Senior Clara Landeros and nine of the twenty schools she was accepted in. Collage courtesy of senior Olivia Cuisck. 

  As national college decision day approaches, seniors at San Luis Obispo High School have a tough decision to choose what college to commit to. For senior Clara Landeros, the choice falls between several prestigious universities, including three ivy league colleges. 

  Expressions interviewed Landeros to celebrate her hard work over the past four years. 

Expressions: Of all the schools you were accepted to, what are your top five?

Senior Clara Landeros: Princeton, Harvard, Yale, University of California Los Angles, and Georgetown.

Expressions: What are you studying, and what is your planned future career path?

Landeros: I plan to study the classics with either a double major or a minor in Chicano studies; however, I am not sure how committed I am to this plan since I have interests in Spanish, other ethnic studies, philosophy, and potentially theology as well. I want to go on to grad school and get my Ph.D. to eventually go into academia and become a professor. However, I’m not bound to that plan because I’d love to work for nonprofits, maybe do some writing or humanitarian work.

Expressions: What do you think you did that stood out to all these prestigious universities?

Landeros: I honestly am not sure what exactly made me stand out but I’m pretty sure my writing was key. My common app definitely pulled through when it came to this, and while I took an exorbitant amount of time to write it, I had the amazing support of various teachers, namely English Teachers Ivan Simon and Sholeh Prochello. I also think that being genuine in who I was and what I stood for made me stand out. For example, earlier this year someone actually said some quite racist things to me, saying that I’d only get into college because of affirmative action, and so I wrote about that experience and it worked. I’m not petty but it does feel good to get in after those comments. Also being multilingual and multicultural helped when approaching these pretty prestigious institutions.

Expressions: Over the past four years, what sort of volunteer work have you done?

Landeros: Being part of my community and really helping others has been at the core of what I’ve wanted to do. I’ve done a lot with students in our own district who are English learners and behind in those classes, just because I know that’s where I’ve come from and that’s where I need to help. Being part of Big Brothers and Big Sisters and volunteering and campaigning for local politicians for the SLO Democrats has been good. My tip is, if you love it and you’re passionate about it, you’re more likely to make an impact.

Expressions: What schools were you denied and waitlisted at?

Landeros: I got waitlisted at Columbia, Dartmouth, and Barnard and the only school I got rejected from was Stanford. 

Expressions: What advice would you give to students applying to these prestigious universities?
Landeros: My advice is just to focus on yourself. I know for me personally, I was really worried I wasn’t up to par because some of my classmates had private college counselors and I didn’t, but my family and close friends really kept encouraging me to just keep trying and believing in myself. I’d also say to relax a little bit more because there are certain things out of your control (although I’m not going to lie, the constant stress of these last four years definitely got me to where I am now). In the end, focus on being a good person, don’t cheat in school, and just do something you actually want to do. Throw that Hail Mary pass and see what happens, you never know!

Expressions: Do you have any final thoughts to reflect on this crazy time in your life?

Landeros: I’d like to say thank you to my family, friends, and all the teachers for the support I’ve received and for the kindness, congratulations, and well wishes for my journey going forward. I know this application cycle was really crazy for a lot of people and I know that while my story is an anomaly it doesn’t make me any better than anyone else.

  As college decisions come out, Expressions would like to remind seniors that college acceptances don’t define a person. Exceptional cases, like Landeros, are outstanding and deserve recognition, but all students who have worked hard these past few years deserve to be just as proud.