Beckman Chronicle: Volume V, Edition II

BECKMAN Volume V | Edition II

View responses from the seniors on classes‚ activities‚ and more!

See some iconic movies over the summer with the Chronicle’s new bucket list.

Legacies from the Past, Hopes for the Future Dive into Beckman’s diverse student body.

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Left to right: Uma Iyer‚ Allison Kuan‚ Leah Kang‚ Christina Peng‚ Seth Sosa

Design

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Iconic Film Bucket List

Teacher Superlatives Presenting the results for the 2022 Teacher Superlatives!

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O-fish-ally Off to College

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College List

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Top Senior Lessons for Success

Explore the college map for the destinations of the class of 2022.

Take a look at the 2022 college list to see where our seniors are headed!

Left to right: Cassidy Nguyen‚ Alicia Gan‚ Sanjana Menon‚ Maili Le (not pictured: Tashu Vakil)

Photography

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Content

Table of Contents 1 Senior Stats

Left to right: Farzana Chowdhury‚ Meena Senapathi (not pictured: Summer Shen)

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Onto the Next Level: Breaking into Formal Fashion Fashion for interviews‚ semi-formal events‚ and more.

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Class of 2022: Rollercoaster of a Ride Bring back memories with the senior collage.

Ad Managers

Discover what passions led these 8 seniors on their paths to success.

Left to right: Kaitlyn Yi‚ Eva Makarevich

What was your favorite high school activity?

What are you most excited about in college?

Sports Games Shows/Performances Classes/Electives Clubs/Extracurriculars Dances Esports

Campus Traditions Social Scene/Parties Academic/Career Opportunities Clubs/Extracurriculars Greek Life Other

If you took any AP’s, what was your FAVORITE class in your experience?

AP Literature AP Art AP Microeconomics AP Spanish/AP French/AP Chinese AP Government AP Environmental Science AP Biology AP Psychology AP Physics AP Computer Science A AP Chemistry AP Computer Science Principles AP US History AP Calculus AB AP World History AP Calculus BC AP Human Geography If you took any AP’s, what was the HARDEST class in your experience?

What was your favorite year of high school?

AP Literature AP Microeconomics AP Biology AP Physics AP Chemistry AP US History AP World History AP Spanish/French/Chinese AP Psychology AP Computer Science Principles AP Statistics AP Calculus AB AP Calculus BC Other

Freshman Year (2018-2019) Sophomore Year (2019-2020) Junior Year (2020-2021) Senior Year (2021-2022)

Senior Stats

What do you want your first “adult” purchase to be?

Luxury Product (car‚ designer item‚ etc.)

Travel Pet House/Apartment Technology (phone‚ laptop‚ etc.)

Other Design By: Cassidy Nguyen Content By: Leah Kang and Angela Zhang

Legacies from the Past, Hopes for the Future By: Uma Iyer and Allison Kuan With a diverse range of students from a plethora of backgrounds‚ it’s no surprise many Beckman students are first or second-generation immigrants. For some seniors‚ their ethnicity has had a significant impact on their lives and post-high school goals.

After coming to the U.S. from Indonesia three years ago‚ Tabita Limbong lives with her aunt and uncle. Coupled with the trepidation of moving‚ she had to adjust to language and cultural shocks—something many immigrants can attest to.

Tabita felt disbelief seeing a couple kissing from afar for the first time; it surprised her because she wasn’t used to PDA. “In Indonesia‚ you can’t really hug‚ you just shake hands.

Sometimes you don’t even do that because there is a border between females and males‚” said Tabita.

Despite initial hardships‚

moving has been an experience Tabita is grateful for. She feels more patriotic now and considers the U.S. her hometown‚ especially with the friendships she has built at Beckman. Living in the U.S. has also given Tabita the opportunity to pursue a career in medicine; besides taking AP Biology this year‚ she also volunteers and works at a local clinic.

After losing her father to cancer‚ it became a lifelong dream for Tabita to help others through the medical field‚ especially after being inspired by her uncle and aunt‚ who are both doctors. Tabita hopes to give back to her community after medical school. “Since 80% of my family is in Indonesia‚ I would like to be able to study and help them. People who struggle with finance don’t have good healthcare‚ and I want to improve medical technology there‚” said Tabita.

