Finn L. Accepted into Vandy
Bright as the sun, he continues to grow
He has excellent grades and was accepted into Vanderbilt University, which is 14th of the top universities in the United States. His wide range of interests sparkles like stars: National roller-skating champion and football team leader, second spiker in the volleyball team and drummer in a band. Some people say that he is gifted, but that ignores his hard work.
Today, we are going to bring you the story of Finn L., a student from Dulwich International High School Suzhou, who has been admitted to Vanderbilt University in the United States in the early application stage.
Vanderbilt University
Vanderbilt University, founded in 1873, is a world-renowned private research university in Nashville, Tennessee. It enjoys a reputation as one of the “New Ivies ". As one of the most influential universities in the United States, Vanderbilt University ranks 14th among the best universities in the United States in 2021 U.S. News, tied with Brown University, an Ivy League university. Classified as a small to medium-sized elite private university, Vanderbilt University has four undergraduate colleges and six graduate colleges, with a total of more than 10000 students. In 2020, the undergraduate admission rate is only 9%.
The first time we met Finn L, two words came to mind: free and young. Under his sunny and cheerful appearance, Finn L is an extremely mature and steady individual. Talking about his feelings when he received his offer, Finn L stated calmly: "I wasn’t nervous. It’d be great to get the offer, if not I’ll start to make the next plan."
Compared with the calm when he talked about the offer, Finn, who talked about music, was in high spirits. His passion can be seen in his choice of school, not looking at the professional ranking, but looking at the music ranking. Vanderbilt University ranks top for its music major. It has a world-famous music library and is in a city that is the birthplace of country music in the United States. It's Grand Ole Opry theatre has hosted concerts from many popular country music singers. All of this is perfect for Finn, who loves music.
inn devotes all his efforts to the things he loves. In the music world, he has already become "selfless". As soon as he picks up the guitar to practice songs, he switches to "self-isolation mode", blocking all external factors, including physical contact with his friends. Finn sees this as "immersion practice". The concert made me feel isolated from the world and improved my ability to self-focus, so I was better able to focus on anything I wanted to do."
"Maybe in other people's eyes, I am a cold person.” Maybe it's just because of focus, Finn’s music, roller skating, football and programming are as excellent as they are. Finn recalled that he learned drumming at first because his brother suggested it. But now he has made music uniquely his own: "If you ask me what I want to do in the future, I think music is my first choice." So when I was in high school, I started a school band called The Milestone. We played live gigs in Suzhou, Suzhou Wuxi Music Festival, New Oriental high school students' Concert.
With melody on one side and passion on the other, as well as being an accomplished musician, He is even more skilled at roller skating and his goal is to be number one! Suzhou speed skating team leader, provincial champion, National League champion… one title after another, behind the applause, is Finn’s countless hours of hard work, with his heart set on glittering medals.
Almost every Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday at primary school was exclusive roller skating time. Finn said frankly: "I was really tired. I practised until I cried every time. My legs were sore at first, then soft, and finally hard, but I can't help it. I can only cry and skate, force myself to skate, bite my tongue and skate on with every effort."
While music runs through Finn’s inner world, roller skating almost runs through his entire life. When asked if he had ever thought of giving up after such hard work, Finn said that he didn't just think of giving up occasionally, he wanted to give up all the time! But he won’t give up!
"At that time, my mother completely broke the idea of giving up. Every time I didn't want to go to training, she just threw me into the car and pulled me in front of the coach, so I could only skate." Finn smiled with embarrassment.
It was because of this external intervention, that Finn won the first championship in his life. Recalling the feeling at that time, Finn could not hide his joy: "I was really happy to win the first championship of my life. I’d trained so hard I deserved to be the champion” Said Finn full of confidence.
Finn is a sports fan and plays with the local football club. Different from other boys who love sports, Finn never watches football matches, pays no attention to football stars, and doesn't know anything about popular brands of shoes; what he cares about, pays attention to, and spends time on, is practice and improvement. "Every time I need to buy shoes, I always ask my friends to recommend them. I don't know much about them myself."
When Finn started Y11, he wasn’t the most dazzling of players. When he looked at his classmates who were all better than him, he realized that there was a gap between them. But Finn, who grew up in a competitive environment, couldn’t stop until he had caught up! Finn said that although he was not the best, he wanted to be the first!
Physical education has helped to cultivate his unique character. Finn will never admit defeat and always strives for first place. It has given him a strong and focused will of steel. Just what Finn needs to win first place!
Music gives him a focused learning state, and sports gives him the spirit of fighting for first place, Finn is an excellent student who has developed his skills comprehensively. We are not surprised at how Finn manages his time so effectively.
