Stanford bound

Regent's student Quincy J. Tanner, who will be off to study at Stanford later this year.

One talented student at The Regent’s School in Pattaya
has become the pride of his community by winning a scholarship
to a top American university. So how did he do it?

“I’m extremely excited,” he says enthusiastically. “A couple of days before I received my admissions decision, Stanford put out a notice on their website about how many students they had selected and why they had chosen those students. There had been applications from 4100 students and only 800 got through.”

It all started when he was glancing through a few university prospectuses and was particularly taken with the one from Stanford, even though he was a little daunted at first. “When I looked at the high scores and dedication to work that all the students admitted to Stanford go through, I never really saw myself as one of those,” he says.

However, thanks to some encouragement from his teachers, Quincy was soon working on his application. “There were times when I was really doubtful about where it would go,” he admits, “but I’ve always gone through life aiming to do my best. That’s what my dad always told me.”

Quincy is a confident and assured young man who clearly takes pride in his achievement but there is no sign of arrogance or conceit. “The scholarship that I received is a combination of merit and needs based scholarship money,” he tells learning post. “The way they determine the amount that you need is by offering merit scholarships or by offering grants based on factors such as financial situation and academic performance.”

Sadly, Quincy’s father was diagnosed four years ago with multiple sclerosis (MS), a debilitating disease of the nervous system, and the family have been getting by on social security benefits from the States ever since. “I guess I had a lot of need,” he says, “because there is no way that my parents were going to be able to fund my college education based on what we’re making per year on top of all the medical costs to treat my father’s illness.”

But now, his money worries are over – the Stanford scholarship covers tuition fees, lodging, food and even personal expenses. His place on a course is also assured, as it is not dependent upon further academic performance. Quincy has proved his worth already.

The application process is a marathon round of paperwork consisting of personal essays, grade scores, example work, academic references and financial information. Competition is tough and scholarships are awarded only to those who match a demanding set of criteria, both academic and financial.

Perfect grades alone, however, will not win you a place at a university like Stanford. They are looking for well-rounded individuals who will contribute to the life of the campus and are determined to grow through experience as well as learning.

“What all the good universities are not looking for are people who study academics vigorously and forget about the world around them,” observes Quincy. “People who get perfect scores have often studied so hard to get those grades that they don’t make time to take part in things like sport, music or student groups in their school.”

Quincy has already excelled in IGCSE’s and is coping well with his International Baccalaureate (IB) course which, as any poor stressed-out senior student will tell you, is pretty rigorous at the best of times.

However, his life experience to date and wide-ranging involvement in all sorts of activities has certainly helped with the application. “I think moving out to Thailand has been fantastic because I’ve been exposed to this atmosphere that is completely different from a lot of the public schools in the US,” he attests. “I’ve learned to speak Thai and the IB is becoming increasingly well known in the USA as one of the most vigorous courses in the world. From the American point of view, the experience of being an American, particularly a black American, living in Thailand and studying at a British international school, all adds up to creating the image of a person who’s had loads of experiences.”

Quincy is also quick to pay tribute to his mentors who have provided dedicated support throughout the process. “The ability of the teachers here to relate to students on another level is something that’s hard to find in some other schools,” he says. “They really get to know you and that shows through in the references people wrote.”

An element of ‘hard sell’ is integral to the Stanford application process. One of the application tasks is to choose a picture and write an essay about how it reflects something of your personality and experience. Not easy, even for someone as resourceful as Quincy.

“Capturing all that is difficult because, once you send that essay off, you know this is what they’re going to be looking at when they’re deciding about your application,” he says. “They have never met you, so you have to convey exactly who you are and why you want to be there. And the space on the page is so small, less than A4 size!”

Eventually, Quincy chose to represent himself with a picture of a spider’s web. “I used that to link some of my major experiences in order to convey a rough idea of who I am – one was my dad’s diagnosis with MS, second was moving to Thailand, third studying at The Regent’s international school, having come from a public school in the US, and fourth was what I’m looking forward to in my college experience. I also wrote a poem based on the picture. I had to convince them to let me include the poem because normally they only accept an essay. But they do encourage original communication.”

Quincy and fellow student Abishek Chowdhary sit and contemplate the symbol of human rights organization Amnesty International.