Through it all‚ Tabita thrives with the support of family. Besides her uncle and aunt’s mentorship‚ Tabita adheres to her grandfather’s motto:

"He always says that perseverance is the key to success.

I lived through that while assimilating to America; I'm here through perseverance, or else I'd still be struggling with my English."

Similarly‚ Aleana Winter has faced obstacles as a first-generation immigrant child‚ even though her story is notably different from

Photography By: Meena Senapathi

Tabita’s. Despite being born in the U.S‚ Aleana has not let go of her Georgian‚ Azerbaijani‚ and Iranian roots.

Because her parents experienced a different education system in the Middle East‚ communicating with teachers and learning about AP classes are obstacles she has encountered. “A lot of immigrant kids deal with their parents not speaking English very well‚ so I had to take things into my own hands growing up‚” said Aleana.

Her work ethic and go-getter personality is evident‚ even in her daily life. “She has a really big heart and is very considerate‚” said Aleana’s friend‚ Taylor Goar Johnson.

Despite facing challenges due to language barriers‚ Aleana learned to adapt by learning English from television and conversing with students at school. Being fluent in Turkish and Azerbaijani allowed her to connect with her parents and view how cultures mesh within the communities of Orange County.

"It made me a more colorful person and shaped my personality.

Soon to be a college student‚ Aleana has recognized how her parents’ emphasis on science and exploration has fostered her curiosity throughout childhood and will continue to impact her as she pursues a bioengineering career.

“In Science Olympiad‚ for example‚ if we are doing an experiment‚ I am very curious and I want to see if something is going to work; if it doesn’t‚ I want to try something else‚” said Aleana. As president of Science Olympiad‚ Aleana’s unrelenting drive has taken the team to the California state competition.

Regardless of their differing backgrounds‚ Tabita and Aleana share similar bright hopes for their future‚ just like many seniors who are on the cusp of adulthood. No matter where you’re from or where you’re at‚ one thing is for certain: we are all legacies of the past‚ endeavoring to create our own stories for the future.

I love communicating with three different populations of people and sharing my experiences."

- Aleana

Design By: Alicia Gan

We asked and you voted! Now presenting the 2022 Teacher Superlatives!

Most Likely to Keep Their Cool Through a Natural Disaster

TEACHER S

UP E

Mr. Hallstrom

Most Likely to Trap a Bug and Set it Free Outside Mr. Chow

Best Classroom aesthetic Mrs. Im

Best Storyteller Mr. Bowman

By: Christina Peng & Seth Sosa | Design By: Tashu Vakil Photography By: Meena Senapathi & Nora Salem

S E V I T A L R

Most Likely to Tame A Dragon Mr. Bohn

Fastest Grader Mr. Tran

Most Likely to Conduct a Mad Science Experiment for Fun Mr. Kim

Most Dynamic Duo Mrs. Walter & Ms. Thomas

O

-fish-ally ff To College Desig

n By :

Tashu

Vakil

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA UC Berkeley Andrew Du Angela Zhang Ella Chang Eric Ho Hyunjoon Kim Michelle Park

UC Riverside Minju Shim Rose Yang Saachi Goyal Shalini Aggarwal Shrishti Dalal

Casper Mao

Cal State San Luis Obispo Josh Miller Kaegan Chee Namir Kattash

UC Los Angeles Lauren Hsieh Max Fukuhara Melody Chien Sharon Kim Shirley Cao

Jaida Ho

Cassidy Veerachanavirut Shaya Ghanouni

Joudi Heilani Maya Patel Risha Sharma

Hannah Kang Grecia Cordova Hailey Phan Hunter Matsukubo Jesus Olivares Joanne Peng Kainoa Nishida Leah Kang Michael Mu Michelle Lee Misha Verma Nimi Patel Sachin Shurpalekar Shiv Malik

