College Forum: Lorenzo Garcia
"Three guesses. That's all I'm gonna give you."
"Nope, nope, aaaand nope. Can't say I've gotten Salvadorian before, but nice try dude. Only the really smart ones get it right." Next conversation.
This was the standard routine. I have a face that screams, "I could be any mix of things!", and my name - Lorenzo Rafael Garcia - doesn't help all too much. The dark brown almond-shaped eyes that crinkle up to oblivion at the crack of a joke contrast the curly hair and protruding half cowbell-shaped nose. Thus, when I gained my sense of racial awareness at the outset of my high school journey, I subconsciously developed the habit of exploiting the mystery behind my ethnicity. No one could know.
Why did I do this? Was it the attention it granted me - the sea of eyes glued to me as they made vain attempts to interpret my features? Was it a mysterious aura I sought? Nope. It was insecurity. Only now, after reflecting on who I am and the many faces I wanted to be throughout my life, can I say this dark truth with absolute certainty.
I transferred to the High School of American Studies at Lehman College after one year of attending the prestigious Xavier High School. A definite and abrupt departure from my predominantly black and hispanic elementary and middle school (Immaculate Conception), this 80% white school taught me immediately how truly cruel people can be towards those who comprise society’s “minority”. The joke someone cracked in my geometry class to my teacher whose sole punchline was that it turned out the pretty girl he saw from behind “was Asian” (a true comedian indeed) really stuck with me. Because every student basking in the envied limelight of popularity and exhibiting strong signs of having-everything-figured-out syndrome seemed to be white, I wrongly felt that I needed to assimilate in order to fit in, abandoning the cultural pride I'd developed throughout my entire life. I bring up this backstory to give proper context to the school you may choose to attend soon, HSAS.
HSAS, though still predominantly white, brimmed with a cultural diversity that would make Xavier pale in comparison. Here, I learned that embracing one's culture does not mean succumbing to stereotypes. In other words, it was in the hallways of HSAS where I slowly discovered that you can share your culture, whether it be your mom’s home-cooked food or your favorite ethnically diverse music playlist, to anyone as long as you owned it. Furthermore, I discovered that, with the right people (such as the brilliant minds of HSAS), you have the power to collectively forge an environment that would make Xavier geometry kid feel ashamed rather than revered. I urge you to utilize this superpower; it’s one of the reasons we boast such a welcoming and tight-knit environment. I can’t even begin to describe the immense feeling of unexpected accomplishment when one of my white friends randomly told me how he had now began to see the injustice of casual Asian-targeted racism everywhere, as this confirmed to me that my peers had been listening when I frequently spoke of this, from their perspective, pretty much abstract concept. During the ordinarily immature years of high school, to be heard by others who understand nuance, complexity, and respect is something I will never, ever take for granted. Let’s just say if you were to ask me what I am today, I promise you'd leave with your question answered.
Applying to college was really stressful because my parents had never gone through the frustrating and confusing process that is the Common Application, or Commonapp. When I began during the summer before my senior year I barely knew how to choose a college, let alone how to distinguish which steps were the most important. I want to simplify some little things that will help you prioritize:
Not even close to being as important as you think: SAT Subject Tests (total waste of money - I got awful scores on all the ones I took, so bad I didn’t send them in and still got into my dream school), and race/ethnicity (don’t let any ignorant assholes tell you your race/ethnicity got you in somewhere; those people are in fact just boring).
More important than you might think: The essays!!! I’m telling you right now there are so many different ways you can write a great essay, but what guided me through my writing process was taking advantage of what you perceive to be the reader’s expectation of you and turning it on its head. For me, this meant knowing that my reader knew that Asians often hid their ethnicity on their application to boost their chances, and subverting the expectation that I would do the same as those sheep by mentioning that I was Asian about 5000 times in my essays. Also take the SAT multiple times - this is far more effective than getting an SAT tutor, I promise.
Lastly, before choosing a school, what I failed to do until much later in the process is simply come to terms with what exactly I wanted my college experience to be like. For instance, there is a huge difference between a large sports school and a small liberal arts school, so you really want to envision yourself at the many categories of schools that exist and think about where you would be the most excited to wake up everyday and thrive the most. If you want all of the good things from all the categories plus a diverse majority-minority campus, you’re gonna want to choose Northwestern University (go ‘cats! top ten/big ten yktvs).
I wish you all the best of luck in your high school journey! The fact that you cared enough to read this entire article means that you have an unwavering thirst for greatness and success, and I’m so proud of you in advance.
