Sweet, though…lol by the way, I am not a genius and do not think I am one ^haha
Accepted: UChicago (attending)
Deferred SCEA: Harvard (applied ED2 to UChicago so pulled application to Harvard and others)
Objective:
ACT 34 (35E, 35R, 34S, 31M)
UWGPA: 4.0
WGPA: 4.38
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): Top 5%
AP/IB (place score in parentheses): APUSH (5), AP Lang (5). AP Calc BC (5). AP Chem (3). AP Bio (5). AP EuroH (5) AP Psych (5), AP Lit (4)
Senior year course load:
AP Bio
AP Calc BC
AP Psyc
AP Lit
DifEq
StuCo
Physics
Awards:
- AP Scholar with Distinction
- Honor roll, NHS, etc.
Extracurriculars (exactly what is on my Common App):
- Cheerleader 4 years varsity
- Golf 2 years varsity
- Student Council - Secretary, at large,all 4 years
- Tutor
- Library volunteer
- other volunteer activities
Recommendations:
Outstanding
Essays:
Very good-worked on for several weeks
Other:
U.S. State/Territory or Country: Colorado
School Type: Medium public 320 in senior class
Ethnicity: White
Gender: Female
Income Bracket Range: Some FA
Hooks (URM, first generation, recruited athlete, development):
Strengths: Recs/Essays
Weaknesses: EC’s
Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected: I think the interview helped me as well as the recommendations!
What would you have done differently?: Nothing. Uchicago was first choice but Harvard was 1B so I went with SCEA to Harvard and ED2 to UChicago to maximize my chances at both. Would have been perfectly happy at either.
Do you have any advice concerning what makes someone unique?
Did you apply EA anywhere?
@geekfromsb mainly the essays you submit and the interviews "makes someone unique. Because you can actually show who you are and show your character through those. You can correct me if im wrong , but thats what i think.
Gonna revive this thread to give incoming college freshmen/class of 2018 HS seniors some perspective! 
Accepted (all for CS unless otherwise mentioned):
- UT Austin (currently attending)
- UW Madison
- University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign
- University of Florida
- UC Santa Barbara (denied for CS, accepted for second choice biology)
- University of Delaware (only in-state school I applied to) (accepted into honors program)
- University of Minnesota Twin Cities (accepted into honors program)
- I think there’s one or two more but I can’t remember…
Denied/Waitlisted 
(all for CS unless otherwise mentioned):
- UC Berkeley (Waitlisted)
- UNC Chapel Hill (Waitlisted)
- Georgia Tech (denied)
My Stats:
GPA: 4.0 UW, 5.042 W
Ethnicity & Gender: Asian / Female
Rank: 1 of 291
ACT: 34 (35 English, 34 Reading, 34 Science, 31 Math, 10 Writing)
SAT (new test): 1360 (didn’t send though)
AP classes I’ve taken so far: AP Lang (3), AP Euro (4), AP Enviro Sci (4), AP Lit (5), AP Calc AB (4), AP Stat (4), AP Bio (3), and AP Comp Sci Java (3)
Major: Comp Sci
Sports: Swimming (varsity 11th grade)
Extracurricular:
-EAC (Environmental Action Committee)
-Marching Band (1st chair flute & squad leader)
-Wind Ensemble (1st chair flute, Wind Ensemble is basically what band would be like if it had an AP version kinda thing.)
-Concert Band (1st chair flute)
-Science Olympiad (placed 5th in the state for Experimental Design)
-Math League (went to state competition 9th grade, placed 2nd in division)
-National Honor Society (I have done 55.5 community service hours currently, and will have ~85.5 by the end of senior year.)
-Envirothon competition and placed 6th in the state for my subject area (Invasive Species). School team placed 11th in the state
- Also placed 2nd in state in 2017 for team air quality sensor project (I did the work of assembling the sensor) and 3rd for air quality subject area
Awards: Distinguished Student Athlete, AP Scholar with Distinction in 11th grade
Leadership Positions: Squad Leader in marching band
Volunteering: I volunteer at clean ups and my county’s Safety Town every summer and spring break.
