David was accepted into UPenn, Duke, UChicago, Dartmouth College, MIT, Rice University, and more! How was he able to make a choice on which amazing school to attend?

Part 2 is here

Transcription

Kamila
And how many APS did you take in high school? And how many did you submit? Or if your school did that?

David
Right, right. So my this is actually an interesting question. So my high school definitely wasn’t the best in terms of like academics. So I think starting my sophomore year, I actually would like self study, like AP classes, like on the side, like, my class wouldn’t or my school didn’t offer like, for example, like AP macroeconomics, or AP microeconomics, so just self study that. But I think by the time of senior year rolled around, I had taken like, nine teen AP classes, like an all and I think like half of them like I’d self study.

Kamila
Hey, college kids, welcome back to my podcast, who cares about college? In today’s episode, I’ll be interviewing David. So David, could you please introduce yourself?

David
Everyone? I am David. I am a sophomore at MIT majoring in political science, currently not in the Cambridge area, currently in DC, but super excited to be on today’s podcast.

Kamila
Thank you very much. So let’s start from the very beginning. So can you tell us about how college and just education in general was viewed in your family? So was it important for your family like to you know, do well in your studies go to a top college? So how did that work out in your family? What was the dynamic there?

David
Yeah, so my, I would say my family definitely had a really strong value for education. It was actually born in Mexico, and then like, came to the United States when I was four. So still pretty young. But my mom was born in Mexico as well. And so I think just having that more immigrant perspective, I think education is always something that’s really valued. It’s seen as like a tool of like, mobility. On my dad’s side, he grew up in the Houston Oklahoma area, very like woodsy outdoors. And he valued very much sort of like what you would call street smarts and just connecting with people and more of those common interactions. So it’s kind of like stuck in this place that really formal, like very valued very, like formal education, like sitting down reading books, and then all the also this mixture of like getting out in the world meeting with people getting like your hands dirty. And so I think that kind of really blended itself into an education that you learn about something and then put it into practice right after learning that. So that was really my my vision of education.

Kamila
And so your you obviously valued education, both like the experience part and actual learning the accumulation of knowledge. Did your parents have the expectation that you would go to a top school? Like, did they pressure you in any way? Like, you know, try your best to try to get into those schools?

David
No, I didn’t have helicopter parents. Luckily, they’ve never really like oh, it’s like a, an Ivy League or like an MIT Stanford sort of thing. I think they really wanted me to go any direction I wanted. So I feel like if I went to community college, my like, local, regional, state university, I think they would have been fine with it. Either way, I think both for myself as well. I really didn’t have a really big expectation of like, where I would go after high school.

Kamila
Okay, and when did you start thinking about seriously thinking about college and you know, this can be any time like searching into colleges thinking about what’s interesting to you, maybe thinking about what you want to major in? When did you start thinking about that and taking the process more seriously?

David
Right. Um, so I think for me, like very vaguely as like an early age, I think I wanted to go to school up north. So I had when I grew up in Louisiana’s public schools and Southwest Louisiana, so cute, heat and humidity were like very one of my close friends. And so I wanted a little bit change of scenery. Sorry, like really set my eyes on like a school up north. And so I honestly didn’t seriously start thinking about like, exact colleges until the summer of like, my junior year. So like going into senior year, I really didn’t have a very strong grasp of like, where I stood as terms of like being a competitive applicant. I think I just No matter of like, where I went, I just wanted to be someplace that would like challenge me. And then I think some place that also like really, like starts like being a part of a community and really helping others and I think those were really my main considerations. But yeah, it wasn’t until senior year that I really put some thought behind where I wanted to go.

Kamila
You wanted to move up north. Why would you want to go to the Cold, cold.

David
I’ve never seen snow before moving up there.

Kamila
Interesting. Okay, so you said that you Val, like, valued the community aspect of college. So were you able to tour any colleges? And like, see, you know, what you may be interested in, like from a tour guide, you can, you can basically get a feeling for the school, like what kind of community they have. Are they competitive? Are they more chill? So did you go on any tours to get a kind of idea?

David
Right, I actually never toured any colleges before sending in applications. I looking back, I think that’s probably something like I should have done it. Maybe give me a little bit more of a connection. But I think part I think I just took to kind of what I was familiar with, like what I had seen, like maybe a couple friends. Oh, are like big name schools. I think you may be more familiar with the schools I did and don’t like visiting were like, after I was like admitted places, or during like scholarship visits. And like, I got like, they would like pay for my plane ticket. And I could go on tour. But yeah, actually never heard a single college before apply.

Kamila
Interesting. Okay, so let’s start from, I guess we can say the very beginning of high school. So going into high school, how did you approach it was a very analytic analytical for you? Or did you kind of just float around and see what you liked? Did you say like, I’m going to go find a club that I like, and then I’m going to try to build myself up to a leadership position, or was it more that you happened upon? Getting such positions?

David
Yeah, I think I, I wanted to start out like very, like work myself up. And so I think like, ninth grade, yeah, ninth grade year, I just tried to get involved as many extracurriculars as I could take on, like whatever leadership positions were offered. So like one, like extracurricular in high school that was like very dear to me was my beta club. It’s like a community service organization. So it started out as a freshman representative and like, throughout, like my whole entire high school journey, like I would just like build up in terms of like the leadership. So I had went like from freshman representative to Secretary and my sophomore year to Vice President junior year and President senior year. But yeah, I think I just wanted to get involve dip my hands and a little bit of everything. So whether quizbowl choir band, I wanted to try out everything and kind of see what what fit me best.

