Research, Community, and Bone Marrow Made Soren’s Caltech Application Stand Out

Soren Ghorai

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4 min

Caltech

acceptances

The story

When you picture a Caltech admit, you might imagine a born genius in a lab coat. Soren Ghorai’s story shows something different and more relatable. He created his own opportunities by applying his niche knowledge to a real-world cause he was personally invested in. From cold-emailing his way into research labs to organizing nationwide bone marrow drives in South Asian communities, Soren’s journey is a masterclass in self-started impact. This case study should inspire readers to use academics to uplift communities and enact real progress. It shows how to turn small actions into lasting change, and how persistence, purpose, and a few bold emails can open the biggest doors.

Real World Impact

When Soren started high school, his sights were set on a Division I tennis career. By junior year, he made a tough call:

"I ended up stopping tennis for a year to focus on applications. I was in Florida, doing research full time, so I didn't play tennis."

This was a key theme for Soren: making sacrifices for the pursuit of something bigger. At first, he was balancing school and sports, picking up time management skills and pushing through long days. But things changed the summer after his freshman year when his aunt donated bone marrow to a baby with cancer.

"I did some research and found out South Asians are underrepresented in the bone marrow industry. Since there's less South Asians in the registry, it's harder for South Asian blood cancer patients to find matches."

He took action. Cold-emailed organizations. Contacted registry reps. Then he showed up—at Indian temples, community centers, anywhere people would listen—to register new donors.

"I started by emailing a bunch of Indian temples. I’d just show up with a little table where people could sign up to be bone marrow donors on the spot. Then I cold emailed the National Bone Registry of the United States. I talked to a rep, and they actually sent me supplies—swab kits, flyers, tables, everything we needed. I would go to these South Asian community gatherings and explain that our ethnicity is underrepresented in the donor registry, ‘So would you want to sign up?’. Eventually, it snowballed. I was able to start chapters in different states. I’d send them supplies, and they’d organize their own events and donor drives. We also got a lot of press coverage and raised significant funds to keep the initiative going."

Soren eventually launched SAMI (South Asians for Marrow Initiative) and helped register over 1,000 new donors, with chapters across multiple states.

Scientist Meets Self-Starter

Q: How did you get involved in research during high school? How did you seek them out, and what would you say were the most valuable connections you made when entering that world?

A: I also did more formal research, like a summer program at the University of Florida. There are a lot of prestigious research programs you can apply to for the summer between junior and senior year, and I was lucky to get into one of them. That gave me formal lab experience, which I think really helped my application, especially since Caltech is such a research-focused school.

That grit opened the door to research. He and some classmates came up with a bioengineering idea: what if sharkskin patterns could help wind turbines become more efficient? That project led to more traditional lab work, including in a blood cancer research lab, all obtained through cold outreach.

"I was definitely nervous at first. My parents were always like, ‘Why don’t you go talk to that person?’ And I’d be like, ‘No, I don’t want to.’ There’s really no way around it—you just have to talk to strangers and eventually you get better at it. Sending emails is actually not too bad. It feels kind of anonymous behind a screen. But you have to send a lot. For lab positions, I think I sent around 50 cold emails. Some of my friends in Boston said they sent over a hundred."

But for Soren, research was about chasing ideas that mattered. He took risks, reached out fearlessly, and stayed open to rejection. Every “no” brought him closer to a “yes” that could lead to real impact.

"If you want it badly enough, the motivation will carry you."

🧬 Archetype: The Braini-ock & The Researcher

The Braini-ock archetype describes a rare blend of academic and athletic excellence. Someone who’s just as driven in the classroom as they are on the court, field, or track. Researchers archetypes are defined by their hunger for original inquiry: the students who go beyond classroom learning to ask big questions, chase down answers, and contribute to real-world knowledge. Soren is the embodiment of both. He started high school as a serious tennis player, training with the goal of playing Division I. That kind of commitment demanded long hours, travel, and sharp time management—all while maintaining an elite academic record. But when his intellectual interests began to deepen, Soren made a tough, telling decision: he paused tennis to pursue research at full speed. He cold-emailed his way into labs, co-led a science fair project with friends, and earned a spot in a competitive summer research program at the University of Florida. By senior year, he had published research on CAR-T cell therapy and interned at Fred Hutch Cancer Center. For Soren, research became a natural extension of his competitive spirit. Only now, the arena was scientific discovery.

Closing Advice

Q: Looking back on your high school experience—everything you started, scaled, and accomplished—what’s the one key piece of advice you’d give your younger self if you had the chance to do it all over again?

A: It’s easy to look around and see people with these amazing college applications and think they’re just naturally better than you. I definitely felt that way at the beginning—like, how are they doing all of this at our age? But what I’ve realized is they’re not any different. They’ve just put in the time. If you’re willing to put in the hours, you can absolutely get into a top school. You don’t have to be a genius—you just need consistency and commitment. Starting early helps, even as early as middle school if you want to plan things out. But whenever you start, setting aside a couple of hours a day—for schoolwork, a sport, or something you care about—adds up over time. That momentum really builds.

Key Themes

Initiative Through Outreach —Soren took charge of his own opportunities—often by just hitting “Send.” Sacrifice For Excellence —He made conscious trade-offs, stepping back from some commitments to leap forward in others Demystifying Achievement —It’s easy to look around and think everyone else is better than you. But they’re no different. If you put in the time, you can get there too.

Be bold, be Scholarly... like Soren