This past year, colleges and universities nationwide saw an increase in freshmen applications. According to Amelia Nierenberg, a writer for The New York Times, University of California, Berkeley received 28% more applications and Cornell University received 32% more applications. With the Class of 2022 college application cycle coming to an end, I interviewed current seniors for advice on the college application process.
“[One tip for underclassmen is to not] only focus on your grades but build your extracurricular profile,” senior Mrunmayee Jere said in an email interview. “These are what will help you stand out from people. Join clubs starting freshman year so you can stay in a few for four years and show your dedication. Take advantage of your summers to do projects, internships, etc., that will help you stand out. Make sure to have them relate to your intended major as well.”
Jere had wanted to be a lawyer because of her experience with debate before high school, but after joining clubs such as MHS STEMgirls and Girls Who Code, and attending a hackathon called Superposition, she found that she enjoyed coding, Jere said. She then joined more coding camps and took more computer science classes, which helped her in choosing computer science as a major, Jere added.
“[I managed my college essays by] applying to all of my out-of-state schools early action, which was due November 1st, so that I could put all of my attention to UC’s and CSU’s, since those applications were due November 30th,” Jere said. “I also applied to ASU [Arizona State University], which has rolling applications, so I finished that application as early as I could in October.”
Jere is attending the University of Michigan in the fall of 2022 and plans to major in computer science. She decided on attending the University of Michigan after visiting the campus and seeing the importance that the university places on having a work-life balance, she said.
Senior Chiruhaas Udatha is attending the University of California (UC), Berkeley, and plans to pursue an undergraduate degree at UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business.
“I started off with clubs and then, during my later years, I started finding internships,” Udatha said. “This would be from finding anything online to cold-calling random businesses on my street. It was actually a pretty decent process that landed me a few internship offers. I also had other activities from before such as Boy Scouts, and … tennis.”
“I didn’t have any safeties, but ideally, just keep two or three safeties because even if you do get rejected from some of them, you’ll have others,” Udatha said. “I think a bulk of your applications should be targets and then maybe a few reaches if you’re a little more confident.”
Udatha balanced his extracurricular activities and grades by cutting out parts of his social life and family involvement, Udatha said. He would try to finish all his schoolwork on the weekdays so that he would be able to prioritize his extracurricular activities on the weekends, Udatha added.
“Additionally, [for finding scholarships] you should see if your parents work at a company that would offer scholarships to their employee’s children,” Udatha said. “If you’re a minority or if you are in need of financial aid, there are even more scholarships available. All it takes is just one Google search. Another way to find scholarships is if you do well on the PSAT, and, if you get National Merit, a lot of colleges, like USC, take that into consideration when giving out scholarships.”
Senior Mihir Kale is attending Purdue University and plans on majoring in data science.
“I initially intended to do [computer] science, but data science is a closed branch, and I found it through my extracurricular choices. So I started off learning a language, joining coding clubs, and doing mini-projects,” Kale said. “I did research over the summer where we were trying to discover drugs. I knew nothing about biology, but they integrated it in a way where all I had to do was organize a database. And that’s how I got into data science.”
One piece of advice Kale has for writing college essays is to start early, Kale said. He also recommends finding people who you trust, and having them read your essays and give feedback, Kale said.
Kale had a college advisor, and it cost him around $4,000, Kale said. He believes it is worth the cost because they walked him through the entire college process, he said.
“All they did was tell me to do something and I did it. But honestly, you could do the same without paying that much money. You just have to have the drive.”