Jobs: N/A
Accepted: Stanford (REA; took a gap year but will attend in 2018). Didn’t apply to any other school after getting into Stanford REA although thought about for 30 minutes whether to apply to Yale, Columbia, Georgetown and Harvard but decided not to.
Other acceptances: Several top UCs, two Honor Colleges at top 150 public colleges with near or full merit-based scholarships.
Rejected: None.
School Type: Large Public HS in Southern CA (Male)
Location: CA
Race/Gender: Asian-American
Prospective Major: Non-STEM (Economics or Intl Relations or languages – no idea)
Unweighted GPA: 3.90; had several B+s in math and Biology
Weighted GPA: Have no idea
Class rank: No rank but approximately 15th ~ 20th out of 550 students according my best guess. Definitely within top 25 though.
SAT I Scores: 2150 taken as a sophomore
National Merit Finalist somehow even though SAT I and ACT scores were not exceptionally high.
ACT: 33 Composite: 35 and 36 in Reading and Grammar.
SAT II Scores: 800 and 750s in language, literature and math
AP Scores: 5s to 3s
Essays: Reflected my kid as he is pretty accurately. Came across as a likable, humble and caring person who had to adapt to new situations and kept on trudging.
ECs: Several school leadership positions; Relatively unique outside school scholarship programs related to language learning and culture) – maybe he interviewed well. He decided to take a gap year when he was awarded one year of language learning abroad, so he’s in a gap year now.
Reflections: Our kid is neither great in math/science subjects nor in Humanities subjects, although he has certain knack in learning languages and planning. In short, he’s not what I call an awesome writer or has taken any advanced math. He probably would end up majoring in Social Sciences or Language related area. Therefore, even if you are not great in math or a great writer, don’t give up because you can still be admitted to many good schools. However, every year, he has gotten better in certain area either in academics or in leadership positions. His biggest assets are that he comes across as a likable, humble, appreciative and responsible person. It’s not that he doesn’t realize his strengths but he is truly able to see and appreciate others’ strengths. Therefore, he almost never behaves as if he is somehow smarter than other kids. In fact, one time he told me “Dad, each one of my classmates I know are so smart and good at something that I am not good at.” I really believe his essays indirectly conveyed this aspect of his character.
My kid’s goal as a sophomore was to attend a state college near by ranked top 60. Then, as a sophomore and Junior, his goal was to hope to get into UCLA/UC Berkeley. Then several months before the Stanford REA application deadline, he decided to apply to Stanford as REA because he would regret it if he never applied to the school he really wanted to attend, so he did. He would have been okay if he got deferred but somehow he ended up getting in. Did spend some time thinking about whether to attend Stanford or Honors College at state school outside CA on near full scholarship but did not feel that the Honors College had a good program in several areas in which my kid was interested. Also, wanted to avoid cold weather if possible. After getting into Stanford REA, we did think “Heck, if he got into Stanford REA, maybe it might be a good idea to apply to Yale, Harvard and Columbia also.” But ultimately, our kid decided to invest the time and effort into getting a good summer paid internship position, which he did. He’s now abroad on a language scholarship program.
Lesson learned: We made suggestions to our kid to take a look at this and that college but ultimately, he chose to apply to and attend Stanford. I would have been perfectly fine if he went to Honors College, although my wife wanted him to go to Stanford. Hopefully, our kid will enjoy his Stanford experience and find an area which interests him and further develop his passion. We are not big on whether he will get a high paying job. If he makes a living, helps people and is happy doing his job, then that’s all that matters to us.
@websensation Essays alone cannot get someone into Stanford. His GPA and SAT are pretty average, there must have been more specific EC’s that really showed his uniqueness. Would you mind specifying?
@ACEPLUS First, he grew up in another country till 10 and returned to US, so he really had to adjust; therefore imo the fact he made NSF was impressive. His school activities focused on newspaper and cultural clubs where he occupied leadership positions. He founded one cultural club.
