Hello, Bronx Science!

We, the Managing Editors, Copy Chiefs, and Editors-in-Chief of The Science Survey, are here to answer your questions about student life at Bronx Science, college applications, finding inspiration, and even how to enjoy physics. Summer is a time full of change and growth for everyone, and we are so excited to offer our knowledge in hopes of making your summer even better! We hope that our advice helps you! 

Best,

Lara Adamjee ’25, Aaqib Gondal ’24, Liza Greenberg ’25, Katherine Han ’24, Kate Hankin ’24, Allegra Lief ’25,  Jacey Mok ’24, Krisha Soni ’25, Rajin Tahsan ’24, and Chase Teichholz ’24

Chase Teichholz: How can I find inspiration for writing college essays?

I think the soundest inspiration sounds simple, but is much harder to execute: write about your interests.

Too many people I speak to are obsessed with coming across as incredible, and they lose sight of what I believe these schools want to hear – passion, genuine passion. Now, granted, I am not inside those admissions offices and if these last few years have taught us anything, it is that colleges might not truly know what they want either. However, when I was thinking about essay advice, I tried to keep a couple central thoughts in mind. 

For the Common Application essay, there is a fine line between trauma and growth. 

I know that sounds harsh, but I really do think this makes a difference. When the Common App essay prompts you to write about significant moments or hardships, the theme everyone goes to is growth. It is only natural. I do not think anyone will advise you to avoid writing those stories. However, be careful. Not every sad story crescendos into tremendous growth. This is not meant to be a reality check. Thousands of people write compelling essays about events that had a formative impact on them, and unsurprisingly, many of these events are sad, tragic, or traumatic. 

In my experience, that means narrowing your selection of essay topics for the Common App to stories that tell a reader WHO you ARE, not what happened TO you. Every admissions officer I have encountered has said the same thing about these essays: they are meant to tell them who you are. That could mean a relationship with a mentor, a family figure, or even an object. That could also be a distinct passion that you feel prepared to discuss. I love Conan O’Brien, for instance (see my other article from this issue HERE), yet an essay about him is not an essay about me. 

Secondly — and on this topic I am even more passionate — for the supplemental essays, keep these few things in mind: 

1. Passion is passion. It cannot be faked. 

What you do extracurricularly is important, but there are activities that I participated in that never became a topic of a supplement. What does that mean? I did not care that much about that activity. Most of my supplemental essays regarding extracurricular activities surrounded the two I was most passionate about. For me, that was research and baseball. But I did other things; I just was not passionate enough about them to write a meaningful essay. 

2. Be bold and ambitious. But be YOU.

People want to stand out, and thus, they reach for controversial topics or gaudy styles. Or they do the opposite, and write what they believe the reader wants to hear. My advice is to do neither. 

If you are a natural writer, and you genuinely write superfluously or use complex language, alliteration and allusion, do that. I had several fifty-word supplements that I wrote in poetic styles. I enjoyed doing that, and it was the idea that came to me. However, the worst thing you can be in these essays, other than trite, pompous, or obnoxious, is fake. Most people hate poetry. I get it. I wrote a Science Survey article about poems. I like them. I wrote that way precisely to show who I was. But do not force complexity or uniqueness for uniqueness sake.

The same goes for topics. Generally, it is sound to stay conservative and avoid seriously controversial issues or overplayed social commentary. However, professing your beliefs without any weight behind them makes for, in my opinion, annoying and preachy writing. If you are motivated and active in the campaign against police brutality and you want to discuss what you have DONE, and why it matters to you – go ahead. But there is a line to tow between examining a part of you (meaning what you do and why you care) and just delivering an Op-Ed. 

Colleges do not want to read an Op-Ed as a personal statement, though. They want to know you: your quirks, your personality, and your motivations. Those should shine through, but writing an impassioned essay about the need for justice, and the wrongs of society, however valid your ideas may be, makes you one of the millions covering that issue. 

That is what makes the creative prompts at some schools so cool. They are intellectual playgrounds. With those, I say stick to your guns. Find a question you think is cool (you will know it when you spend an hour thinking about how to tackle it), and write something.