Kamila
And coming into high school. Did you know that? I mean, obviously, it’s not like a stated fact, but it’s kind of pretty well known, well known that top schools expect some sort of consistency and like leadership, like positions, people who have shown that they created a club or was a president of a club or something. So did you know that would work to your advantage? Or did you like, when the college application process really started? Did you say like, oh, wow, I did it right, all along.

David
Right? I think for me, what, what I understood of the college application process at the time was like, pick a passion and like, show it. So for me, I I really enjoyed like getting, I lived in a town of like 20,000 people. So it was a very, like, tight knit community, you knew everyone. So kind of like the one talent I wanted to display was like my love of like service, community service, getting to know people. And so I think my colleges like didn’t recognize that and did value that. So I did try to have the liberal creativity and like how I displayed that. So one really amazing opportunity for me and came around my junior year, when one of like the local power plants which are very predominant in Southwest Louisiana, offered like a $20,000 grant for a group of students at my high school like to start any community service endeavor. And you had a year to implement it. And so I worked alongside a group of four other students. And we set up like a free little food pantry, like around Southwest Louisiana to help fight food insecurity. But yeah, I think really, I just wanted opportunities to really display like my love of like serving others. And so things like that the food pantries, which maybe is a little bit more innovative, which shows a little bit more of an entrepreneurial spirit, and then mixing that in with like more well established clubs and extracurricular such as like the beta club.

Kamila
Oh, can you talk about that? I’ve never heard of that. So. So this like, powerplant donates money to you guys and was a kind of like a competition to see who could create the most like innovative idea and implement it. Well, like who could have the most impact?

David
Right? Yeah, so it wasn’t so much a competition. I would almost describe it a little bit more. Like it’s a mentorship or like a professional development. And so you put it in like an app. I don’t think actually a lot of people apply to it. I think it was just like everyone who applied like the five of us have a suit pie, like got accepted into be on a team. And yeah, and so they we started out the year just brainstorming what are different issues like we could tackle so we thought about maybe like a literacy program or like, that’s tackle like drunk driving. But I think after like meeting with different like community leaders, I think we saw like food insecurity was the biggest one. And so yeah, we did everything from like scheduling meter meetings was a mayor’s office to like having like budget meetings of like, like how to spend $20,000, which has a high school student is a lot even, um, even to things like accounting, like we have to work with our schools accounting office, how to do like invoices, things like that. And honestly, I think that was like, the best learning experience like for college, like, having to, like build a project from scratch and like meaning with everyone. Honestly, I think that was like, exactly what college looks like. It’s basically what I do now, like, as a sophomore at MIT. So a really great experience and super grateful for

Kamila
it. That’s amazing. Like, wow, this was junior year, you got this opportunity.

David
Yeah. So it finished right. So began senior year.

Kamila
Yeah, can you tell us some of the things that you learned that were actually useful in college? Because a lot of people don’t know what’s useful to know, in college, like the kind of habits that you should have and the skills? So can you tell us a little bit about that?

David
Right. I think like most people to this question, they would stress like, oh, like you should know, like math really well, or have like these academic, give me more of an academic question. For me, I think interpersonal connections and relationships are like the most important thing like going into college, how well like you can articulate, like your arguments to someone else, I think is really important. So whether that’s how you do like your emails, how you how you even talk to someone like at their grocery store, as like, they’re bagging your groceries and like how you can interact with people. I think that that says a lot about like your character, like who you’ll be like, as a student. Like even now, like, I think like any conversation you have like, well, if we were on campus as important, so like, whether you’re talking like to the president of MIT, or someone a dining hall worker, I think like having the ability like to connect with them, I think is the most powerful tool, and I think anyone can do it. So any high schooler can definitely build up like kind of their communication skills.

Kamila
Can you tell us more about the extracurriculars that you did in high school? Like so you told us about this huge opportunity? I mean, yeah, $20,000 is a lot to a high schooler. Yeah. So can you tell us more about what you did? And like what you put on your application? Like extracurriculars wise.

David
Right. So another big area of mine was choir, I was in it for all four years. So I think like some highlights, there were probably I did a light, a lot of like all state choirs, but also did all like the Student Accounting. And so like, I would take money, right, the receipts for it, which is a really great skill to have, like bookkeeping is a really great skill. Another area, which I kind of wanted to show a little bit more academic side was quizbowl. And I think that’s an really interesting setting in that what is

Kamila
that? What is quizbowl? Yeah,

David
so it’s an academic, sort of like competition, where like, you’re in a group of like four students and like, you compete with other groups at different schools in the area. And it’s kind of like a trivia night almost. I didn’t get shows a lot of like, how well you can work with students. The kind of like comparing that to my time as a college student, like, like at MIT, like you have to work with students like on homework problems. And so I think like, woodsball is like a nice equivalent of that. And then the last big extracurricular, I would say, put on my application, were social studies, fairs. So I was like, very interested, like in the social sciences, particularly economics throughout high school. And so like, I would like, take a project every year, and like submit it to the social studies fair. And I think it’s just a really good way of kind of like, showing a little bit of like your research traits, and how well you can present a topic.

