HOW I GOT INTO STANFORD - My Common App Essay (Accepted at Stanford, Johns Hopkins, etc)

Check out https://bit.ly/3aW1yVF  to talk to expert college advisors from Harvard, Yale, Stanford and other top tier schools! HOW I GOT INTO STANFORD Episode 1: Reading My Common App Essay - Accepted at Stanford University, Johns Hopkins University (BME), University of Michigan (Engineering) Hello everyone! This is the first episode in a series I will be starting on my channel where I share my personal application story. It will include all of my written essays, stats, high school classes and activities, and advice just for you! THIS IS JUST AN OPINION. I am not an admissions officer and do not know exactly how I REALLY got into Stanford. These are just my opinions on why I THINK I was admitted. COMMON APP ESSAY I am a mutt. As an Asian-Hispanic-American, I grew up clashing in all three directions. I am a third of each identity and therefore, not entirely of any. As a youth, I felt excluded from complete membership in any one group because I comprised aspects of the other two that did not fit in. Existing as a mixture of identities complicated how people viewed me, the way I was treated, and how I viewed myself. When I was younger, my dad spoke in Spanish to me so I could grow up bilingual. However, when I started school, I became embarrassed about using it, even in my home. I started ignoring my dad when he addressed me in Spanish and lost the language as I grew older. Throughout grade school, I brought odd Asian snacks to school and was teased but then at the same time was picked on by my Asian relatives for holding chopsticks like a “white person.” In the 5th grade, I was placed in the class with a greater number of Hispanic students, while the other class was entirely Caucasian. My class was much slower paced, and I was frustrated being there. At my high school, Hispanic students tended to be stereotyped as lower performing students. Multiple teachers, including math and science, before knowing me, talked down to me until the end of the first grading period when it was evident I was a good student. While these experiences were challenging, they broadened my self-awareness and self-acceptance of who I was. I now recognize my diversity as an asset. I realize that my experiences allow me to connect, build relationships with and value people from different backgrounds. Rather than just tolerating negative stereotypes that I grew up with, I am now confident and ready to challenge them. In particular, I realize that Hispanic females are underrepresented in the engineering field, and part of this is due to the negative societal views of Hispanics and women. Interestingly, my dad came from a time when the barriers for Hispanic engineers were even greater. Born in Puerto Rico, he struggled through poverty with little education or support. In addition, because he was the first person in his family to obtain a college degree, he did not even have role models to inspire him or to follow. He eventually graduated from college and became a very successful electrical engineer with two master’s degrees. He still often faces biases and has to continually prove his credibility in the workplace despite his education, expertise, and work experience. While his success story inspires me, it is not my own. I was fortunate to have access to a strong educational background with constant support from my family, so my challenges are not identical to my dad’s. However, there continues to be unjustified stereotyping of Hispanics and women in the professional environment. My dad’s generation represents the first movement of Hispanics breaking the initial barriers in the STEM field. I consider myself a part of a secondary movement whose goal is to shape a STEM community that completely embraces Hispanics, in particular Hispanic women, and whose goal is to motivate those like myself, who would otherwise be discouraged to take this path. I am very interested in engineering, as I have a love for the math and sciences. My hope is to be a successful Hispanic female engineer that not only gains fulfillment in a field that I enjoy but also has a larger impact on society. I want to normalize the acceptance of Hispanics, women, and Hispanic women in STEM, simultaneously increasing the confidence of these individuals in their ability to pursue their goals. Although growing up was sometimes complicated and confusing because of my diversity, today I am grateful for my uniqueness and the broader perspective and sense of empowerment it has given me to influence and change society. Music: Not Too Cray - Huma-Huma Itro & Tobu - Cloud 9 All credit is given to the artists for the music I used. I do not own any of the music used in the production of this video.