like it represented me but I don’t know. It’s just like everyone always talks about like that feeling that you get, like when you have like a great essay, and you’re like I’m ready to turn this in. Like this is who I am this one moment. And mine I didn’t really focus it on like one moment I kind of did it. I did it about like how I’m a collector of like different things and ideas and that’s like what shaped me into a person and I was like really specific I gave like examples. And my essay was definitely I think like more Posey than like kind of a lot of essays are which I didn’t really mind that I thought it was more my style of writing is very creative. So I think that that helps my personality come through but I wish maybe I had focused it like on I don’t want to say one event because a lot of times that can be cliche, but like one aspect instead of like talking about collections of things

Kamila
I see So do you think that you’re so when you did apply to these schools? Well let’s talk about it so from the ivy League’s How many did you get accepted from from your like medium schools or like high end schools? How many did you get accepted from and then there’s like regular schools.

April
Let’s see. So this can be really tricky to remember. I think I can do it though. So for the Ivy’s I applied to one early Action and I got deferred and then rejected from that one sadly or else I would be there and not here. Not in like a mean my like, I’m definitely happy where I am. And I don’t think I would be happy with a school. But yeah, I got deferred there. And then I did write like a letter of continued interest, like a lot of people would recommend to do when you’ve been like deferred from a school.

Kamila
That’s interesting. What is that? I’ve never heard of that before. Oh, really, that’s Yeah,

April
I heard a lot about it from like my college counselor, and people in my high school. Apparently, you write to the school around like mid to late January, before the spring admissions come out, you just express that you’re still interested in the school like that you still want your application to be considered. You update them on anything you’ve done, or like any, like, I don’t really think there’ll be test results that have come out like anything that you’ve been a part of, since you submitted your application. And then you write like, you just reiterate the reasons why you want to go to the school. It’s usually like a one to two page letter just like, hey, I’m still here, I still really want to go to your school. This is me writing to say that I didn’t just apply to you because you’re an Ivy League, but that I like actually really passionate about the school. It’s just basically that’s what you’re saying.

Kamila
That’s so interesting. I have never heard that before. Thank you. Oh, my God. Yeah. Well,

April
I’m glad because I think they’re, they’re such a helpful tool to send to these schools, because I actually, two of the schools that were my safety schools actually got, like, weightless it out. And I think that was like, I know, a lot of schools will do this thing. I don’t remember what the like the technical term is. But if a student’s like scores are either a lot higher than their average than the waitlist them because they think that they’re like a safety school, and that they won’t end up going there. And so for those schools as well, I think it’s really good to like write a letter of continued interest, or like, choose to remain on the waitlist, and they’ll most likely accept you. So I think like the letter of continued interest is a good way of letting schools that haven’t admitted you, but haven’t rejected you yet know that, like, they’re not just one of those schools that you’re applying to as a safety but that you’re really interested in going.

Kamila
That’s good. That that’s, that’s interesting. Okay, I’ll definitely keep that in mind when I apply. And if I get deferred or something. Yeah, that’s really cool. So do you did you have any, like, really unique experiences in your life that like not, I know, your common application, you talked about, you know, collecting, and you’re a collector of ideas, but for your little mini ones? Did you talk about a club that you were in? Or did you talk about, like, maybe like a series of events your club hosted? Or some contribution your club made to your school? Or was it like a general like, thing that happened in your life that changed you? So what did you write those small little essays about?

April
Um, I definitely, I didn’t really write about those big like, oh, like sports game death, death of like a relative moments just because I like I didn’t want to be cliche. But also, the other thing was because these essays were so limited, I felt like a lot of those moments for people would be way too much to, like, do and 50 to 100 words, like it wouldn’t really do that justice. And I think it would look like you’re trying too hard to express that moment, if you really, like do it in 100 words or so. So yeah, for a lot of my smaller essays, I did talk about the clubs I was in. Because I was an editor for a lot of the papers and stuff that I was involved in, I had a lot of experience like managing other students and helping them like through the writing process from like, more of like a management role. So that was really helpful in the essays that asked about, like challenges you’ve overcome, because I had a lot of like, interpersonal or like deadline related things that I had to really think of creative solutions to me. And that was definitely kind of like a goldmine of answers to those questions, because it talks about like something that you’re passionate in like a club that you’re passionate in. It shows like interpersonal, like competence, like the fact that I was able to talk and communicate with people to get things organized. And then it also shows like your ability to be like confident in your own abilities like to work both as a team and individually. So that’s kind of where I thought like the strengths and my experiences lied. So that’s what I wrote about for my smaller essays. That’s

