Dare to Dream
Matthew Crowley was set on going to Stanford University last fall, but all the signs told him he wouldn't make the cut. He plugged his grades and test scores into a computer program that tracked college-acceptance statistics and came out on the low end of a graph for Stanford. Guidance counselors at Kent Denver, a private school he attended in Englewood, Colo., did not include Stanford on a list of suggested colleges. And he says a college adviser his family hired for $2,800 told him not to bother applying.
But Mr. Crowley, who at age 16 started a company that built and tested skis, didn't like being told what not to do. He remembered his father, who died when Matthew was 11, telling him, "What's the harm in trying?" He sent in his application early, but also applied to seven other schools.
Soon he got the news that Stanford had put him on the wait list, meaning a slot for him could open up later. Then, while hanging out in the basement with his brother, he got the email from Stanford: accepted. Mr. Crowley ran upstairs with the news. "It was the greatest joy I've had as a parent other than giving birth," says his mother, Melissa Crowley.
Now a freshman, he's majoring in product design and was accepted to a small class led by Banny Banerjee, the director of Stanford's design program. Prof. Banerjee once worked for IDEO, an innovation and design firm that Matthew had admired so much, he toured the company's Boulder, Colo., office as a 9-year-old with his father. "I walk into his class and I can't stop smiling," Mr. Crowley says.
Advice: Have a backup plan, but don't get scared off by long odds. "It pays off to keep on going for it even if you're told you can't do it," he says. His mother says with the next kids, twin high-school juniors, she'll seek advice that is realistic but still "gives them hope."
No comments:
Post a Comment