Sahana Mahesh, a College Ready student now at UC Berkeley majoring in political economy, credits orientation events and her advisor Deborah for helping her transition smoothly. She applied to 20 schools and says her essays showcasing her passions and activities were key to getting in. She's planning to take the LSAT and go to law school after her degree.
Chapters
Good.
And where are you calling from? I know that it's been a little bit, and I can't wait to hear how everything is going. Are you— are you at home?
I'm at home today. Yeah, I drove by.
Okay, excellent. Well, my goal today is just check in on you and see how you're doing and hear about what it's been like this year and So can you share a little bit about your experience?
Yeah, it's been pretty nice so far. I took easier breadth classes last semester, so I got to really experience clubs and make friends and make community. And now this semester, I'm doing more classes for my major in specific, which is really nice. They're very interesting. And yeah, I'm really continuing those same clubs. It's been pretty fun.
I love it. Can you share what major at what college? And just so I have it for record.
Oh, yeah. So I'm doing political economy at UC Berkeley. Yeah.
So political economy. That is brilliant. The fact that you're enjoying your classes means you're at the right school, right? That's, that's the good news.
Yeah. Yeah.
How do you enjoy— how are you liking Berkeley outside of the classroom?
Yeah, I'm really liking it because it's like kind of— it's like a very compact school. So you see your friends a lot. And personally, like generally, you tend to live in like downtown, like even the dorms are in downtown. So it's like a really fun place to hang out with friends over the weekend. And it's just— yeah, it's very fun, like non-academic-wise too.
Let's talk about the real reason why you're there. So, you know, what, what are you— what classes are you currently taking and what are you enjoying?
Yeah, so I'm taking mainly requirements to declare my major right now. So it's like economics and a poli econ class, like a political economy class. And then I'm also taking an English class, like, about American culture. So that's one of my requirements. And then I'm also taking a science class to fulfill my breadth classes.
That's brilliant. So 12 units?
I think it's like 17.
17. Ooh, we have some weighted classes in there. That's kind of exciting.
Yeah.
What was it like, um, moving to college? Let's take a little bit of back. So we now have a new set of graduating seniors who are feeling that that anxiousness, what would you tell them or tell your younger self, um, if you had to do it all over again? Anything that was a good thing or anything that you wish you would have done differently?
Um, I would say I feel like that first week that I came back, like personally for me, it was like the day after I came back from India, which was like not good. I was like very jet-lagged, but I felt like it was very fun. And I took chance of like all the orientation opportunities. So even if the activity sounded kind of boring, I went to just like make friends and like hang out with them. So that was like really good because I made like a solid few friends from the beginning of the semester, and I have kept them still. And like we make time for each other. So that was really nice. At least for what I would change, definitely like don't do that flight thing. That was a bad idea. But also just like, I guess, like, not think about college too much and just like enjoy the experience right then and not like worry about like, oh yeah, I'm going to like be living here. There's like, I'm not going to live with my parents anymore. Am I going to see my high school friends? Like, that was like a lot of stuff, but I kind of just figured it out in the moment, which was better. Yeah.
Now take yourself a little bit further back to your younger self. Take yourself back to your freshman year in high school. What would you tell your freshman self, um, that you wish you would have known now that you're at Berkeley?
I would say like kind of strive hard, like more in my classes and stuff, because at first I kind of didn't want to take any of the honors classes because it seemed too hard. But then, like, later, as I started, like, learning more about it, it was just kind of like I need to put more effort in. It wasn't like too— like, it was like at my level. So I feel like if I just, like, had higher expectations for myself, that would have been better. But overall, I think, like, Just trying to make more friends, joining more clubs was something that I would give— I would tell my freshman self.
I love it. I love it. Now, what about— you worked with Deborah, correct?
Yes.
What was the benefit of having Deborah on your side as you're applying to college?
Yeah, for sure. I feel like because I joined as like a junior in College Ready, I wasn't able to like ask her about like 4-year-long activities, but she really helped me with like essays and like really portraying myself well in front of colleges, because for me I felt like I didn't want to like boast about my activities. But she was definitely like, no, you have to tell them what you did, so like tell them properly. So that was really good advice. And then also just the fact that she had like a lot of activities that were similar to mine, like she had done law, she had done swim. It was like a lot of stuff stuff that we had in common, which was really nice. I love that.
And then the actual applying to college— how do you remember how many schools you applied to?
It was like 20-something. I forgot exactly how much.
Oh, and do you remember how many you got into?
No, I don't remember. Probably like half. I don't— okay.
More importantly, was Berkeley your number one school?
Yes, it was.
Okay. So you were able to get into your dream school. And what does all the rest matter? You had all of those for security. Do you know what the 1 or 2 things that help you to stand out to get accepted to Berkeley might have been? Any idea why you were chosen?
Can you repeat that again? You were kind of breaking up. I'm breaking up. Yeah, no problem.
I was saying that getting into Berkeley, right, is a challenge in itself, and you got in. That was your dream school. Can you think of maybe one or two things that allowed you that opportunity to attend Berkeley, something that you did to prepare?
Yeah, I would say that, like, I feel like I was, like, proud of my essays because they showed, like, who I was and, like, my passion for the activities. Like, one thing I was worried about before applying was that my activities were kind of, like, all over the place. Place. But I feel like through the essays I was able to show like different parts of me that I was able to display like each of my activities, which was really fun, and just like show who I was as a person. So I felt like that was the main factor. I love that.
So many people think you have to have one main thing, right? And you just proved that you actually could be yourself and get to the school you wanted to attend.
Yeah, for sure.
I love that. Now, what's your plans after Berkeley? What's, what's the dream? What's next?
Well, I was hoping to get to like study for law school while like being in Berkeley and then like taking the LSAT and going to law school and then deciding after that. But I think that, I think law school is like the next step.
It sounds like you are just setting yourself up beautifully. I'm really excited for you. Thank you for sharing. That's been wonderful.
