Congratulations, Seniors Ethan Tran and Katelyn Lee, for getting accepted and earning full rides to their dream schools through the Questbridge Program.

Questbridge is a program that matches outstanding and driven students from low-income backgrounds with top colleges and universities, providing scholarships through its National College Match program. 

Ethan Tran is excited to continue his education at Stanford University, and Katelyn Lee is proud to say she is going to Claremont McKenna College. 

Ethan Tran shares that he had a short timeline for college applications, and he had to complete a personal essay, supplements, and his letters of recommendation. Then he waited; he had done a total of 43 supplements for 13 universities. He had ranked universities; his first choice was MIT, and his second choice was Stanford University, then Caltech and Princeton. 

He said, “I picked Stanford because there are so many opportunities at Stanford…But the main reason why was because Stanford is really good and all of their subjects. And then I can transfer my dual enrollment credits to Stanford.”

When he attends Stanford University, instead of doing his general education, he will be able to focus more on his major and join clubs he’s interested in. 

He said, “I think the number one reason why I got accepted was because I took 24 dual enrollment courses. That’s why. And I think, like, that’s the most impressive part, because I talked to many people, and nobody took the same amount of coursework.” 

For his application to Stanford University, he wrote eight supplements, and five of those were around 50 words, then 250-word count, and 100 words for two. One of the prompts that he answered was along the lines of “What historical moments inspired you?” He wrote about the Battle of Midway. 

He said, “In the Battle of Midway, there [were] four aircraft carriers and the United States Navy and Air Force. They were able to take down all those aircraft carriers. So I talked about that exact moment that required a lot of precision, luck, and skill, and that would fascinate me.”

In addition to all the coursework, he has some niche hobbies, including working on and flying FPV drones, and his Scholarship Club, cooking, and more.

Katelyn Lee also remembers the college application process as stressful but worth it. She had submitted a total of 15 supplements to apply to Ivys and UCs; her goal was to stay close to home and within California. 

When she received the acceptance letter, she said, “I did it as soon as I woke up. So I was just very tired. When I opened the email, I was, ‘Oh my god, oh my god.’” She had Clermont College on top of her list, so when she got in, it was a dream come true. 

One thing she did when applying to Clarmont College was to make sure her activities aligned with her goal.

She said, “Everything that I have on my like list is just mainly focused on psychology and neurology, very Mental health focused, and all my writing..[ and] Make sure you write the truth and then they’ll see the true you, and they’ll accept you.”