Kamila
really good. I had a lot lot to write about. So you weren’t like pulling your hair over. Like, you know, like, I don’t have anything to write about. I don’t know what about

April
I definitely went through that stage too, because at first I did really want like those big life impacting moments that would maybe either like get sympathy or get like a shock reaction from the admissions people. And I did do that for like one or two essays I wrote like smaller essays about like, how my dad traveled a lot as a kid he like he wasn’t really there. But then I still twisted that into like, Oh, I was able to learn like how to take care of myself from a young age and like stuff like that. So I did that for a couple of them. But then I thought like, Why talk about something that was more like relevant when I was younger? I’m going to talk about some One thing that I’ve been doing I am doing now and that has like affected me in the recent past because like, ultimately, that’s why colleges don’t want your middle school transcript or even they don’t care about your freshman year of high school grades, they just care about, like, what your trends are like that you’ve been doing well, in the past couple of years that your grades are improving. So yeah, I just think that they want to see like what I’m doing now and how that’s impacted me as a person.

Kamila
That’s cool. So we have like all these like parts of your transcript together. But one last thing about your transcript, your recommendation letter, so I know that a lot of colleges, most colleges require one from your guidance counselor, and then one from a core academic teacher. So with your guidance counselor, were you like, close with her before or like, at least like knew her at least she knew you on a personal level, before she wrote your letter, or was she kind of just like, you know, your guidance counselor, and you were just another student to her.

April
Um, so my school is really unique. And that because it was like a smaller school, we had a very large like, teacher to student ratio. So there were a ton of faculty members, and not a lot of students. We didn’t really have like one guidance counselor for the school, we actually were given advisors who were members of the regular staff, and you would just be like assigned or you would choose them. So you could have like, your advisor would be like someone in the history department, but they were also trained in like how how to like, help resolve conflict, and like, help kids deal with their wives and things like that. So that was really awesome. Experience. Interesting.

Kamila
So how did that work out on your application? So did you choose that advisor, but like, and did you choose like another academic teacher that had nothing to do with, you know, guiding you through high school,

April
I really wanted to choose my advisor, but she actually didn’t really teach a subject that was related to what I was going into. So I didn’t end up having her write my application, I can’t remember we had like college counselors that were like there to help us with the college process. I can’t remember if mine row, I think mine was required to write a recommendation. But I think that was like a supplemental letter to the college. I don’t think that counted is like one of my two, but I really can’t remember that. As far as my main two I chose teachers that I had had, they usually tell you to choose teachers that you’ve had in your junior and senior year, one from like stem and then one from humanities. That was the recommendations that I was given to like for how to choose who you wanted to write your letters. And so I chose a teacher in the English department that I had had for two years in English. He was the director that I worked under for like our school musical that I staged manage. So we were really close, just even on a personal level. Like he knew my family, we were really like we’d have meetings all the time, like just to talk like one of those kinds of teachers.

Kamila
So he was able to like write a really personal letter for you. It wasn’t just another Oh, April’s a good student in class, she pays attention. She raises her hand. That’s great. That’s, would you like say that getting a recommendation letter from someone that knows you on a personal level is better for you in your college application than just getting it from a teacher who thinks that you’re a good student?