Kamila
Okay, so let’s go back to the so choir first. First is choir. So can you tell us specifically like the kind of position that you had in choir because you were committed all four years? So did you what was like the specific position that you held? I don’t know how choir works exactly. But was it a section leader or were you like kind of helping command the whole choir.

David
Right? So my mind was a little bit more in the office. So I would call it like being the treasurer. And then yeah, we didn’t really have any like established things like section leaders where you would get either like appointed or elected. It was more of a seniority like you kind of look to like your juniors and seniors about how to do sight reading, right? Or like how to get like the crack patch. Correct. And so I think, yeah, I think that’s kind of how I progressed there. But my Yeah, my main thing was being like the treasurer again. So just like collecting dues from students keeping up with like, Excel spreadsheets.

Kamila
Okay, and then can you tell us, okay, so choir, what was the second one? And then there was social studies fair.

David
So the second one was quizbowl. So that’s Yeah.

Kamila
So that’s interesting. Is that like a club? Like a club that you have at school? Ah, okay. So it’s not like, you guys have meetings and stuff, you guys can just like get together and go to competitions with other schools. Right. So

David
we would have like practices like, every week where we would kind of be like scrimmages of like different rounds. So they would basically asking you like trivia questions. And then how it works in terms of like competing, like, my school would actually host all the other surrounding schools, and so like, after the school day finish, so once that 310, bell rings, we would all like head to our schools like cafeteria, which was kind of like the central hub. And then yeah, we would just like go to different classrooms and like compete with a team. And yeah, whoever can basically answered the most like trivia question, basically, once.

Kamila
Was it like a official sort of title that you held? Or was it more just like a fun thing between schools? You know, how, like, for example, with athletics, they have actual trophies they get in like some school has like the best track athletes or soccer athletes. So was it like that or just more fun amongst the schools?

David
Oh, yeah, it was definitely competitive. Like there were definitely like trophies handed out. I think our team was usually always like a solid third second place contender. I think we got like, first place one time. But yeah, it kind of like worked. I think in like a bracket system. Or like two teams, what face off whoever won would face like, the winner of like, a different round. And like, you could just keep on going until you got like to the finals.

Kamila
And this was all for years that you did in high school. Yeah. Interesting. Okay, so now you’re a final like major extracurricular extracurriculars? The Social Studies fair. Tell us about that. So like, how did you come upon? I’ve never heard of such a thing. I don’t know. Maybe it’s common in other schools. But can you tell us a little bit about it?

David
Yeah. So I was actually involved in social studies fair. I guess I should back up. So Louis, my parents in Louisiana definitely like values like social sciences. I think that’s probably our strongest like academics. So basically, what social studies fair is, it’s an opportunity for a student or two students to explore a topic in depth. So you get like a trifold, type together report, and then presented at a fair. And so it’s offered at the elementary, middle school and high school division, actually began Social Studies fair all the way in fourth grade. Wow. kept up with it like every single year. So elementary, middle school, and then in ninth grade, I was like, Okay, I definitely want to keep up with this. Well, that’s a fun fact, it was actually offered as an alternative to like, taking like an AP final exam, like they’re the fall so I was like, very happy to do social studies fair project. But to kind of like give a glimpse of like, what it is, like my senior year, I did a RV search packs, which is basically like the extra extra price women have to pay for products that are similar to male products. So for example, like shaving cream that’s like targeted towards women typically runs at a higher cost than like an auto even though they may be exactly the same in terms of a gradient. And so yeah, I just like went around to a bunch of different like grocery stores and like my area, kind of like pick a couple of items and compare prices. And then yeah, I kind of type type group report that really drew more of a research at a large scale of like, how women are typically having to pay more for products than men, just like the products being the same. But yeah, just a really great opportunity like to delve into a topic and depth

Kamila
And then was this also kind of like quizbowl, where you would get trophies or prizes at like a big fair?

David
Right? Yeah. So you would have different levels of competition. So you would compete at the school level. And then the school was able to send like its top winners to the, like, regional fair. So that’s like a couple different parishes. And then after regionals was like the big state fair. So like everyone in Louisiana, I was like, very fortunate enough. I think I got like, first place at the state level, my ninth 10th and senior year.

Kamila
And that’s not fortunate. That’s not luck. Right.

David
Thank you. Thank you. And then yeah, junior year, I got a fourth place. So I’ll just call that a fluke. But yeah, a very, very exciting time. very nerve wracking, but excited.

Kamila
That’s amazing. You did it since fourth grade? Yeah. Wow. Okay. So we’ve talked about the extracurriculars portion of, of course, the college application process. And I usually ask this of people who go to like top schools, like Did you do any extracurriculars to just, you know, have on the application, but you seem to have really enjoyed, like all of yours. That’s what’s amazing. Wow. And okay, so let’s move on to the grades portion. So coming into high school, you said that education was highly valued. Were you like a consistent straight A student like 4.0?

David
I was, I will admit that.

Kamila
Okay. So 4.0 At the end of high school, that’s what you submitted?

David
A Yes. did submit like a 4.0, unweighted, and then I think my weighted GPA was like, a 4.6.

Kamila
point six. Okay. And how many APS did you take in high school? And how many did you submit? Or if your school did that?

David
Right, right. So my, this is actually an interesting question. So my high school definitely wasn’t the best in terms of like, academics. So I think starting my sophomore year, I actually would like self study, like AP classes, like on the side, like, my class wouldn’t, or my school didn’t offer like, for example, like AP macroeconomics, or AP microeconomics, so just self study that, but I think by the time of senior year rolled around, I had taken like, nine teen AP classes, like an all I think, like half of them like I’d self study.

