I know the stress must be building right now, but know that you are not alone. On this episode, I interview Swathi, a rising high school senior. We talk about how Swathi is trying to juggle all her extracurricular activities, academic commitments, and college applications. Swathi and I give some tips about productivity and scheduling. Then, we transition to talk about the Harvard lawsuit and some of the fairly damning information that’s been released about how Harvard treats Asian applicants.
Please submit your comments and questions on our Contact Us form.
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Show Notes:
Episode 27: Type-A Productivity Episode
Harvard Lawsuit Asian Discrimination
Harvard Lawsuit as Right-Wing Attack on Affirmative Action
Thanks to Redaf for the Guitar Sound Effect licensed under CC BY 3.0.
Transcript:
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welcome back to the admissions uncovered
podcast we are the College Admissions
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podcast for the students by the students
today I’m joined by a special guest her
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name is swathi and we met over at
reddit’s applying to college separate
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and there’s a lot of our guests in the
past few weeks have been sloppy I think
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is a high school senior
right now we’re rising high school
0:00:24.240,0:00:28.710
senior and is about to go through the
college admissions process so swathi
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nice to have you on the podcast you so
much for having me yeah why don’t you
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introduce yourselves to to our listeners
my name is sloppy and I am a senior at a
0:00:39.960,0:00:44.430
Marg high school in Texas oh really
you’re from Texas
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okay I’m from awesome me too
small world so apparently we’re from the
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same city in Dallas too which is really
crazy alright but you know one thing I
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like talking to you know high school
seniors about is what they’re thinking
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and what they’re feeling right now
because I think I remember but I don’t
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really have a detailed memory I just
knows just like a bunch of stress so so
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what do you think you’re most worried
about right now about college admissions
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right now for college admissions I’m
kind of worried about starting my essay
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and I don’t really know what to talk
about since I’ve done a lot of
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journalism related extracurriculars but
I’m planning on majoring as a but going
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into pre-med probably public health so
I’m a little worried that those two kind
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of don’t match up I think sometimes you
might see that the connections are clear
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the connections might be you know
initially very very clear but they still
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kind of make sense okay all right so so
for instance like one story you might
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tell is part of public health is
informing the public about health issues
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I guess like I don’t I don’t know
anything about public health but I have
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a Sufi that part of it is like telling
people to wash their hands and if
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there’s like an infection disease what
you do how to prevent the spread of it
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right and that type of communication
seems like he’s something you might get
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from from journalism I actually
at an internship at Dallas Morning News
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in which I was covering a story on
homelessness and I talked to the CEO at
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a local shelter and what that’s also
yeah and what I found out is that there
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are a lot of places in Dallas that
really require meal plans and there are
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people that are struggling to get off
the streets so I’m just trying to think
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of something that I could do for them
while also juggling all my school issues
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and just you know homework just piles of
homework and trying to work through that
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of course yeah
I I did a little bit of work with
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nonprofit here called city house it’s a
nonprofit that works to fight youth
