College is an important stage in life for many, some high school students focus solely on academics for the chance of getting accepted into their dream school, which can cause them to sacrifice their social life. Ambitious students may fall into this cycle, but senior Madilyn Yee managed to maintain high grades while still having time for her social life and other responsibilities.
Yee’s extracurriculars include being the founder of the club Project: HER, the president of the Advanced Placement (AP) Capstone club, secretary of Interact, and a member of United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF). With all the clubs she’s involved in, Yee finds time to play volleyball on the school and her club team, Ignite Volleyball Club Foundation on the 18-1s division, the highest level of competition for 18 year olds.
As volleyball serves as a hobby and extracurricular, Yee also spends time doing origami, a visual art form that involves the folding of paper.
Despite keeping busy with her extracurriculars, Yee finds time for hobbies because they are important to her.
“I feel like if you love it, you’ll make time for it, like, if you really are passionate about something and want to do it, time shouldn’t restrict what you can and can’t do,” Yee said.
Yee’s extracurriculars along with her high grades are what contributed to her acceptance into various colleges such as Cal Poly Pomona, Cal State Fullerton, Loyola Marymount University, Claremont McKenna, Scripps College, University of California (UC) Irvine, UC San Diego, UC Santa Barbara, the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), and the University of Southern California (USC).
Yee does not have a dream college, but believes she’ll end up wherever she’s meant to be. Regardless of the colleges she was accepted to, she plans to follow what’s best for her financially. Even though her main focus is her financial situation, she hasn’t made a decision, but is primarily considering Claremont Mckenna, UC Irvine, or UCLA.
Another factor for Yee is the scholarships she’s received. So far, Yee has received a $5,000 scholarship from UC Irvine and UC Santa Barbara, as well as a $20,000 scholarship from Loyola Marymount University.
“What it really comes down to for me is my finances and how much I can afford that,” Yee said.
Yee credits her accomplishments to her positive mentality.
“I’ve always, like, wanted to put my all into things, and I’ve always held myself to really high standards. So I never saw, like, school as something I could just like, put on the back burner and not care about,” Yee said.
Along with her motivation, her parents have been supportive of and an inspiration to her.
“They’ve always told me like, you know you don’t have to, like, be the best. You don’t have to get into the best schools, like you’re going to be successful no matter what,” Yee said.
Yee is still deciding what she will study in college and pursue professionally; however, she has expressed interest in various pathways.
“I’m definitely interested in pursuing a career in public service, so like, either, if that’s through law, or, like, through governmental affairs, like, that’s what I’m interested in,” Yee said.
However difficult it may be to get accepted into different colleges, hard work and dedication can help work towards these goals.
Yee’s advice to underclassmen is to not put pressure on themselves solely because of college.
“Like I feel like I feel so passionately about it, never do an activity just because you think it’ll look good on a resume. Because what ultimately matters, it’s like, your passion for it and your passion for a specific subject or like issue will get you further than just doing something out of gear that you won’t get into school,” Yee said.