For outside EC, he was selected by and participated in NSLIY language program. He also participated in a selective Japanese history and culture academic studies scholarship course. For some reason, many kids who participated in the latter program got accepted by some really prestigious schools. Our kid speaks 4 languages, two fluently and two intermediate to advanced level. In fact, one of his academic goal at Stanford is he wants to be fluent in 4 languages by the time he graduates from the Farm. If I had to pick his best areas of study, it would be languages. So, at the end, he had what could appear as “average” or unimpressive gpa and test scores for Stanford, but he had perhaps slightly stronger or more interesting skills which he tried to weave into his essays. So, unless the adcom thought his essays were genuine and resonated with them, I don’t think he would have gotten in. He tried to do well academically in high school but truthfully, he never pulled an all-nighter or stayed up that late for many days. Went to sleep mostly around 11 pm. He came very close to getting B+s in many classes but managed to end up with A- by doing well in final projects.
Although he did not come off as an academic super star, he did manage to show he used his time doing other learning stuff to grow.
As a highly successful pumpkin, I can confirm that essays alone can, in fact, get someone into Stanford. I wrote my essays solely on the trials and tribulations of life as an immobile living thing, and the excitement that October always brings with it. More importantly, though, I talked about the experience of being carved out, quite literally, but surviving it and coming out better than ever.
Class of 2017
Accepted: Villanova (attending), BC, UMD, Colgate, Providence, Renssaelar (merit), NEU (merit), Loyola MD (merit), Fairfield U (merit)
Waitlist: Barnard, Notre Dame, Wake Forest
Rejected: Cornell, Princeton, Duke, Georgetown
School Type: Small all-girls private Catholic school
Location: NY
Race/Gender: white female
Prospective Major: Applied as bio… no longer a bio major (more in reflection)
Unweighted GPA: 92
Weighted GPA: 96
Class rank: Top 10%
SAT I Scores: 2040, 1440, 1540 (submitted this one obviously)
National Merit (Commended)
ACT: didn’t take
SAT II Scores: 760 Math I, 720 Chem, 690 Lit
AP Scores: 6 tests. 5,4,4,3,3,1
Essays: My common app essay was great, some of my other essays were good, but many were not where I would’ve liked them to be. Again, I’ll explain more in reflections.
ECs: Varsity Sports, NHS, Student Council, a lot of service, 2 jobs, did newspaper for a little while, padded my resume at the last second with a lot of STEM ECs as per my tutors advice… I can’t tell if these looked too staged they probably did
Reflections and lessons learned: Ok so I made tons of mistakes in the college app process and I’m basically just doing thing to get that point across to seniors so they don’t make the same mistakes I did.
First, my major. The push to be a STEM major is completely real and can be overwhelming. I was a good science and math student and everyone pushed me to be a science major. Over the summer (I’m currently a freshman) I realized my true interests (I’m not even going to say passion because I’m still not sure I have one of those when it comes to majors and I don’t think everyone does) lie in the humanities. I walked into school the first day and luckily I was easily able to switch into political science and I really do love what I’m learning. I feel like I always knew I should’ve been in the humanities, but EVERYONE told me to do STEM and I just gave in.
Next, the number of schools I applied to. I have 15 on this list, but I remember the number being 17 (already forgot two). This is WAY TO MANY! Everyone on CC says it and I completely ignored it because I figured I had time to do all my essays so why not. All I’m gonna say is huge mistake. First of all, I was blind to reality. I’m bright-- but I’m NOT an Ivy league/Duke caliber student. I don’t even think these schools wouldve been a good fit for me. At Notre Dame and Georgetown I had a much better chance at and I truly would have loved to attend either of these schools, but I wasted so much time on applications to schools I had no chance at or wouldn’t attend and I couldn’t give these schools the attention they deserved. And I’m always gonna regret that.
Finally, and I’m kind of ashamed to admit this, but I believe my SAT tutor was a detriment to me as well. He HEAVILY edited my essays to the point there I didn’t think they were even me anymore. I blindly trusted him, but now I know colleges didn’t wanna hear a 50 year old. They wanted to hear MY genuine voice and ideas even if they didn’t sound as sophisticated and polished as his. If I could go back I would not do as much tutoring.
