East Hartford High School Senior Christiana Zembrowski is in the unique and exciting position of deciding which Ivy League institution she would like to attend next year. She was accepted to Harvard University, Yale University and Columbia University, among other prestigious colleges.
Christiana learned she was accepted on “Ivy Day” when the nation’s top schools release their decisions. She happened to be in a McDonald’s parking lot at the time.
“My sister and I were rushing to get food before they released decisions at 7pm, but we ended up getting stuck in the McDonald’s line longer than anticipated. I started crying when I opened my acceptance letter to Yale, and then cried even harder when I opened my Harvard acceptance. I cried for an hour straight after opening the decisions, I was in total shock!” said Christiana. “I kept signing into the application portal several times throughout the whole night to make sure it hadn’t changed!”
She recently attended accepted student events for Harvard and Yale, her top two choices, during spring break. She said she “loved both schools.”
“I am super grateful and incredibly thankful that choosing between Yale University and Harvard University is even a choice that I am allowed to make,” said Christiana. “It will definitely break my heart to have to choose between the two.”
She credits her strong application to the course selection and rigor at East Hartford High School, where she took 11 AP classes, as well as the extracurricular and community service opportunities available to her. She said she’s thankful for the support of her teachers who helped her achieve good grades, wrote her letters of recommendation, and even helped her revise her college essay and writing supplements.
She said, “I believe a big part of my application were my writing supplements, and they would be nothing without the help I received from [my English teacher] Ms. Cutkomp.”
Christiana plans to pursue a pre-law track for her undergraduate studies with a major in English and a possible minor in History or Philosophy.