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homelessness yeah this is this is very
strange but you know obviously our area
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Collin County is pretty affluent on
average we are literally the most
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affluent County in all of Texas really
yeah I think are like one of the top
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most affluent like top five at the very
least but we’re also number one for
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youth homelessness okay which is crazy
right like reaches a very high seat
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homelessness who would have thought I’d
I certainly didn’t but that’s a really
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great organization doing some good work
they that you might consider checking
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out but definitely like I definitely
understand the stress of trying to
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juggle all these different things so so
how do you think you’re managing it
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right now I mean it’s the summit right
now so you don’t have school so I guess
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I’m guessing you have a little a little
bit of a break at least oh yes I am I’m
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trying to relax for the first couple
weeks I was relaxing a little bit but
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then I jump right back into interning
and looking for research opportunities
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I’m trying to continue a science fair
project that I did last year and its
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really into autism and deals with speech
therapy so I’m sure that’s a lot of work
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and I’m sure you know school is a lot of
work especially you know knowing the
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reputation of your high school and
generally you know the schools in your
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district how do you manage to juggle it
all do you do you have some advice for
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for other seniors who are trying to do a
lot of different things at the same time
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I would say to use time blocking
that’s one of the biggest productivity
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strategies that I could recommend what I
do is is that I plan out my week every
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Sunday and I try to make sure I have
enough time to work on my
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extracurriculars as well as schoolwork
so I’ll start by working on math
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homework but then I’ll switch gears and
do something related to my science fair
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projects yeah I think it’s a really
smart idea you know the one thing that
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gets thrown around a lot a lot of like
productivity blogs and podcasts is is
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how everybody complains about meetings
and people who actually work nine if I
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have jobs and they’re always like I’m
always in meetings I have no time to
0:05:03.640,0:05:07.240
actually do work and I think one thing
that time blocking lets you do is it
0:05:07.240,0:05:11.470
actually lets you set aside a big chunk
of time that you’re dedicated to
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focusing in on something rather than
spending you know like an hour on this
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and then you have like a 30 minute thing
to do then you have an hour on this but
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then you have a 30 minute phone call
with with somebody else or a 30 minute
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you know dinner with family and things
like that so I do think that kind of
0:05:28.720,0:05:32.350
blocking out big chunks of time for
yourself and preserving that time just
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for work can be a really good time to
just like focus in on something right I
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completely agree that’s one of the
biggest issues right now just having
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enough time to focus on things that
really matter to you and I feel like in
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the last couple years I’ve been growing
like I’ve been really distant with my
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family because I’m just trying to focus
on college apps and like there’s just so
0:05:51.940,0:05:57.910
much stress yeah yeah it definitely is
really hard especially you know I mean
0:05:57.910,0:06:02.530
you know what is about to happen right
follow senior year is a lot of Si is a
0:06:02.530,0:06:08.770
lot of writing applications on top of
the things that you have going on at
0:06:08.770,0:06:12.190