Overall, I was aiming way too high and in the wrong direction. If I could do it all over again, I’d apply to Notre Dame, Georgetown, Villanova, BC, NEU, UMD, Fairfield, Loyola MD, and Providence. I would do it all on my own, and I would have applied as a humanities and not stem major.
@a20171 That had to be one of the most helpful, honest assessments I have ever seen on CC, THANK YOU!
Class of 2016
Accepted: UNC Wilmington (attending but transferring), Regent’s University London, Richmond American University of London ($20k), Coastal Carolina, New York University, Salisbury University ($6k), Monmouth University ($18k), American University (spring semester)
Waitlisted: Fordham University (took self off list)
No rejections.
Applied as Transfer for Spring 2018 to DelVal and Maryland with a 3.64 college GPA as well as several career-focused EC. Accepted to DelVal ($21k), waiting on UMD.
School-type: Small, rural public school
Location: Maryland
Race/Gender: White F
Ethnicity: Hispanic
UW GPA: 3.37
W: 3.7
Class Rank: top 25%
SAT: 1770 (took once)
AP: Lang 3, World and Gov 2 (lol)
EC: 4 years varsity field hockey and lacrosse, executive board, 4-H, FFA, Yearbook. Year-round club/indoor sports as well.
Essay: My common app essay was really, really good. It definitely got me into both NYU and American.
Recs: One was great, the other was subpar.
Studied abroad in high school for 6 months (hence London colleges)
Received a $1,000 scholarship from 4-H.
Management position at after-school job.
200+ service hours
I applied to colleges while I was living in England and I had shifted from my lifelong dream of becoming a vet to that of becoming a journalist. I wish I would have stayed focused, because I decided to attend a school based on location and atmosphere rather than prestige, options, and a proper fit with my career goals. Also, when applying to colleges, consider costs- please. Out-of-state tuition has really added up and ECs cost money in college (one of mine is $400 a semester). You don’t want to be in debt for the rest of your life, especially if you are considering grad school!
This is the greatest thing Ive ever heard.
This has been an amazing thread to read… can we do the same for seniors who are applying this year?
Starting this up again to show you prospective students that even a student who the school system gives up on can attend a great school
Class of 2021
Accepted: UVM (EA, 52K merit over 4 years), Colby (EDII, attending)
Rejected: Middlebury (ED1)
Also applied to these schools but had to withdraw due to being accepted EDII: F&M, Swarthmore, Bates, W&L, Bowdoin, Haverford, Vassar, Conn College, Muhlenberg
Major:
I put down Biochem and chem, but now that i’ve got a taste, no way
(Will major in History and Russian while completing premed pre-requisite courses)
Objective:
SAT: 1390 720 Eng, 670 Math
GPA: 3.03 freshman and sophomore year 3.8 junior and senior year
AP (place score in parentheses): Literature (3)
Senior Year Course Load: Normal Calculus, Eng 12- Childrens lit, History 12- U.S. Supreme Court, Hon Physics, Hebrew, Hon Spanish, Jewish Studies 12- Love gender & relationships, Poetry I
Subjective:
Extracurriculars:
-President of Film club (biggest club on campus at time)
-Co-founder/pres of poetry club (definitely not the biggest club on campus)
-Captain of varsity soccer team (took team to division finals)
-Competition freestyle skier (jumps rails etc) regularly placed top 3 in comps, on track to qualify for nationals before season ending ACL injury
-Canvassed door to door for Hilary Campaign in NH (2016)
-2 years of NY film academy
-Tufts youth philharmonic
Major Hook (and probably the reason i got into college) Two summers of performing as a full lab assistant in a Boston University Biophysics lab focusing on the inhibition of cholesterol production due to the consumption of artificial sweeteners.
