stanford

My community raised me to believe I was so smart that I was too good for universities in Botswana. "This kid will go and study abroad," they would say. In all that time, I would wonder, Oxford or Cambridge? Having heard stories of widespread racism against black people, I never desired to study in the United States. So my hope was the United Kingdom. Then a couple of years ago, one of my close friends' sister, who also coincidentally was named Tumisang, happened to attend Stanford. It was around then that it came into my radar. At this point, I did not imagine I would someday apply there. My heart was still with my colonizer (actually, Botswana was not a colony, it was a Protectorate but take my statement in all its drama). But how is it then that in September 2015 I began my undergraduate career at Stanford?

When I failed to get the Top Achievers' Scholarship in 2013, that broke my spirit. In UWC, I did well but was not the best student in terms of grades. That coupled with my natural dislike for standardized testing, narrowed the list of choices when it was time to apply to colleges. One night I made the crazy decision to apply to Harvard (Early Action) with only my slightly above average grades and unimpressive SAT I score (1890/2400). A lot of people I knew retook the SAT, but I disliked all standardized testing with a passion (I am still thinking of an alternative). I applied to Harvard because in my mind it was slightly inferior to Stanford and I had a better chance of getting in there. I did not have my hopes high. Then something unexpected happened. My application to Harvard was deferred. It was not rejected? As I stared in disbelief at this response, and with only a little over a week left before the Stanford application was due, I was inspired to apply to Stanford. I could not risk living with the regret of wondering what could have happened if I had applied.

The rest is history as they would say. I came into Stanford a MasterCard Foundation Scholar and UWC Davis Scholar. Now as I approach my final year at Stanford, I cannot help but look back at the experiences over the past 3 years. The amount of growth that has taken place cannot be put into words. Most important of all, are the people who have carried me throughout this time, the people who have given me the privilege to be a part of their journeys.

Academics

Inspired by my excellent Economics teacher from UWC, I came into Stanford a prospective Econ major. Six weeks into my Stanford career I declared Mathematical and Computational Science (MCS). I had not taken a single Economics class yet, was taking a Mathematics class among required university classes. However, that Maths class and the instructor, Robert Lemke-Oliver, reminded me that although I have always been good at all my subjects, Mathematics was my true love. Of course there was all the hype about Computer Science, Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence, and other things I did not understand yet. To stay in the loop, I declared MCS instead of just Mathematics. I declared that early on even though I had until the end of my second year to declare a major because I know myself. I need a clear goal I am working towards to be able to focus and exert myself more effectively. Being the adaptive person I have become, I suspected that over time I might refine my major but MCS was a good start.

It took failing a class, CS 103: Mathematical Foundations of Computing, twice to get me to rethink my path. That quarter I was miserable overall. Most of my classes were theoretical. I was taking a class on Mathematical Logic, another on Multivariate Integration. My reflection led me to Management Science and Engineering (MS&E). It was not a huge departure from MCS. Especially with my chosen track of Operations and Analytics. The classes seemed more applied and more hands on. To this day, I have no regrets about the switch. I continue to refine my specific interest within MS&E, but I have never been happier and since the switch I have consistently performed exceptionally well in my classes. It is amazing how much of a difference it makes to do something that resonates with you. I am presently trying to do two concentrations (Operations & Analytics, and Finance & Decision Analysis). My hope is to pursue my Masters Degree in MS&E immediately following (or if I get into the co-term, concurrently with) my Bachelors Degree.

In my time at Stanford, I have been intentional to balance technical courses with non-technical courses that enhance my leadership ability. Most notably, I enjoyed taking ENGR 103: Public Speaking and MS&E 188: Organizing for Good. I have also branched out of STEM altogether by taking ENGLISH 179D: Empire and Revolution, a class that challenge me and pushed me to grow a lot given that it was way out of my comfort zone, and I was the only STEM-focused member of the class. I survived and to this day, I still apply the lessons from that class to every thing I read. My most academic joy, however, has always come from my STEM classes, especially where we built models to solve some problem.

Leadership

Throughout my life, I was moulded to be a leader. I came into Stanford at a time in my personal life when I was beginning to realize that there was a lot I did not know about a lot of things. It was a discomforting feeling as I have mostly been considered a knowledgeable person. As I decided to actively take a step back and learn as much as I could from every situation I would find myself in, I made it my mission to give up my past ambitions of leading from the front. Instead, I focused on leadership opportunities that were more "lead from the back" type. Every year I have had a formal leadership position: freshman year I was the Dorm President, sophomore and senior years I served as the MasterCard Scholars Representative, and I was a Resident Assistant for both junior and senior year. Additionally, I have held positions of leadership at my campus job. My CV page will contain my main take aways from these roles. The most meaningful leadership opportunity I have had was to lead myself day in and day out be better than I was the day before. In so doing, and by sharing the highlights of that experience with others, I fulfilled the saying: "as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same". Part of that growth process included stepping down from leadership positions where I felt I was not adding enough value, such as in my role as Community Engagement Coordinator for the Stanford African Students Association.