It’s that time of the year again, where seniors begin to apply for colleges, dreaming of those big IVY schools: Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and more.
While some are trying to get those last minute volunteer hours and credits to graduate, a senior at Pembroke Pines Charter High School, Enzo Rabines, has already submitted a 20-page theoretical paper on his original philosophical political theory to Yale’s Journal of Political thought, all while working with a political science professor at the University of Miami, writing a research paper on U.S trade regulation.
Rabines’s foundation started with wanting to provide himself with the finest education. Over the summer he had been a part of a program at the University of Miami (UMiami), and he began to think differently about his own ideology.
“I noticed that a lot of kids knew about historical figures and ideologies that were mainly mandated by their school, but I typically learned those things strictly from the books I had read,” he says.
“So that genuinely interested me and made me realize the importance of where my source of my education was coming from.”
During the summer program at UMiami, Rabines had learned about all the different theories Political Science class had presented, and he came to realize what a privilege it was to experience a firsthand glimpse of college life. While he was there, he also noticed a broad spectrum of cultures from people all over the world.
He says how he “loved how the faculty was so nice and helped [him] with [his] letters of recommendation and mentorship regarding [his] interests.”
While seeking to deepen his education, he had started to work on an original philosophical political theory.
Eventually his theory was sent to Yale, his thought process was simply that “the submission to Yale wasn’t anything specific but more of it was conveniently the journal that accepted my specific type of thesis.”
Rabines conducted an in-depth study on college background, specifically IVY League schools. He had found that they strongly value research papers, especially when it came to creating a thesis or theory. One specific college he researched was the University of Pennsylvania, an IVY League school where a third of their admitted students had submitted some form of research paper.
“Doing research papers definitely puts you in a completely different ballgame,” he remarks.
Rabines stands on his recommendation to look at what extracurriculars to do to get into a Masters or PhD program, rather than to get into college itself.
“If you shoot for the more rigorous programs then you’ll no doubt be accepted into the less rigorous. It’s like that old phrase ‘shoot for the moon and you’ll land among the stars’.”
Although Rabines feels anxious about his upcoming future, he takes value in his determination that drives him to pursue his education with a greater purpose, actively participating in programs and organizations that he firmly knows will benefit his future, while also wanting to encourage others to follow the same path he is currently pursuing.
He often recommends others to “email professors for research opportunities or to revise your own research.”
With his foundation built on hard work and deep curiosity, he will readily step into his future to embrace any upcoming challenges and opportunities that college life has to offer. He is looking forward to seeing how his research can create a lasting impact on communities around him, and around the world.