All in all, colleges are looking for windows inside your personality, your essence. They want to know who they are getting on-campus. So the best inspiration for topics comes from two different places: moments of growth and genuine passion.

Follow your heart and remember, these are your essays. Take critiques if you want and incorporate edits, but the work is yours (not your parents’ or your friends’) Happy trails!

Krisha Soni: How do I develop my writing skills?

Writing is definitely an underrated skill and the prospect of improving may feel daunting. That said, the good thing is that it’s not difficult to polish your writing. Here are a few tips:

1. Read, read, read.

There are so many great books out there, each with their own unique features. They can be entertaining, and have been edited enough to be good grammar references. Understanding how to write a captivating story is important, and books are an excellent way to learn. 

Pay attention to what you read, too! Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Of course, don’t copy, but understand what works for the author. What did they do that made their piece particularly interesting? If you’re looking to improve in a certain type of writing (such as essays) it’s especially helpful to read preexisting examples (for instance, a book of published essays that Harvard graduates wrote). Regardless, reading is never detrimental, and is perhaps the quickest way to improve.

2. Review grammar basics.

Though it sounds self-explanatory, a small review of grammar basics can go a long way. Once you have your foundations laid down, you can more easily build on your skills. Many weaker pieces of writing struggle with grammar and sentence structure. Reviewing the basics, as well as punctuation such as colons, semicolons, and em-dashes, can elevate your writing to the next level.

Moreover, look out for passive voice, repetition (prefer variety! Find synonyms!), and unnecessary words. These are some of the most common mistakes writers make, and becoming more aware of their presence will help you avoid them. 

You can turn online or to textbooks to improve. Many teachers consider Essential Grammar in Use by Raymond Murphy to be one of the best grammar textbooks out there. Some helpful articles I found are this one, this one, and this one, though there are more than I can count out there. 

3. Get it proofread!

Having a fresh set of eyes on your piece is always helpful. Once you have written something, it may be difficult to catch mistakes yourself because of how long you have spent on it. Getting your piece proofread can help you understand where you need improvement and see how your piece reads. Proofreading can never hurt, and will leave you better off.

Ultimately, there is no one set way to improve your writing skills. Perhaps that is the beauty of it; writing is a fluid subject that is incredibly rewarding once you master it. You’ve got this!   

Liza Greenberg: How do I develop my extracurriculars? What do I do if I feel like it is too late and I don’t have enough activities? 

I have been in this position, and I know that it can feel stressful if you have friends or classmates with really prestigious leadership positions or research opportunities. First off, don’t stress out. Even if you’re in your junior year and feel like it is too late, it’s not. My biggest advice is to try (and apply!) to as many activities as possible. Go to clubs, research, send cold e-mails to nonprofits online, talk to your friends about the different things they are doing, and try to tag along or get involved. If you sign up and do a bunch of things, the chances are that one or two will stick, and then you will have a chance to move up to more of a leadership role. 

You can also explore activities that are off the beaten track. Even if they aren’t exactly in your field of interest, there is no harm in trying. Join smaller clubs and do what you can to attract members and build them up. Nonprofits often need volunteers for events or interns, and it is all about making connections and getting your foot in the door. Keep your eyes peeled for after-school and summer programs, and try to apply to as many as possible, even if it is a long shot! Submit your writing and photography to the contests that your English teacher sends out or that you find online. 

You also should not be afraid to cut out activities that aren’t working for you anymore. When I quit debate in the fall of my junior year, it opened up so much time and energy that I could pour into other activities. You don’t need to try and start a non-profit or magazine, especially considering that it is going to be incredibly challenging to get significant engagement from other students. Instead, use what is out there to your advantage!

Jacey Mok: How do I get more involved with student government? 

Student government is a phenomenal way to get accustomed to the ins-and-outs of Bronx Science! During the 2023-2024 academic year, I served as the Senate Leader of the student body’s Senate. Joining the Senate is an awesome way to become involved in student government. Homeroom Senators and Alternate Senators attend monthly meetings to discuss school policy/announcements, and they get a glimpse behind-the-scenes for S.O. Cabinet events through volunteering. 