April
Um, yeah, I think it’s, it’s one of those things like how I described test scores, I think it’s really awesome if you can do that, but I think it’s more so that like recommendation letters don’t stick out as a sore thumb. Like I think even if you do have good ones, it’s ultimately not really going to impact your application that much compared to the other parts of it. I think that that was something that I was really fortunate to have. And I think that yeah, if you can get somebody who you’re close with to write your letter, that’s awesome. But I also don’t think like having an artificial relationship with somebody like just to get a recommendation letter is good either I think it should like kind of come naturally so even if it’s a teacher one sec, I’m trying to think Yeah, so like they told us in my high school that you shouldn’t do it from the class that you have the best grades in but you should do it from like the teacher from the class that you’ve learned the most in or like struggled the most even because then that shows like you’ve gone to their office hours you’re willing to commit yourself and it was those classes that would have the most meaningful letter because the teachers could say more about your character. They said that like the teachers that class like whose classes you got an A in and like didn’t even need to try won’t have anything to say about you because you just like came in like raise your hand occasionally took a test like it was very impersonal like that. But then the ones whose classes you struggled in would be the best because they were there to like help you and watch you learn and grow and take advantage of every resource you could in order to try to get a good grade in the class which seems like counterintuitive but I think is really great advice

Kamila
dear Yeah, your high school sees amazing in so many things like It’s like encouraging you to do all this do Yeah, Sign me up. I’ll go to your high school.

April
I mean, it was good. But we had a lot of like redundant meetings. They tell us these things like five times in five separate meetings. So that

Kamila
was a bit much but I think that over prepared you.

April
I don’t think they over prepared us. I just think they could have been. It was like we had A lot of those meetings that was like stuff that absolutely could have been said in an email, you know, like when they just have you like meet and they talk to you for five minutes. And it’s like, thank you that like I could have read that instead of heard it spoken to me. I think the one on one meetings that I had with like my college counselor, and I think a lot of the teachers who are well versed in like college applications, and who are going to talk to you were super great about that. I think everyone there really wanted you to succeed. But yeah, there were just like a lot of redundant things that were said to us as well. So I think it’s definitely a balance kind of under an over preparation.

Kamila
I see. Okay, so we have all these like parts of your college application. So when you apply to these schools, and I’m not talking about like, you know, the acceptances, the difference and the rejections, but which aspect of your application, you know, your grades, your extracurriculars, your standardized test scores, your GPA, and you know, your recommendation letter and essays. Which part impact do you think impacted your application the most? Which part do you think students should really focus on and like make their strongest aspect of their application?

April
Um, I think my strongest thing going in was the fact that I was able to participate in a lot of extracurriculars and have good grades, I think that balance was something that colleges really look to see. I also think the fact that I like wrote about a lot of my extracurriculars in my essays, which some people may tell you that that’s kind of redundant, because they can already see your extracurriculars. So they want to know about like a different facet of your life. On the one hand, I think that’s very valid. And you should absolutely try and like very, very your essay topics when you write about them. But I think also it showed that I was passionate about the things that I was doing, and not just putting doing them to put them on my college application, which I think a lot of kids can fall into sometimes when they’re trying to be super prepared for college. And another advantage that that gave me was during my interviews, they look over a copy of your application most of the time before they interview you. So that gave the interviewer a lot of talking points to talk to me about and then that let like that passion come through again, instead of just kind of like sitting there both of you not knowing what to say to each other. So yeah, I think the combination of like good grades, and like a ton of things that I was clearly really passionate about, were probably my strongest points. And I think everything else just kind of like supplemented that stuff.

