Meet Annie Yu ’25, who is looking forward to continuing her academic journey at Brown University after a recent early decision acceptance. She’s undecided on her major but is interested in learning more about studio art, environmental studies and East Asian studies.

“I chose Brown because of its diverse, interdisciplinary, and liberal arts environment,” Annie said. “When I was looking at schools, I looked at mainly liberal arts schools because my counselor, Ms. Honan, said that those types of schools will be more fit for me. They promoted exploration, teacher-student interaction, and provided more support for students who didn't know what they wanted to do in the future.”

Annie values her years at Wardlaw+Hartridge, a time during which she has learned to advocate for herself while taking advantage of small class sizes, many extracurricular opportunities and superb academic preparation. 

“Wardlaw promotes student involvement in decision-making roles. While leading the Green Club, I've learned that we need to draft detailed emails of any events we want to hold and meet deadlines,” she said. “W+H also encourages students to think in multiple perspectives. In AP Lang, we read a lot of non-fiction literature and wrote analyses about the author's perspective. In class discussions, people are encouraged to ask questions and state their opinions. In every class I take, the teacher has a different teaching style, yet another perspective. These are all important when entering college.”

Annie has made the most of her W+H experience by participating in the Global Scholars Program, staying active in athletics, and conducting a Chinese independent study. She’s also grateful for the support and guidance of the school’s College Counseling Office, which helped ease her stress about everything from letters of recommendation to reading essays throughout the application process. 

“I want to further emphasize the importance of asking for help, and being proactive,” Annie said. “In this process, my parents were heavily involved, too. Throughout every step, they wanted to ensure things were as good as they could be. It was my mom who pushed questions onto me, and led me inevitably to ask Ms. Honan for help. She always answered honestly and wholeheartedly. She even made time to meet with my parents, which allowed them to feel comfortable with my decisions as well. My parents say that my brother did not have such a caring counselor, which shows how much my counselors do care. I believe part of it is also me constantly speaking up for myself.”