school and of course the
extracurriculars you have and then there
0:06:12.190,0:06:16.420
are all these senior activities that
sometimes happen mainly in the spring
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but sometimes even in the fall so do you
think you’re going to keep doing
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everything going into the fall or do you
think you’re gonna have to drop
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something I think I will keep doing
everything I’m actually an orchestra
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right now so okay what do you think like
the cello nice I played the vo it’s
0:06:33.370,0:06:38.650
pretty cool so I have a leadership
position in that and I also
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in Spanish so I have the Spanish club so
I direct that I think I will continue
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doing these projects just not for
college acts but just because I want to
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do something meaningful with my time no
yeah that definitely makes sense
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I hate being bored so I really did fill
up high school with a lot of things but
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I remember when I got to my senior year
especially when I realized I have to
0:07:04.780,0:07:10.810
write the 650 word common app and I
started with this really scary white
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blank Word document and I realized I
also had to write all these different
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supplements even for just one school
that I was applying to early I realized
0:07:19.810,0:07:24.340
that I had to get rid of something
because I knew that I had this other
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thing to do so I had to give up
something to do the more important thing
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about college admissions so I actually
ended up drop I still did orchestral
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technically in the class that I wasn’t
as involved with Orchestra as I was in
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the past and even debate I really focus
I one of my biggest things in high
0:07:43.810,0:07:47.530
school was debated I love debate I
didn’t you know since freshman year I
0:07:47.530,0:07:51.789
went to tournaments almost every weekend
sophomore and junior year but senior
0:07:51.789,0:07:56.320
year I realized I just couldn’t spend
every single Friday Saturday sometimes
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Sunday at some random high school in a
suit anymore and I had to type up essays
0:08:00.880,0:08:05.409
and think about all these other things
so I ended up just choosing the most
0:08:05.409,0:08:11.080
important tournaments to go to so if you
had to make some choices how do you how
0:08:11.080,0:08:17.229
do you think you’d make that decision I
would probably take out Spanish I would
0:08:17.229,0:08:23.650
just keep Orchestra and my science fair
commitment but honestly I feel like as a
0:08:23.650,0:08:28.330
figure begins I will be pretty
overwhelmed by all of those things
0:08:28.330,0:08:35.169
together and I might kiss drop Lucas or
two yeah do you think you feel the
0:08:35.169,0:08:40.270
pressure to keep doing everything for
college admissions or do you genuinely
0:08:40.270,0:08:44.680
think like you want to do all these
things because I guess the question I’m
0:08:44.680,0:08:48.430
trying to ask is I feel like a lot of
people feel the stress to keep doing a
0:08:48.430,0:08:52.279
lot of things and sometimes when you add
on you need
0:08:52.279,0:08:56.870
right out applications it just tends to
be a lot I feel like when you’re doing
0:08:56.870,0:09:01.639
odd jobs it can be hard to prioritize
what you were really interested in and
0:09:01.639,0:09:06.529
just things that would be considered
resume fillers so I would say to
0:09:06.529,0:09:10.910
prioritize your like top five and like
pick the things that you are truly
0:09:10.910,0:09:14.329
passionate about instead of just
worrying about how colleges will be them
0:09:14.329,0:09:18.649
yeah you know that might even be the
better strategy to get colleges to like
0:09:18.649,0:09:23.059
your extracurriculars is to focus in on
the ones you actually like because know
0:09:23.059,0:09:28.459
maybe this is – that maybe what I’m
about to say is too cliche but I feel
0:09:28.459,0:09:32.689
like the best essays come from when you
actually enjoy doing something and I
0:09:32.689,0:09:36.589
think a big part of the importance of
extracurricular activities and missions
0:09:36.589,0:09:42.649
is writing essays about them I totally
agree I feel like being just an
0:09:42.649,0:09:47.689
interesting person in general and
finding things exploring thinking and
0:09:47.689,0:09:52.490
exposing yourself to things that
interest you may be the way to go just
0:09:52.490,0:09:58.430
to find things that you aren’t sure if
you truly care about and want you in the
0:09:58.430,0:10:04.309
future what a other question I wanted to
ask is obviously you’re taking some AP
0:10:04.309,0:10:09.439
classes what are the AP classes like at
your school how how many hours of school
0:10:09.439,0:10:13.610
