A little background first: My father is from Cuba and met my American mother while working as a bartender in Havana. My father’s father was the leader of the local communist organization and had very strong views regarding the structure of Cuba despite being a lowly truck driver. My father was never able to go to college and instead educated himself through my grandfather’s enormous collection of books ranging in subject from economics to Shakespeare. He eventually ended up working at the bar where he met my mother.
My mother comes from a family that has been in Southern California for generations. My first Californian ancestor came to the area in 1850 and his lineage prospered ever since. My mother’s father fought in WWII and later went on to become a lawyer. My mother went to Yale and became a businesswoman. While my mother’s mother (my grandfather died a while back) has a pretty good amount, my mother herself has never been rich. However, in comparison to my father’s family she is absolutely loaded. So they married, moved to Southern California, and I was born, the first child. I was labeled as a gifted student in the fifth grade and went on to skip the sixth and seventh grades. Throughout my childhood, my father acted as the “tiger mom”, constantly pushing me to take the most difficult classes and join extracurriculars. I didn’t have access to a television until I was thirteen and was surrounded by books my entire life. My father forced me to study at the library for three hours a day, in middle school. My mother was gone most of the time due to her work and when she was around, she didn’t really show much interest in my academics and instead bought me ice cream and brought me to movies.
In the summer of ninth grade, my life completely changed. My father was diagnosed with cancer and died within a few months despite us being told that he had a high chance of survival. I’m not going to get into the subject in depth, but it was difficult. Only a week after the death of my father, my mother had to go back to work and I was put in charge of my little sister and brother. I had to learn how to cook to make sure we had a healthy meal every night and there were times when the prospect of losing our home was very high because of the medical bills. I didn’t do any extracurricular activities and dropped to all regular classes (before I had AP Art History and Algebra 2 on my schedule) where my performance was relatively disappointing. (3 B’s in total, the rest A’s. Yes, I know, not terrible, but very disappointing for me). Sophomore year I took relatively easy classes again, with only one honors/AP class: Honors Chemistry. I also began taking Korean in school with no prior background aside from an interest in learning something new. I got all A’s aside from a B in Algebra 2 in the first semester. I still did not do any extracurriculars as I was stuck at home caring for my siblings. Junior year I took three honors/AP classes: AP Biology, AP English Literature, and Honors Anatomy and Physiology. I ended the year with all A’s aside from a B in first semester Pre-Calculus. I began getting heavily involved with a prominent local volunteering organization and rose to important youth positions very quickly. I have continued this work now and have really filled out my resume with the different functions I have performed and the numerous volunteering hours I have amassed. Senior year I took four AP’s: Government, Spanish, Economics (well, technically Econ is two), and English Language. I currently have A’s in all but English Language.
I took my first SAT at the end of junior year and got a 2260 (800CR 780W 680M) and then retook it my senior year and got a 2240 (770CR 760W 710M) for a 2290 superscore. As I was expecting a 2300+, I was very disappointed about the 2240, but glad that I had at least passed the 700 mark for math. I got my AP scores back in July and received 5’s on both of them (Literature and Biology). I took the Biology and Literature subject tests in June of last year and got 800’s on both of them. (I was really happy about this as I thought I had done terribly!). My total GPA is 4.08W, 3.87UW, and 4.25UC, which I’m pretty disappointed about, as I really believed that I did not challenge myself nearly enough in high school, which led to a lot of problems with boredom and lack of motivation. I attend a pretty competitive public high school which sent fifty people to UCLA last year. The average SAT is around a 2100.
I had originally wanted to go into medicine, but after hearing more about the lives of doctors I decided against it. For the rest of high school, I switched around a lot in terms of desired career path. At times I wanted to be a psychotherapist, then a mathematician working in academia, then a politician, then a lawyer and so on and so on. Right now my desired career path will depend on the college I eventually attend. If I attend a UC, I will do business (specifically accounting if possible), Haas at Berkeley is very appealing to me. If I go to University of Alabama I will do engineering. If I get into a top school (Ivy or Stanford) I will do economics. Same with LACs. I have the Common App fee waiver, so I am able to apply to as many privates as I’d like.
TLDR: Ethnicity: Hispanic/White, SAT: 2290 (800CR 780W 710M), 800 SAT Bio 800 SAT Lit, 3.87UW/4.08W.
My Current List:
UC: UC Berkeley (I got asked for the letters of rec), UCLA, UCSB, UCD, UCSD
Private:
Yale-Legacy, I applied EA.
Davidson-Attended fly-in, applying to full-ride Belk Scholarship.
Washington and Lee-Attended fly-in, applying to full-ride Johnson Scholarship.
American University-Applying to Honors College.
Dartmouth
Bowdoin-Attended fly-in.
Harvard
Princeton
Stanford
Other:
University of Alabama-Applying to Honors College, Computer Based Honors Program, and University Fellows Program.
Just wanted to share my experience with you guys as I go along it. I’m both excited and stressed, but I believe that the excitement overshadows the stress. Feel free to post predictions, commentaries, chances, etc! I will keep this thread updated as events occur.