Cameron Do-Khanh

Cal State Pomona UC San Diego

UC Santa Barbara

UC Irvine

Abdellah Ben Khadra Coco Li Forest Gong Iris Lim Kaylin Chung

Alyssa Kelly Darren Kuan Giampaolo Romeo

Hardik Mathur Matthew Lin

UC Davis

Adithi Raghavan Aleana Winter Alexis Tan Austin Nguyen Carissa Osterhoudt Cassie Lin Cindy Chien Daniel Kim Eric Cheng Estella Knobbe Ethan Votran Evan Chu Evien Cheng Garrett Eastin

CALIFORNIA STATE

Cal State Chico Keanna Sanchez

Cal State Fullerton

UC Santa Cruz Collin Seago Emma Kato

Summer Shen

Julia Wong

Ariel Cotton Britney Gonzalez Eunkyo Seo Jake Soriano

Megan Hashoul Nicole Udagawa Raunnit Ginson

Cal State Long Beach Charley Soo

Noelle Ho

San Diego State University Sophia Blas Eleanor Chun Paria Hakemi Sophia Ipcizade Angelina Nguyen

Alex O’Brien Dylan Park Riya Patel Trisha Vann Sean Wolfe

San Jose State University Akshaya Shankar Ganesh

IN-STATE

IVY LEAGUE Brown University

Biola University

Pepperdine University

Alex Huang

Nicholas Kim

Micah Ellington

California Institute of Technology (Caltech)

Point Loma Nazarene University

Christina Peng

Columbia University Karla Camacho

Sarah Mikami

Allison Malloy

Rylie DiLellio

Ryan Vitug

Audrey Wong

Harvard University

Santiago Canyon College Chapman University

Taylor Goar Johnson

Garrett Shimoda

Carson Schweickert

Princeton University

Soka University of America Duke University

Kai Wong

Mirue Kang

Calvin Cho

University of Pennsylvania David Han Nick Grulke

Ved Pimple

Harvey Mudd College

Malaya Gaerlan

Raymond Llata

Abigail Samson

University of San Diego

Yale University Alicia Gan Andrew Pan

Stanford University

Irvine Valley College Anh-Thai Le

Anthony Ramirez Daniel Taeed

Diego Victoria Justin Darmawan

Chloe Bristow

University of San Francisco Abbi Hanson

La Sierra University Tabita Limbong

University of Southern California (USC)

Loyola Marymount University Alisa Yamamoto

Lauren Chung

Iris Shen Minseo Kim Nathan Miranda

Samantha Fedewa Victoria Aguirre

Mount Saint Mary's College Christian Severino

Whittier College Evan Josten

Orange Coast College Devin Morrison

Ryan Rosselli

OUT-OF-STATE Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech)

