Estancia Senior accepted into 4 Ivys
The Ivy League
As college acceptances rolled in, and seniors started committing left and right, Eric was thinking hard on what he truly wanted. As a Link crew leader, an AP student, and Captain of the Estancia Boys Tennis team just to name a few, Eric has displayed his magnetic, determined, and hardworking self that is bound to achieve greatness. Eric applied to 17 schools to major in Biology, which included Harvard, Yale, Brown, UCLA, Berkeley, and others, of which he was accepted to 11 with scholarships to 4, including Princeton, Yale, Dartmouth, and Brown.
In Estancia’s past, there have been few who even attempted to get into these elite schools, and Eric is the first student in Estancia history to be accepted to four Ivy leagues, including scholarships. After hearing the news, I went to interview him in hopes to answer the burning question in everyone’s mind: How did he do it?
One of the most challenging parts of applying for colleges is writing your essay, and since Eric had applied to 17 schools, he had a lot of writing to do. You’d be surprised to learn, though, that most of the prompts were the same.
Photo of an Essay being annotated.
Eric said, “ Most of the schools asked about like, what my experience was and you know, what experiences shaped me, but there was other specific ones for sure” and he also noted how all the schools have different communities, so he had to in his words, “Cater towards their values” .
His word of advice for writing your college essays? “ You really have to contextualize your story really well, and that's what can really help you get in”
Sports equipment placed in a ring on grass
When asked about his extracurricular activities in his words said he “Didn’t do anything exceptional”.
When applying, Eric said that he had a 4.3 GPA, as well as being an active member in many on campus clubs including, ARK, Key club, Leo’s club, HOSA, CSF, and was on varsity tennis all four years. One thing about being in these clubs, Eric said, is that it’s important to show commitment, by sticking to them all four years, or really however long you can. His SAT was below average at 1430, when the average is usually set at 1490 and above for Ivy League schools.
The hardest thing about applying to these Ivy League Schools Eric said, surprisingly wasn’t maintaining good grades or having the highest GPA, it was procrastinating. Eric said that “for some of them [applications] I wrote essays like the night they were due, and I did get rejected, so I would say, don’t procrastinate”
Two people studying and taking notes at a desk.
When Eric was asked what others, and more importantly freshman, should do if they wanted to get into these top schools, he said, “Well I think the big thing is, I mean just try, when you’re a freshman you for sure have the opportunity to start trying and even if you’re a sophomore as well.”
Many students brush these schools off thinking they would never be able to achieve it, but where others saw no point, Eric saw his future. Finally, I asked Eric about his motivation to apply to these schools and he said, “ There's amazing universities in California..but for me specifically, I really didn’t feel like that big university worked for me, I didn’t really like having 30,000 students.”
He also mentioned how he wanted the top academics and rigor of these institutions, because he enjoys school and learning, and wanted a smaller, like-minded space to continue to grow while pursuing his higher education.
Although Eric hasn’t committed to a single school yet, he does have this to say, “I do [have a school in mind] but I’m not going to say, it might just be a secret until I graduate.”
As of now, Eric has committed to Yale university to major in molecular, cellular, and developmental biology and will be in Connecticut this fall.