College and Scholarships

Minh A. Luong, a faculty member at the Yale School of Management and Assistant Director of International Security Studies, writes:

“The Wall Street Journal report did specifically highlight a “consistent trend”…that dedicated participation in.. debate has significantly increased the success rate of college applicants at all schools which track such data. State and national award winners have a 22% to 30% higher acceptance rate at top tier college and being captain of the debate team “improved an applicant’s chances by more than 60% compared with the rest of the pool…This is significantly better than other extracurricular activities that tend to recruit from the same pool of students as forensic teams such as school newspaper reporter (+3%), sports team captain (+5%), class president (+5), and band (+3). Even without winning major awards, participation in speech and debate develops valuable skills that colleges are seeking out and that is reflect in the above average acceptance rate (4%). Colleges and universities today are looking for articulate thinkers and communicators who will become active citizens and leaders for tomorrow.

Our recent alums are attending or have attended college at the following:

Class of 2024

Eunji (Katie) Carpenter - Dartmouth College

Leah Goldberg - Dartmouth College

Audrey Lam - Northwestern University

Class of 2022

Alicia Amsel - The Ohio State University

John Andreou - Purdue University

Sohan Bellam - Emory University

Marcus Chin - Loyola Marymount University

Lexi Cohen - Indiana University

Diego Duarte - University of Oregon

Joanna Gusis - Michigan State University - Full Scholarship

Tyler Karle - University of Minnesota

Chrissa Katsamakis - Southern Methodist University 

Alex Kim - DePaul University

Brianna Meltser - Indiana University

Carmine Miklovis - American University - Dean's Scholarship

Mackenzie Paich - University of Vermont - Presidential Scholarship 

Class of 2021

Jack Barber - UCLA

Kaitlyn Bowles - University of Waterloo

Amy Cheng - University of Illinois

Hannah Foster - Rice University 

Alivia Klinghofer - University of Michigan

Anthony Miklovis - Michigan State University (Full Debate Scholarship)

Shayna Seiler - University of Michigan

Class of 2020

Charlie Bauer - Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech)

Ayla Kaufman - University of Michigan - Honors College

Sarosh Nagar - Harvard

Rujuta Pandit - Dartmouth College

Lara Pick - Northwestern University

Sophia Rogoff - University of Michigan

Class of 2019

Gabriel Burdeen - Indiana University 

Amelia D'Agaro - Duke University 

Connor Doughty - Kenyon College

Eva Farber - Michigan State University - Near Full Scholarship 

Samantha Jacobs - American University

John Karteczka - Tulane - Substantial Scholarship - Honors College

Daniel Levin - Tulane - Substantial Scholarship 

Alyssa Nekritz - College of William and Mary

Alex Reznik - University of Pittsburgh - Honors College 

Ashley Thurber - University of South Carolina - Capstone Program

Cally Tucker - University of Iowa

Class of 2018

Matt Fishman - Washington University (St. Louis)

Charles Foster - University of Illinois

Nina Fridman - Northwestern University

Spencer Johnson - University of Wisconsin (Honors Program)

Daniel Joseph - Purdue University - Presidential Scholarship 

Ben Jutzi - Washington University (St. Louis)

Charles Kang - New York University (Stern Business School)

Josh Lamet - University of Minnesota

Maggie Li - Johns Hopkins University

Jack Kussman - University of Michigan (Honors Program)