Student Organization (S.O.) has several branches: executive, legislative, judicial, and other tertiary branches. The executive branch consists of S.O. Cabinet’s officials who are elected by the student body, including the S.O. President, Vice President, Secretary, and Senior Council President. The rest of the S.O. Cabinet is comprised of students from various grades who work diligently with administration and students to plan school-wide events and initiatives such as Monster Mash, Winter Wonderland, Spring Carnival, and miscellaneous events. To join S.O. Cabinet, all applicants must complete several rounds of written and oral interviews as well as problem-solving based trials.

The best way to get involved is to offer to volunteer for events and to apply for positions when they open. For instance, S.O. Cabinet, WTV, and Judicial Board applications typically open in the Spring. Bronx Science has many branches of student government: League of Presidents (LOP), Wolverine TV Productions, Judicial Board, and more. 

Keep an eye out for e-mails that are related to application deadlines and apply for positions. You never know how far you’ll go until you try.

Allegra Lief: Do I have to be a ‘STEM student’ to succeed at Bronx Science? 

You absolutely do not have to be interested in STEM in order to succeed at Bronx Science and make the most out of your four years here. I am a huge humanities person myself, and being at this school has both opened my eyes to new areas of interest and given me unique opportunities to deepen my passions. 

Bronx Science has so many amazing extracurriculars for any prospective humanities students. The Speech and Debate team is the largest activity at Bronx Science, boasting over 500 members, and it has no cuts and no tryouts so anybody interested in history, law and politics is able to join the team. The Mock Trial and Model UN teams are also other great groups to join for those looking to go into international relations or politics. Additionally, there are so many humanities related clubs at Bronx Science. From the acclaimed Dynamo literary magazine to the Legal Society Club, there are always opportunities to join and start groups related to your interests. 

Furthermore, the History and English Departments are some of the best in Bronx Science with teachers who are passionate about their disciplines and eager to impart their knowledge on others. There are also a plethora of advanced courses available in the humanities for students in which to engage and explore, such as A.P. European History and A..P English Language and Composition. While I have enjoyed taking these courses as a humanities student, I have also found that the quality of STEM education at this school has made me more open towards the subjects and more confident in my abilities. All of the science and math teachers that I’ve had at Bronx Science have been uniquely passionate about what they teach and are always open to helping out humanities students like myself who may struggle more in STEM courses. 

Keep in mind that being a humanities kid at Bronx Science also has some distinct advantages – while all of the STEM minded students are fighting over leadership and internship positions, there are a plethora of open avenues for you to explore that help to add to your extracurricular activities. 

Overall, Bronx Science has both strong humanities and STEM opportunities, allowing all types of students to succeed here. 

Lara Adamjee: What do teachers look for in a student at Bronx Science? How do you make a good impression on them? 

Enthusiasm. What teachers look for, at the end of the day, is enthusiasm. Their job is to teach, and in order to teach they need willing listeners. But, being enthusiastic does not necessarily correlate with having a good grade in the teacher’s class. You also need to put in effort. As long as you show that you are putting in the effort and trying to understand the material, teachers will appreciate your presence in their classroom.

There are a couple ways to show interest and engagement in a class. The most simple one is participation. You can participate in almost every single class offered at Bronx Science. It shows that you are listening to the teacher and actually want to engage with the material. People tend to get hung up on the idea that their answer has to be correct in order to participate. Spoiler alert: it does not. Certain ideas or questions can lead to new discoveries in the classroom and perhaps you understanding the content better. If you do not feel comfortable participating in class, go to your teacher’s Small Group Instruction (SGI). The beauty of SGI is that it allows you to have one-on-one time with your teacher to ask questions. Even if you feel that you fully understand the material that you learned in class, I would suggest going to SGI. I have found that teachers at Bronx Science never seem to mind when a student asks questions that may not be directly related to the content they taught in class but still fall within their field. After all, there is always more to learn. 

Aaqib Gondal: How can I overcome my fear of failure? 

