The process of Early Decisions: tips from two STEM-bound seniors

Photo by Lynn Dai

Three seniors applied early decision to Cornell, Northwestern and Boston University. They will be majoring in chemical engineering, musical composition, computer science and applied mathematics, and pediatrics, respectively.

Every fall, thousands of high school students across the globe scramble to apply early decision and early action to their dream schools. According to the 2020-21 Common Data Set, many universities reported an increase of over 10 percent in admissions from the pool of students who applied early decision or early action over those who applied regular decision last year.

In the early action application, students can apply to multiple schools and receive their decisions earlier, typically in mid-December to mid-January. Early decision (ED) applications are similar, but the acceptance is binding and students may only apply to one school for ED.

Students applying restricted early action may only apply early to one private school, but if accepted, they are under no obligation to attend.

On top of managing schoolwork, these seniors have to plan out their essays, interviews and set aside enough time to research programs offered at their prioritized list of schools. So how do they do it?

For senior Soorya Kuppam, categorizing essay prompts into groups of similar topics was key to maintaining efficiency. Northwestern-bound, double-majoring in Computer Science and Applied Mathematics and minoring in Musical Composition, he said that switching between essays and the course load from classes, helped him avoid burnout.

His sister gave him a guideline for researching schools during the summer and he wrote most of his essays the week before applications were due.

In order to manage stress from school, parents and friends, however, he said that he removed his mom from getting involved in the college application process.

“I didn’t have a college counselor, and realized that my mom had the biggest amount of pressure on me,” Kuppam said. “She offered good advice but was simultaneously insulting me, but it reached a point where she took it too far.”

Even so, the senior was able to reach out for guidance from his sister, an undergraduate at UC Berkeley. 

Discovering their major

While his parents encouraged him to pursue a major in computer science, he was more interested in mathematics, having participated in math tournaments since elementary school and completed all advanced math courses at De Anza and West Valley College.

Kuppam found it thrilling to do math in constrained time limits at competitions that had no effect on his grades. After tutoring two years at Afficient, a Silicon Valley-startup focused on education, Kuppam discovered his knack for helping other students. 

“Teaching math also helped me understand how to interact and communicate with people more because not every student has the same approach for learning. Math has helped me explore the world around me,” he said.

Although Massachusetts Institute of Technology was his longtime dream school, he wanted to find a school that had a good balance of both music and STEM — Northwestern’s Bienen School of Music, Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences and McCormick School of Engineering were the perfect match. 

“I really put a lot of effort into the schools I cared about,” he said. “After I researched more about the niche parts of the major programs at Northwestern, I could see myself applying to it.”

Having played piano since he was 7, Kuppam was also interested in studying music composition, which would allow him to access the treasure trove of musicians at the school.

Senior Arnav Shah has also had a long-standing interest in medicine, specifically in pediatrics, and found biology the perfect major to delve deeper into the field. However, he still wanted the freedom to explore other fields.

“I really love that Boston University lets me explore a lot of options within the first couple of years without committing to a specific major,” Shah said.

After exploring BU’s programs and campus, Shah was excited to apply. 

“I spoke with my friend at Boston this year who gave me a virtual tour,” he said. “While I could not travel to Boston due to the pandemic, seeing her housing at the brownstones and hearing about her exciting experiences living downtown deepened my interest in the school.”

Shah said that he will likely need to adjust to the drastically different climate in Boston, but is excited to have snow and “see all four seasons.” BU’s location also places it close to many other universities, like Northeastern University and Tufts University, which his friends have applied to or are applying to. 

Shah hopes to remain connected with his culture as well, so the university’s Bollywood dance team is another attraction.

 “Over the four years in high school, Bollywood dancing has become a huge passion of mine,” he said. “I am currently the captain of the competitive Bollywood dance team, Tamasha. I definitely want to continue dancing at Boston.”

Another appealing element that struck out to Shah is Boston’s travel abroad opportunities, which offer “70+ programs, 20+ cities, and 15+ countries” in locations like Spain and Australia. The Madrid Science Program suited him as he has studied Spanish since 8th grade.

“After living a somewhat sheltered life in Saratoga, I hope to have the opportunity to understand the world through the lens of other cultures,” he said.

Senior Patricia Huang echoed Shah’s hopes. She said she enjoys testing her limits, and was attracted to the out-of-state location of Cornell University located in New York state.

Huang never had a dream school as a child either. As a result, Huang, who is planning to major in chemical engineering, was window-shopping universities with strong engineering schools when she noticed Cornell was a good fit.

“I know there’s a good connection between SHS and Cornell because a relatively large proportion of Saratoga students have attended there, so I thought it might increase my chances,” she said.

Huang found that first working on her University of California essays helped plan out her other college essays, as other supplemental essays were built off the structure of her UC essays. Her biggest tip is to start working on essays in the summer to save time during the first semester of senior year.

“I would also suggest not comparing yourself to others, especially in a school as academically competitive as Saratoga; focusing on yourself will help you keep a positive mindset throughout the stressful application process,” Huang said.

In sophomore year, she said that she had no idea what possibilities for her majors were. Huang’s college counselor guided her through the process and helped her discover her interest in biology and chemistry. 

Starting her junior year, Huang started taking more chemistry courses such as AP Chemistry — but beyond schoolwork, she said she discovered her true passion conducting research about a sunscreen product under a local chemistry professor.

“It was really interesting to see how sunscreen worked and formulated because I’ve always been passionate about skincare,” Huang said. “I don’t have a career in mind yet, but I can see myself creating and designing products to help the environment, like water treatment systems.”

Huang wrote a research paper after studying the sunscreen product with her professor for over 10 weeks. In the summer of her junior year, she attended the UCLA California NanoSystems Institute, a two-week online program where she and a group of students designed a water filtration system using different chemicals to filter water more efficiently.

Along with her out-of-school extracurriculars, Huang discovered the importance of time management and organization as she pursued rigorous courses.

“I didn’t think I would be able to do well in tougher classes since I had average grades in middle school,” she said. “But I decided to push myself, taking more AP and Honors classes, and did surprisingly well. Managing my time properly made high school easier to handle.”

As a result, Huang said her parents didn’t give her additional pressure because they were aware that she pushed herself “hard enough.” Her parents assured her that they would be happy wherever she went.

“I’m very grateful my parents have constantly supported me throughout high school,” Huang said. “Whenever I wasn’t feeling as confident, they would encourage me to keep trying my best, which they believed was all that mattered.”