(also submitted a portfolio of my poetry as well as a video of myself playing the Cello)
Recommendations:
Chem teacher: probably pretty average
History teacher: did not read it despite being given the opportunity to, but I know it was absolutely fantastic
Essays (rating 1-10, details): 9/10 for my main Common App essay. Annoying because i wrote a ton of really fantastic supplemental essays for schools which I withdrew my apps from, and Colby didn’t have a single supplementary essay!
Other
Applied for Financial Aid? Nope
State (if domestic applicant): MA
School: 9-10 #2 public school in MA, 11-12 tiny private jewish school
Ethnicity: White/Hispanic
Gender: M
Income Bracket: >500k
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): Hispanic, Lab research, pretty strong ec’s, beautiful upward trend, good essays
Reflection
Strengths: Upward trend, Ec’s, Essays
Weaknesses: Not great GPA
Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected:
Midd: Maybe grades weren’t where they wanted them to be. I tried so hard, and did literally everything that could be done to increase my chances, so it’s hard to say.
General Comments/Advice/Hindsight:
Progressing through the public school system my whole life, I quickly found myself in high school forcibly labelled a certain type of student. Coming from a “not strong showing” in middle school, my classes were all pretty crappy and the teachers all had no interest in allowing me to succeed on a different level. I remember a particularly frustrating experience where I tried to move up levels in math and not only did the math dept head shoot down my application (i had to fill out a friggin application!!) but he also humiliated me and made me feel like I couldn’t succeed at this high school. I transferred schools because I thought I needed a change of environment, somewhere where I could redefine my academic success. It was all this and more. I succeeded, hit my stride, and produced a strong upward trend. It was an amazing option which I am incredibly grateful to have been allowed to pursue.
Feel free to ask me any questions, good luck to all prospective students, and of course remember, not matter how good your ec’s are, someone on CC will tell you “your ec’s are weak” 
@Atleastyoutried truly shows you the wonders ec’s can do
Grades and Scores are useful benchmarks, but unless you know more about the background of a student, you will never really know why someone with lower scores got in or why someone with higher scores was rejected. Most schools list enrollment data which give specific scores/grades of accepted students.
I think a better way for everyone to understand their competitiveness for a certain school is to discuss what makes your application unique (grades can only go so far to prove intelligence, but it can’t expose potential creativity, selflessness, passion). So think about how you spend your time outside of school. What are you doing to self-prepare for your future career/education? Are you aware of the accomplishments of high school students outside of your state? What resources do other high schools have compared to yours?
Think about it. If you are interested in robots, but you don’t have a robotics club nearby, how can you compete with a student who does?
I don’t write to scare any of you. I just want to share my idea to this conversation and learn new perspectives on how I can understand or solve this problem in our education system.
Accepted:
Cornell (ED CALS)
UM, Ann Arbor (EA LSA)
SUNY Binghamton (EA)
Northeastern (EA - 20k/yr scholarship)
Tulane University (EA - 40k/yr scholarship)
Demographics:
Asian - Chinese
Female
Long Island, NY
Medium-sized Public High School (342 students in grade)
Middle Class
Hooks: First gen.