work do you think you have to do because
I think there tends to be this thing
0:10:13.610,0:10:17.089
among high school students which is that
AP classes are really hard everywhere
0:10:17.089,0:10:21.110
but for me I had a lot of kind of joke
AP classes too and I don’t know if
0:10:21.110,0:10:25.250
that’s that’s the thing of your school I
would say at my school I’ve taken a lot
0:10:25.250,0:10:29.649
of the more rigorous ones so there is
definitely a bigger time commitment
0:10:29.649,0:10:35.750
associated with them for instance I took
AP Biology last year and that definitely
0:10:35.750,0:10:40.579
took a huge chunk of my time every day
maybe like two hours just taking notes
0:10:40.579,0:10:45.470
and reviewing lecture slides Wow but for
other schools I’m sure it is different
0:10:45.470,0:10:50.540
and I’m paying AP biology’s like
different in other places but in my
0:10:50.540,0:10:55.699
school it was lab heavy and there was a
lot of homework with labs and making lab
0:10:55.699,0:11:02.330
reports so I kind of had
be closer to maybe an introduction to
0:11:02.330,0:11:06.710
biology college class yeah I think there
is a lot of variety in the rigor of of
0:11:06.710,0:11:13.640
AP classes because I definitely did not
I did some labs in in in ap bio but I
0:11:13.640,0:11:18.140
definitely didn’t do that many and I
remember the lab reports being these
0:11:18.140,0:11:21.260
kind of like fill in the blank things
like they our teacher gave us like these
0:11:21.260,0:11:24.590
note sheets basically where we just have
to fill in our data and like write a
0:11:24.590,0:11:32.870
conclusion statements ooh so I guess
that’s always interesting to hear how
0:11:32.870,0:11:37.220
things are different what do you think
about AP classes in AP curriculum like
0:11:37.220,0:11:40.070
I’m sure you’ve talked to people from
other schools you know people from other
0:11:40.070,0:11:45.080
schools do you think it is really that
consistent uh I don’t think so I think
0:11:45.080,0:11:49.090
it varies depending on your t-shirt
especially for something like biology or
0:11:49.090,0:11:54.470
even like US history it depends on how
much your teacher is really invested
0:11:54.470,0:11:59.450
into the subject for example my European
history teacher he actually worked in
0:11:59.450,0:12:03.320
Europe for a couple of years and he
really enjoyed talking about the
0:12:03.320,0:12:05.660
Holocaust
so that’s something that we discussed a
0:12:05.660,0:12:10.970
lot and we focus more time on that um so
I really think it depends on your your
0:12:10.970,0:12:15.170
t-shirt and like what they’re interested
in how much they’re willing to put into
0:12:15.170,0:12:19.580
the class yeah and I think that’s a
smart way of thinking about you know how
0:12:19.580,0:12:24.230
to juggle things which is thinking about
which classes you actually do need to
0:12:24.230,0:12:29.600
study for I I remember a lot of people
just studying for everything in high
0:12:29.600,0:12:33.050
school because that’s kind of like what
you’ve been taught to do but at some
0:12:33.050,0:12:37.280
point you know that you’re probably
going to be fine on the classes that
0:12:37.280,0:12:40.520
you’re strong in and you’re probably not
going to be fine in the classes that
0:12:40.520,0:12:44.540
that your weekend all right so I think
prioritizing classes that you’re weaker
0:12:44.540,0:12:48.710
in is also something that can hopefully
save you some time exactly I feel like
0:12:48.710,0:12:53.120
for me I’m stronger in math and science
so I had to spend a little more time
0:12:53.120,0:12:59.630
working on Spanish or some other things
that way I could just continue in that
0:12:59.630,0:13:06.170
class and maintain that a average and
keep my GPA up especially with all the
0:13:06.170,0:13:10.310
extracurriculars I had going on junior
year it was honestly very difficult to
0:13:10.310,0:13:13.670
keep up with
everything but I found like the best
0:13:13.670,0:13:17.929
ways productivity strategies and
allocating more time to things that I
0:13:17.929,0:13:21.259
was kind of uncomfortable with and
that’s something that I decided to do
0:13:21.259,0:13:26.059
senior year I tried to pick classes that
would push me and encouraged me to keep
0:13:26.059,0:13:29.600
going no I was just gonna ask you know
what what were some of those costs is
0:13:29.600,0:13:33.139
that that you took that we’re a little
bit out of your comfort zone oh well the
0:13:33.139,0:13:37.189
classes I took I was out of my comfort
zone was like AP Spanish for most people
0:13:37.189,0:13:42.559
just take Spanish yeah that’s artists
they just take Spanish for the foreign
0:13:42.559,0:13:46.579
language credit that some colleges
require so they’re due like two or three
0:13:46.579,0:13:51.319
years but I decided to keep going like
four to five years and taking that class
0:13:51.319,0:13:55.100
it’s definitely an eye-opener because I
realized that I wasn’t as good as
0:13:55.100,0:14:01.059
finished as I thought I was but I was
able to develop my language skills and
0:14:01.059,0:14:07.100
I’m actually going to Spain next year
with my class so I’ll be able to like
0:14:07.100,0:14:11.360
put those into practice now do you think
that class took up a little bit more
0:14:11.360,0:14:15.379
time then then say maybe like your your
calculus class or your science classes
0:14:15.379,0:14:20.119
