College Selection Process

I did not choose a university based on my major, as I don't think you can rely on such rankings. There is a difference between a good teacher and a good researcher. No matter how good you are as a researcher, you are not necessarily a good teacher. For me, it was more important to learn from a good teacher.

Eventually, you are going to live on campus for four years, so I think the location is important. I had never been to the US before, so I did a lot of research on climate and safety because I knew nothing about it.

I was more of a mountain person than a beach person, so I was attracted to the mountains and snow on the East Coast. I also wanted to be in a rural area, so I mainly applied to universities in the countryside. Other universities I applied to include Williams, Princeton, and Cornell. I only submitted the Harvard essay because it was almost identical to the Princeton one, so it was actually a random decision.

Harvard University, where I actually ended up going is located in a relatively urban area, and there are no mountains😅. I ended up being so busy that I didn't have much time to explore nature. There was no convenient public transportation to get to the trailhead like in Japan, and I didn't bring any equipment for mountain climbing, so mountaineering was a lot of trouble and I haven't done it even once in the US.

Even though I chose the school based on location, in the end, it was not what I had originally imagined.

My Stats

High School GPA: 3.95/4
TOEFL: 107
SAT: Reading - 700, Math - 800

Extracurriculars & Awards:

Head of the Mountaineering Club, inter-high school athlete
Class leader for a Cultural festival
Organized a campus tour as part of the Student Council activities
Volunteer work for ecosystem conservation
Helped out in a laboratory at Tohoku University
School research presentations
Received a research activity scholarship (The Grew Bancroft Foundation)
Received an award for my presentation at a nature conservation conference
Finalist in the Japanese Math Olympiad
Passed the Physics Olympiad 1st qualifying round. I also wrote that out of 100 people who made it through, there were only 2 girls.

College Decisions

In total, I applied to 11 universities: 4 Liberal Arts universities, 6 Research universities and the last one is the University of Tokyo in Japan. I got into Harvard University, Princeton University, Williams College, and The University of Tokyo.

My Essay

What “Leadership" means to me changed a lot during two summers throughout high school, so I wrote about it.

During the summer of my sophomore year, I was competing in the mountain inter-highs mentioned above, and at the end of that summer, I injured my leg. I was the head of the mountaineering club and was running around doing all the work by myself such as preparing for the club's summer camp. But due to a foot injury, I was unable to participate in the camp.... When it came to delegating work to others, I realized how much I had been trying to do everything on my own without relying on others.

During the summer of my senior year in high school, I was the leader of the stage play, and this time I was able to trust everyone and create the play together with my friends. Normally, only about eight of us would be actual actors with lines, but I really wanted the whole class to be on stage together to create our last high school memory. So we changed the script and created roles for 40 students, which was a really fun experience.

For my Personal Statement, I wrote an essay that shows that I am a person with passion. Specifically, I wrote about my volunteer work helping to survey the ecosystem of mudflats in the disaster-affected area (Tohoku region). I went there to find out how the ecosystem was recovering as not only humans but also other living creatures had been affected by the earthquake. However, unlike what I imagined, I could not find any living creatures at all. I dug around in the ground and climbed up walls, covered in mud. Even though I was covered in mud, I desperately wanted to find some creatures. What I wanted to convey in this story was that I am not a person who tries the bare minimum. Instead of showing off my skills or my abilities, I wanted to show that I always do my best and make do with whatever I can get my hands on.