Hey, I’m Arhaan Jain, and I’ll be pursuing a bachelor's degree in Business Economics at the University of California, Los Angeles! 

“In today’s globalised world, it’s very important to understand different international perspectives, instead of coming from one sole perspective.”

I’m originally from Bombay, India; however, I’ve spent most of my life so far in Dubai, UAE. I joined Repton Dubai in 2017 and completed my high school education there. I believe that coming to Dubai allowed me to interact with different communities and different cultures. I’ve made so many international friends here, which I can certainly use to my advantage later in my life. 

A look into my academic background

I did the IBDP curriculum; I was predicted 45/45. In my final IB exams, I achieved a score of 43/45. Here’s the breakdown of my subjects: 

• Economics (Higher Level)
• Geography (Higher Level)
• Math Analysis and Approaches (Higher Level)
• French AB Initio (Standard Level)
• Physics (Standard Level)
• English A: Language and Literature (Standard Level)
• 3 core points for TOK and my extended essay

Additionally, I took the SAT, scoring 1500, with a 770 in Math and 730 in English. However, I ended up committing to UCLA, a test-blind university. For my GCSE’s, I achieved eight grade 9s and one grade 8 across nine subjects. 

My extracurriculars

1. I founded an educational summit called the Skill Craft Summit, where I worked with Harvard University, to partner up with me as a 15-year-old at that time. We collaborated and created a two-day event with 400 people with the Harvard Club of the UAE and the Harvard Club of Bangalore. We were featured on 273 international news platforms. We got the former CEO and Managing Director of Invest India, a government platform, to attend the event; the gentleman who came brought over $200 billion of FDI into Startup India and Invest India. We got people from the news channel ‘CNN’ alongside 40+ professors and industry experts.
2. I founded my own podcast when I was 14 in Repton, called The Repton Unplugged. We had over 50,000 listeners just talking about school life. This allowed me to collaborate with the Muhammad bin Zayed Conservation Fund (MBZ), where we launched a podcast with Repton, a separate podcast called Conservation Calls that's on Spotify, and if you ever fly Emirates, you can find it there as well on the in-flight entertainment. The podcast is about conservation, in which we work directly with the president of the UAE and his foundation.
3. I completed a month-long placement at the Sri Lankan Embassy in the UAE. I was in Abu Dhabi, working directly with the ambassador. In the end, I earned a letter of recommendation from the ambassador. I also did an internship with the ambassador when I went to Sri Lanka to work on a gemstone mine. I was there for nearly 2-3 weeks. I then went to Wonder Cement in India to work on the power plant in Rajasthan. I was at the mine from 8 a.m. to around 8 p.m. every day; it was a great opportunity for me.
4. Alongside five people from my school, we founded our own investing platform. We used technical indicators like RSI and Bollinger Bands to analyze market forces, and we created our own online platform for people to invest.
5. I gave a TEDx talk titled ‘Beyond the Skyline: A New Horizon for Success’, which explores how young entrepreneurs can combine innovation, cross-cultural collaboration, and purposeful leadership to turn ideas into solutions that create meaningful social impact.
6. I'm extremely passionate about music. I'm a Grade 8 vocalist in Trinity Rock and Pop, and I have a senior diploma in Hindustani classical music, so music has always been significant to my life. Therefore, I founded a company called ‘Virtues of Vault’ to help empower young talent from villages because there’s so much talent that we’re unfortunately just not able to see. We created a platform where they can interact with each other and where talent can connect directly to the musicians and producers to help their talent be heard.
7. I was head boy at Repton Dubai, and that was the best experience of my life. Giving speeches, talking, and interacting with so many people was incredible. As head boy, I got the opportunity to go to the Korean Embassy to meet 30 diplomats. Repton as a school is so empowering; we met football players such as Kaká during the Repton sports parade. I got to converse with him one-on-one for nearly 6 hours.
8. I attended two summer programs. I attended a summer program at the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania, which aligns with my interests in Business and Economics. Moreover, I also attended the Yale Young Global Scholars (YYGS) summer program at Yale University.
9. I was the writer and editor of the economics magazine at my school called the ‘Repton Dubai Economics Magazine (RDEM)’.
10. Lastly, I worked in a restaurant as a chef for two weeks.