ah yes I would say just because of the
rigor of the class and having a teacher
0:14:20.119,0:14:25.089
who really pushed me I took up a lot
more time that I initially expected
0:14:25.089,0:14:29.299
especially because it’s Spanish so
there’s a like a writing aspect and
0:14:29.299,0:14:33.170
speaking portion and there’s also a
multiple choice which is crazy like I
0:14:33.170,0:14:37.790
remember going into the AP exam just
totally bewildered having everything in
0:14:37.790,0:14:42.379
a different language is like very
disorienting at times yeah I remember
0:14:42.379,0:14:47.209
the listening section of that test – in
your you’re in a room filled with other
0:14:47.209,0:14:51.199
people all speaking into microphones at
the same time so you can’t even really
0:14:51.199,0:14:55.129
hear yourself think you’re you’re just
like you have to try to tune out the
0:14:55.129,0:14:59.990
person sitting two feet away from you
exactly it can be really hard to just do
0:14:59.990,0:15:02.990
your own thing and like Kember what you
were taught because there’s just so many
0:15:02.990,0:15:08.119
things in the curriculum that you could
talk about especially in the listening
0:15:08.119,0:15:14.360
portions like it’s it’s crazy so
definitely I I have flashbacks to that
0:15:14.360,0:15:20.720
test and it’s never do you do you have
any tips additional tips for anybody who
0:15:20.720,0:15:24.649
might be in a similar boat like taking
classes that they aren’t that good at
0:15:24.649,0:15:26.829
but
but still very concerned obviously about
0:15:26.829,0:15:31.279
making sure their GP is up do you have
any tips about doing well in the class
0:15:31.279,0:15:36.259
that you generally don’t do well in um I
would say maybe you spend more time in
0:15:36.259,0:15:41.060
that class like just allocate a couple
of hours every week looking over it and
0:15:41.060,0:15:45.199
maybe talking to your teacher so she
could probably give you some tips on how
0:15:45.199,0:15:49.850
you could approve but I would say the
best thing to do is just take a bunch of
0:15:49.850,0:15:53.029
classes that you wouldn’t see yourself
taking at the beginning of the year and
0:15:53.029,0:15:56.329
then maybe drop a couple of them and
keep the ones that you were truly
0:15:56.329,0:16:00.379
interested in so after a couple of weeks
of lectures and notes you can get a feel
0:16:00.379,0:16:03.410
of what the class is really like so
that’s interesting does your school
0:16:03.410,0:16:07.610
allow you to try out classes for the
first couple of weeks I then drop I feel
0:16:07.610,0:16:13.040
like that’s my like strategy they do
after two weeks you’re allowed to drop
0:16:13.040,0:16:17.329
certain AP classes and maybe go to a
lower level or completely switch classes
0:16:17.329,0:16:21.829
altogether oh that’s really cool that’s
that’s definitely something very college
0:16:21.829,0:16:25.730
like about your school because almost
every college I have have talked to
0:16:25.730,0:16:30.649
people at or been to or like thought
about all have the type of like what
0:16:30.649,0:16:34.220
they call a draw period and so the first
two weeks are what they call like the
0:16:34.220,0:16:37.819
shopping window where you get to try try
out any class sit in their own classes
0:16:37.819,0:16:42.170
and make any changes to your schedule so
that’s really cool that yeah your high
0:16:42.170,0:16:45.290
school has that yeah it’s kind of
interesting it’s it was started
0:16:45.290,0:16:50.540
basically for sports recruiters so they
could find people that has started the
0:16:50.540,0:16:54.050
school year but are still interested in
playing maybe on the basketball team or
0:16:54.050,0:16:59.899
joining cross country but people it kind
of expanded to kids that are really
0:16:59.899,0:17:05.240
interested in trying out maybe ap
research or area just kind of underrated
0:17:05.240,0:17:10.610
AP classes that you wouldn’t normally
take yeah definitely I think so ap
0:17:10.610,0:17:13.880
research is that the capstone diploma
thing right you start with seminar and
0:17:13.880,0:17:17.449
then you do ap research yeah I
personally haven’t taken it but I was
0:17:17.449,0:17:22.490
super interested in it it’s basically
just student guided so you make your own
0:17:22.490,0:17:26.240
research project and then you would
present it later on in the year to your
0:17:26.240,0:17:30.770
teacher and I find that for interesting
because I’ve always wanted a place to do
0:17:30.770,0:17:34.820
research and I could only do it outside
of school so maybe taking that class
0:17:34.820,0:17:39.020
that helped me with my research
endeavors yeah I think I took some
0:17:39.020,0:17:43.430
I didn’t take research because I took
seminar my senior year in the general
0:17:43.430,0:17:47.210
track as you take seminar in junior year
and research and senior year but the
0:17:47.210,0:17:49.760
thing I loved about that class is
basically you just got to do your own
0:17:49.760,0:17:53.810
thing like whatever you were interested
in you would just do that research and
0:17:53.810,0:17:58.550
and write stuff up and so it ended up
being a pretty easy class because as
0:17:58.550,0:18:03.550
long as you were doing the research you
wanted to you know you were good okay so
0:18:03.550,0:18:08.600
I think that’s really good stuff about
you know how to juggle things at school
0:18:08.600,0:18:13.100
