Aspiring to Harvard

Sitting with her jaw firmly set and her eyes sparkling, Cynthia Perez responded firmly, “Harvard definitely inspired me… I think it’s definitely possible to go there. I just need to work hard”. The question having been, “What did you think of the colleges you visited over spring break?”

Junior scholars recently returned to classes after spending spring break visiting Harvard, Brown, Tufts, Amherst, Smith, Wheaton, Case Western, John Carroll, Wooster, Denison and Wittenberg. The days were filled with tours, information sessions, and tasting college food. With minds crammed full of information, students returned with new perspectives and images of the colleges that now seemed within their grasp.

Junior Schuler Scholar, Perez, who has had a perfect GPA every semester of her high school career, has high ideals for what these four years will enable her to accomplish in the future. But her ideals are not without careful, measured steps of reality that will be imperative to her realizing her dream.

When asked what it was about Harvard that struck her most significantly, Perez remembered the information session.

“The administrator was a student himself. He was able to talk about Harvard from his point of view…he’s not rich; he’s on the same socio-economic level as me.   That really made this real for me… I realized that not only the wealthy kids can go to colleges like that.”

As such a great dream came into the realm of possibility; Perez realized that because this is something that she can do, she is going to put all of her energy into making it happen. However, she is not simply dreaming big. When asked about what she thought of the reality of what percentage of applications are admitted (7%) versus the number of applications total, she said she loved “the fact that it’s very selective. If I got in, I would feel so accomplished that they chose me out of thousands of people.”

Perez understands the reality of the numbers the message they convey about the university. For all scholars, the spring break school visits not only made all the more real the prospect of attending some of the most selective schools in the country, but affirmed just how much work needs to be done to gain acceptance into these institutions .  The hard work doesn’t scare Perez.  “I believe that I am definitely a candidate. I am just going to push myself as hard as I can. I know I can do it…for me, my family and my community.”