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The appeal of studying in the United States

The US has always been one of my top choices because in Year 10, I went to the Wharton School of Business for a summer program, which completely changed my perspective about education, bringing attention to how global-minded the U.S. is. Additionally, I come from a business family, so I thoroughly understand the importance of the American market and the way that many Americans think, which I believe largely stems from their roots alongside their exposure in university. In America, I’ve noticed that universities are slightly more holistic than academic. American universities are very rigorous in terms of all the projects that you do outside the classroom, whereas in other countries, such as the UK, universities tend to be more theoretical and based solely on books. I strongly think that experiential learning in the US would enable me to think beyond the classroom and come up with solutions for real-world problems, which is essential in today's day and age. 

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My other university offers

In the UK, I got into 4/5 of the places I applied to. I got admitted to Warwick University, King’s College London, University College London, and Regent's University. I also got admitted to IE University in Spain.

In the United States, I applied to 20 universities and was fortunate to receive offers from several prestigious institutions, including Babson College, Boston University, Vanderbilt University with a merit scholarship, the University of Miami with a 20% scholarship, Northeastern, and the University of Virginia. I got waitlisted at NYU Stern and the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.

Why I chose UCLA

I was drawn to studying at UCLA especially because it's based in Los Angeles. For me, city life is very important because, coming from Dubai, I don't think I would be able to survive somewhere like Cornell or a place similar to that where it's very cold. I also believe that Los Angeles gives me the perfect platform to, first of all, not only develop myself socially but also develop personally because I know it’s a hub for all the major sectors, such as the luxury sector. Furthermore, I think that in terms of finance and fintech, I can interact with so many people who are very involved in the industry but not much older than me, considering I’m only 18 right now. Lastly, of course, UCLA is ranked 15th in the US. The course I applied to is particularly one of the most competitive courses to get into at UCLA, with an acceptance rate of around 7%. I feel immensely grateful to have the opportunity to study here.

College Essays

My college essays focused on leadership, particularly my transformation as a leader. I went from being extremely hands-on and a perfectionist, always expecting the best from myself and others, to understanding that effective leadership also requires compromise, trust, and flexibility.

When I became Head Boy, I initially approached leadership with the belief that everything had to be perfect. I would constantly tell people what needed to be done and how it should be done because I thought that was the only way to meet the standards I had set. However, I eventually realised that you cannot expect everyone to work in the same way, and that being an effective leader means giving people the freedom and opportunity to contribute in their own way.

That became the central arc of my college essay: my journey from being controlling and overly hands-on to becoming a leader who could maintain high standards while still giving people space to grow. I learned when to step back, trust others, and listen to different ideas and perspectives. Most importantly, I realised that something does not have to be done exactly the way I would do it to be successful.

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Application process

I started the application process at the start of July 2025, as that’s when the Common App for my application cycle opened. As I applied to 20 different U.S. colleges, I had to write around 50-60 essays. The whole process was very time-intensive, especially because I had to write a personal statement for UCAS as well. Managing all the essays alongside completing all my internal assignments and my extended essay for the IBDP was not easy, to say the least. However, I tried to stay as organised as I could by assigning fixed dates to complete every task. 

Applying to these universities came with significant application costs. Overall, I paid around $2000 to apply to all the American universities via the Common App. However, this does not include the costs of applying to all the University of California campuses, as you apply to those via a separate portal called the UC portal. I also had to pay an additional £100 for the five UK universities I applied to via UCAS.

Advice to other students

If anyone reading this is currently doing the IBDP program, I would recommend them to be less hard on themselves, because burnout is real. Try to make the most of your time in high school, because your high school days will not return. I personally always maintained academics as a priority. In Year 12, I never used to go out; I would just stay at home and study. However, in Year 13, I decided to change my lifestyle. Of course, I would still study because Year 13 is the final and most important year, but the application process can be very exhausting, so it’s crucial to go out and have fun alongside writing those essays. Initially, I was worried that I would not be able to express the extroverted side of me without compromising my academics, but I was wrong. I managed to make a good set of friends and step out of my comfort zone while getting accepted to a great university.