Kamila
Okay, cool. So you get into GW right, so why did you pick GW

April
um, so I was accepted into, I believe, like five schools, I was waitlisted at a couple more, but I decided not to stay on the waitlist. Because usually when they accept waitlist students, they don’t have any financial aid left. And that was something that was really impacting my decision. I don’t want to like, like, stop you from staying on the waitlist, if you do get waitlisted from anywhere, but that is something to take into account, I’d say if it’s your like your top school, then stay on the waitlist and just see what happens. But if you’re somebody who like relies on financial aid, it most likely may not happen for you at every weightless school. So yeah, so I chose which is not even though one of those schools was one that I really wanted to go to, I knew that I wouldn’t be able to without the financial aid. So I just opted to stick with the five that I had. Out of those schools, two of them didn’t give me sufficient financial aid. So I crossed those two off the list. And then I was up with three schools, one of which I, I was accepted at Honors Programs at the other two schools. GW, I actually didn’t know they had an honors program. So I like to apply to it or anything. I didn’t apply the other two schools, either those schools just like, accept you. And then like, ask you if you want to be in the program once you get in. So I was sent like all the additional information for like those like scholarships, and like honors programs and stuff for those schools, I did get scholarships at all three schools GW included, I didn’t get additional financial aid, which made it really tricky because I didn’t really have enough money to go to any of the three schools that I was accepted to. GW did give me the most aid by a little bit. So I was stuck between that one and then another school that I also it was a liberal arts school, like in Connecticut that I wanted to go to as well. And then the third one I just wasn’t as passionate about so I cross that one off. And then ultimately, it just came down to like, I think like the campus field, because the other school in Connecticut was very similar to my high school. I mean, both at GW and that other school, there are a ton of kids in my high school who go there. So really, I just can’t get away from it. But the other one was, like more students from my high school and it was a smaller school. So it would very much like feel that same kind of like clicky atmosphere of like, it’s all the same kids like the same scene as my high school. It’s a smaller school and I’m just a very independent person. So I knew I knew had to like, get out and get away, which I think is why I chose GW because it’s in the city. It’s a large school, I didn’t know a ton of people, it’s a little bit further away from home. And it’s like surrounded by a ton of things to do. It’s very like commuter accessible as well. So I can easily get to a lot of different places. The only like, downside of that was that it wasn’t as close to home. So that makes like moving in and like going home for breaks more of a challenge than the other school would have been. But yeah, it was ultimately for those reasons. And then like, because a bigger school has more people than they offer more academic opportunity, more of a course selection to choose from. And since I was undecided, and I didn’t really know what I wanted to do, I wanted to be able to have that flexibility and like my class and major schedule. Let’s go.

Kamila
So you’re not like one of those kids that wanted to like get away from their parents. So they chose like the farther school from their hometown?

April
No, definitely not. I think I felt a little bit of that. But I was, I would like to think smart enough to know that that’s not what you should base your college selection on, because then you just end up homesick and not liking your school once you get there.

Kamila
I see. And yeah, just mentioned the same thing. She said that, I don’t know if this was the specific case for you. But she said GW gave her the best financial aid, like she would be paying the same amount for GW as she would for her state school. And that amazed her so like, you know, of course, she chose, you know, GW to do it. So I think I realized that a lot when I went on the tour, like you guys have a lot of financial aid. So I can see like, why a lot of the students going there would pick GW.

April
I don’t know that I 100%. I think I’ve talked to Jess about this a lot. And she actually I have a younger brother who goes to private high school, and she has an older brother who’s in college, and financial aid offices, look at your siblings in college. So even though my family pays for my brother to go to a private high school, they don’t count that but she gets a lot more financial aid because of her brother in college

Kamila
impact does he go to GW to or No, he doesn’t.

April
But the FAFSA application when you apply for that it has the list siblings currently in college and where they go to school and their tuition costs. And so they take that into account. And I actually didn’t get any financial aid other than the scholarship that I got. And my financial aid experience here has been really frustrating so far. I see.

Kamila
Okay, that’s very interesting to see a different aspect. Yeah, I didn’t know I need to learn more about financial aid.

April
Yeah, I really think it’s person to person, like as many people as you talk to, they’re all going have different answers about that. I think, yeah, GW for a lot of kids has absolutely been like really good with financial aid. And I know an equal amount of people who haven’t gotten enough money to, like, be able to actually go here, but I think it’s the same with every school as well, because all the schools that I went to didn’t give me financially, they just gave me scholarship money. So I don’t think that was just a GW thing. It just so happened that like, I got the most scholarship money from GW.