Any opportunity worth seizing comes with the equal opportunity to fail. To try means to have the courage to pursue what it is you want from the world knowing that you could end up making a full circle, seemingly making no progress at all. But that’s the beauty of failure; even when it feels like you’re stuck in place, the wisdom you gain from each setback is invaluable. The people who serve as models for success aren’t those who’ve never failed. They are the people who failed time and time again, but had both the willpower and support to brush themselves off and step back onto the life path of their choice. Each time they returned to the path, they understood their journey a little bit more than their previous attempts. 

There is no way to stomp out your fear of failure permanently. If you’re trying to do anything that pushes you out of your comfort zone, which is worth your time and effort, then there will always be a degree of self-doubt and anxiety buried somewhere in your mind. The key is to WANT — to WANT to win with such fierce yearning that any fear of failure is suppressed by the slightest prospect of achieving what it is you desire. Every step you take, you have to ask yourself just how much you want what it is you are in pursuit of and if you can afford to make compromises that reshape your dreams. Compromises are generally good for us. However, they cannot be such drastic alternatives that we grow content with never reaching our fullest potential. At first, we can reason with these compromises, but eventually, we soon grow frustrated with what could have been, as regret begins to creep in. 

Failure is scary, but the regret of never having tried our absolute hardest, or never having tried at all is heartbreaking — heartbreaking both for yourself and for those who recognized that you were destined for so much more. 

Katherine Han: Why are college campus tours important? 

When starting your college application journey, one of the very first steps is to construct a college list. Making a college list of universities you genuinely want to go to requires you to consider various aspects, from the school size to location to Greek life. While you can certainly find useful information online about different schools that pique your interest, visiting a school’s campus can do wonders for how you see yourself fitting into that school’s community.

A certain college may seem like it would be perfect for you, but you may find that the location doesn’t exactly suit what you’re looking for in a college experience. Booking a tour at that school allows you to actually walk through the college grounds, perhaps to sit in on classes, and to envision yourself as a student there. This will give you a better sense of how you will feel trekking through those grounds for the next four years on the way to class. 

Moreover, while you are on the college campus tour, you can ask the tour guides, who are often current students attending the school, about their own personal experiences at the college. Whether it is asking about the school’s notorious Organic Chemistry course or finding out the best study location, talking with these tour guides allows you to probe different perspectives of students and deepen your understanding of the school’s student body and the community. Gathering their responses and your experience on the campus tour can either strengthen or weaken your interest in the school, helping you build a strong college list of schools you won’t regret attending.

Beyond being a helpful resource to use when creating your college list, college tours can also help you with different schools’ “Why Us?” essays, one of the most common supplemental essays required for colleges. In addition to your online research of each school, you can include a specific instance during each college tour that reaffirmed your interest in the school for each corresponding essay. College admissions officers want to see why you want to attend their school specifically, so a great way to show your connection to the school is through a personal experience you had while touring their campus. For schools that track demonstrated interest, visiting the school can even help strengthen your application, as the school sees that you put in the effort to see the school in person.

However, while in-person college tours allow you to fully immerse yourself into the school campus, don’t worry if you can’t visit the school! There are various other ways to learn more about a college, whether it is through taking a virtual tour (which many schools offer for students to see the campus and learn about the school’s history), reaching out to alumni, or even reading the student newspaper. 

In general, college campus tours are undoubtedly an important resource you can use to help you with the college application process. Setting foot on the grounds of a college you will love to attend is a magical first experience, as that is when you know that school is meant for you.

Kate Hankin: Are there any words of peace that you could give juniors and seniors about the whole college process?

Applying to college is almost shockingly difficult. It is emotionally draining, physically exhausting, and not very fun. But, there is a part of applying to college that I feel is not discussed enough, which is the joy in the process. For many at Bronx Science, getting into a prestigious college is the ultimate goal. It can, at times, feel unachievable, and the beginning of senior year is incredibly difficult. Getting into a college you are excited about is an indescribable feeling, but what’s even better is watching your friends succeed. 

There are very few times in life where you and every person around you are experiencing the same challenging time, and applying to college bonds the senior class. There is no better feeling than seeing the kid who wrote mind blowing essays in your sophomore year English class get into their dream school, or your best friend calling you crying that they got in. Or to see a girl who always smiled at you in the hallway heading to sunshine at UCLA, or the boy who was amazing in the last school musical head off to Julliard. Seeing the world fall into place for those around you is a wonderful feeling. Even if applying to college does not work out how you personally want it to, there will always be friends and classmates to be excited for. So, when the pressure of applying starts to feel like too much, remember that there is light at the end of the tunnel — celebrating everyone’s success with your community. 