Kamila
19 Yes. Oh, my God. Oh, my God, my high school, like, people take like, 15. And that’s like, you know, pretty high. People say, 19 Oh, my God,

David
I was just like, really eager. And a lot of subjects like, again, like, I didn’t go to school that like, there are like some schools that will literally offer like every single like AP class at college for offers, that wasn’t my school. And so like, yeah, there were like some subjects, like I never got a chance to learn about like psychology, economics, Comparative Government, like my school didn’t offer that. But I was like, these are like, really interesting things. And so, yeah, I would just like self study them throughout the year.

Kamila
Oh, my God, can you explain this process of self studying? Like, how long did it take? How did you even do it? The AP test? Was it harder for you because you had to self study, you didn’t have a teacher to teach you? So can you just explain that whole process?

David
Why Yeah, um, so the way I there’s a couple of different ways I did it. So the easiest way I think, is finding the course online. I’m a really big proponent of edX, which kind of has open online courses from colleges. So for example, MIT offers a AP micro economics class on edX, it’s totally free, free enrollment to anyone. And then kinda it would cover the same material as if like your school offered AP micro and you could take the class. And so that made it like very easy for me, like I just had to create a calendar of like, keeping myself on progress, like where I should be in terms of December, how far along should I be? And February? How much should I have done? That’s really the easiest format. The harder way to self study was like sometimes I couldn’t find a class for a particular subject. So for example, like compared to government, I could not for the life of me like find a really good, like class. And so what I did, I just like bought a textbook. I think it was like an called like, Ethan what I want to say, but anyways, it’s not important. So I bought a textbook and I would just literally go through this textbook and like mark the chapters. Be like March I’m gonna do chapters, like seven and eight. And so like, I would just, yeah, read the textbook on my own and prepare for AP classes that way. and just Yeah, so very, very interesting.

Kamila
So I know you don’t have much to compare yourself to in terms of like, the AP exam itself. But did you take the AP exam for all of these classes?

David
I did. And I think I did about as well as I did, like, four classes that I took, took an AP class for.

Kamila
Oh, interesting. And on average, what did you score on your AP test? I’m not gonna make you go through all 19 and tell me your individual score.

David
I think when I finished, I had like a 4.5 average. So I think pretty split between having fours having fives. So yeah,

Kamila
oh my god. Okay, cool. So you self studied, you took 19? Aps? How? And those that self studying was on top of actual other schoolwork, like other classes as well. Right? Oh, my God, how did you manage that?

David
No, honestly. It’s a really interesting guy sleep. I did, I want to preface that, like, I always said, make sure to get my sleep. Um, I think just I was very good at like, creating schedules. Like, if you walked into my room, actually, in this summer, like, I would spend my summers like picking what classes I want to take, like, get my notebook out. And I would literally write down the chapter for like, an entire course I would write down the dates. And I would post these like notebook pages, like on my wall, like in my room, like what I had to get done. And then I would also get like a poster board and write down like the scores that I wanted. So like, in the summer before I even took the class or like, what self study like I put down like AP Comparative Government, like I want a five in this class. And so like I had that goal at me for the entire academic year. But yeah, so like, sure there may be like an off week where like, I don’t have time to study but then I would just have to find pockets to find time. So for example, like moving in between classes, that high school I would pull out my textbook I would read on the bus ride home, I would pull out the textbook and read sometimes like if I was on a family vacation and like we were on a pretty three hour road trip I would take out my textbook and read so think it’s really just having a really strong like time management skill and like, not letting like one bump in the road like keep you down.

Kamila
Oh my God, Most High schoolers don’t have such a scale. That’s amazing.

David
Yeah, I think it’s definitely something I wouldn’t say I was perfect when I started definitely not perfect when I started but I think it really helped me whenever I got into college and like now had a lot of independence like in my classes like I was able to like like to navigate like my classes and like know how to create a study schedule.

Kamila
What I’m really curious about is what gave you the motivation and drive to take 19 APS like most students who want to go to top schools and no they want to go to top schools and are aiming have to drag themselves to take like 12 APS but 19 and self studying, like, where did that motivation come from to take so many classes plus the tests that the end,

David
right? It was honestly just a really mad student. So I was like mad at my high school like for not being the best. There’s another local high school. That’s kind of like our rival school. And for me, I really admired them because they just had like a plethora of like EP and Dola room assets. And I was like, and I had asked my counselor actually, like, can I get bused over to the school and like, take some of their classes? And they told me no, and I was so furious at the time. I was just like, I don’t like I don’t want my education just to be like what my school has to offer. Like, there has to be more to it. So like honestly, like as I was taking these AP classes, like yes, I did enjoy that like for the content itself, but like, I saw myself as kind of like, Oh no, this education warrior where like, I’m like taking on the like these big AP classes that like are like challenging like for any student but I was like, You know what, like, I’m going to show like my counselor, my principal, my school like that I can do this like on my own and like that I can make it like with or without their support. And so honestly, I and that’s I’m interested in education today actually like because of all of that. But yeah, just mainly saw like as a way to like fight a really crappy school system.