how to juggle AP classes I know one
thing that you mentioned that was also
0:18:13.100,0:18:17.120
troubling you about admissions was you
know the stuff going on from that
0:18:17.120,0:18:22.580
harvard law suit and the information we
got from that so i guess to summarize
0:18:22.580,0:18:28.880
ill but obviously it’s it’s very
complicated but i think the big headline
0:18:28.880,0:18:34.430
is that harvard was on average reading
asian american and asian applicants with
0:18:34.430,0:18:39.890
a lower personality score than than
other racial groups and like anything
0:18:39.890,0:18:44.060
where you see differences on racial
groups it’s never anything good it’s
0:18:44.060,0:18:47.870
always something to be skeptical of and
so so what do you think about that and
0:18:47.870,0:18:51.530
how is that making you feel as you go
into college admissions I’m kind of
0:18:51.530,0:18:56.540
nervous about interviews and having
someone that has a bias towards
0:18:56.540,0:18:59.290
asian-americans
so it makes me feel a little
0:18:59.290,0:19:03.980
nerve-wracking but it is kind of an
opportunity to grow and to show them
0:19:03.980,0:19:08.210
that asian-americans are not going to
back down and we’re always going to be
0:19:08.210,0:19:12.470
here and keep trying for top colleges so
I think it’s kind of a learning
0:19:12.470,0:19:16.520
experience for everyone involved
and it can probably show other
0:19:16.520,0:19:21.290
apologists that they shouldn’t maybe
have some make some assumptions based on
0:19:21.290,0:19:27.920
race yeah the the kind of weird thing is
that a lot of the interviewers actually
0:19:27.920,0:19:33.200
say these Asian American applicants are
great they’re super personable but I
0:19:33.200,0:19:36.560
think I read somewhere that what happens
is the admissions officers are actually
0:19:36.560,0:19:40.730
going in and kind of disregarding the
interviewers advice to kind of lower
0:19:40.730,0:19:45.140
that personality score so it’s not even
that like you do a good interview and it
0:19:45.140,0:19:48.650
turns out well it’s also that admissions
officers seem to be fiddling with the
0:19:48.650,0:19:53.330
numbers on the back end a little bit
yeah I totally agree I feel like
0:19:53.330,0:19:56.750
admissions officers kinda it could
probably ignore your interview
0:19:56.750,0:20:00.920
altogether and just be so focused on the
asian-american park that they disregard
0:20:00.920,0:20:04.040
some of the things that you have to
offer so you could have a great
0:20:04.040,0:20:10.700
interview with an AO but still not yield
any results and maybe get deferred or
0:20:10.700,0:20:16.820
wait-listed from that particular college
although I say that I think in I
0:20:16.820,0:20:21.800
obviously think it’s bad to rate
asian-americans lower but in the broader
0:20:21.800,0:20:26.450
conversation what’s happening with the
lawsuit seems to be like a backhanded
0:20:26.450,0:20:32.510
way of just getting rid of affirmative
action in general which i think is well
0:20:32.510,0:20:36.380
I personally think affirmative action is
good but I also think the way of getting
0:20:36.380,0:20:40.820
rid of it should not be through this
back-ended way of using asian-americans
0:20:40.820,0:20:44.540
because they’re really like bad part
about this is that it’s not an
0:20:44.540,0:20:49.970
asian-american lawyer doing this lawsuit
if some white guy a big you know
0:20:49.970,0:20:54.590
white-collar law firm in Houston that’s
being funded by a lot of right-wing
0:20:54.590,0:20:59.150
money so I’m a little bit concerned
about the process of it I definitely
0:20:59.150,0:21:03.320
agree I feel like there should be
someone on the frontlines just
0:21:03.320,0:21:07.400
advocating for asian-americans as an
asian-american I feel like there are
0:21:07.400,0:21:14.360
more activists who are youths in my area
I can’t really relate to the idea of
0:21:14.360,0:21:19.970
having less asian-americans though he’s
my school is full of asian-americans
0:21:19.970,0:21:25.160
especially in my community so I’m sure
that somehow we could all like come
0:21:25.160,0:21:29.600
together and really change the way that
colleges are viewing their application
0:21:29.600,0:21:34.640
especially since in my high school only
a couple of Asian Americans were
0:21:34.640,0:21:39.140
accepted to top schools and I feel like
it was due to some bias or stereotypes
0:21:39.140,0:21:43.450
they may have had about our school yeah
it’s really it’s really hard to know
0:21:43.450,0:21:48.140
what is happening with your application
right is it because they you know like
0:21:48.140,0:21:52.760
is it because of the personality score
or is it because of some other thing and
0:21:52.760,0:21:57.020
so one thing I just would love colleges
you just like give an explanation of
0:21:57.020,0:22:01.640
what happened because they definitely
have one unless admissions officers are
0:22:01.640,0:22:04.290
just being kind of random and flippant
about it which I really hope
0:22:04.290,0:22:08.430
yard but if they have an explanation
they should give it so we kind of have
0:22:08.430,0:22:13.470
some closure about things and and so not
everybody is you know sour grape Inge
0:22:13.470,0:22:16.470
and being like ah it’s just because I’m
Asian that I didn’t get it right you
0:22:16.470,0:22:18.750
know I think the reason why you had
