Hello, hello! Just wanted an honest opinion from someone who doesn’t know me personally. Lol I will go pretty in depth and ik not much I can change, but I can hope!! M&T is hard ovs, but I’m am vv hopeful for SEAS Comp. Sci.
BG Info:
Canadian
Parents from Bangladesh (Profs. at mid-range local University)
Family Income <200k USD
No legacy or any connections.
Testing:
35 ACT (9/9/9/9 for writing), 780 Math II subject test
School/Grades:
Number one ranked high school in canada (public but academic with entrance tests.)
One of the hardest provincial curriculum in Canada.
Top 5% of students provincially
Graduating class of 120, around top 5%
Hardest curriculum available, and one of the most packed schedules in the school
Full IB diploma candidate, predicted score of 39/45 (7’s on math, physics and computer science; 5’s on french, social and english).
***Top 5 IB candidates in school
Regular mark average was 91% in grade 10, 93% in grade 11, going up in grade 12 (these are not same as American standard grades; eg. 95 is usually the highest for humanities courses)
***-physics math and computer science average was 98%
Significant Awards:
Honours with Distinction or First Class Honours all of junior high and high school
**Top Overall Team at National CyberTitan Competition (IT & security competition, similar to CyberPatriot)
*1st Place Alberta Provincial Business Pitch Competition (non high school level)
1st Place Dragon’s Nest Business Pitch Competition
1st Place *University Name Business Case Competition
DECA State Champion (accounting, retail and sports)
EC’s:
**Started a non-profit organization that teaches coding courses through after school clubs to elementary students. Reached over 150 students so far. Managing group of volunteers.
Student Engagement Team Leader (competitive position within school); run mentorship program, plan schoolwide events, promote mental health. Managing a group of mentors.
DECA Chapter President, refocused school club and signed up 10%+ of the school.
**Organized and ran a provincial political party campaign with several volunteers. Raised 560 new paying members for the party.
**Lead Roles in Theatre for several years (Aramis, 3 Musketeers; Aladdin, Aladdin; Tevye, Fiddler on the Roof; Aldolpho, The Drowsy Chaperone; Beast, Beauty and the Beast)
**Paid acting experience through a semi-professional production (university students) in largest Fringe Festival in North America.
Bollywood Dance Club Member and Choreographer, increased male demographic; people always remember when I dance
Worked at Top 3 Best Buy locations in Canada
Worked at Mary Brown’s (fast food)
Still working as high-level Basketball Official (university intramurals)
Still working as soccer referee
Played on Varsity men’s soccer team.
Played community basketball for many years, on track to make varsity team this year.
Volunteered several hours at places like Fringe Festival, YMCA, senior’s center, school events etc.
Essays (all decent, but I’m unable to judge how strong they are):
Common App
-talked about my theatre experiences and how i’ve grown confident/outgoing, a team player and more emphathetic
Penn Supplement
-talked about my logical learning style and how i love the freedom to learn (hence love for business and comp sci since i can make my own path)
-talked about full IB and how i like the connections across the subjects
-connected it to values and courses at Penn
M&T
-Talked about Bitcoin and how people expect a quick, anonymous and free transaction without any banks interfering
-it will eventually fail due to the nature of the speculative market, lack of governing body, and problems with the technology itself (miners lacking incentives w/o undermining the system)
Leadership M&T
-talked about coding organization and how it came to be
References:
Math Teacher
-Wrote very positively about my character and work ethic. described how he has seen me at theatre performances and business competitions. Mentioned my work on my Bitcoin research paper (forecasting trend and volatility through modified statistical methods)
Physics Teacher
-Wrote very positively on character and work ethic as well. Described how she has seen my work on the SET team and involvement throughout the school. Mentioned my physics research paper on basketball (best angle to shoot a ball based on kinematics experiments). Also mentioned my research involvement at the main local university.
Counselor/Assistant Principal
-wrote EXTREMELY positively on my character and how she has seen my work impact the people around me
Said I could be top student if I was not so involved around the school and community
Supplementary - Student Teacher for English/Musical Theatre, AD for Fringe production
-wrote about observations within the above courses and production. Wrote about how I was able to manage an intense summer load but still provide full effort within production and handle myself maturely with the crowd.
Thanks :)))