Students accepted into Ivy League schools

Senior Cheyenne Gaima received 14 acceptances, including 3 Ivy League institutions (Harvard University, University of Pennsylvania, and Dartmouth) and a total of 7 full rides.

photo by Gaima, Cheyenne (Student)

Senior Cheyenne Gaima received 14 acceptances, including 3 Ivy League institutions (Harvard University, University of Pennsylvania, and Dartmouth) and a total of 7 full rides.

Many seniors have applied to Ivy League Universities this year, and although these schools are extremely competitive to get into, some Springbrook seniors have been accepted by these prestigious institutions.

The Ivy League schools consist of Harvard University (Massachusetts), Yale University (Connecticut), Princeton University (New Jersey), Columbia University (New York), Brown University (Rhode Island), Dartmouth College (New Hampshire), University of Pennsylvania (Pennsylvania), and Cornell University (New York).

The Ivy League schools began as eight highly competitive athletic colleges within NCAA Division I and as their athletic teams began to generate more endowments, funding, and popularity, the standards for student performance and admission became increasingly more demanding and rigorous. Resulting in these schools gaining a widespread reputation for producing students of high academic excellence, social prestige, and promising career futures since 1960’s. Even today, these universities maintain their reputation, and they have a large presence among the top-ranked universities in the U.S.

Senior Cheyenne Gaima received 14 acceptances, including 3 Ivy League institutions (Harvard University, University of Pennsylvania, and Dartmouth) and a total of 7 full rides. She has committed to University of Southern California.

“Initially, I never really had a ‘top choice’ college. So every time I got an acceptance letter, it was extremely exciting. Getting into college is a huge accomplishment regardless of which one it is.” Gaima said.

Being a top student, we wondered if she expected her acceptances.

“As for what I was expecting, for some schools, yes, some, absolutely not! I actually delayed opening some of the letters until about a week after because I just wasn’t expecting any type of good response. And then I checked, and it was just the most surreal feeling ever!” said Gaima.

Humbly waiting for the decision letter, Senior Mardokay Mosazghi said, “My uncle attended Cornell so I was humbly waiting for my letter, whether it was an acceptance or rejection. I was excited when I found out I was accepted.”

Mosazghi described his accomplishments throughout high school.

“I showed my interest in mathematics and computer science through the classes I took here at Springbrook. I worked hard on my essay which reflected my passion and my extra curricular activities,” Mosazghi said.

Throughout the school year, Mosazghi suggested to “show you passion in your essays and don’t be discouraged by your grades or lack of extracurricular activities. Make sure that others review your essays and try to score well on your SAT/ACTs.”

Even though he got accepted into an Ivy League school, Mosazghi will be attending University of Maryland, College Park instead.

Lastly, Eden Efrem described her opinion on her ivy league acceptance saying, “Taking AP classes and earning good grades and test scores definitely helped me to get in. I’m involved in activities in the school and community that I’m interested in. Having good relationships with my teachers and counselor is important because they wrote recommendation letters describing my academic and personal qualities.”

Efrem made sure to highlight that she would “encourage anyone applying to colleges to work hard, challenge themselves by taking AP/IB classes, earn good grades, become involved in their community, and let their personality come through in their application.” Eden was accepted and will be attending Princeton University in the fall of 2017.

Although these are just three seniors, there are many others who have either been accepted, or will be attending an ivy league institution for college. There were many similarities in the actions the three students did in order to be accepted in such prestigious schools.