Kamila
Okay, so you’d say like as advice? I know, there are a lot of colleges that I will mention, like which one, but there was one college I went to specifically and they were preaching how good their financial aid was. So do you think it’s more like students like Jess who had like an older brother? Or there was like another factor that played in that makes their financial aid so good? Or do you think it’s like, do you think we should like watch out and not really believe that they have like the best financial aid despite like rankings and whatever?

April
Um, yeah, I really think there’s not a blanket statement that you can say about schools like that. I think the only thing I would say is that the better the school is, chances are, the less aid they will give unless you’re from a very, very poor family like under the poverty line. And you’re applying to college especially like the ivy League’s I know, because a lot of kids like with the means to go there want to go there apply and are qualified. So they don’t really offer as much aid because they have like the want to go there. I think your best luck, and one of my biggest regrets in the college application experience was the fact that I didn’t apply to more like either state schools or smaller private schools that would have given me either a full scholarship or something close to it. Because even though it like wasn’t as prestigious of a school, I think a lot of those places are really good about like scholarship money. But financial aid in and of itself is determined by the FAFSA application. And whether or not a school has more money to give out a lot of times doesn’t really affect the financial aid, because schools will have like a set financial budget from year to year. And, yeah, I mean, I really just don’t think that you can say that your school has good financial aid or not, because it absolutely will depend on the student. It will depend on the year like the number of students that they accept from lower income households. And also scholarship money is like different from financial aid to so I think that I would have looked at schools at which I had a higher potential of earning scholarship money just because I don’t think my financial aid would have been very different if I had applied to different schools, because you submit the same FAFSA like app occasion like just like the common app to every school. So they see like the same need demonstrated at each school. So I think it really depends on scholarships, because I, a lot of the schools will have like the same answer for you as far as financial aid goes.

Kamila
So I’m going to ask you a question here. And like, it may be difficult for you to answer because you can’t really do it now. But if you had applied to one of your state schools in Massachusetts, and let’s say they gave you a full ride scholarship, would you have gone to them instead of GW,

April
I asked myself that a ton. That actually, I think the main factor why I didn’t do that was just because the high school that I went to, because it was like a private boarding school, I got a scholarship to go there, too. But a lot of other students, most of the students were there through their own means. And so that meant that a lot of students there would be going to good colleges, because they could afford to, and they were getting like the same counseling that I was in order to have a strong application. And so the mindset there was the more competitive a school you went to, like, the better you were as a person. Yeah. Which I think same in my high school. Yeah, it’s the same in a lot of places. And I think it’s like a super toxic mindset. So I think that that was the biggest reason why I didn’t do that. And I think that maybe if I had gone to a different high school, I would have been more open to more affordable options. And my parents said that the entire time. And I’m like, actually really mad. I didn’t listen to them about that. But it was just a pride thing, too, because I was definitely like, known in my school for being a really hard worker, and a really like strong academic student. And I think a lot of people there, they didn’t know it was a bad thing to do at the time, but they were rooting for me to, like, get into all of these good colleges and all that. Yeah, it’s really nice to show that support to people, but I also think you should support them no matter like what college they want to go to, and like, kind of help them find success in their own way. And like be understanding, because not a lot of people like understood the financial circumstances I was in. And so they didn’t really like encourage me to apply to any of the other like, maybe less competitive schools because of that.

Kamila
So do you think that you’re going to get like a master’s degree, like later on after you finish at GW? Um, I

April
really have no idea. I’ve been thinking about that a ton that I don’t really know, what I would want to do. I think if anything, I would get a master’s in forensic psychology. I’ve looked at a few programs for that. But I haven’t really decided if I want to, like start applying to places next year, if I want to, like take a gap year two or a few and just like get some career experience. I think I’m leaning more toward getting career experience first, just because I think that would be beneficial to be able to, like market yourself as somebody who’s already worked in the field and then to be able to go to a master’s program once you’ve like decided that you like that field and that you want to pay more money to get more educated in that field as well.