Kamila
Damn, damn, damn, wow. i Okay, so I know you’re obviously very good at time management. So can you take us through like a typical day in high school? Let’s say junior year because junior year tends to be the hardest for people. I guess it’s because people start taking a bunch of APs and thinking about college seriously. So can you take us through like an average day for you in your junior All

David
right. So I think I would probably one would I, I would probably wake up like 657 o’clock. I think it’s like fairly typical, like in my hustle household. My mom is a teacher. So like, pretty good timing there. I would get ready sometimes, like I would put on a podcast just to get ready would get to school like 730 school starts at 745. And yeah, so my school was structured so that like, you take seven classes, like throughout the day, fairly typical. And so I won’t go too much during the school day. But once like the school ends, I would usually stay at the school until four 430 For an extra cooker curricular. So for example, like quizbowl I know we talked about that earlier. That would stay like two 410. And then I would like drive home. Drive home and then yeah, I think I would usually would usually get a snack because I I’m a very angry person where I have to eat or else studying does not go well. And then yeah, honestly, I think I would watch like TV for an hour, like as I was eating, and then I would just like yeah, delve into like Hobart for basically the rest of the night until like midnight. I would like take breaks in between, which I think is honestly very recommend dead. And then yeah, I think because honestly just like preparing for the next day I would like pick out my clothes. Lay them out. And then yeah, kind of just repeat it.

Kamila
Wow, midnight. Oh my god. Sounds like too much. I mean, my school starts around the same time as you but I have to wake up way earlier than you. So midnight. Wow. Okay. I have never stayed up till midnight Friday. Okay, I don’t think I’m ready for junior year. Okay, anyways, so let’s move on to standardized testing. So which What did you take a set to your AC T? AC T? And was that just kind of like, I that’s what my school offers? I might as well just stick with it.

David
Yeah, so AC T is like very, it’s kind of the popular thing like in my school, and I think like Louisiana. So yeah, that’s kind of what I focused on.

Kamila
And what are your views on the standardized testing like AC T and specific did you think, Oh, I’m gonna study really hard for this or something like, you know, maybe I’ll take like a month before the test to review some material and such. So how did you approach it? Did you think it was of any importance? Right.

David
So kind of unlike my AP classes, I never studied for the ACP. I

Kamila
don’t tell me you got a 36 on your first try and never saw

David
no, oh, no, no, was not me. Honestly, I, this is my personal opinion. But AC T SAP like I’m very against, like, I don’t think it’s a good measure. But for me, my philosophy was like, if this test like the ACP is truly trying to capture, like, what I should know, like, as a high school student, like my classes should be like the one teaching guide. So like, I should honestly just learn it through my English class, my math class, like, I’m not going to take extra time just to learn, learn, learn for a test so that I was very against that. I think I definitely took the AC T more more than twice I think. I think my first score was like a 24. I took it like as an eighth grader, I think at the time. So like, whoops, which I thought was okay, at the time. I mean, I like I haven’t even started high school yet. But I needed it, I think like for some application, so I did that. And then yeah, I think I would take the test. Like, I took it like the freshman year, sophomore year, and then like, junior year, and then like, Junior year is like when I got like the score. Like, I was like, Okay, I’m happy with this.

Kamila
Okay, what was that score? If you don’t mind sharing?

David
Yeah, so it was a 34. So,

Kamila
bro, you didn’t study and you got a 34 Oh, my God. We should all strive to be like you. Oh. Okay, so, so we’ve gone over like GPA, you know, classes essay. Tht. So let’s start getting into actual college application stuff. So one is recommendation letters. Actually, no, no, that’s not even go to recommendation letters. So college application process is like on the horizon. You see it you need to start it soon. Did you know what major you wanted? Did that influence like how you approached which schools that you wanted to apply to so Yeah, can you start us with that? Like, how did you pick the schools like that you wanted to go to?

David
Yep. So at the time, I was very interested and economics. I think kind of things led me to that decision was self studying like both the AP economics classes, Social Studies fair was like a really big one. So it’s like, ooh, economics sounds cool. I can do that. So that’s what helped me on my search. So like, I literally Googled like, top undergraduate colleges for economics. And of course, like, I’m pretty sure you know what, like, came up like Harvard, Princeton, you Chicago. And then on this list, I saw this school, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. And I was like, oh, that sounds pretty cool. So I definitely had that on my list. So I think my less was composed. I think I had like all the IVs down Stanford, you Chicago, Duke, MIT. And then I like a couple schools. More in the south, I think like, University of Tulsa. Tulane, which is in New Orleans, and then like one really liberal arts school, Washington and Lee, which is in Virginia. So really, I was like all over the place in terms of like, big state school, small liberal arts, schools, tech schools, very elite schools, community colleges, like I was all over the place.

Kamila
Interesting. Okay. Massachusetts, because I mean, your political science right now, right? So mesh best MIT is that because when I first like, you know, so I was like, he’s probably like an engineer at MIT. Okay, so you have this list of schools. How long was this list? I think, huge.

David

  1. Yeah. Which I totally regret it like after, like, at the end of my senior year, I was like, this was totally DOM David,

Kamila
did you do common app?

David
I did do common app. And then like some colleges, I had to do, like MIT has its own application. I went to my local regional state university had their own application. But yeah, it was the big one.

Kamila
Okay, so let’s go to recommendation letters. And then we’ll go on to the actual like, essay portion. So recommendation letters, who did you get them from? Did you think they were of any importance? How did you approach it?

