“I didn’t even think that I was going to get in. I actually considered pulling my application.” Nevertheless, CAHS senior Sophia Mittman was accepted into her dream school: Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Mittman is heavily involved in her community, spending most of her free time volunteering at her local library, tutoring, teaching swim lessons, working as a clay sculptor and working as a junior instructor for the Cotillion. Along with her volunteer work, Mittman is also on the Varsity Swim Team.

Unlike other colleges, MIT’s application process required answering short, specific questions instead of providing an essay — a component of the process Mittman struggled with because she found it difficult to express herself easily in such a format. “ It was hard to encapsulate who I was as a person in those small questions, and so I had to pick and choose wisely what I wanted to send to them,” Mittman said. “It took a long time. I spent a long time applying, editing and rewriting everything and sending everything in.”

Taking six AP classes over the course of four years and with a current GPA of 4.42, Mittman finds that the best way to successfully manage her academics and extracurriculars was with good time management and spending her free time trying to build up her application. “I could’ve just stayed home and watched TV all day, but I decided to go do something — not just any extracurriculars but something that I actually enjoyed, something I would’ve spent time doing anyway that I could write down as extracurriculars.”

Mittman credits the Classical Academy community for helping her get accepted into her first-choice college. Since kindergarten, she says, Classical Academy has set her up for success by helping her build confidence in herself and keeping her motivated for school. “[Classical Academy] kind of started me off with that self-motivation and self-starting attitude … and I think that made me encouraged and enthusiastic about learning and that sent me forward into high school with that same attitude that kept me motivated until the end.”

With her interest in arts and hands-on activities, Mittman plans on studying materials science and engineering once she gets to MIT. Mittman looks forward to being on a campus that values student life and “not just being focused on academics but also being able to have fun.”

Speaking from her own experiences with self-doubt, Mittman gives some words of advice for other fellow students who are struggling with applying for their dream colleges and scholarships: “If you doubt yourself, you will limit your opportunities … I didn’t pull my application from MIT— and I got in. Don’t assume anything, especially with scholarship applications.”