My Time as a Pre-College Participant

Every summer, Emory hosts the Pre-College Program, an academic program for high school students. It gives college-bound rising juniors and rising seniors an exciting glimpse of academic and residential life at a top-ranked national university.

This week, we asked Veena Chittamura, a participant from Sessaion A, a few questions about her experience so far!

1. How did you hear about Pre-College?
While researching colleges that offer biology majors, I stumbled upon Emory. As I continued my search and began to explore Emory University, I discovered that they offered a pre-college program with a course in Neuroscience. By this point, Emory was already one of my top choices and even earned the title of “my dream school.” When I learned that I could spend two weeks at Emory and learn about Neuroscience, I knew it would be the highlight of my summer.

2. What made you decide to participate?
Emory has been my dream school for almost a year now. It is the perfect combination of a liberal arts and research university, making it the best of both worlds. I realized that it is important to not only like a college on paper but get a feel of the ambience and experience it in real life. For that reason, I decided that participating in this program would allow me to live at Emory and understand the academic philosophy and the college life to decide for sure if this is the right fit for me.

3. What’s something you’ve learned about yourself by participating in Pre-College?
I learned that I am independent and capable. It taught me that having freedom means learning to manage my time between school work and socializing. Sometimes you skip that trip to the S.A.A.C (Student Activity and Academic Center – where there’s a big pool!) to get that paper done, and sometimes you end up having a little bit of extra time so you begin your homework for next week. It all comes down to organizing yourself efficiently and making sure you don’t overstress about things that are in your control.

4. How was your time on Emory’s campus?
I really enjoyed the freedom and change that Emory offered. Though the trip began a little slow, revealing more leisure time than anticipated, the next week and a half went by quickly. I became friends with one of the most hilarious, intelligent, and outgoing people I have ever come across, and was able to form close relationships with these people in such a short amount of time. These two weeks are ones that I will never forget.

5. What was one highlight of your time in Pre-College?
The highlight of my time in Pre-College was the second night, when my friends and I hung out in my room, just talking and getting to know each other. You could really see everyone opening up and becoming comfortable, and the relationships that formed that night are stronger than ones that take years to form. Being aware of the fact that we only have two weeks together really brought our group closer. Everyone just wants to have a good time and get to know people so everyone was extremely kind and welcoming.

6. What course(s) did you do in Pre-College?
Case Studies in Neuroscience

7. What was one of the highlights from your time in Atlanta?
The Civil Rights Center was one of the most rewarding trips I have ever taken. Growing up in India, I was distanced from the prejudice and discrimination that took place in this country. I learned about the struggles of African Americans in textbooks, but nothing comes as close to experiencing it in real life. The museum had a simulation of a sit in where you experience the struggles and slurs that they faced at the time. In that moment, I knew that nothing I had ever read about came close to what they faced in reality. It opened my eyes to the extreme caliber of the events occurring today all over the country and the implications the past had on it.

Veena Chittamuri
Redmond, WA

Rising high school senior

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