Alden is an undergraduate student at Rice University pursuing a double major in political science and history. Alden gained admission through the Early Decision process after earning a 35 on the ACT. In addition to his studies, Alden spends his time on campus participating in mock trials, volunteering at the radio station, and writing for the school newspaper. He is also currently working on founding a bagel-making business. This past summer, Alden trained and volunteered on ambulances in while simultaneously contributing to a research paper regarding environmental peacebuilding in the Middle East.
Alden first enrolled in Kweller Prep as a fourth grader to prepare for the ISEE middle school exam. He earned a 99th percentile score, gaining admission to the Speyer Legacy School for gifted students. While at Speyer, he was introduced to competitive debate and went on to earn numerous top speaker and team awards over the next eight years, including New York State finalist and top-ten speaker in the state. For high school admissions, Alden achieved a Stuyvesant-worthy score on the SHSAT and scored in the 99th percentile on the ISEE. He ultimately chose to attend Friends Seminary, a prestigious independent Quaker school in Gramercy Park.
At Friends, Alden built a robust portfolio: interning for a city councilmember’s comptroller campaign; organizing, fundraising, and volunteering for war refugee aid efforts in Poland; and co-authoring a paper on the social death of children affected by the Russo-Ukrainian War. He spent the first semester of his Junior year attending the highly selective School for Ethics and Global Leadership in Washington, D.C., where he met with global leaders and thinkers while cultivating his interests in ethics and politics. Alden has independently sat for AP exams, earning 5s in Macroeconomics, U.S. History, and Comparative Government, as well as 4s in Statistics and Calculus despite his school not offering AP courses.
Alden’s involvement in tutoring is personal. It began as a way to help his 10-year-old brother with homework and prepare for the Lower Level ISEE exam. In his free time, Alden enjoys calisthenics workouts and testing out new recipe ideas.