David
Yeah, I think letters of recommendations I definitely saw, it’s important. Just because I saw like, here’s someone like who can testify about like what I have available, they know me like very well. So the two people I asked like for my letters of recommendations for the first one was my AP English teacher, who actually also served as my beta club sponsor. So I have known this person, like for four years had a really good relationship. I was like, This person would be excellent for a letter of recommendation. And she was. And the second person I got was my math teacher who I’d taken for a dual enrollment, like pre calc class, my junior year, and then I took her for a AP, like calc class senior year. So like, she knew me pretty well. She knew me more than one year. And I was also wanted to have those two teachers because I wanted someone who could testify more to like the humanities, arts, social science perspective. And then someone who could talk a little bit more about like my technical stem skill. So that’s how I picked like the two people to get letters for Rex from.

Kamila
Okay, so down with recommendation letters. What about your guidance counselor? Did you get one from her?

David
I did. I did.

Kamila
Did you have like a close relationship with her?

David
I did. I felt like I was always nagging her throughout like high school. I was like, hey, like, I want to take like this class. I was like a very picky student, honestly, I feel like but yeah, he wrote me a letter of rec her. My mom actually had like, taught one of her kids so that she like, knew me, well, she knew my family well. And so I was happy with that.

Kamila
Oh, you know, maybe I’m gonna turn out like you and get into MIT. I also nag my counselor, you know, go for it. Go. Yeah, I’m in the office and like 40 minutes passed on like, whoo. And we want to discuss like two classes I want to do so. Interesting. There. Okay. So let’s move on to application essays. Common App essay, they’re really, really big one. Can you take us through the process of writing that one? Because that’s the big massive one every school gets, it has to be something you know. So can you tell us the process of writing that how you came to the what you wanted to write about the topic? And just the process? How long did it take you to write was it a month, months, weeks? Or was it like a last minute thing?

David
Right? So I wrote about education. It’s like kind of my my big essay. Really, I just kind of delve? I think like in this podcast, like you kind of heard like, my high school definitely wasn’t the best. I had to like, do things on my own. only to really get the education that I kind of saw it for myself. And so I talked about like, how, how hard it is like the education system, like in Louisiana? I think it’s like, right. 48th in terms of education among the states. Yeah, in the entire United States, like it’s in, like in the bottom five for sure. I think like recently, it was like 48. So like a pretty abysmal state. Another area, like talked about in that same essay was kind of being being like an under a minority student. So I’m from a Hispanic background. And I think how I framed that was, like growing up, like, in elementary school, I was actually like, in speech classes, I had a speech impediment, because like, I was trying, I just moved from Mexico. So I was used to Spanish. And then I moved to this place that suddenly speaks a different language, which we know is English. And so I was in speech classes until like, third grade, and I was like, always made fun of, like, always looked down upon. Like, I would get pulled out of art class to go do like speech therapy. Like people never really took me seriously. Like, they didn’t think I would really get anywhere. Joke’s on them. Yeah, honestly. And I think everything for for me changed like in second grade when I won this award for, for getting like the most AR points. So essentially, like reading the most books. And I think that I said, like, that is like my be accomplishment, like, I’m most proud of that second grade award. And so I just talked about like, how if I can do like, as an elementary kid, like, who emigrated from an entire different country, and like, took speech classes, if I can, like overcome struggles, like as a high school student, like going to a crappy high school than like, I am doing well prepared for college, like, like, you run into, like your typical problems, because like, problems, I am used to problems, like I love to problem solve. And so I just talked about, like, how I want to make the world like a better place by really like using my college experience, like to go into education, and really, like transform fools and like, how we learn. And so that’s, that’s what my common app essay was about.

Kamila
Very, very nice topic. And did you? I don’t know, did you like give it to your guidance counselor? Maybe your mom cuz she’s a teacher? I’m sure she’s like, I guess read some essays before? Did you constantly like revise it and make sure it was perfect. And everything made? I guess what they like to say about common app, make sure like every sentence is like, cannot be taken out of the essay? Like, make sure everything is good. So did you really like scrutinize your essay? And like, revise it? Or were you like confident in your writing abilities? Um,

David
I think one, so I didn’t get anyone to revise it. But I think why I honestly didn’t want anyone to read it. At the time. Like I was like, this is like a very personal and like, powerful story. To me. It’s kind of like the story of like, David, like, from from birth, from like, yeah, cradle to classroom and kind of describes that experience. Another reason I think you had asked this also in your other question. I did everything last minute. Like for my applications, I think I did most of my applications during like, winter break. I know like some schools like I like submitted, did the application like the day of and like submitted, MIT was actually one of those schools. Where, like, I started the application. And I will say like, it wasn’t perfect. I actually downloaded my MIT essay, or application after I submitted it. And like I saw so many, like, simple mistakes, like a spelling mistake, a column mistake, and I was like, up there. There goes my chances. But yeah, I think there were also some supplements that I think also I use like to definitely like kind of add some uniqueness. So it’s like very happy for the supplement questions like

Kamila
MIT is a tech school. They don’t care about your grammar, your English. Okay, and what over those supplementals about? Because you mean, each school has different supplementals. But they tend to be kind of the same, you know, relatively the same subject. So how did you tackle those? I know they were last minute, but like, did you write like personal or was it more generic? How did you? How did you approach those?

