For 17-year-old Rutvij Holay, getting into an Ivy League university mattered.
These institutions represent the elite of the elite in higher education in the US.
His parents came to the country from India and "started from scratch", he said, so that he could achieve the American Dream.
"Colleges like Harvard represent a chance to actually build our connection to the country and a chance to make our mark within this world," he told the BBC.
With a resume boasting high test results, work volunteering for political organisations, prestigious leadership awards and the ability to speak five languages, he entered the admissions process with confidence.
He says he applied to 35 different schools, though Harvard was not one of them.
But, he says with a sigh: "I was rejected from all the Ivy League universities."
Although he cannot provide any concrete evidence, Rutvij believes that admissions officers discriminated against him because he is Asian American.
If only Rutvij identified as some "oppressed" minorities he might have gotten in to all the Ivy League schools he applied to.