GPA/Test Scores:
W 97.625 (8th grade honors courses were counted but not weighted - actually brought my GPA down, but shows an upward trend from 8th-11th)
Rank - top 10%
SAT(old) - 2190 (700CR, 730M, 760W)
ACT - 32 (32E, 36M, 28R, 31S, 28W)
SAT IIs - Math II 750, US History sucky
(for Cornell - did not submit SATIIs//were not required, and subjects taken were not relevant to my major)
AP Scholar
National Merit Commended Scholar
Courseload:
9th - all honors except Art
10th - AP World History, everything else honors except Art
11th - AP Physics 1, AP U.S History, AP English Language and Composition, everything else honors except Art
12th - AP Studio 2D Art, AP Macroeconomics, AP Government and Politics, AP Environmental Science, AP English Literature and Composition, AP French Language, AP Calculus BC, ASL I
Extracurriculars:
Varsity Cross Country (10th, 11th, 12th) - All State Qualifier (11th, 12th), Unsung Hero Award (12th)
Varsity Winter Track (10th, 11th, 12th) - captain (11th, 12th), Unsung Hero Award (11th)
Varsity Spring Track (9th, 10th, 11th, 12th) - captain (11th, 12th), All Division (10th, 11th)
Foreign Culture Club (9th, 10th, 11th, 12th) - treasurer (12th)
Varsity Leaders Club (11th, 12th) - co-president (12th)
Environmental Club (9th, 11th, 12th) - PR secretary (12th)
French Honor Society - treasurer
National Honor Society
Science Honor Society
Art Honor Society
Community service (through Environmental club, homeless outreach in NYC, abroad - sea turtle rehabilitation in Greece, marine research in North Stradbroke Island, beach/park clean ups around Australia, assissting the Sunshie Coast Special Olympics basketball team, volunteered at marathons and middle school meets, teachers’ assistant at prep and elementary schools)
Jobs/Work Experiences:
Work at my parent’s restaurant
Worked at Ralph’s Italian Ices (summer)
Babysitter/Pet Sitter
Tutor
Summer Activities:
Work 2 jobs (restaurant/Ralph’s) when not travelling/at camp
Student Ambassador (2015)
Volunteered abroad (2015, 2016)
Cornell Sports School (2016)
Essays:
Common App - probably 8.5-9/10
Teacher Recommendations:
AP Physics teacher - probably 7.5-8.5/10 (struggled throughout the year, but active participant in the class and close with the teacher)
AP Lang teacher - probably 9/10 (rocky start at the beginning of the year, but improved and overcame the initial difficulties, close with the teacher)
Counselor Reccommendation: probably 8.5/10
Additional Reccomendation: my XC/track coach
Accepted (Mechanical Engineering)
UCLA (attending)
UCSD
UCSB (Regents)
UCR
Denied
UCB
MIT (deferred, then denied)
Cal Poly SLO (waitlisted, then denied)
Cornell
Stanford
Cal Tech
Stats
SAT (old): 2310
R: 750 M: 800 W: 760 (if memory serves me correctly)
SAT (new): 1590
R: 790 M: 800 E: 17
SAT IIs (Chem, Bio E, Math II): 800
AP Tests:
Statistics, Chemistry, US History, Biology, Calculus BC, English Lang: 5
Computer Science, European History: 4
Grades per semester (- and + omitted because I can't remember them)
Freshman:
Modern Animation, Pre-Calc-H, Spanish I-P, Chemistry-P, Biology-H, P.E: A A
English I-H: B B
Sophomore:
Spanish II-P, AP Stats, AP Euro, P.E.: A A
English II-H, AP Chem: B B
Junior:
AP English Lang, AP Calc AB, AP Bio, AP Comp Sci, APUSH, Spanish III-P: A A
Senior:
AP English Lit, AP Spanish Lang: A B
AP Physics, AP Gov/AP Macroecon, AP Psych, T.A.: A A
GPA
Weighted: 4.52
Unweighted: 3.84
Weighted UC: 4.00
E.C's
CSF 10th-11th
Piano
- Certificate of Merit Lv. 10 (one of the highest attainable certifications issued by MTAC)
Math Club 9th-12th
- President 12th
ASB Senator 12th
Geographic Information Systems Internship with city 12th
GIS Club President 12th
AYSO 10th (may not have included back then due to a perceived lack of significance)
Anime Club Secretary 11th (may have been omitted back then due to embarrassment)
Recommendations
To the best of my knowledge, I had close relationships with my recommendations, but I have personal reason to believe the quality of the recommendations may have been sub-par. But pending further evidence, assumably excellent.
Essays
To the best of my knowledge, excellent. Did not have a significant life struggle, but kept my essays sincere, honest, and filled with personality.
Good luck, class of '22. As a parting note, I’d like to advise any prospective students here to think long and hard about their choice of major. I wrote my essays about becoming an engineer, but during the summer and my first quarter at UCLA, I realized it wasn’t my passion. Switching majors can be a pain, and I’m in the process right now, so get a head start and make sure to choose a major you’ll love.