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Ethan Yee

Andrew Nazareth

Austin Peay State University

High Point University

Rhodes College

Caleb Irwin

Jake Slomann

Sunjana Venkitakrishnan

Boise State University

Hofstra University

Raegan Johnson

Belle Plante

Ringling College of Art and Design

Arizona State University Kaylie Perez Kyle Thomas

Sterling Douglass

Sydney Leitch

Kyra Wani

Boston University

Johns Hopkins University

Lauren Safyurtlu

Archis Shankaran

Bella Tasser

Southern Methodist University Lauren Bowers

Brandeis University

Lewis and Clark College

Alyssa Golden

Colin Blume

Texas Christian University Casey Chesterman

Brigham Young University-Idaho

Loyola University Chicago

Caden Stoker

Caden Fan

Kaitlyn Glenn

Tufts University Alex Vo-Ta

Carnegie Mellon University

Michigan State University

Isabel Khan

Emily Coplan

University of Alabama Connor Slomann

Case Western Reserve University Arnav Reddy

New York University (NYU) Macie Narvaez Maya DeLaTorre

Michelson Huang

University of Arizona Elisha Rute

Daemen University

Northeastern University

University of Colorado Boulder

Haley Kang

Cassandra Marconi

Alexandra Meade Elizabeth Piper

Torrey Blue

Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University

Ellie O’Leary

Northern Arizona University University of Florida

Ariana Hernandez

Grace Darcy

Taj Harris

Northwestern University Emory University Brian Kim Brian Tekadtuera

Jakob Dubin

Jake Golden

Fashion Institute of Technology Arpita Patel

George Mason University Mallory Hume

Bella Kim

Purdue University Darren Teshiba

Parsons School of Design Maddie Tae

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Sofia Kanda

University of Massachusetts Boston Alyssa Tonnu

University of Michigan Krisa Choi

INTERNATIONAL University of New Hampshire

CEU Cardenal Herrera University

Morgan Schmidt

Amelia Escobar

University of Oregon Kristen Conti

University of Rochester Alex Han

University of Utah Aidan Geffeney

Kyle Fehrenbach

University of Washington Claire Lee Joseph Wang

Kylie Stelung

Utah Valley University Ashley Geurts

Wellesley College Natalie Osako

Whitman College Ishaan Swami

Wichita State University Emerson Wilford

Williams College Euna Lee

By: Christina Peng and Angela Zhang Photography By: Summer Shen and Nora Salem

Top Senior Lessons for Success Beckman’s Class of 2022 has come so far‚ with no shortage of accomplishments along the way‚ and it’s clear that it’s fueled by the exceptional scope of academic‚ athletic‚ artistic‚ and active talent from all around. As our seniors embark on the next stage of their lives‚ it’s an ideal time for reflection: looking back on all that’s brought them to where they stand tall today.

We sat down with eight Beckman seniors to ask about how they successfully developed their passions‚ navigated their college application process‚ and grew their aspirations for the future. These are their top lessons for making the most out of your high-school journey.

Taylor Goar Johnson - Harvard Focus on the Experience

Taylor will be studying Environmental Science and Psychology at Harvard University.

What did you prioritize during your highschool career?

School comes first and foremost. Not in the sense of just getting good grades because I don’t have perfect grades‚ but more in the sense of cultivating relationships with my teachers and peers.

Second to that‚ I prioritized community service. I wrote papers and gave speeches at Top Teens of America on topics such as financial literacy and mental health. Before the pandemic‚ I also volunteered at The Compassion Experience‚ where we brought visitors into an interactive simulation of life in a third-world country. Now‚ I’m on a board to revise the English curriculum here at Beckman to include more novels with diverse perspectives of the world.

Since letters of recommendation are a major aspect of the college application process‚ how did you develop good relationships with your teachers?

My first letter was from Mr. Hochschild‚ and he actually asked to write my letter of recommendation! During distance learning‚ we sent emails backand-forth about the January 6th Capital attack‚ the Black Lives Matter movement‚ Amanda Gorman’s poem reading‚ and even Star Wars. Through our regular conversations‚ I discovered that we shared so much in common.

I think the key to getting a good letter of recommendation is to not worry so much about the letter. Instead‚ focus on developing good relationships with the teachers you really like and can find a common ground with.

College admissions is all about having that defining factor between you and the rest of the herd. How do you stand out from the crowd?

I think my honesty made me stand out. I’m very honest about my failures‚ and I’m also honest to others about the things they can work on.

For my Harvard Interview‚ I had to fill out a pre-interview form. The questions on the form were really basic‚ but I tried to give very detailed and long-winded answers. There are so many things to

think about and so many things to be honest about. My Harvard interviewer told me he really enjoyed reading my pre-interview form and how it stood out because of my honesty; it didn’t seem like I was trying to impress the admission office through my answers.

*These interviews have been edited and condensed for clarity.

SARAH MIKAMI - Columbia Don't Be Invisible

Sarah will be studying Chemistry at Columbia University and is committed to playing for the Columbia softball team.

What advice do you have for an aspiring athletic commit?

Columbia’s softball team is very much focused on the human being and not the player—very much trying to find the leaders and the people who are teammates both outstanding on and off the field. For me‚ I created a reputation of being a captain‚ a leader‚ and a voice on the field while I was playing. When my

coaches talked to other coaches‚ they would be like ‘Sarah Mikami: yes‚ she’s a talker‚ she’s a supporter‚ she’s a teammate‚ and she also has the skills.’ That sold me to the colleges I was talking to‚ especially Columbia.

