The class of 2025 contains some of Skyline’s most accomplished students by far. This year, Skyline Seniors have seen acceptances from Columbia, Stanford, Harvard, Berkeley, UCLA, and more. The students who were admitted to these top universities hope to see other Skyline students succeed in the future and decided to share their thoughts and tips about the college admissions process.
Monika Cinibis is president of the Utah DECA Association, where she leads over 3,000 members. She was recently admitted to Stanford University and is excited to attend in the fall. Cinibis has created initiatives to reduce food waste in local elementary schools and is a passionate environmental activist. She’s protected the environment by joining a youth coalition that advocates for the protection of the Great Salt Lake, among other things. In the future, Cinibis hopes to pursue either a career in engineering or medicine. Currently, her top choice for her major is bioengineering.
When asked about her tips for students applying to prestigious colleges, she said, “I think my biggest tip would be to learn a little bit about the college process before. Like, I went in and found out you could only list ten activities and five honors. So I was like, oh, I didn’t really need to sweat about winning every single competition. It’s better to focus on one thing and get a better award than having like a million, because in the end, you’re only going to list five anyways.”
For Cinibis, the most stressful part of the college admissions process was the essay-writing process. “Write your essays over the summer. I did not do that, and I heavily regret it; it was just really stressful. So, definitely write the essays beforehand,” she said. She also suggested students bring their essays to their siblings and cousins who have gone through the college application process, if possible, to be reviewed for feedback. When it comes to the admissions process overall, Cinibis says applicants have to meet certain baselines when applying to top colleges: “Like, you have to have good test scores, academic rigor, and then ideally be active socially and service wise.”
Kaitlyn Cao has held two medical research internships and was admitted to Harvard, UCLA, and Columbia. When asked about what she’s most passionate about, Cao said that she adores both dance and science. In the future, she hopes to combine her two passions into a medical career that will help injured dancers with their physical and mental health. She’s further pursued this career by shadowing a dance physical therapist; plus she does ballet for around 27 hours a week, if not more.
Cao feels that biggest accomplishment is her research and dance. Her research includes her medical internships, where she’s learned about medical imaging and molecular biology. For other students who want to land these opportunities, Cao suggests that they could email as many professors as possible and take advantage of university programs. She explained, “For the first internship, I just emailed professors at universities, and I just looked for a shadowing opportunity at first. For my second internship, I utilized a great program from the University of Utah called the Summer Engineering Program.”
When asked about what tips she had for ambitious students aspiring to get into top colleges, Cao explained how important it is to be authentic in the college admissions process. “I feel like really just staying true to what you already have and what you really enjoy throughout the process is important. I’ve heard a lot from especially the Asian community, like, oh, dance or art in general is not gonna help you get into college. But I used my art as kind of a foundation for my application and for my future aspirations. Just really stay true to what you love.”
