ADMITTED: alum Shamonti Shamim and Aima Hossen share the essays that got them accepted to Cornell University and MIT

Ryan Chen, Editor-in-Chief • September 14, 2025

ADMITTED is The Classic’s college admissions podcast, where we sit down with Townsend Harris seniors and discuss the essays and strategies they used to get into their dream schools. In this episode, you will hear from class of 2025 alum Shamonti Shamim and Aima Hossen and their journeys to being accepted into Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Cornell University, respectively. You will hear about Shamonti’s experience growing up to the present day as an identical twin and Aima’s approach to writing about sensitive topics like the Israel and Palestine conflict. This episode will include Shamonti’s Quest Bridge personal statement, four of Aima’s MIT supplemental essays, and a thorough discussion about each essay. Watch a video version of the podcast this link above or listen on Spotify here.

Music courtesy of the YouTube Audio Library: Sizzr by Schwartzy and Circa 1983 by the Freedom Trail Studio.

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About the Contributor

Ryan Chen, Editor-in-Chief

Ryan is a junior at Townsend Harris High School, and he plans to pursue a career in business/finance. He enjoys taking photos but wants to improve at “making” photos. His favorite Classic project he worked on is the 2025 FON Saturday night live stream. He will forever remember the moment the song “Dynamite” started playing during the intro segment. After technical difficulties on Friday night, hearing that intro song and knowing that things were working came as a huge relief. His favorite Classic piece created by others is the video “High School Teachers Define Gen Z Slang.” He genuinely didn’t know half of the terms going into the video, and it helped him understand conversations during high school.