My biggest piece of advice is don’t be invisible to anybody. You don’t want people to look past you when you’re playing‚ or when you’re doing anything in life. You want to be the person they’re looking at. So that was the biggest part for me and what I see with other athletes: when you’re noticed‚ it’s because you’re making yourself present in the moment.

Why was Columbia your top choice?

I wanted to pursue education in an environment I can find myself thriving in. I love New York City‚ and that environment I feel would be ideal for me to find success in my academics. Columbia is an Ivy‚ so it’s definitely rigorous‚ but looking at the people and the opportu-

nities and everything there‚ it was the outstanding option. The coaching staff is very welcoming and very much like a family. I have people I know there now.

And I want to be challenged.

How do you manage a work-life balance?

Throughout my entire life‚ it’s always been this struggle of being a student athlete‚ being a friend‚ being a daughter and a sister. It definitely gets overwhelming at times‚ but you have to remember that above all you are yourself.

You have to be a little bit selfish and find time for yourself.

When everything gets to be too much‚ you have to be able to prioritize what’s going to help you in the long run. If you find that things are piling up‚ I found joy and happiness in having a schedule and doing things in a way that I could control. Having control over everything helped me. Hammer things out. Do it. Get them down‚ you’ll reach your goal‚ and then you can hammer more things out.

Calvin Cho - Duke Hone in on Who You Are

Calvin will be studying Public Policy at Duke University.

Once you found out what you like doing‚ how did you put your passions into action?

I think for anything in politics‚ it’s usually that you have to choose a side‚

and that’s not necessarily something I wanted to do. I asked myself: how can I do something meaningful without choosing a side? So I started writing. Around midway through my sophomore year‚ I started my own law review for high school students‚ called OC Student Law Review. I think that’s where it all started for me.

How did you find your internships or extracurriculars? A lot of people struggle on where to start.

If you want to find opportunities from the very beginning‚ the best resource is upperclassmen at your school. I think people don’t end up asking them as much as they should‚ but asking upperclassmen who have a very similar interest as you and knowing the route that

they took is very helpful. That’s how I ended up here.

What’s the most important thing to keep in mind when you’re crafting your application story?

Whenever you write any essay‚ I think you have a choice in either writing about a position you had or yourself. In my essays‚ even if I was trying to talk about an extracurricular‚ I never talked about what position I held. I think setting the focus to yourself is key.

Alex Huang - Brown Never Stop Learning

Alex will be studying Computer Science at Brown University.

What’s the most meaningful project you’ve ever worked on?

I built an app with a friend from El Toro High School called College Capital.

It was a college research app‚ and I know a lot of people at his school already use it. It was a little project that we came up with when we were hanging out this one time; he was one of the few friends I had

who also coded‚ so I was like ‘You know‚ we should do something together‚’ and we just came up with the app.

The project was really more of a way to just practice our programming skills‚ not to make money or anything. It won’t provide the greatest utility to users because you could just pull up your computer and go onto Niche or US News‚ but I think the programming skills we learned from doing that were much more valuable than the actual product itself.

What do you recommend as the best learning experience to anyone interested in coding?

In my opinion‚ the best way to learn how to code is by just doing things. You can start off with tutorials that kind of hold your hand to learn the syntax first‚ but once you have a general grasp of the fundamentals‚ you should definitely stray away from the practice problems that just feed you stuff to do and more

try to think of everyday problems in your life that you can solve using programming. My advice is to get out of the tutorial zone as fast as possible and just start building things on your own.

What keeps you going and gets you going through the day? What makes you want to do everything that you do?

I’d say my main motivator is my future. I tell myself: This is the best thing I can do to be happy in the future. Maybe I might not be super excited to spend hours trying to figure out how to make this project work instead of going to the beach with my friends‚ but I think that the end result of this is going to make me so much happier than just a few hours at the beach. That feeling of ecstasy when I finally complete something and it actually runs smoothly from top to bottom for the first time—that is what keeps me going.

Eric Ho - UC Berkeley Regard Your Community

Eric will be studying Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at Berkeley.

What do you think is the most important thing your application should reflect?

