APPLIED: MIT (EA; EECS), Caltech (EA; EE), Stanford (EECS), Yale (CS), Princeton (CE), Harvard (EECS), Columbia (CE), Cornell (CS), UC-Berkeley (EECS), University of Pennsylvania (CE/M&T), Johns Hopkins (BME, EE), Rice (CE; fee waived), Carnegie Mellon (ECE), University of Texas (EE)
REJECTED: MIT (deferred first), Caltech (deferred first), Stanford, Yale, Princeton, Harvard, Columbia
WAITLISTED (haven’t heard back yet, probably never will): Cornell, UC-Berkeley, University of Pennsylvania, Johns Hopkins
ACCEPTED: UT-Austin (EE + Honors, Pre-VIP), Rice University (■■■■ FinAid), Carnegie Mellon
ATTENDING: Carnegie Mellon
STATS:
GPA: 4.00 UW, max W
Class Rank: Among top 5 of ~20 valedictorians in a class of ~650; we’re ranked by GPA so we never really find out the “real” ranking
SAT: 2400 (800/800/800/11)
ACT: 35 on first try (36/36/35/34/12) and 36 on second try (36/36/36/36/10)
AP’s (5): World History, US History, English Language, Statistics, Physics B
AP’s (not yet scored): Biology, Chemistry, Calculus BC, English Literature, US Government, Macroeconomics
Senior year courses: AP Chemistry, AP Biology, Spanish IV, AP English Literature, AP Macroeconomics/US Government, AP Calculus BC, Debate III
Honors: National Merit Scholar, AP Scholar w/ Distinction, Presidential Scholar Award nominee
Ethnicity: Asian male applying for engineering. Woohoo!
SUBJECTIVE:
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Hook: nope 
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Extracurriculars: Band for 3 years (mediocre, dropped), Debate for 4 years (decent but not nationally competitive), 8-10 local leadership positions (+ 3 co-founder roles)- either fully in charge or doing Web work, commitment to competitive QuizBowl, current events, and math teams (with some success in math and current events), competitive at the state level in web app design
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Employment: I love you back, US Citizenship and Immigration Services; didn’t have an EAD until September 2013 so I had no legal paid employment opportunities (I’ve been in the States since 2004; sucks to be Indian); summer IT internship for a tech charity (120-ish hours)
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650+ volunteer hours (+ Presidential Service Award)
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ESSAYS:
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<li>Decent; invested a bit of work into each one</li>
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RECOMMENDATIONS:
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<li>One decent (really enthusiastic English teacher), one of probably low quality (math/science, due to limited options), and likely a sketchy counselor recommendation because new administration decided it would be the perfect time to move counselors around (so I got one from a lady who barely knew me)</li>
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INTERVIEWS:
MIT: went <em>okay</em>, nothing stood out beyond entrepreneurial drive
Harvard: I felt like I was able to effectively convey my interest
Stanford: best one of them all
Princeton: she facebook-stalked me, I took offense, and screw Princeton if they think it’s cool to have close-minded interviewers who make snap judgments
OTHER STUFF:
State: Texas
School Type: Public, inflated rank (we’ve graduated a tech billionaire but certainly don’t act the part)
Ethnicity: Asian (Indian)
Gender: Male
Income bracket: 100-150K
REFLECTIONS:
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First of all, I applied to the wrong schools. Other than Cornell and maybe Columbia, the Ivies should never have been on my list. I’m going into computing; Big Four (MIT, Stanford, CMU, Berkeley) are where it’s at. Could’ve easily trimmed down to 7 schools instead of 14. Question for applicants to ask themselves: if you <em>only</em> get into that school, would you have regrets about where you applied? If I’d only gotten into Rice or Johns Hopkins, for example, I would be wondering why I didn’t apply to UIUC. Hence I shouldn’t have applied there- or to HYP or even Caltech. Hindsight is 20/20.
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My essays were not phenomenal, it appears. I must’ve misjudged myself; I spent hours perfecting essays and trying to convey a honest message about who I am; at the end, the essays that succeeded (i.e. got me scholarships and acceptances) were the ones I was most worried about- they felt canned and not artistic/felt at all.
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My ECs were not what they were looking for. I’m not nationally competitive at debate or a skilled musician, so I spent way too much time on them. I was politically active… in a way that none of my interviewers or admissions folks would likely have related to. I didn’t play the game strategically and tried to diversify beyond my core passions (i.e. the ones I would get to focus on for 4 years as I major in CE/CS) and that hurt me severely in the end.
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My recs were atrocious compared to what I could’ve gotten. I’m a first-generation immigrant, barely in the know when it comes to stuff like this (practically first-generation, but ofc I don’t get that special treatment) so I didn’t realize that the kids at my school would fill up all the recommenders’ lists in March 2013.
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I behaved irrationally. I avoided Physics C because the physics department at my school sucks; the kids who got into Stanford/Caltech/etc. took it. They even got away with much less overall rigor in their courses that way. I’m taking the most rigorous courses my school has to offer- Physics C is a free 97 with no actual education- but that’s not easy to convey and I failed to communicate it. It didn’t look good on paper even though it got me the best education I could’ve gotten out of HS. I thought it would be a good idea to plan out my education with little consideration for what colleges would think; it appears I thought wrong.
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At the end of the day, I’m satisfied albeit unfulfilled; CMU is great and I’ll end up with a life I can enjoy, but I’m pretty sure I felt well short of potential.
But these are just colleges. It’s not the end of the world. As Popeye put it, “I Yam What I Yam and That’s All That I Yam”- it doesn’t matter what college I go to, I’ll still be the same person. And hopefully that means CMU just got a lot better and Stanford missed out on something great.
Feel free to message me or whatever if I was unclear here. I’m probably coming off as a little bit bitter, but that’s just the waitlist stress getting to me- sorry.