David
So one of my I know, I wrote this for MIP. And several of my other schools, I applied their common app. So one of my activities as a high schooler, and I actually had started it like, I also think in fourth grade was I was an extreme couponer. So like, I was this person, like who would go out to the grocery store, like get a basket worth like for very cheap? I think my best deal was like at Kroger I bought like $800 worth of stuff and it only paid like $10 Like after coupons like I was very good like I had like a three inch binder full of coupons, and actually pot like couponing classes like to the community. And it was like really interesting because like to hear hear like these, like 40 year old like, usually it was like women like I would attract to my classes, like 40 year old woman who’s like, oh, like who’s teaching this caused it? My mom would be like, Oh, here’s like my middle school kid like, cuz like literally like your eyes were like, Oh my gosh, like, Are you seriously in like, at the end of it? Like we were like, they would come up to me be like, Oh my gosh, like tell me like what what deal should I do right now. But now it was like, honestly, so crazy. Like, I know, like one time I made my dad like drive me to all the dollar generals like in Southwest Louisiana to buy like some shampoo because I literally made like 50 cents, like I would get paid 50 cents for like every shampoo I bought. And I think I ended up buying like $300 worth of like shampoo, like at that day. But all that is to say couponing really enabled me to again, that community service and gold that I wanted. I taught classes, a lot of the things that I bought, like I donated to my church’s like food pantry. And also food pantries. I helped establish wood that grant that we talked about earlier. But for me, like at an early age, it was really great for math. I mean, like I calculate taxes, I would calculate having to add up different things. And it’s also good in terms of like communication sometimes like you feel awkward. I remember like one time I bought like two carts of like feminine feminine hygiene products, because they were like totally free. But like, here’s like this, like teenage boy and Walmart and Joe’s like, Well, that seems a little awkward. But I think it really helped, like build my confidence. And I think it was just like a really quirky thing that like, you wouldn’t read on a college application. And so it’s like, they have to know this about, you

Kamila
know, I’ve never heard Have you heard of this show like extreme couponers that watch all of that is exactly the kind of deals you should be on that $800 worth of stuff to $10

David
I know. That’s my biggest life regret. It’s like not calling the PLC producers and getting on the show. So

Kamila
oh my god, Jude. Wow. Oh my god. That’s amazing. Yeah, that’s I mean, if I read that, I would totally accept you. I don’t know about other people. But like, I would accept such an extreme coupon right there.

David
There would be like, come on, and who knows. I mean, you could always bribe them with a couple coupons. You never know. Class. You

Kamila
give me admission. Oh, yeah.

David
I think it’s a fair trade.

Kamila
Fair trade. Wow. That’s Oh my god. Whoa. Okay. So actually, you brought up kind of brought up something that I want to talk about. So when you were thinking about colleges and stuff, was money an issue for you? Like were you concerned about the big price tag of MIT Harvard all the ivy League’s

David
right? Well, considering I am not the child of a millionaire billionaire, like I knew that like money was a big thing. I honestly was like my biggest consideration go going into the process, but also like making my final decision. So I really tried to focus on schools that either like had really great, like need based aid. So like a lot of like your Ivy League colleges, which are super great, low income students. And then I also targeted schools that have really great merit scholarships. So the best example there would be like Washington and blade, which was like a school where I did like when their merit scholarship and like it paid like for everything like tuition housing. I think he got like a $7,000 strike then, like for summer, but yeah, I think cos was like my biggest thing and ultimately, it’s kind of what made me pick MIT over some like, other schools that we got some other schools I got accepted into, like, I wasn’t super thorough about like the package. So

Kamila
yeah, okay. And can you tell us so you’ve completed your application, the process and you’ve submitted Can you tell us which schools accepted waitlisted and rejected you?

David
Right. I’m trying to think so you I think my first college was University Chicago. I think that one came out I applied early action there. I got deferred. I was crushed at the time I was like if I get it I’m going care. I ended up getting admitted under regular which for me, I was like super like excited but also like freaked out about because like, I was like the one like he was on the Reddit and like you Chicago pages and like I actually heard like the quote from the Dean like from there. previous year’s like application cycle that only like half a percent of people get accepted if they’re deferred and so like I had just scratched you Chicago off my list so I was like super excited that I got in other schools that I got into were UPenn Dartmouth Washington only to ln done LSU Who else do chi got actually got him with like a likely letter?

Kamila
What’s that likely letter? Yeah.

David
So it’s a letter that they send to applicants who supposedly are like really stellar and like exceptional. And so they’ll actually like send you an email or a physical letter letting you know that you’re accepted before they even release decisions. So basically, it sounds something like hey David expect to hear like a favorable like admissions decision whenever regular on like, march 28. And I think I heard from Duke like March 8, filled like a full 20 days before supposed to learn my decision.

Kamila
Is this for like, exceptional exceptionally good students?

David
Yeah, it’s kind of like creme de la creme like top at the top. So I know like a lot of I think Columbia does it Harvard Stanford. Doesn’t Duke was only one I got a likely that letter frog.

Kamila
To get a likely letter from anyone is good, you know,

David
Psych. And then who else? Oh, actually got one from rice, which I was also accepted that. So rice and Duke were the ones I got likely letters.

