Protect your dream: The Journey of Austin Olima

In my wildest of dreams, I had always visualized myself studying abroad. While in high school, I only envisaged that there was solely one potential way to grab that opportunity; joining the Equity Leaders Program or any other alternative college access program. Honestly, I never knew I could apply Independently and so when I did not-so-well in my end-year examination, most of my hope was subtly diminished. There’s a conceptual fire that so fiercely burns in me in such a way that I can’t really explain. It burns with so much passion that I normally find myself willing to do anything to ethically get what I desire so much. It is this same sensation, in this same paradigm, that led me to go “all-out” on college applications in early 2023 with such intense vigor that at times astounded even me!

I would reach out to numerous Kenyan upperclassmen in various US colleges to ask for aid with my application and also to inquire for further resources and points of action. There’s a solid block to technicality of logic when you are crafting your application alone. There’s so many challenges and at times, you find yourself grappling with so many questions that maybe have no good answers, or none at all! There was a variance in responses from the many upperclassmen I reached out to. Many were annoyed by my burgeoning sense of ‘disturbance’ and ‘lack of respect for privacy’ (I faced a lot of lashback from this group); others were greatly willing to help in good regards. Of the latter group, some of the guys who were very instrumental in my application was Raydon, who would provide feedback for my essays and offer relevant advice for numerous other sections of the application. To people like him, I’m greatly Indebted.

I downloaded multiple sample applications from the web and read them on my phone which was quite makeshift. Since we had no Internet connection and relatively very little funds, I was literally unable to have steady internet connection and therefore used to take advantage of the router next door which was only used at night by the owner. During the day, I would read whatever I had downloaded the previous night. For most virtual interviews, I had to stage myself in the open sun since that's where I would most of the time get a free public internet connection. For the SAT, I regularly tackled problem sets and worked on grammar questions for approximately seven weeks. Unfortunately, I never ended up taking the standardized test due to lack of funding. Yes, we couldn’t afford $100!

“You won’t be able to secure a spot at any college with these grades if you don’t submit your SAT score. A good one.” Many upperclassmen had cautioned me. But what was I to do? Who was to give me $100 and from where? This had come as only one of many affirmations that I wouldn’t be able to secure admission to any school. Others doubted the possibility of it even being half a possibility! On the 14th of December 2023, my whole world came tumbling down. I opened a rejection letter from the University of Pennsylvania. Everything I had worked on for the past six months had been shambled. But most importantly, everything I had been fearing had now come to fruition. “Maybe I wasn’t fit for this,” I thought to myself. “Maybe they were right. This is not my cup of tea. Maybe I was just building a house of cards and now it had come down tumbling; in my very face!”

For 48 hours, I was emotionally, physically and mentally paralyzed. I resorted to giving up and just being comfortable in the state that I was in. “Maybe staying here isn’t so bad after all.” Cognitive dissonance seemed to be exclusively dominating my conscience at that very moment. Yet in all these, I could not understate how much I really wanted this. The conceptual fire that had begun everything was the same one that was now bringing everything to completion. I went back to the drawing board and for the next two weeks, I did what I had been doing for the last six months; reading, writing, reviewing and so on, submitting all my applications in subsequent weeks in early January.

In mid-March, I opened my first acceptance letter from University of Wisconsin at Madison. In the following weeks, I would go on to secure admissions at New York University, Amherst College, Columbia University, Johns Hopkins and Williams College.

Note To Self- Protect your dream from anything, everything, anyone and everyone, even from yourself if you have to.