people say that is just because there’s
0:22:18.750,0:22:23.070
there’s no there’s not another
explanation that colleges are giving out
0:22:23.070,0:22:27.780
I completely agree I feel like colleges
should definitely rethink the way that
0:22:27.780,0:22:31.920
they are ending Asian applicants and I
feel like it’s the same for other on
0:22:31.920,0:22:37.350
represented minorities like Latino
Americans or Native Americans for sure
0:22:37.350,0:22:40.380
and you’re like I don’t think I’m
certainly not an expert on the law of
0:22:40.380,0:22:45.150
this or even like the the politics of
affirmative action but I am curious how
0:22:45.150,0:22:49.560
is this affecting your applications are
you thinking you know or do you think
0:22:49.560,0:22:53.100
your application would be different if
if the Harvard law suit and the
0:22:53.100,0:22:57.180
information from it didn’t come out I
think it would be kind of different I
0:22:57.180,0:23:01.800
feel like I shifted the focus of my
essays to personal growth and
0:23:01.800,0:23:07.440
development versus going to something
related to my community in my culture
0:23:07.440,0:23:10.950
I felt like before the Harvard
admissions lawsuit I would have talked
0:23:10.950,0:23:15.600
about my culture and like my roots that
I have being an Asian American in
0:23:15.600,0:23:21.330
America so it’s very difficult for me
and I have some unique experiences as a
0:23:21.330,0:23:27.990
first gen and immigrant but I feel like
if I write about that now I don’t know I
0:23:27.990,0:23:31.980
feel like maybe admissions officers we
potentially disregard me as an applicant
0:23:31.980,0:23:36.150
hmm yeah like I I definitely understand
where you’re coming from but I really
0:23:36.150,0:23:43.140
hate it is it it is super unfair and you
know if the point of an essay is to talk
0:23:43.140,0:23:47.760
about who you are it’s kind of weird not
to talk about the culture and the family
0:23:47.760,0:23:51.810
and all the contexts that kind of shaped
you into who you are yes I feel like
0:23:51.810,0:23:56.400
people who write about those who’ve
written those essays in the past its
0:23:56.400,0:24:00.150
kind of stopped now and like there’s
less about culture and more about what
0:24:00.150,0:24:04.020
you can offer to the school and less
about where your identity and where you
0:24:04.020,0:24:08.550
come from and those things are not as
important anymore in your application
0:24:08.550,0:24:12.840
just based on people that are scared of
being persecuted by the admissions
0:24:12.840,0:24:17.970
process you know I do wonder though if
it’s really a matter
0:24:17.970,0:24:22.379
how you frame the what what you know
your cultural background did to you
0:24:22.379,0:24:27.480
because I can definitely imagine you
know stereotypical asian-american
0:24:27.480,0:24:33.590
straight man interested in you know
biology wanting to become a doctor and
0:24:33.590,0:24:37.830
his essay is writing about how being an
asian-american
0:24:37.830,0:24:42.480
made him study more right like that that
seems to be a little bit too on the nose
0:24:42.480,0:24:47.639
of the stereotype but you know I don’t
know what you think about this but but
0:24:47.639,0:24:51.870
surely there’s a way to talk about you
know culture in a way that isn’t so like
0:24:51.870,0:24:56.309
you know consistent with the stereotypes
about it I think there is a way and I
0:24:56.309,0:25:01.259
was planning on maybe writing one of my
essays at least about how my community
0:25:01.259,0:25:06.539
helps in service projects and we have
this this program called care kids in
0:25:06.539,0:25:12.870
which we distribute hats gloves
toothpastes razors and other necessities
0:25:12.870,0:25:17.580
to homeless people and I feel like
that’s something a community thing that
0:25:17.580,0:25:22.529
we started on our own and that came
through my Sunday school so being Asian
0:25:22.529,0:25:25.710
American I feel like that may be a plus
and that’s something you could doesn’t
0:25:25.710,0:25:30.179
talk about like giving back to the to
your community yeah and I think what
0:25:30.179,0:25:35.039
makes that type of story so special is
also talking about how it’s not just
0:25:35.039,0:25:39.450
that y’all are doing these things it’s
that there’s something in a shared
0:25:39.450,0:25:44.250
culture or shared values that kind of
forces you to do it right that bird not
0:25:44.250,0:25:48.269
forces you but you know really push
pushes and encourages can encourage you
0:25:48.269,0:25:52.500
to do it it’s not just you doing a thing
it’s you doing it with a lot of people
0:25:52.500,0:25:55.919
and in a community
it definitely motivates me to know that
0:25:55.919,0:26:00.570
I have my fellow peers like to support
me and I have like this why the youth
0:26:00.570,0:26:05.309
group that is ready for action and we
can all count on each other and we’ve
0:26:05.309,0:26:09.779
grown up with each other so we’re very
content with the values that we have and
0:26:09.779,0:26:13.500
our personalities kind of match well
together you know to me that’s the type
0:26:13.500,0:26:17.690
of story that’s really good for a
college essay are really good for a
0:26:17.690,0:26:22.409
essay that is supposed to tell something
about yourself because I really can’t
0:26:22.409,0:26:26.009
think of a way to talk about Who I am
without thinking about the fact that I’m
0:26:26.009,0:26:30.149
