Hometown: Orlando, FL Class

Year: Sophomore

College: Jonathan Edwards

Major: Molecular, Cellular & Developmental Biology (MCDB)

Extracurriculars: Yale iGEM Competition Team, Isaacs Lab Intern, Yale Society of Orpheus and Baccheus, Intern for New Haven Alder in Ward 26

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For Kevin Li, Yale is all about exploration. He is a biology major whose original plans were to major in computer science. His favorite class was an English seminar about love. He participates in STEM activities, but has also immersed himself in New Haven politics. In every way, Kevin has taken advantage of the flexibility of Yale’s resources to find his place there.

Although his essay highlights his passion for creativity through the lens of computer science, he has found other ways to be innovative within his new major as well. He fostered his interest in biology by joining Yale’s iGEM team, which is creating bacteria that will help break down a polymer found in plastic. He has also been doing research at the Isaacs Lab for the past year, working on developing new cellular engineering technologies.

Kevin believes that it is important for education to be “all encompassing,” which is perhaps why he made the decision to take a seminar called “Making Love” in his first year. It was outside of his comfort zone but helped him to “think critically about big ideas.” He even credits it with helping him figure out what he wanted after ending a long relationship.

“Yale is the best college to find who you are and who you want to be,” Li says.

He was originally drawn to Yale because of the welcoming homes that he found in the residential college system. Because he would be far away from his community in Orlando, it was important that he find a base at school. However, Kevin found a home in other strong communities as well. One of his favorite traditions is his a cappella group’s Bacchanal, an annual concert where alumni return to watch and sing songs along with current members. It is one of his favorite nights of the year, and he loves seeing how much people still care about their group. Kevin hopes to leave Yale with this same sense of commitment.

Kevin’s essays include one of his Yale supplemental essays.

ESSAY 1 (YALE SUPPLEMENT):
If you selected one of the engineering majors, please tell us more about what has led you to an interest in this field of study, what experiences (if any) you have had in engineering, and what it is about Yale’s engineering program that appeals to you.

My childhood was one surrounded by computers, the Internet, and video games. Even the earliest memory I have of my grandmother is watching her play Super Mario Brothers on the NES and laughing as she hopped along with Mario as he jumped. This envelopment by technology drove me to wonder more and more about it. Was it simply magic that made Mario move or was it something tangible?

The constant curiosity eventually led me into the world of computer science. My journey into programming began with an introductory Python game design summer course in middle school that had me hooked at “build your own game.” I still remember the excitement as I unveiled the first game I ever created: a blackjack emulator. It was a simple text-based program consisting of dialogues using user input. Looking back now, the actual structure behind that game was atrocious, but in that moment I became forever fascinated by coding.

Going into high school, I continued to look for more ways to further my passion. I began attending weekend courses for introductory C++ at the University of Central Florida, and during those classes my mind was truly blown. It was there that I saw how computer science weaved into other disciplines. For instance, it was on one afternoon during a lecture on image processing that I first applied calculus to the real world. Mathematics was brought to life using programs to teach a computer how to find edges in a digital image. Suddenly, I realized how important it would be to branch out in my education. I later joined a competitive robotics team to get experience in the hands-on construction of machines. Again, I saw the way programming connected with reality as I not only built steel arms and wheels, but also wrote code to control their movement. The necessity of being a well-rounded student has been ingrained into my perspective of education, which is why Yale’s curriculum appeals to me. The strength of Yale’s computer science program in Machine Learning, Cybersecurity, and Computer Music perfectly align with my views on the utility and potential of programming in the future by integrating various real world domains with computer science; in particular, I’m looking forward to taking a course in Cryptography and Computer Security. This reinforced support of interdisciplinary study coupled with computer science is what makes Yale a unique university to me. I can already see how my time with Yale will facilitate my growth as a computer scientist, engineer, and most importantly, a student who can think creatively. From working with others on GitHub to independent projects with my dad, programming has constantly been present in my life. It has been admittedly a little bittersweet to find out that no, it hasn’t been magic running my devices, but in discovering all the intricate processes behind my everyday existence, it has been well worth it.

From 50 Yale Admission Success Stories: And the Essay That Made Them Happen, edited by the Yale Daily News Staff. Copyright © 2020 by the authors
and reprinted by permission of St. Martin's Publishing Group.