My name is Aarnav Chopra, a senior in high school, and more importantly, a serial entrepreneur. Working as an investment intern with Aevum Capital, I pitched advanced alternative assets called life settlements to high capital family offices in Israel and Texas. With Thomas and Company, I honed my skills of quantitative analysis and auditing. My most important experience in my entrepreneurial journey, however, did not come from a formal fiduciary setting. My journey as a businessman was catalyzed by something that means the world to me. I promise that an investment in me will not be a mistake, and I will prove it to you with chocolate milk. I have been drinking chocolate milk every day since first grade. What started as a delicious treat became a source of comfort throughout my upbringing. Years later, while searching for my International Baccalaureate Personal Project topic, I turned a chocolate milk bottle around and jotted down the nutrition facts—a spontaneous decision marking a turning point in my life. I realized what I was drinking was far from healthy. As a chocolate milk connoisseur, I was the right person to fix it. I began researching how to create a healthier formula without compromising taste. AlphaMilk was born. I quickly realized that added sugar, thickeners, and gums gave it its irresistible flavor. Omitting texture modifiers was easy, but replacing added sugar was the real challenge. After extensive taste testing, I found monk fruit extract—a sugar-free sweetener far sweeter than sugar. Using less sweetener saved money, and monk fruit’s anti-inflammatory properties made AlphaMilk an affordable, healthy option. I tested my formula by bringing free samples to school in a Thermos. It was met with unanimous approval. What began as an assignment grew into a profitable small business, generating $1,000 in net profit. AlphaMilk sponsors community events, including a local March Madness basketball tournament. I am now developing a bottle design with nutritional information as a step toward FDA approval. This mission holds personal meaning. I was born with a rare heart defect and underwent open-heart surgery at two weeks old. Grateful for my life, I feel determined to take control of my health and help others do the same. I aspire to use business to drive innovation in public health. AlphaMilk represents the power of an idea. It helped me discover problems, create solutions like a scientist, and sell them like a business leader. In the next stage of my life, I will drive innovation that sparks meaningful change. I still drink chocolate milk every day—now, as an aspiring health science innovator and entrepreneur. I promise an investment in me will not be one to regret. Thank you so much for considering me!

I am Aarnav, and I love writing stories. I began writing a rulebook for time traveller's, and here is a short story based on that same premise: You cannot own time through time travel. It cannot be possessed. Vanra Chopra learned this the hard way. A titan of industry, Chopra had built his empire on scarcity. He hoarded, manipulated, and sold what others could not afford to lose. Oil, land, water, data. But when he discovered The Machine, he realized he had stumbled upon the ultimate resource: time itself. And what does a businessman do with a resource? He monetizes it. Chopra’s plan was simple. The Machine allowed him to loop small pockets of time, extracting minutes, hours—sometimes days, and storing them like commodities. If money was the ability to purchase time, then what if he could sell time directly? He set up an operation, warehouses filled with “time farms,” where workers repeated the same hour over and over, harvesting productivity like wheat. Investors paid millions for customized time loops: a morning before a bad decision, an extra night with a dying loved one, a redo of a failed business deal. It was flawless. For a while. Chopra’s first problem was quality control. The product began to decay. Those who purchased extra hours found themselves out of sync with reality, unable to move forward. Their bodies aged, but their minds lagged behind, as if they had overdrafted existence itself. Then came the Timekeepers—an order older than the Machine, older than history. They arrived at Chopra’s headquarters in the dead of night, slipping through the cracks of reality like whispers. “You cannot own time,” their leader said. His face was ageless, shifting between youth and ruin. “You cannot sell what was never yours.” Chopra, ever the businessman, laughed. “I don’t own time. I only rent it out.” The Timekeepers said nothing. They simply took him. No one knows exactly what happened to Julius Mercer. Some say he was trapped in a single moment, reliving his last breath over and over, an ironic punishment for the man who tried to profit from infinity. Others claim he never existed at all, that the Timekeepers erased him so thoroughly that no record remains, not in books, not in memory, not even in whispers. But there are those who insist otherwise. In the quiet corners of old libraries and abandoned train stations, you might hear his voice- pleading, bargaining, still trying to cut a deal. Still trying to buy time. Because time cannot be farmed. It cannot be owned. And if you try, time will take you instead. Thank you so much for considering my application! Aarnav

“Where are we sending him mama?”, said the surgeon who performed the life-saving open heart surgery on me to my mother, 17 years ago. She was scared, thinking I wouldn’t make it, that my body had been donated to science, and that she had to choose the university that would be my final destination. He told her I would survive, and wanted her to send me to his Alma mater when I grew up. 17 years later, I know exactly what I must do. Success to me transcends the interpersonal fulfillment gained from achieving things in a meritocracy. For the past four years, I have put my best foot forward into building the most extensive résumé that I could have as a student leader. I want to share how my journey of achieving notable tangible success has led me to realize something greater. I was raised from a young age for holistic excellence. Academically, perfection in grades, scores, and accolades was requisite. My efforts were directed to leverage success as a leader. I led my school’s DECA chapter as president and became the only person to not only win states but also place in the top 10 amongst thousands of the brightest minds in the world at Internationals for the most competitive event available. Objective excellence in academics was paramount to me, not only through remaining at the top of my class as a National Merit semi-finalist and Cum Laude member but outside of school as well, being commended for my research in HOSA and a 3 time National Beta Club Trivia Champion. I sought to hone my craft as a scientist and businessman, reflected in my entrepreneurial efforts with my novel chocolate milk formula (dubbed AlphaMilk), and my formal roles with financial firms, like my investment outreach work with Texas and Israel for Aevum Capital. I wanted to combine medical research with execution, science with business, to make a name for myself as a disruptor. However, I was humbled when I realized that this fails to address the most important part of my purpose- service. I once wanted to put my efforts into achieving personal financial and status success in business and the science world. Working with homeless veterans with Empath Health, taking care of animals in Peru with Amazon Planet, and seeing the state of the world as an aspiring serviceman changed my view entirely. Speaking to Air Force and Navy officers at DECA Internationals, a time when I associated success strongly with money, opened my eyes to a new kind of service. Wealth, status and fame are incredibly important, but to me, do not scratch the surface of true fulfillment. When I led my school’s RoundSquare delegation to Morocco and aided in drought relief, I saw the hope and happiness the children shared in dark times when they invited me to dance. There truly is no amount of money that could make me turn my back to those who suffer around the world. My parents fled poverty in India to make their dreams come true in the United States as doctors. I seek to bolster and expand their vision for meaningful contribution by pursuing service-based leadership in healthcare. I seek to become a physician for the United States Armed Forces, and eventually transition into civilian healthcare in underserved communities. There is no profit greater than fulfilling my duty as a global citizen to dedicate my life to service. Success is for me to put all of the lessons I have learned as a student leader into a lifetime of meaningful service. Service is where my heart lies, no pun intended. 17 years later, I have discovered a profound definition of success for myself. I am ready to dedicate my life to making the world a better place. I promise that an investment in me will not be one to regret. Thank you so much for considering me!