With college mail appearing in students’ mailboxes and inboxes, some seniors are receiving acceptance letters from top-tier universities across the country. A few said students include seniors Gabe Haro and Max Vargus.

Haro, who will be attending Stanford University in the fall, is excited about more than just the prestigious name.

“I originally loved the atmosphere,” Haro said. “As I looked more at the engineering school, I saw that it was more relaxed and more focused on entrepreneurship.”

Although he is relieved now, the last few months were less optimistic for Haro before he learned of his acceptance.

“I remember when I first applied, I told my parents I paid $90 to get rejected,” Haro said.

Vargus will attend the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His brother, who studies at MIT currently, was an influence for Vargus.

“People said the legacy would help because my brother got in,” Vargus said. “Online, the school says legacy is not a factor, but I wasn’t sure.”

Whether or not his brother was a factor in the university’s decision to admit Vargus, his brother did play an influence in Vargus’ decision to attend MIT. Vargus applied to MIT, Univeristy of Texas at Austin, Georgia Tech and University of California at Berkeley, but inevitably chose to accept MIT’s offer based on his brother’s experience.

“My brother got me interested,” Vargus said. “He showed me that it is a good school, which helped especially when I didn’t know where I should go.”

Vargus gives a word of advice to fellow students who are looking at the top-tier universities with low acceptance rates.

“You don’t have to be number one,” Vargus said. “Just do the extracurriculars.”