how two best friends ended up at each other's dream school

Dream schools are a bunch of baloney.*

How do I know? Well, here’s the story of me and my best friend that exemplifies that point to the max.

When I was in ninth grade, I made friends with a girl named Akasha. Akasha was one of the nicest, weirdest, and kindest people that I had ever met. She built and named her computer Rebecca, sewed handmade gifts for friends, was obsessed with Doctor Who, and wanted to work in the obscure field (especially among freshmen) of quantum computing. She could talk about computer science for days and had a gleam in her eye when anyone asked her what quantum computing was. She was the type of person that intimidated competitive underclassmen who would later whisper about her behind her back in the hallways. Once she started talking about her passion for quantum computing, people in the room would do a double take and say "oh ok! she’s SMART smart”. Akasha was also obsessed with MIT. When I went to her house the first time, I noticed that her walls were completely covered in letters, posters, scrolls, and paper plate awards (not one, but two!) that had “Most Likely To Go to MIT” on them. She even knew the major she wanted to go into and the professors she wanted to study under (course 6 and Isaac Chuang).

That summer, I became obsessed with a school too. After going to the Stanford Pre-Collegiate Summer Institutes, the big box in my head with dream school written next to it was checked off. There was no other option. I wanted to eat in the Axe and Palm, have all nighters doing psets, and fountain hop with my friends. Later, I would watch Cath in College religiously. She was a college youtuber at Stanford, basically living my dream college life. I would blab Akasha’s ear off every day with new facts and tidbits about Stanford. Did you know the Stanford Marching Band did this? Did you know they have this weird tradition? Did you know the Science, Technology, and Society major allows you to…..? All I could think about my sophomore and junior year was Stanford, Stanford, Stanford.

During this time, I became really interested in the business + management aspect of tech companies, joining an organization in Atlanta that held events for girls interested in STEM careers. It gave me the opportunity to tour Fortune 500 fintech, telecommunications, and insurance companies, job shadow at the Weather Company, and meet professional women in various STEM careers. I became more interested in how technology was changing the way we lived and worked, as well as its impact on society and ultimately, humanity. I realized that I wanted to do something, I didn’t know what yet specifically, but something in the “business side” of tech (venture capital, consulting, business analyst in a tech company, that kind of thing). I wanted so so bad to major in STS at Stanford, be a part of the Stanford Women in Business, and become a boss business bitch wearing 5 inch black heels, blazers, and working in Silicon Valley.

Our junior year, Akasha and I both applied to summer programs at MIT since we were interested in STEM (and because they have a whole host of amazing summer programs). Akasha applied for MOSTEC and I applied for MIT WTP. We both ended up getting in to our respective programs and spent our summers online and in person at MIT, exploring the campus, meeting new people, and all in all falling in love with MIT. By the time senior year rolled around, I was set on going to MIT and Akasha was too. The Stanford bus was long gone and I had jumped on the MIT one. At MIT, I had fallen in love with the intellectual curiosity all around me, the quirky nature of the campus, course 2 and course 15, the MIT Technology Review, Bad Idea Weekend, the Pirate Certificate… there were too many things I was geeking out about at MIT. Stanford became farther and farther from my mind after my 4 weeks at MIT and I started to wonder if I was even a good fit for it.

After applying early action for MIT November of my senior year, December 15th rolled around quickly. That afternoon at 3pm, still dripping in sweat after coming off my final bout of a fencing tournament, I opened the MIT EA decisions notification with shaky hands. I clicked on the "retrieve decision" button and promptly screamed. I started to sob aggressively, tears streaming down my face. I felt like I was in a dream. My sweat was mixing in with my tears as I wiped my face and simultaneously cried and laughed as I hugged all of the teammates, coaches, and friends around me.

“What happened?” someone yelled up to us on the ground floor of the gym.

“SHE GOT INTO MIT!” my teammates yelled back.

The people on the ground floor collectively cheered me on, yelling one big “Congratulations!” as I started giggling and wiped away my happy tears.

The very first thing I did was call Akasha, even before calling my parents, to tell her the exciting news. She freaked out over the phone, super excited for me, and cheered me on. It was one of the happiest moments of my life.

A few months later, before tau time on pi day, Akasha was nervous the entire week. And on pi day, she was rejected from MIT.

She went home, cried, said “the world is still moving” and gave me all her course 6 swag the next day. She was accepted to UChicago, Case Western, Harvey Mudd, UMichigan, and Georgia Tech, all with lots of financial aid and many many pretty mailed packages that I was very jealous of. So on the day Stanford’s decision came out, Akasha wasn’t expecting much. She had most of her heart set on UChicago, and was intrigued by the possibility of studying both economics and molecular engineering there. She napped through the 7pm notification time and only by the prompting of a friend, opened up the status update later. She screamed, with her mother running into the room, and yelled, “HOLY SHIT I GOT INTO STANFORD!”

Funny enough, I was the first person she called about Stanford and I still remember yelling into the phone with so much excitement so loudly that my little brother, who was next to me, looked a little bit scared. I was pacing the floor of my room, so happy for her I felt that my heart would burst. An hour before, I had opened up my decision and seen that I had been rejected.

Isn't there that saying: “Men plan, God laughs”? After dreaming and hoping and crying and stressing for 4 years, who would've thought that our dream schools would be switched? That Akasha would head to Stanford and I to MIT? I sure couldn’t have. Try telling that to sophomore me who wore my Stanford hoodie religiously after getting it at the summer camp up until I lost it (maybe that was a sign lol). Akasha probably could’ve never imagined as a freshman that she would immediately fall in love with stanford after the acceptance. She is now obsessed with cath in college ironically (who she calls the tree vixen), cried at Stanford’s Admit Weekend because of how beautiful SF was, and is anxiously waiting for August to come so she can go back. Akasha fell in love with Stanford later than I did with MIT, but Akasha still fell in love at the end.

All in all, dream schools can be good. They motivate us, they inspire us, they make us geek out, fangirl, and blab our friends’ ears off, helping to build a common bond of aspiration and drive. But don’t think you’ll always be set on the same school. In the end, priorities shift, interests change, and we gain new experiences that transform us in ways that can be truly inconceivable.

TL;DR: Dream on and dream hard, but always make sure to keep an open mind. The college application and high school experience is what you make it to be. After all, who knows what could happen? Maybe you and your bestie will end up at each other's "dream schools".

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------hehe reference to an awesome cathincollege post that I read at least a dozen times before December 15th, 10/10 recommend for anxious, decisions awaiting seniors (https://cathincollege.com/2016/03/10/awaiting-your-college-acceptance-rejection-letter/)