Who you are‚ as in what kind of a person you are in a society and what impact you have on others. A lot of colleges look for the community element now: ‘How do we build a good student body?’ ‘What are we looking for in an applicant that would

fit that school?’ Instead of just pursuing things on your own‚ you need to be able to work with all different kinds of people—not just people in your field‚ but people outside of your intended field.

That’s something really valuable for you as a person and as an applicant.

Why did you become passionate about pursuing a pathway in this field?

The reason why I enjoy computer science is not because of the programming or the raw numbers aspect of it. Really‚ computer science is understanding: how do you use computers and other processing units to solve problems?

The solving problems aspect is the part that’s most intriguing to me. Getting to explore the journey and the struggle of learning different things‚ retrying them‚ staying up till 3 AM reading the 52nd Stack Overflow article because I can’t figure out how to make the logic

work correctly—that experience for me was the most impactful one for me. And I don’t think that’s exclusive to computer science. I think that the world needs people to solve problems; it’s in every single discipline.

What would be your parting message to the people at Beckman?

You have to put your trust in it to make it special. The places in your heart that are special and relationships with people—they don’t come from out of the blue. They take time to build‚ and at first it might not seem like there’s not much more to this than ‘go to class‚ study‚ take tests‚ hang out with your friends.’

But really‚ connecting with the school and its people takes time and effort‚ and if you do that‚ it’ll be a very cherishable four years.

Malaya Gaerlan - Stanford Make an Impact

Malaya will be studying Bioengineering at Stanford University.

How did you figure out what you were interested in pursuing?

I’ve always been interested in science.

In fact‚ I collected rocks and insects as a kid! When my dad attended UC Berkeley‚ I would tag along to some of his molecular biology classes. I was really young at the time‚ but being exposed to the world of biology excited me. I also fell in love with engineering when I took Mr. Sit’s class.

How do you develop good relationships with your teachers?

Ms. Hardi‚ an AP Biology teacher here before she left‚ wrote me a letter of recommendation. While I treated her as my teacher‚ I wasn’t afraid to talk to her as a person‚ as well. I attended her tutorials‚ and she was my club’s advisor. The teachers at Beckman are really around to help‚ so you shouldn’t shy away from talking to them. Most of them are available during lunch‚ break‚ and after class.

What defining factor made you stand out from the crowd?

For me‚ one defining factor was my advocacy for the Lupus Foundation. I was diagnosed with lupus in the middle of freshman year. The week after I was diagnosed‚ I called a manager at the Lupus Foundation and asked him what I could do to help. I didn’t want to just focus on my own disease; I wanted to help other lupus patients‚ too.

The first thing I did was create a walk team to fundraise for their national walk.

I spoke to families‚ friends‚ and even companies to ask for their sponsorships.

Soon after‚ I became a national ambassador and began raising awareness for lupus by starting advertising campaigns‚ helping shoot commercial videos‚ and speaking with congressmen to raise federal funds. My goal is to spread the word about lupus so more research and funds can be possible. Currently‚ I’m also the only youth facilitator at the National Youth Support Group. My job is to support lupus patients so they don’t feel alone and provide them with the necessary resources.

What would be your advice to underclassmen applying to colleges?

Don’t settle. Whatever interest you do pursue‚ you should take it the furthest you can. Make an impact with your work.

Jakob Dubin - Northwestern Lead by Example

Jakob will be studying Film at Northwestern University.

What would you tell your underclassman self or someone who wants to do what you’re doing?

It doesn’t matter how smart you are‚ how talented you are‚ or how much

you’ve proven yourself‚ you have to keep working hard. The second you say: I don’t need to do this. I don’t need to study‚ I don’t need a plan‚ I don’t need to practice—that’s when you are going to fall. All of your potential only matters how hard you work.

What is your best advice for someone looking to step up into a leadership position?

Not setting an example—it limits your ability. As a filmmaker‚ I’ve realized that I can never expect anyone to work as hard as me. I can’t expect people to pick up my slack and I can’t expect the things that aren’t going well to just fix themselves. If you want something to work out‚ then it’s up to you to pick that up.