Kamila
Did you get rejected from Harvard? I actually got

David
waitlisted and then rejected. Who else? I got waitlisted at Columbia. And then I just like pulled my app like I didn’t want to be on the waitlist. I was like, New York’s not for me. The interesting one in the mix was honestly Princeton because I got weightless dead. But I had a terrible like, interview with my alumni. A person who honestly like said some things that were a little racist, like I will say, and I was like, Oh, the schools like not for me. So like, I scratch that one off my list. Definitely. Like, I don’t have anything against like Princeton or anyone who goes there. But I was just like, this isn’t a good interaction. And then places I were flat out rejected. I think we’re Brown and brown, Yale and Stanford. I think were the three.

Kamila
Oh, my God, what about Dartmouth? Did you get wait listed?

David
I got into Dartmouth? Yeah,

Kamila
bro. That’s such a good acceptance rate overall,

David
I was very scared. Like, I didn’t know what to expect. Like I had read like, class profile. So a lot of colleges like publish the test sets. I was like, I think I kind of fit into this category. But again, like I went to a school that like, I think the best quality sent someone to what’s like rice, which is like in Houston. I think that was like, three years before like my graduation year. I don’t think my school is like any ever sent anyone like to an eye you

Kamila
set a standard? Like oops.

David
But yeah, she’s really exciting for I didn’t know what to expect. And so us definitely like happy without things for Dell.

Kamila
And can you give your like honest, like thought on this, of the schools that you were getting into, you’re obviously your top priority, which is for most people with money. But If money had not been an issue, would you have chosen MIT still? Or would you have chosen another college? Hmm. I

David
think I probably honestly would have picked UPenn because I think a little bit more of a name definitely seemed like more of a social scene. And I think those like really got to think I applied as like a philosophy, politics like economics, or I don’t know the official name of the major, but as that major. But honestly, and that’s just like, assuming that I have the knowledge I did as a senior. But honestly, if I had the knowledge right now, I think I would have still like picked MIT like if Paulson was an object, which I think is a really strong statement to say like being someone like he doesn’t want to major in engineering or science. But honestly, I think MIT is like a really great fit for me. More than like UPenn Dartmouth you Chicago, which I think most people would associate with like social science or humanities majors. But yeah, I think I’m happy with where where I ended up.

Kamila
That’s great. Okay, can you tell us like when you open that MIT letter, how did you react?

David
Oh my gosh. Uh, so I was at our Public Library. I was actually tutoring someone. I Do you like math? Of course, you would expect that from an MIT person. But I knew decisions were going to be released like dude during this tutoring session. So I was honestly just waiting, like for the hour clock to arrive, so it could like, Get out of there and like over my decision. So I walk over to like my 2006 Nissan Sentra in this parking lot, where like, everyone can see me, I pull out my bulky like HP laptop. I log in, like MIT decisions. And I was like, okay, David, like, this is the moment. Don’t scream. Yeah, so I log in, and I read like, the first minute. And it’s like, congratulations. Like, David were like, very excited, like to welcome you. I was like, refreshed. Like, I was like, what? And so I call, I was like, I literally screamed, I literally, I was like, in tears. The first person I called was my AP English teacher, who had written like my letter of recommendation. I think it like she was grocery shopping. But like, she was so shocked to get a call from me. She’s like, are you okay? Because like, I just got into it. Like, we both freaked out. Then I’d like zip over to my house, which is like a five minute drive. And during that drive, like I call up, like my great grandma. And I call her and she’s like, David, what? What’s that in my tea? I was like, Oh my gosh, grandma, like it’s like all edge. And so she she was excited. And then finally I told like my dad and sister who were like, working in my backyard, and like, they were like, super ecstatic. They’re like, Oh my gosh, like, great job. And I was like, I was honestly a little disappointed. Like, I didn’t see more enthusiasm from but yeah, that’s that’s me opening up my MIT decision.

Kamila
Oh my god. It’s amazing. And was this the same for like, all your other decisions, like just pure like crying and screaming? Honestly, at

David
my other decisions were a little like underwhelming, like my UChicago like, whenever I got accepted, I honestly like rolled my eyes. I’m like, Okay, now you accept me. A little salty. Um, but yeah, I think MIT, like, what’s the best reaction for me? I remember going into school the next day. And like, tell me, the first person I went to, I think was my math teacher who, who always gets up early in the morning. And I still work she literally like walks around her desk, gives me a hug, and like, starts like crying. And then like honor board, like she puts like, congratulations. That is David is going to MIT exclamation exclamation. And she she leaves it there like for the rest of the week, like at the very front of the classroom. And oh my gosh, it was a lot uh, and then who else? I told my counselor who was so like, she was shocked I honestly and she called like, everyone like the other counselors in office. She’s like, guys that come in here. And I think they thought like something was wrong, like they were running. But like everyone in that office was just like so excited. They’re like, Oh my God, and like everyone just like gave me a hug.

Kamila
And you’re like, because the highest like the most like prestigious one so far was rice. So for you to get in MIT and then just a bunch of others. We you like set the new standard for everyone, right?

David
I think everyone was just excited. I still despite like my school sports, I love my school. I think my school left me I think they were just it’s kind of a very community five, like if one person like gets an accomplishment like everyone’s excited for you. And now it was like, I’m the one getting the accomplishment like everyone looks so excited for me. And so yeah, I think just like I remember so many people just like celebrating like teachers. Just like I thought it was a really good day.

Kamila
That’s so sweet and so cute. That’s it for part one of my interview with David make sure to subscribe so you know in part two comes out. Also make sure to check out my blog, a college kid.com for college related content on there. But other than that, I hope to see you in the next one.