MOUNTAIN VIEW, CALIFORNIA – A Mountain View teen’s message about reframing the college application grind is resonating far beyond his campus.
Saint Francis High School junior Shaurya Guylani delivered a TEDx talk in March to an audience of about 500 people in the school’s Graham Theater, with more than 700 additional viewers tuning in via livestream. For a first-time large-scale public talk, it was the result of six months of writing, memorizing, and rehearsal — and it led to a big honor.
After the event, Shaurya’s talk was selected as a TED Editor’s Pick, an award reserved for only a tiny fraction of submissions each year.
When the video was published on TED’s official YouTube channel, it topped 16,000 views within the first three days, he said. In outreach to Bay Area Telegraph, Shaurya said he’s hoping to share the talk with more local students and families because of the practical, mindset-shift message at its core.
The talk, titled “Why college applications work (even if you think they don’t),” argues that the process can be a blueprint for self-growth rather than a high-stress, zero-sum race. Instead of treating essays, activities, and deadlines as hoops to jump through, Shaurya urges students to use them to clarify values, build discipline, and pursue improvement with purpose and authenticity.
“This wasn’t a PowerPoint on how to get into your dream school,” he said in materials about the talk, “but an appreciation for the beauty in preparing for college applications” — even when the outcome includes rejection. He adds that the system can still “work,” just not always in the way people assume, if students use it to discover who they are becoming.
You can watch Shaurya’s full talk on the TEDx Talks YouTube channel