Finn told us that his "secret of learning hegemony" depends on high goal setting and intense high-quality practice. " Every time I set a goal, I will look up, set the goal above my head, and pull up to that height. Naturally, this makes me try harder and my level will gradually improve. When I study, I will put my mobile phone in a place that is not easy to reach, so as to avoid external interference. As the quality of my study improves, my academic performance will naturally go up. "
to better understand the needs of the visually impaired, Finn and his team went to the visually impaired life experience Museum many times, in order to experience the lifestyle and behaviour patterns of the visually impaired. In the experience hall, he discovered that “no one should feel inferior because they can't see. Everyone is free and happy." In particular, the optimistic, confident, and loving attitude of a blind man touched him deeply.
Finn recalled that he used to feel inferior because of his lack of height, but now he realizes that these external things are illusory. People exist in the world with different strengths. We need to be good at accepting ourselves and reconcile ourselves to life. The short time with the blind has strengthened his belief in making games. Since the game’s audience are visually impaired, they can't see the screen because of poor eyesight. As a result, the sound effects in the game are particularly important.
Finn and his team spent a lot of time studying the difference between the sound of the ball on the basket and the sound of the ball on the ground, striving to make the most accurate stereo sound effects. To control the role of the game and ensure that the game characters do not make mistakes every time, Finn blindfolded himself to capture the feeling of being a blind basketball player. He tried to recreate that feeling to the maximum extent.
"At the beginning, I was very nervous. I was worried that the effect of the game wouldn’t reach our expectations and that players would find it boring. I studied computer science in the hope of improving people's lives and helping people in need. This was my learning goal. The production of the "basketball game" is of mutual benefit. For me, it not only consolidates my programming knowledge but also enables the visually impaired to play basketball if they wish. "
Finn’s excellent results provide the knock on the door of the famous schools. However, what won over the admissions officer was Finn’s experience. Finn told us, he just wanted to order takeout at summer school. After more than half an hour of registering and filling in the information according to the prompts, Finn found that he hadn't ordered takeout but had registered to become a food delivery guy!
"I think that since I had become a delivery person, I'd better do it! The study tasks at summer school are relatively compact and delivering take outs can also be kind of relaxing. However, while Finn’s "take out" delivery experience did not make money, (he lost 50), it made Finn feel that the white-collar workers in high-rise buildings were not necessarily better than the workers on the construction site. But he also experienced unreasonable abuse from customers due to mistakes. Finn’s short delivery experience moved the admissions officer.
"Delivery is not a special thing, but it's something that younger people like us seldom do. In fact, what the admissions officers fear most is that they can't integrate into the collective life in a foreign land, and the delivery of takeout just proves my determination and ability to get along with others, which is probably one of the reasons why the admissions officers recognize me. "
It was such an all-round and lively young man who won the hearts of the admissions officers and a place at Vanderbilt University.
Such an excellent student cannot do without the influence of his family and cultivation by his school. If we want to sum up Finn’s ten years of learning in four words, it is the "journey of chasing his brother”. Finn sees his brother as an adversary that he chases and strives to surpass. Playing music, learning to program, and choosing to study at Dulwich International High School Suzhou, his brother's excellent example led Finn to become a unique and even more outstanding student!
His brother is his role model in life, and his parents provide strong backing. Finn was encouraged to freely develop his interests. From the beginning of Go, football, basketball, roller skating, volleyball and now dancing, Finn’s mother and father never restricted his personal development.
"When I develop my hobbies, I don't forget my duty of learning, so my parents are more supportive. I can grow up to be what I want to be." The relaxed family environment has always laid the foundation for Finn’s growth.
For Dulwich, Finn is also very grateful. He said that Dulwich is a diverse school with diversified courses and interests. It supports students to explore and discover their own interests and hobbies and never restricts their development. For the interest of students, Dulwich also tries to provide resources, venues, and materials, and cultivate students to develop their own strengths and shining points.
"For example, in Dulwich, some people like photography, and after four years of study, they are now shooting with the crew; some people like to be DJs, and now they are doing the music tuning of Suzhou performances. In Dulwich, the development of your speciality is not only helpful to your college application but also has a great positive impact on the direction of your whole life. In addition, Dulwich’s diversified concept creates diversified talents, in which you can always find like-minded friends. "
After four years of studying at Dulwich, Finn’s greatest achievement is that he could connect with his own interests and carry them forward. He took part in the Dulwich Music Festival in Singapore and played in the China Mongolia Football League. Dulwich’s open cultural atmosphere is actively in line with international standards, providing students with an international platform to shine and help them better integrate into their future life of studying abroad.