A Review of the Inspirit AI Program: Brown University Student Shares Her Experience in the Inspirit AI Scholars Program
Ilana Nguyen is currently an undergraduate student at Brown University studying Computer Science. Before getting admitted to Brown University, Ilana was a student in the Inspirit AI Scholars program. She participated in the program in Summer 2021, and in this interview, she shares a review of her experience in the program, answering the question: Is Inspirit AI worth it?
Ilana Nguyen’s Inspirit AI Alum Profile
How did the AI Scholars program impact your preparation for college and your academic journey?
“The AI Scholars program nurtured my interest in AI and showed me how AI worked under the hood, which led to my desire to continue pursuing AI courses and research in college.”
What project did you work on in the AI Scholars program?
AI + Skin Cancer Detection
In this project, students use computer vision and image classification tools to develop machine learning models to diagnose skin lesion images. Students explore a variety of image manipulation techniques and convolutional neural networks as you create an effective model that could help save lives. Students also study your model for bias, to make sure that it works for people with a variety of skin tones. Finally, students take your model one step further by packaging it into an application with a user interface.
Which colleges/universities did you apply to, and which did you get accepted to?
Ilana applied to highly selected colleges, including Brown University, where she now currently attends. Take a look at her college admissions journey below.
In what ways did you feature your Inspirit AI experience on your college applications?
Many students will choose to showcase their AI project-building experience on their college application in a variety of ways. From including Inspirit AI on the activities section to writing an essay about their project, many students will highlight the work they completed as part of the AI Scholars program to help bolster their application. Ilana chose to showcase Inspirit AI on her application in the activities section, where she mentioned participating in the program, as well as her essays, where she wrote about her Inspirit AI project-building experience.
How has your AI Scholars project affected your career journey?
A student’s learning journey doesn’t end with AI Scholars—the Inspirit AI program can be a launching point for many students’ college and career journeys exploring computer science and artificial intelligence. For Ilana, her project helped inspire an interest in healthcare.
“My AI Scholars project really helped me get exposed to AI, and actually inspired me to pursue research at the intersection of AI and Health. Having the project as an experience helped me get into a selective REU program and get started with research in college!”
What has your college and career journey been like since you completed the AI Scholars program?
“I was a machine learning research intern at the NSF-funded REU program at UC Irvine, where I worked on developing a Python pipeline for a deep learning classification model for patient fall risk assessment using a foundation large language model, Bio-Clinical BERT, on nurse’s notes. In college, I have taken Deep Learning, Deep Learning in Genomics, Software Engineering, and Introductory CS courses.”
What advice do you have for high school students applying to their dream colleges?
“Invest time in the essays, as that is how admissions officers get to know you as a person! Talk about projects and experiences that you truly enjoyed and reflect your narrative.”
For Ilana, the Inspirit AI program was more than worth it, from showcasing AI Scholars on her college application to applying her learnings from the Inspirit AI course to her work as a college student. If you liked this Inspirit AI review, we encourage you to apply to the live online program here.
About Inspirit AI
AI Scholars Live Online is a 10 session (25-hour) program that exposes high school students to fundamental AI concepts and guides them to build a socially impactful project. Taught by our team of graduate students from Stanford, MIT, and more, students receive a personalized learning experience in small groups with a student-teacher ratio of 5:1.
