The following is an interview I conducted with one of my top former students, Juliana. We discuss how she got into Stanford with strengths in humanities. It has been lightly edited for clarity.
Humanities in high school
Dr. Kao: Juliana, you’re easily in the top 1% of students that I’ve ever taught, but I think it was really your strength in humanities that made you so successful when applying to colleges. Can you start by telling us what humanities work you did in high school?
Juliana: I spent most of my time in high school on humanities. I was involved in speech and debate, school newspaper, took Greek and Latin, was involved in the Classics community, and also did a lot of creative writing with Dr. Kao.
Pressured to do something more useful
Dr. Kao: You were obviously very busy. I remember wanting to encourage you to continue writing because a lot of students think that writing is useless. Did you ever feel like you should quit writing to do something more ‘useful’? If so, what made you continue writing?
Juliana: Yes and no. I really loved writing, so I knew I didn’t want to quit, even if it wasn’t going to be the most useful skill. I did feel pressure to pick up other hobbies or projects that would make me a more competitive college applicant, because at the time creating writing was not that popular at my high school.
People asked me why I spent so much time on writing since they thought it wasn’t going to help on college applications. But I kept writing because I loved it, and Dr. Kao was very encouraging, always told me that I should keep writing.
Humanities boost in the college admissions process
Dr. Kao: You always had a gift for writing poetry, which most people tend to think is intimidating and kind of useless. A lot of students are focused on math and science, but after working in education for 16 years, I realized that getting into college on math and science alone is really hard. How do you think humanities helped you in the college admissions process?
Juliana: I got really lucky. I got into my two dream schools and had the difficult decision to choose between them. That success was partly due to luck but also largely due to my work in the humanities.
The kinds of questions that you’re thinking about in the humanities— in writing, speech or debate, or classics—are the kinds of questions asked on college essays. By the time I had to write the essays, I’d already been thinking about those questions for a long time, so it was easy to write a compelling essay.
Because I was also doing something I was passionate about, it probably made it easy for the admissions office to imagine what kind of student I would be. The things I wrote about were specific. They were definitely things that I had spent a lot of time on. It made my application feel substantive and tangible.
Dr. Kao: And you had to choose between Stanford and Princeton. A very difficult choice.
Juliana: I chose Stanford because you, Dr. Kao, went there [laughs].
How to get into Stanford and Harvard
Dr. Kao: How has the humanities helped you beyond high school?
Juliana: I would say at this point the humanities is my entire life. I went to Stanford, studied linguistics and sociology, got my masters in sociology, and now I’m a second-year student at Harvard Law School. I’ve studied humanities this whole time and loved it.
I’ve also continued to write poetry, even though a lot of people told me it wasn’t the most marketable skill. I published my first book of poems a couple of years ago, and then my first full length book of poems is coming out October 2024. I’ve continued to write and loved it. And it hasn’t felt incompatible with having a career and doing well in school.
Working with Dr. Kao
Dr. Kao: For students who are wondering what it’s like to work with me, what would you tell them?
Juliana: I would tell them it was a great experience. You were easily my favorite teacher. A lot of the inspiration I got early on to take writing more seriously came from Dr. Kao. It was a great experience. I would highly recommend it.
Dr. Kao: Thank you, Juliana. You’re really one of the best students that I have ever taught. Your passion and drive will continue to inspire me and my future students.
How to Get into Stanford
Dr. Kao is the Principal Adviser at Motivont, specializing in college admissions counseling and research for seniors G12. She has worked with 1000+ students in her 16-year career in education. In addition, she has evaluated applications for the Stanford Undergraduate Admissions Office. Dr. Kao holds a Stanford BA, Columbia MA, and Harvard PhD. For more info, visit motivont.com.
Next: Read more about the benefits of studying the humanities in Bottom Line: Studying Humanities Won’t Make You Jobless.