Charlotte maximized every opportunity to stand out. At Johns Hopkins, she anchored her single supplemental essay in personal motivation for medical research. At Duke, she went further, tackling every optional essay prompt.

The prompt asked for an experience that proved her intellect. She wrote about the Yale Science Olympiad, where she and a friend impulsively joined the “Codebusters” event without preparation and placed fourth. She ended the essay with a tongue-in-cheek Ghostbusters reference: “On that day, bustin’ made me feel good.”

When decision time came, Charlotte faced a rare choice: Duke vs. Johns Hopkins. She had an edge — her school’s valedictorian was at Duke, and the salutatorian was at Hopkins. Hopkins had top-tier research but, she learned, “no social life” and heavy workloads. Duke offered a more balanced experience — strong research and a vibrant campus community.

A revisit to the Hopkins campus, which she had disliked on an earlier trip, reminded her how much a visit can shift perspective. “I think visiting can really change your opinion,” she says.

• Conducted independent research on polylactic acid (PLA) for 3D printing with potential medical applications. • Participated in Roaring Cubs Collective at Columbia University, co-authoring research writing with university mentors. • Cold-emailed researchers nationwide, securing lab opportunities at SUNY Albany and SUNY New Paltz. • Competed in Science Olympiad, including an impromptu “Codebusters” event at Yale, placing fourth. • Applied to multiple STEM majors, tying each to her medical research interests. • Playgroup Teacher at Mid-Hudson Chinese Language Center — led early childhood education in language and culture. • English Teaching Volunteer with the Overseas Community Affairs Council in Taiwan — supported bilingual learning abroad. • Editor & Social Media Manager for The Environmental Defense Initiative — managed content strategy and environmental advocacy messaging. • Admission to both Duke and Johns Hopkins for Biomedical Engineering. • Notable placements at competitive Science Olympiad events.

Researchers are the thinkers and builders who go beyond class assignments to pursue deep, original inquiry. They formulate questions, chase down answers, and create new knowledge. For research-focused colleges, these students are pre-professionals who already know how to explore and contribute to complex ideas. Charlotte is a Researcher in the truest sense — not because a teacher assigned her a project, but because she set out to solve problems that fascinated her. Her curiosity about polylactic acid (PLA) in 3D printing led her into biomedical applications, where she studied its potential for surgical tools and other life-improving devices. She didn’t stop at the high school lab bench — she emailed authors of scientific papers, built relationships with professors, and earned placements at SUNY Albany and SUNY New Paltz to deepen her work. Even when she had to learn new technical skills from scratch, she approached it as an opportunity, not a hurdle. For Charlotte, research is both a craft and a calling — a way to ask better questions and build tangible solutions. Healers are drawn to improving lives through care, medicine, teaching, or community support. They’re motivated by impact, not just achievement, and measure success by the positive difference they make in others’ lives. Colleges value Healers for their empathy, service orientation, and commitment to work that matters. Charlotte’s research is inseparable from her desire to help others. She chose PLA specifically because of its potential in medical devices, focusing on projects that could lead to safer, more effective tools for surgeons and patients. Her “Why Hopkins” essay centered on continuing medical research that bridges the gap between lab work and real-world healing. Even her choice of major — Biomedical Engineering — reflects a commitment to using science as a form of care. For Charlotte, the lab is not an ivory tower; it’s a launchpad for solutions that can change lives. Together, Charlotte’s Researcher mindset ensures she can generate new ideas, and her Healer motivation ensures those ideas serve a human purpose. It’s the combination of rigorous inquiry and compassionate intent that made her such a compelling admit to Duke.

Q: If you could go back, what advice would you give your past self about applications?

• Balance Matters — Weighed academics and social life when choosing a college, seeking a place to thrive in both. • Global & Local Impact — Taught abroad, led language programs, and contributed to environmental advocacy at home. • Authenticity Wins — Wove humor and personality into essays, taking calculated risks that made her memorable.