Taran Nelavelli - University of Wisconsin  

Maggie Wang - Duke University 

Matt Zhang - Northwestern University 

Wendy Zhu - Emory University - Substantial Scholarship 

Class of 2017

Irene (Riana) Bakis - Dayton - Substantial Scholarship

Daniel Ben-Isvy - Brown University

Hannah Buzil - University of Illinois

Dylan Chase - University of Chicago 

Jonah Jacobs - University of Michigan - Honors College - Substantial Scholarship 

Sarah Jiang - Georgetown University 

Justin Karlin - Northwestern University

Janet Lee - University of Illinois

Alana Levin - University of Pennsylvania

Christinia Li - Stanford   

Sahra Merchant - George Washington University

Ben Mnushkin - Northwestern University 

Kayley Ng - Illinois State University 

Josh Spaeth - University of Texas 

Class of 2016

Brett Cotler - Brown University

Jason Levin - Northwestern University

Jake Rose - University of Southern California - Full Scholarship

Anthony Trufanov - University of Kentucky - Full Scholarship 

Class of 2015

Laila Abdelmonem - University of Chicago

Dale Brinsky - University of Kentucky

Aaron Charous - Brown University

Jeremy Hoffen - Indiana University

Maria Kardasis - Loyola 

Sam Korsky - MIT

Scott Mutchnik - Stanford

Lehka Nelavelli - University of Wisconson

Yasmine Ramachandra - Oberlin

Tori Rose - University of Texas - Scholarship 

Jared Sawyer - Tufts

Ryan Spector - Dartmouth College  

Gabe Weininger - Stanford

Class of 2014

Matt Bondy – College of William and Mary

Derek Choi – Harvard 

Tommy Donovan – University of Michigan - Debate Scholarship 

Danny Hensel – University of Michigan

Kim Hill – Northwestern University 

Jacob Kahn – University of Pennsylvania (Jerome Fisher Program)

Natalie Knez – Georgetown 

Becky Lee – University of California at Berkeley

Ethan Matlin – Pomona College

Sahar Merchant – Emory University 

Josef Niemann – Ohio State University

Julie Scott – Boston University 

Maya Simkin – American University 

Josh Tashma – Vanderbilt University 

Class of 2013

Jason Charous – University of Michigan Ross Business School

Neeral Mehta – University of Minnesota

Anjay Khurana – Case Western

Nathaniel Sawyer – Emory University – Full Debate Scholarship

Alex Yang – Georgetown

Class of 2012

Rachel Boroditsky – Northwestern

Jason Hirshman – Stanford

Sarah Koulegeorge – Dartmouth College

Lewis Loy – University of Wisconsin

Emma Singer – University of Michigan

Vicky Stavropolous – University of Chicago

Class of 2011

Max Balkan -- University of Illinois

Mitchel Hochberg – Georgetown (School of Foreign Service)

Alex Pappas – University of Michigan – Near Full Debate Scholarship

Zach Parker -- University of Illinois

Class of 2010

Pat Donovan – University of Texas – Near Full Debate Scholarship

Flynn Makuch – University of Texas – Near Full Debate Scholarship

Stephanie Rubinstein – University of Michigan

Alexis Shklar – Wake Forest – Presidential Debate Scholarship

Vinay Sridharan – Northwestern

Grace Zhang -- University of Illinois

Class of 2009

Max Kaplan – Pitzer College

Debbie Oh – University of Southern California – Full Debate Scholarship

Victor Shao – Northwestern University (Student body president)

Class of 2008

Lucy Zhu – Georgetown (School of Foreign Service)

Class of 2007

Matt Fisher – Northwestern – Partial Debate Scholarship

Rob Schaus – Georgetown

Stephanie Spies – Northwestern – Partial Debate Scholarship

Max Voldman – University of Illinois

Class of 2006

Greg Friend – Northwestern

Drew Wallenstein – Miami of Ohio

Class of 2005

Yelena Filipchuk – UC Berkeley

Aaron Vinson – Miami of Ohio

Jordan Young – Johns Hopkins University

Class of 2004

Marissa Kramer – Stanford 

Matt Nadell – University of Southern California – Full Debate Scholarship

Michael Rosecrans – Emory University

Adam Stern – University of Wisconsin

Jake Ziering – University of Redlands – Full Debate Scholarship

Class of 2003

Jamie Ellinger-Macon – University of Wisconsin

Matt Finegold – University of Michigan

Class of 2002

Sam Singer – University of Michigan

Reuben Schy – University of Kentucky – Full Debate Scholarship

Lakshemi Sridharan – Harvard

Class of 2001

Michael Greenstein – Emory – Debate Scholarship

Rajeev Khurana – Case Western

Michael Klinger – Harvard

Stacey Nathan – UC Berkeley – Full Debate Scholarship

Class of 2000

Kevin Mazur – Dartmouth College

Michael Lewis – Emory University

Sarah Sabotka – University of Pennsylvania

Dan Shalmon – UC Berkeley – Full Debate Scholarship

Marissa Silber – University of Southern California – Full Debate Scholarship

Class of 1998

Erin Abrams – Duke University

Jordan Herder – University of Southern California – Full Debate Scholarship

Andy Silverman – University of Southern California – Full Debate Scholarship

Alumni, if you know missing information or would like to add more please contact coach Greenstein!