Pair of Niagara students are bound for Harvard
No backup plans were needed for two Niagara Catholic scholars
Attending Harvard University wasn’t necessarily the long-term aspiration for either Ciara Krsul or Thomas Mete.
They hadn’t spent years preparing by taking Ivy League admissions tutoring or hanging school paraphernalia on their bedroom walls.
For Krsul, who attends Notre Dame College School, applying was a last-minute decision.
So last minute, that by the time she looked at the Harvard website before the Christmas break, applications were due in a matter of weeks.
Mete, a student at Lakeshore Catholic High School, started the process earlier, making the decision — in the middle of applying to Ontario universities — to apply to Ivy League schools as well.
Why not? Nothing to lose by trying, they thought.
But neither had any expectations. They knew it was a possibility — their grades were strong and extracurricular activities were impressive — but with an average acceptance rate over the previous 10 years of 5.35 per cent, it seemed unlikely.
And yet, both went online, opened up the Harvard portal and saw virtual confetti streaming down their screen, welcoming them to the Class of 2026.
“A lot of people record their reactions to see if they got in, but I was so not convinced anything would come from it that I just opened it up in my room by myself,” said Krsul, who has a grade average of 95.8 per cent and is an active participant in her school’s art, chess and eco clubs.
Mete said the acceptance offer was surreal.
“I always thought, I wanted to get in. I thought I could, but when it happened, I just couldn’t believe it,” said Mete, who currently has a grade average of 99.14 per cent.
“Right when I got the acceptance, we went out for ice cream to celebrate and then I got back and accepted it right away.”
In an announcement last month, Harvard said it accepted 3.19 per cent of applicants to its 2026 class, the lowest rate in the school’s history. It also saw a record high number of 61,220 candidates apply.
Neither Krsul nor Mete had ever been to Harvard, where they have since both attended an event for the upcoming freshman class.
Krsul was hesitant to go because she didn’t want to miss school, but said she is “so glad” she went because it provided her with a sense of comfort in knowing what to expect this fall.
“The people were really nice and I got to see and meet a lot of the professors,” she said. “I was really happy to see that the professors are really open to working with students.”
Krsul is looking to study cell and molecular biology, eventually focusing on medical research. Her grandfather has Alzheimer’s, and she wants to “research into the disease to see if I can help a little bit.”
But her interests extend beyond the science world. She won best art piece at Niagara Catholic’s young artists gallery and earning DELF B2 certification (a diploma that recognizes language proficiency).
“(In my Harvard interview) the questions he was asking me were super based on my hobbies, not just what have you done for chemistry or researching,” she said.
For Mete, the three-day orientation made it feel a little less daunting. Even though one student got a perfect SAT score, and another is already doing cancer research at John Hopkins, he felt like he fit in.
“A lot of people I could relate to, talk to,” he said. “Even the professors, some of them are Nobel Prize laureates and they’re doing their research, but they want undergraduates … to take part in the research and they really want to get to know us.”
Since Grade 8, Mete has volunteered for Niagara Falls MP Tony Baldinelli, as well as with Elections Canada and Get Out To Vote, with his eye on a future in government or finance.
Krsul and Mete are the first two Niagara Catholic District School Board students to accept admissions to an Ivy League school since 2017.