Q: When you were applying to Duke, was it always your top choice, or did you take a broader approach? Yeah, honestly, I had a good amount of schools. I originally didn’t want to go too far from home, because I live in New York, so this is definitely farther than I thought I’d go. And at the time I was applying, I didn’t even know what major I wanted to do. So I just applied to a whole bunch of different schools with a whole bunch of different majors and figured I’d narrow it down later. Q: What majors did you end up applying to? I applied as a biomedical engineering major for a few schools — that’s what I got into for Duke and Johns Hopkins. I also applied as a straight biology major for some schools, and then chemical engineering and materials science and engineering since I’d done research in that area before. So mostly STEM fields, but a bit of variety within that. Q: Were those STEM interests something you’d always had, or did they develop over time in high school? At the start of high school, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to go into STEM or a humanities-based field. At one point, I even thought maybe I’d want to be a lawyer. But then I had this class in my school called “science research.” It wasn’t a traditional class where you did experiments; it was more like a free period to read research articles and reach out to people. I really liked the process of reading and learning on my own, and then connecting with actual researchers. Eventually I found that medical research was something I was really interested in. That’s why chemical engineering, biomedical engineering, and materials science made sense — they all connect to medical research in some way. Q: Was there any specific research you did that really stuck with you? All my research was centered around polylactic acid, which is a material they use in 3D printing. I did a lot of work on improving its properties, and some of that could go toward making medical devices, since PLA is used in things like surgical tools. I definitely want to continue with that kind of work in college. One fun side note — through one of my connections, I met a guy from Yale who ended up giving me a tour of the campus when I was there for a Science Olympiad competition. Q: Beyond research, did you connect with other students during your college process? Yeah, especially when I was deciding between Hopkins and Duke. The valedictorian from my school had gone to Duke, and the salutatorian went to Hopkins. It was really helpful to talk to both of them while I was making my decision and hear their perspectives on each school. Q: What did those conversations reveal to you? It wasn’t just about research — it was also about the social life. Hopkins probably has the best research opportunities, but from what I heard, there’s basically no social life. The girl who went to Duke was so happy there, and she still had research, but also time to enjoy it. The guy at Hopkins said his schedule was overloaded and he didn’t have any free time. That made a big difference for me when deciding. Q: Based on that, what advice would you give to someone trying to choose between two schools? Visit if you can. I never really visited Duke — the only time I had been there was once in middle school when we were driving through, and everything was shut down because of COVID. But my opinion of Hopkins completely changed after I revisited it post-application. The campus and the area felt so different the second time. So visiting can really change your perspective. And talk to students who actually go there — hearing their real-life experiences is way more valuable than just reading the website or brochure. Q: If you could go back, what advice would you give your past self about applications? I wish I’d spaced out my essay writing more. Over winter break, I crammed so many of them into just a couple of weeks because I procrastinated, and it was super stressful. If I could do it over, I’d start thinking about prompts way earlier — even in the summer — just to get an idea of what I might want to write about. That way, when it came time to actually write, I’d already have stories or angles in mind instead of scrambling. Some of the prompts were harder to think through, and when you’re under pressure, writer’s block hits so much harder. If you give yourself months to let ideas sit in the back of your mind, you can jot them down whenever they come to you — even just in your phone’s notes app. That makes it so much easier later.

A lot of it was through independent research. I did this free online program called the Roaring Cubs Collective through Columbia, where they paired you with Columbia students and you learned how to write a research article. That was a really cool experience. But honestly, a lot of my opportunities came from me just reading articles, finding something interesting, and emailing the author to say, “Hey, I read your article and had some questions.” Through doing that, I was able to meet with some people over Zoom or even in person. Those conversations eventually led to me working with professors at SUNY Albany and SUNY New Paltz — just from cold emailing them.

Hopkins only had one supplemental essay, which was basically “Why Hopkins?” I wrote about a personal reason for wanting to go there and do medical research. I also read the essay of a student from my school who had gotten in the year before, and his was also personal. I think having that specific, personal reason is really important. Duke was different — they had a ton of optional essays, and I wrote the maximum number allowed. I think that’s a good idea to show genuine interest. One of them was kind of ridiculous, but I decided to take a risk with it. Q: What was that “ridiculous” essay about? The prompt asked for an experience that proved my intellect. I wrote about this Science Olympiad competition at Yale where my friend and I randomly decided to join an event called Codebusters. It’s basically a code-breaking event that uses different kinds of codes from history. We had never prepared for it — we only looked at it for maybe two days before — and somehow we ended up getting fourth place. At the end of the essay, I added a Ghostbusters reference: “On that day, bustin’ made me feel good.” It was my last essay, and I thought maybe it would make them laugh. Everyone I told was like, “Oh my god, there’s no way you actually put that in.” But I did. Hopefully they got the joke.