Kamila
So yeah, the reason I asked this is because I’m wondering, if you were certain that you’re going to get your Masters would you have gone to like a school that gave you maybe like more like a full ride scholarship, and then gone to your masters at maybe like a more elite school like judo. Yeah, you would have done yeah, no, that’s

April
that’s like, definitely, it’s very, like a valid idea to think about, I think, yeah, a lot of people told me that as well, that you it doesn’t really matter where you go for your undergrad, it’s where you get your like, your masters or your PhD. And I definitely agree with that a lot, I think because I don’t know whether I want to or not, I wanted to go to more of an elite school to so that I would be able to, like stand out a job. Like, no matter if I got my masters or not. And I mean, obviously if I do get my masters, I’m hoping to go to a better like, I don’t know, GW has a great masters programs, honestly. But yeah, yeah, especially GW laws. Amazing. I don’t really think I’m going to go that route. But if I ever decided to, that would absolutely be a great option. But yeah, I think that’s kind of the main reason why is just because I didn’t really know if I wanted to do that or not. So I wanted to go to a school that could like stand alone on the job applications.

Kamila
I see. So, April, do you have any like last, like last minute advice about anything that we’ve talked about, you know, your high school application when it comes to preparation, or like going into college and choosing your college? So is there like any, like really good advice that you think would help? You know, my little college kids out?

April
I would say I think what you’re doing here is amazing, especially if you’re having like more college students like me talk about their experience, because I really wish I had had that I had a lot of friends who were in their first year at college when I was a senior but by then it was kind of too late to like get their advice on everything. Yeah, um, but the biggest thing that I would say is when you’re applying to college, you really do that like end of junior and senior year you’re surrounded by a lot of people doing the same thing as you Who know like the same things as you who are like going through the same process. And a lot of times that can really like get in your brain and be something that is, like challenging to get out of your head, you really like letting other students and how their college process is going like psych you out. And that’s something that I would try to stay away from as much as you can, even though it’s kind of cool to like, follow the drama. But I would say do definitely take the advice of your parents, your teachers, your friends who have already gone to college, like, take the advice of the people who’ve done it really listen to the regrets that they have. Because that’s my biggest thing when a lot of people like gave me that advice about applying to other schools and doing things in a certain way. I heard it, but I didn’t really listen to it. And I think the biggest thing that I wish I had realized was that certain people’s opinions carry more weight than others. So don’t like listen to the people who have the same experience as you because they’re not going to teach you anything. They’re only going to psych you out. But do you listen to the people who have been through it or, or who have helped other people through it and their experience, because that’s going to be a lot more meaningful. But I mean, ultimately, nothing can predict like how college is going to go for you. Because admissions change each year. It’s really like kind of a coin toss whether you’re going to get into a lot of schools, which sounds like ridiculous, but that’s how it is with a lot of admissions. It really like varies year to year, it varies depending on what they need. It varies maybe on I don’t know what mood the admissions person is.

Kamila
Really, it’s really random. And it’s it’s kind of frustrating that there’s no formula so yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Okay, thank you so much. April, you have made me I mean, you’re my first interview right. So you have made me really excited to continue this and I think your story’s very interesting. So thank you for sharing everything and thank you for like, we’ll be willing to like answer a lot of these questions that I know like something like you know, your AC t score was a 34 I know a lot of people wouldn’t be comfortable with sharing that. But thank you so much. It’s helped me a lot and I hope it will help people that watch this podcast.

April
Yeah, thank you so much for having me on. It’s really great to be able to share my experiences because I do have a little brother but I don’t know if he’s gonna listen to me so I’m glad that I can like use what I’ve learned through the process to be able to help other people and I’m really curious to see who else you’re able to interview and like talk about their stories because I love hearing about this stuff. It’s like super interesting to me to like see other people’s path through the college admissions process started for you like

Kamila
really excited to see everyone and like the different routes everyone took and like, what which colleges they got into what the pathway they took. So yeah, I agree with you. They’re

April
very true. Well, I wish you luck in further interviews. That’ll be really awesome to hear everyone’s stories. Let me know when you release a podcast so I can go Listen everyone. Bye bye.