Asian that the fact that my parents are
immigrants you know the fact that I
0:26:30.149,0:26:34.560
where I grew up how I
those types of you know background thing
0:26:34.560,0:26:38.790
I completely agree I feel like my
parents are always telling me to respect
0:26:38.790,0:26:42.720
my culture more and kind of just go back
to my roots and I will be fully
0:26:42.720,0:26:48.330
understood that look now as an almost
adult going into college I feel the need
0:26:48.330,0:26:53.280
to subtly go back to my community so I
hope that in college I can find maybe
0:26:53.280,0:26:57.060
like clubs or something where I can
connect with other Asian Americans again
0:26:57.060,0:27:01.650
yeah for sure yeah the great thing about
all colleges I won’t say all colleges
0:27:01.650,0:27:05.760
but but most colleges and certainly the
big name school is that there’s always
0:27:05.760,0:27:10.410
some like asian-american Club you know
there’s there’s always some like Chinese
0:27:10.410,0:27:14.130
American Club Chinese culture Club you
know there’s there’s always some type of
0:27:14.130,0:27:21.750
like you know Asian type type campus or
cultural Club but yeah I mean so you
0:27:21.750,0:27:26.850
know to wrap this up I was wondering you
know what do you think do you think that
0:27:26.850,0:27:29.940
obviously I think I think we can both
agree that some of this information
0:27:29.940,0:27:33.870
coming out of the Harvard Law suit is
really disturbing what do you think
0:27:33.870,0:27:39.300
Harvard should do to fix it I think
Harvard should try to instead of
0:27:39.300,0:27:43.530
backpedal they should be more like
welcoming of Asian American applicants
0:27:43.530,0:27:49.680
and maybe have like more awareness for
them and to not maybe disregard them
0:27:49.680,0:27:53.310
like for instance if it was an
asian-american Computer Science
0:27:53.310,0:27:56.940
applicant I feel like that’s pretty
common nowadays so I feel like as we
0:27:56.940,0:28:01.470
move forward Harvard should maybe be
more accepting and they should
0:28:01.470,0:28:04.710
definitely own up to the mistakes they
made in the past that they could
0:28:04.710,0:28:10.950
probably fix it by releasing a statement
or maybe explaining their decisions in
0:28:10.950,0:28:15.360
the future yeah I really like that idea
is something about being transparent and
0:28:15.360,0:28:20.340
just being like this is how we evaluate
students and be very honest about we
0:28:20.340,0:28:23.850
just rank them by a couple of scores and
tell us what those scores are I think
0:28:23.850,0:28:27.330
that type of transparency can definitely
go a long way I felt like that would
0:28:27.330,0:28:30.870
give us the closure that we really
deserved I feel like there are a lot of
0:28:30.870,0:28:34.980
questions hanging over us right now
especially for younger students maybe
0:28:34.980,0:28:38.640
like in middle school right now and
we’re looking to apply to colleges and
0:28:38.640,0:28:42.390
are worried that they’ll be
discriminated against based on their
0:28:42.390,0:28:46.390
race would you ever be discouraged
from flying to a place like Harvard
0:28:46.390,0:28:50.680
because of this type of information I
think at one point I might have if I
0:28:50.680,0:28:55.150
wasn’t so firmly rooted in my culture
maybe I would have strayed away from top
0:28:55.150,0:29:00.190
colleges just because of my race but now
I feel like there is a backlash towards
0:29:00.190,0:29:04.870
the lawsuits and I feel like I
definitely can maybe like fight against
0:29:04.870,0:29:09.190
that bias the one thing I’ll say to kind
of close this out on this is that you
0:29:09.190,0:29:13.120
don’t really have control over
Harvard’s admissions policy as much as
0:29:13.120,0:29:19.000
we would like to yeah we don’t have the
keys to Harvard Square we don’t know
0:29:19.000,0:29:22.930
what’s going on in admissions officers
Minds so the best thing we can do is
0:29:22.930,0:29:27.190
just put in application and see what
happens I completely agree that’s what I
0:29:27.190,0:29:30.580
always say when everybody’s like I don’t
know if I’m gonna get in well you’re
0:29:30.580,0:29:33.340
never gonna know for sure unless you
just throw in an application and see
0:29:33.340,0:29:37.360
what happens that’s true well thank you
so much Scotty for coming on the podcast
0:29:37.360,0:29:41.110
it’s been a lot of fun thank you so much
for having me all right well that was
0:29:41.110,0:29:46.270
this week’s episode of the admissions
uncovered podcast it’s is a weekly
0:29:46.270,0:29:50.140
college admissions podcast now I’m gonna
do something I usually do I’m gonna go
0:29:50.140,0:29:55.060
plug our iTunes review you can just just
go go to the App Store just search
0:29:55.060,0:29:58.540
admissions uncovered or you might
already be there if you’re listening on
0:29:58.540,0:30:02.410
Apple podcasts and give us a five star
rating because it actually does help us
0:30:02.410,0:30:07.030
in search algorithms for whatever weird
Apple II reason and when we go up the
0:30:07.030,0:30:11.680
search algorithms more people find the
podcast and more people listen and it
0:30:11.680,0:30:14.470
makes me happy
and hopefully they get some good advice
0:30:14.470,0:30:17.950
too so give us a five star rating over
an item but anyways thanks so much for
0:30:17.950,0:30:21.870
listening and we’ll see you next week