You’re the leader‚ you’re the director‚ you’re the one who gets blamed when it’s good or bad. They’re not going to go blaming the guy who quit‚ they’re blaming you. So you have to be the one to keep working when everyone else is asleep. People expect you to bring everyone up instead of letting them bring everything down.

How do you succeed as a leader?

As a leader‚ you’ve got to prove yourself. You have to earn people’s respect first and foremost. A lot of times you don’t have an opportunity to prove yourself‚ but you’ve got to find a way to show people that they have a reason to be working hard and doing what you’re telling them because you have the ca-

pability to make amazing things—they need to know that.

You have to have so much confidence to show everyone on your team that what you’re trying to make is going to be up here or they’re not going to have enough confidence in you and in the product to push themselves.

Kai Wong - Princeton Seek Those Opportunities

Kai will be studying Molecular Biology at Princeton University.

What sort of resources did you use throughout high school?

I’ve actually gotten a lot of help from friends. Quora and Reddit are also really useful. MIT is about equality of education‚ so on their website‚ they post a bunch of summer programs that are really rigorous‚ so you can also check those out.

What happens if you can’t get into the academic programs that you want?

Biology isn’t a thing that you need to go to a specific program for. We have UCI right next to us—it’s 10 minutes away from us—and there are professors at UCI who are willing to let us shadow them or sometimes even do our own little experiments with them. You don’t need to have professional experience to work with them. If they’re willing to take a high school student in‚ they don’t really care if that high school student has good grades or anything‚ it’s just the fact that they’re already willing to take one in is what will open doors.

How do you get in contact with professors of interest?

Cold email is the most popular thing to do‚ but I specifically only emailed professors whose work I was interested in.

I made my emails personalized to each professor‚ so I had one paragraph in each email that was specific for that professor’s research or specialization. This way they would have a higher chance of saying yes because they’d see that I’d at least looked into them.

How do you build a successful applicant profile?

The most important thing about academics is showing you care about learning‚ not that you are the greatest at taking tests or have perfect grades. You need to have strong academics‚ but you don’t need to have the best academics. I had a good GPA‚ but I didn’t have a perfect GPA; I got a B. And my SAT score wasn’t extraordinarily high. To make up for that‚ I’ve done extracurriculars that show that I’m still academically strong despite getting a B. I’ve taken nine community college classes‚ which is another way to show that you’re interested in whatever subject you’re pursuing. The school doesn’t offer them‚ so you have to turn somewhere else‚ which shows that academic vitality. It shows that you crave knowledge.

You want your extracurriculars to either communicate your academic interest or communicate that you’re a good person. If they don’t do that‚ you can still do them if you like them‚ but if you don’t‚ then there isn’t any point in doing them.

Onto T he Next Level:

Karla Camacho

dewa e F a h t Saman

Despite the dark hues of her clothes‚ the colorful floral interior peeking through the blazer and the gold buttons make her outfit a memorable one. The mix of professionalism and flair create the bold-but-capable look perfect for standing out in an interview.

Blazer - Ted Baker Pants - Vintage Blouse - Philosophy

Necklace - Gifted Bracelet - Taiwan Glasses - EyeBuyDirect

Samantha depicts the classic interview wear. Her outfit consists of a clean triad of colors—black‚ gray‚ and cream—all in different pieces. Her blazer is a solid black‚ with a cream blouse‚ deep gray trousers and reflectiveblack block heels.

Karla’s outfit choice is a perfect option for semi-formal parties‚ professional functions‚ and public-speaking events. Her colors: maroon‚ dusty pink‚ and white demonstrate that it’s definitely possible to be both vivid and professional.

Blazer - H&M Jewelry - Target, Swap MeeT

Pants- Thrifted Heels - Sun&Stone

Her maroon pants are more daring‚ but when paired with a softer pink and white‚ it neutralizes into a more elegant‚ polished look. Her suede block heels and lace detailing on her innerwear also contrast well with the solid colors of her blazer and pants.

Real students. Real results.

EN !

P O W O N s i n o i t istra g e r m a r g o r p r e Summ Vikram

Caitlyn

Stephen

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