Rajin Tahsan: How do I learn to enjoy physics?

Physics is often touted as the most challenging subject to wrap your head around. It is the fundamental science, after all, describing physical behavior ranging from the strange quantum phenomena at the subatomic scale to the mind-bending effects of spacetime at the astronomical level. It even explains the origins of our stars and galaxies at the beginning of the universe. But beneath its daunting image, physics is really nothing more than an investigation into how the universe works.

The first realization I had when learning physics was that there is nothing inherently hard about physics. Personally, I view learning physics as figuring out a puzzle of shapes: it is challenging at the beginning since those shapes are unfamiliar, but it becomes instinctive when you have a grasp on the meaning of the whole structure and a vision of  the whole. Likewise, it can be difficult to appreciate the laws of nature if each concept is learned separately and subsequently forgotten. Truly acquiring the knowledge requires dedication to the topic and a tendency to tying loose ends and seeing things come together.

There is, of course, mathematics. Physical relationships are expressed in terms of mathematical equations that can be manipulated to solve for the properties in mind. Fortunately, problems in physics are solved more effectively when you have critical knowledge of what’s happening first, and then use that to pinpoint the appropriate equations. Physics first, mathematics later.

It might appear strange that reality can be encoded into numbers and equations in the first place, but there is no way of getting out of math in physics because it happens to be enormously effective in the case of our universe. It’s a fact bordering on the mysterious, but the universe is abundant with patterns, and mathematics is the primary way of extracting them from the tides of chaos.

My second realization was that the concepts of physics are very real; they aren’t abstract or merely theoretical. The laws of nature are everywhere around us, seen in our everyday lives, but that can be perplexing to see. With an understanding of physics and how it relates to our world, you are challenged to more carefully examine everything you may see. 

For example, if you can imagine what happens when electrons gather up in the clouds and protons fall to the ground, you’ve just understood how a near-instantaneous electrical discharge is released during a thunderstorm, and you recognize that familiarly as lightning. But before you learned that, lightning was just lightning, and you didn’t know why lightning is that way, it just was. Physics is all about finding the answer to why.

Approaching physics in this way offers a deeper appreciation of the universe. It’s also one of the most enjoyable ways to learn physics. It’s best demonstrated with thought-experiments.

Out of the millions of stars you might see in the night sky, some continue to shine now just as you see them, a few are ballooning to tremendous sizes as they enter their final stages, but a smaller few have been long dead, and for all we know don’t exist in the particular moment you are looking at them. And yet you can see all of those stars at this very moment. 

That’s physics — light can take thousands of years to travel the enormous distances separating the stars and your eyes, so you are seeing the image of them as they were that long ago. You can therefore conclude that everything you have ever observed in your life is just the same, that your eyes interact with a world from the imperceptibly-nearby past.

Now, let’s say you are standing on the seashore, and you start to reminisce. There are the rushing waves, mountains of molecules, each minding its own business, trillions upon trillions of them, yet forming white surf in unison. Ages and ages have gone by, long before any eyes could see, year after year, the waves thunderously pound the shore as they do now. For whom, for what? On a dead planet, with no life to entertain.

Never at rest, tortured by energy, vaporized by the sun, poured onto land. Deep in the sea, molecules replicate the patterns of one another until new, complex forms emerge. They produce others like themselves, and a new dance starts. Growing in size and complexity, living things, masses of atoms, DNA, and protein, dance a pattern that becomes ever more intricate. 

Out of the primordial soup onto land, here it is standing, atoms with consciousness, matter with curiosity. Standing at the sea, wondering at wondering, you, a universe of atoms, an atom in the universe.

We, the Managing Editors, Copy Chiefs, and Editors-in-Chief of The Science Survey, are here to answer your questions about student life at Bronx Science, college applications, finding inspiration, and even how to enjoy physics.