Recapping my Stanford experience

30 September 2023 - 9 mins read time
Tags: Stanford

Stanford Main Quad

Curious about Stanford life? 🌲 Whether you’re a future Cardinal, a current student, or just passing by, here are some of my personal highlights from freshman to senior year.

Table of ContentsFreshman (2019-20) Sophomore (2020-21) Junior (2021-22) Senior (2022-23)

Freshman (2019-20)

Fall 2019

  1. BOOTHE PRIZE NOMINEE. My final paper from ESF 15A (College and the Good Life) was nominated for the Boothe Prize. It’s an opinion piece about Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard.

  2. BEST GLOBAL ONCOLOGY HPV SOLUTION. I participated in Stanford’s annual health++ hackathon. My team developed a video game to raise awareness about HPV. We won the prize for Best Global Oncology HPV Solution.

  3. SMUNC 2019. I helped organize Stanford’s annual Model United Nations conference for high schoolers.

  4. LIVING ON THE EDGE. I went camping for the first time through Stanford’s EARTH 15 (Living on the Edge). Check out the vlog here!

  5. 5-SURE. I became an alcohol safety facilitator for Stanford’s 5-SURE On Foot.

Winter 2020

  1. SNOWLESS TRIP. My dorm, FroSoCo, spent a weekend at Camp Navarro in Mendocino County, CA. I brought a camera and learned how to take portraits.

  2. VIENNESE BALL. A couple of weeks afterward, I was hired as a photographer for Stanford’s 43rd annual Viennese Ball.

  3. HABLA. I became the technical director of Stanford Habla, a service organization that provides English coaching to Stanford’s custodial staff.

  4. HNMUN. As part of Stanford’s traveling Model United Nations team, I competed at the Harvard National Model United Nations conference. I represented Libya in the African Union, where we debated the ethical use of GMOs.

  5. INTROSEMS PLUS. After taking EMED 123N (Does Social Media Make Better Physicians?), I was selected as a recipient of an IntroSems Plus grant. This grant enabled me to produce medical education podcasts for the nonprofit Academic Life in Emergency Medicine (ALiEM).

Spring 2020

  1. POETRY INTO FILM. During quarantine, I wrote, acted, and edited a short film based on the poem “Self-Inquiry Before the Job Interview” by Gary Soto. It won 2nd place in Stanford’s Poetry Into Film festival.

  2. ALiEM. I became the official podcast engineer for Academic Life in Emergency Medicine.

  3. NOTE NINJA. I collaborated with Bradley Immmel to create a MIDI-compatible rhythm game for MUSIC 257 (Neuroplasticity and Musical Gaming). Download it here!

Summer 2020

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Love Is Blind Stanford (@loveisblindstanford) • Instagram photos and videos

  1. RESEARCH. I joined the Raymond lab, which studies the neuroplasticity of motor control. Over the summer, I worked on a project characterizing the properties of saccades (quick eye movements) in mice.

  2. LOVE IS BLIND STANFORD. In response to the isolation that many students felt during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, I co-founded and produced Love Is Blind Stanford, an Instagram reality dating show meant to foster connections and provide entertainment.

Sophomore (2020-21)

Fall 2020

  1. LOVE CAMPUS. I joined the producing team for another reality dating show called Love Campus.

  2. DISOCRD JAM #5. I collaborated with Kyle Nguyen to develop a video game called Gone Viral in 48 hours. It won 1st place out of 110 entries.

  3. TELETHON FOR AMERICA. I had the opportunity to join a Zoom call of celebrities for Telethon for America, encouraging people to vote. #everyvotecounts

Winter 2021

  1. TREEHACKS. I collaborated with Kyle Nguyen to create Rentabee, an app that gamifies the home-buying process.

  2. FROSH 101. I became a TA for EDUC 194A, a course that trains future co-leads of Frosh 101.

Spring 2021

  1. MENTOR TRACKER. I created an iOS app to make it easier for users to keep track of their mentors.

  2. CARDINAL COMMITMENT. In recognition of my work with Stanford Habla, I was awarded a Cardinal Commitment in Leadership.

Summer 2021

Bell's Books

  1. BIO-X. I was among 74 out of 150 applicants to be selected as a Stanford Bio-X Undergraduate Research Fellow.

  2. THE DAILY. I became a photographer for the Stanford Daily. My first assignment was a piece on bookstores during the pandemic.

Junior (2021-22)

Fall 2021

  1. OUT FOR UNDERGRAD. I was selected as a keynote speaker for O4U Digital, a national conference for LGBT undergraduates.

  2. THE ARBOR. I joined a band as the keyboardist. We performed at The Arbor, an outdoor bar and entertainment space.

Winter 2022

  1. MCAT. I took the MCAT and scored in the top 100th percentile.

Spring 2022

  1. LAMBDA PHI EPSILON. I rushed a frat!

  2. PHI BETA KAPPA. I was elected to the Phi Beta Kappa academic honors society during my junior year, an honor given to 2% of juniors at Stanford.

  3. VIENNESE BALL. I returned as a photographer for the Stanford Viennese Ball.

  4. GRAD PICS. I began taking commissions for grad pics.

Summer 2022

  1. META. I completed a software engineering internship at Meta.

  2. ROCK MEDICINE. I began volunteering on medical staff at concert venues.

Senior (2022-23)

Fall 2022

  1. SIMONS FOUNDATION. I was selected as one of 30 recipients of an international undergraduate research fellowship from the Simons Foundation.

Winter 2023

Olive oil tasting

  1. MADRID. I studied abroad in Madrid! Check out my reflections here.

  2. PRÁCTICA CLÍNICA. I joined clinical rotations alongside local medical students at HM Hospital Madrid.

  3. BOSP PHOTO CONTEST. My photo “Olive Oil Tasting” won Honorable Mention in the BOSP Photo Contest.

Spring 2023

  1. SYNAPSE. I presented my honors thesis at the Stanford Synapse conference.

  2. SIMONS FOUNDATION. Then I presented my honors thesis at a Simons Foundation symposium in New York.

  3. STERLING. I received the Sterling Award, one of Stanford’s most selective recognitions of academic performance, awarded to the top 25 graduating seniors in the Stanford School of Humanities and Sciences.

  4. PESCADERO. I co-founded a health literacy initiative in Pescadero, CA, where we created bilingual health pamphlets modeled after Mexico’s Cartilla Nacional de Salud.

  5. SENIOR SPRING. Senior year ended with a bang, from a yacht party, to Disneyland, to Universal Studios, to Dinner on the Quad, to Wacky Walk (we dressed up as imPASTA syndrome).

  6. COMMENCEMENT. Stanford’s president acknowledged me by name during his commencement speech for my work leading Stanford Habla.