Top universities apparently compete with each other to get the best students and are known to offer generous packages to those at the head of their game. If Stanford is chasing students who can show qualities of leadership, confidence and initiative, then it is little wonder that Quincy has secured a place there. Already, his CV is packed with a wealth of experiences that even a fully-grown adult would be proud of.

“I was CEO of the Young Enterprise Group where students had to create their own business and that meant lots of opportunity for community service,” he says. “Then I started Amnesty International at the school with the help of a few teachers. The student director of A.I. in Thailand saw a strong potential in me to lead the programme, so we formed our first student action group and I’ve been leading that for the past year and a half. It is something that I really love because it involves debating human rights, student action and involvement,” he enthuses. And the list goes on. “I was also chairman and then president of the Student Guild in year 11. I knew it would be tough because it was our exam year.”

Regent's Principal, Patricia Metham

Quincy is not boasting here. He is a genuinely driven young man and will no doubt continue to be so in the future. It is this quality, particularly, that has impressed his peers and teachers alike. The Principal at the Regent’s, Patricia Metham, comments on the pride the school takes in students such as Quincy. “One of the things I’ve noticed about him is that he is very focused,” she says. “Whatever Quincy is doing, he’s doing with absolute energy and concentration. Whereas many people dabble, he uses his time very efficiently.”

So how exactly does he manage to cram in so much? “Late nights!” he quips. “Last night I got three hours sleep total but I don’t recommend it!” According to Quincy, effective time management is key, although there are moments when improvisation is called for. “For example, when I have to make an announcement for the Amnesty group and haven’t had time to prepare it, I just have to get up there and draw on my knowledge.”

"All you need is love". Quincy encourages action during 'Imagine Week'.

Good leadership means inspiring others and Quincy has managed to demonstrate this quality too. Last year he was responsible for running the school’s Amnesty ‘Imagine’ campaign inspired by John Lennon’s peace song. Through various activities, students of all ages were encouraged to debate and learn about issues such as torture, the death penalty and violence against women. “These are not, you’ll appreciate, comfortable subjects in any context,” notes Metham. “And it’s a tribute to Quincy’s maturity that he took some extremely emotive and potentially traumatic topics and managed to present them in a way that made the issues clear but didn’t so disturb the students as to disable them from dealing with it. Quite a skill to have.”

Indeed, Quincy was always mindful of the sensitivities of younger students when planning each activity. “Finding that balance between what is tolerable for a younger age while not demeaning the central issue is something that I strove for,” he says. “There was one student called Nikita in year 8. She was very enthusiastic about A.I. but I always had to make sure that, when we had a discussion, I wasn’t providing all the gory details. I had to make sure it was easy for her to handle while still conveying the seriousness of the issue.”

In the end, ‘Imagine’ was a tough but fulfilling week for Quincy. “A lot of people doubted it would ever get off the ground,” he recalls. “I remember spending a whole weekend designing the stairs and cutting up the candles that we put everywhere. You’ve just got to put everything you have into it, make it as big as you possibly can and see what happens.”

This is an exciting time for Quincy. He is about to enter a seminal point in his life and is more than prepared for the journey. Next month, he will make his first trip to Stanford to attend their annual ‘Admit Weekend’ where the new intake get a taster of their life to come. The trip has been partially funded by Regent’s School.

And he has already met some of his new classmates online through a specially created Yahoo group. “It’s amazing,” he says. “I’ve realised already that we’re like perfect matches. Even though we’re all coming to this with different experiences, the level that we’re operating on is so similar.”

Like many students his age, Quincy is keen to explore the academic side of life for a while longer before deciding on a set course. “High school, from the American point of view, is not the time to come to a final decision about what you want to do,” he says. “It’s about finding time to explore and getting a taste of as much as you can before you come into university.” He will eventually formalise his course decision one year after starting at Stanford but has Economics and Biology in mind at this stage.

Naturally, there are many students who want to follow in Quincy’s footsteps. His advice to them? “I think you need to maintain some diversity,” he says. “Universities like Stanford want to know that the students they’re admitting will be committed to the University’s aims. They want to know that, once you get in there, you’re not going to drop away to your books and forget about the other students and the life on campus. There are over 600 different student groups you can get involved in and so many activities constantly going on,” he explains.

And you can be sure that Quincy will be involved in at least one of them. Thomas Edison would have been proud of him.