Los Baños Student Receives Full Scholarships To Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Stanford

A senior high school student from Los Baños, Laguna was accepted into four top US universities--three of which are ivy league schools--with full scholarships too.

Carl Audric Guia, 17 years old, was accepted into Harvard University, Yale University, Princeton University and Stanford University. He shared on his Facebook profile, “So today, I got accepted to three of the most selective schools in the world—Harvard, Yale, and Princeton!!! Someone please wake me up right now!!! Edit: I also got into Stanford!”

Smart Parenting exclusively interviewed Carl Guia and congratulate him on his achievement. “I’m so surprised, I’m very lucky. My family couldn’t be more excited din kasi I’ll be able to study in these universities for free,” Carl or Cal said, smiling from ear to ear when asked how he was feeling. 

From the other end of the screen, one can see and feel Carl’s excitement. Carl intends to study Physics and Astronomy, “Hopefully, PhD in Astrophysics in the future,” he said. He is currently studying in UP Rural High School in Los Baños, under the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) strand.

For the meantime, Carl can’t decide on the university he will choose, “Right now, wala pa po talaga. I’m still weighing my options. I’m checking the top two universities for the Physics program.” 

Carl said his parents were just as excited. “Sobrang overwhelmed din po sila. Sobrang excited din kasi wala silang gagastusin, lahat lahat. These are all full scholarships. It’s all overwhelming.”

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Preparations for the College Admissions 

For some students, getting into Ivy League universities can seem like a long shot. It feels like preparation starts at a very young age, with all the academics and extracurriculars planned alongside each other. 

For Carl, he only had the idea when he was in Grade 10, “The plan to study abroad came very recently, na-inspire po kasi ako ng mga Pisay (Philippine Science High School) students na nakapasok sa US universities and me, being interested in Astronomy, thought that it’d be better to study abroad kasi limited ang options dito sa Philippines.”

Carl added, “So I just decided to shoot my shots po in these universities.”

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He shared that the admission processes he underwent were all complicated, “The process was really rigorous and tiring. Kasi it’s more complicated po than the applications in the Philippines. In UP, I just submitted my grades. And for some other schools, there’s just recommendation letters.” 

“But for US Universities, I needed to list my AWOLS, to list my activities, my resumes. I need to write tons and tons of essays. It’s really hard. It really takes a lot of effort just to finish all the entire application process,” Carl shared.  

It was challenging because he was doing all these while in senior high school.

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Support from parents

Carl shared with Smart Parenting how his parents supported him in this endeavor. We asked him, “How can we support our children to be an achiever like you?”

And his answer is surprising and reassuring at the same time. 

“One unique thing about my parents is, hindi po nila ako pine-pressure at all,” Carl answered. 

'If you know someone trusts you enough, that gives you a lot of self confidence, that translates to achievement.' -Carl Audric Guia on his parents' no pressure parenting style

“Even for the achievements. Sila pa po yung nagsasabi na pag nagkabagsak ako sa school or exams, bibigyan nila ko ng prize or pera or something, ganun po yung mga joke nila sakin,” he continued. 

“I guess this free environment po, na walang pressure outside, it just motivated me a lot po. As someone po na may initiative naman,” he said. 

Carl said that his parents never pressured him on academics even when he was young, “They support us when we achieve something, like 'pag kasama kami sa honor roll, they congratulate me and hold a little celebration, but when it comes to failing some quizzes and some exams, they are very, very chill about it.”

He said that there’s also no pressure to be part of the honor roll.

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He recalled a fond story that shows just how ‘chill’ his parents are: “Actually po, nung grade 6, when I knew that I passed the entrance exam sa UP high school, they even warned me na baka daw hindi ako maging honor, just because it’s UP. They warned me about that. They said that I should brace myself if I find myself to be an average student there. That I won’t always be a top student. Ganun po. Wala pong pressure at all.”

Carl admits he hesitated to study abrouad at first, considering its cost. But when they knew that these are all scholarships, it became clear.

“Okay po sa kanila, if it is financially possible, which is possible na right now. But they’re somewhat anxious din sometimes because I’ll be away from home, but I always remind them din na I can figure things out,” he said.

Carl shared a piece of advice from his parents he's always lived by: “Follow what you want. That’s something I carried from HS going to college.”

He believes his ‘no pressure’ environment helped him, “Yes, that helped a lot. If you know someone trusts you enough, that gives you a lot of self confidence, that translates to achievement.”

Advice to students and parents

Carl shared some encouragement to students who dream to study abroad, “Don’t be afraid to take risks. I, myself, came to this process not knowing anything. But if you just reach out to people, you’ll find out that many people are willing to help, and willing to take a risk with you, and pursue your dreams.”

For parents, he also shared his observation with his parents and siblings, “Knowing your child’s personality goes a long way. Tailoring your parenting style according to your child’s personality. For example, I see that I have a lot of initiative as a student when I was a kid, my parents saw that also. That’s why they were pretty cool about it. I guess when they saw I had initiative, they decided to let go of the pressure.”

“But if you see that your kids are not really like that, it would help to apply more encouragement and guidance so that they can be more inspired to study. Right now, sa younger siblings ko, both of them are in elementary, mas nakikita ko na mas may pressure. But they’re doing good din and they’re part of the honor roll,” he added. 

“I guess at the end of the day, the parenting style should be according to your child’s personality,” Carl said.
Carl is the second eldest in the family, his older sister is studying in University of the Philippines Los Baños, taking up Human Ecology. His two younger siblings are still in elementary school. Carl’s mother, Argeelene is a housewife and his father, Rodelio works as a dispatcher in Meralco. 

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