Chance me - Duke University RD (2019)

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 2350 - Math: 800, CR - 800, W - 750
ACT (breakdown): 34 - English: 34, Math: 36, Science: 36, Reading: 31.
SAT II: Biology M: 780, Chemistry: 740, World History: 720, Math1: 770, US History: 770, Math2: 800.
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.0 (96% unweighted), (101% weighted)
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): No rank available but definitely top 5 out of 150. Probably 4 or 3.
AP (place score in parenthesis): European History (5), Statistics (5), Chemistry (5), US History (5), Language and Comp. (5)
IB (place score in parenthesis): N/A (not taught)
Senior Year Course Load: College Italian, AP Calculus AB, AP Physics 1 & 2, Science Research (through Univ. Albany), AP US Government and Politics/Econ., AP Literature and Comp., AP Computer Science.
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.):
Common Awards (AP Scholar, honor roll, NM things, etc.): AP Scholar with Distinction, National Merit Commended Student, Highest AMC 10 & AMC 12 scores in school, County Science Fair 2nd Place (Biology), Excellence Degree (Along with Honors and Merit) in Speech and Debate National Honors Society.

Subjective:
Extracurriculars (name, grade levels, leadership, description):

  1. Speech and Debate - Debate Team Captain - (Grade 10 - 12)
  2. National Honor Society - Vice President (Organize Service Projects, so also community service) - (Grade 11, 12)
  3. Science National Honor Society - N/A - (Grade 11, 12)
  4. National Italian Honor Society - N/A - (Grade 11, 12)
  5. Link Crew Leadership Program - Two time Link-Leader - (Grade 11, 12) - We help assimilate the freshman into high school life and conduct the orientation and other social events for them.
  6. Cross Country (JV & Varsity) - Panther Award, 2 Varsity Letters - (Grade 9, 10, 12) Clarified out with knee injury 11th grade.
  7. STEM Strategic Action Planning Committee - N/A - (Grade 11) - Planning the future of STEM at my high school by 2025.
  8. Kapatid Martial Arts - Junior Black Belt and Sayoc Kali member - (From 1st Grade)
  9. Century Road Cycling Association (CRCA) - N/A - (Grade 11, 12)
  10. Track and Field (JV & Varsity) - (Grade 9, 11, 12) Clarified out with knee injury 10th grade.

Job/Work Experience:

  1. Pleasantville Farmers’ Market - Employee at JA Bialas Farm Stand
  2. My dad’s company - Travel and Gathering Research, creative administrative brainstorming.

Volunteer/Community service:

  1. GRBA summer intern (not paid) Grade 9,10. NHS activities.
    Summer Activities: Science Research at Pace University. Over 230 hours of research over the past 2 summers. Conducted my own research last summer.

Essays:
Common App - Describing my creativity from a young age (central to life prompt). 8/10

Pratt Engineering Short Essay - Why Engineering: Creativity, efficiency of world,… Why Duke: Other strong choices besides Engineering for electives (also interested in pol. sci. and talked about my broad array of interests) - Solid essay 8/10

Optional (Unique Perspective Essay) - Wrote about growing up with my sister (she has cognitive disabilities and some minor mobility issues, along with epilepsy. I wrote about how she has shaped me into being a better person and into having a unique perspective on the world and problems. I also wrote about being a triplet and how that created my collaborative spirit, then linked that back to importance in STEM. Possibly the best essay I wrote out of all of my essays. 9.5-10/10.

Teacher Rec #1: AP US Hist. Teacher. Known for great recommendations, know her pretty well. - 8.5/10

Teacher Rec #2: Honors Chem and AP Chem Teacher. Had her 10th and 11th grade and I work with her now as the VP of NHS, so she has seen me grow. I collaborate with her a lot and we are very friendly to each other. She even lets me call her by a nickname (most people who do get written up). - 9.5/10

Counselor Rec: Known her for all 4 years, but not really well. She is known for writing good recommendations and being really on top of things though. 7/10.

Additional Rec: Cross Country Coach. He watched me grow but also saw me persevere through my knee injury (I biked to each xc meet junior year). He always speaks of me in the highest regards, saying all young runners on the team should look up to me and never give up simply due to roadblocks. Really good recommendation. - 10/10

Interview: Great. Nice man with good conversation. Simple with no extremely specific information but not too broad either. 7.5/10

Additional material (abstracts/papers/other): Research abstract from my Science Research over the Summer: Testing the Use of Zebrafish as a Model Organism for Contamination Experiments through Ethanol and Nicotine. 7.5-8/10

Not that this will change anything, but I got accepted from University of Rochester (Safety), Rejected from MIT, Waitlisted at Harvey Mudd, and am waiting on Lehigh, Tufts, Yale, Cornell, and Stanford.

If you would like to give input on any of the other schools, I would enjoy that as well.

Thanks for any responses!

2

Obviously your stats are off the charts, but as you know top tier schools like duke often have to chose between applicants just like you. That being said, id make it a reach. Just know that you clearly accomplished quite a bit in high school and wherever you end up you’ll be happy. Good luck!

3

@Rajsingh‌ Yeah I was just wondering my chances for those school because I am getting anxious waiting so long. It’s almost here though! Do you think I have better chances at a school like Tufts?

4

What’s your location, ethnicity, and gender? Those things can play an important role in this process. That said, I think that you’ve got a great shot, but if you aren’t a URM then I’d say those chances diminish a bit. I think the research and Italian studies are unique though. But randomness of admission aside, I’ll go ahead and make a gut-prediction and say you’re going to get in. You’ll definitely get in to Tufts.

Chance back anyone?
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1723571-predict-the-results-for-me-for-top-schools-and-ill-post-the-decisions-when-i-get-them.html#latest

5

@wilguen‌ Sadly, I am White, male, and upper middle class, so no special hooks there.

6

bump?

7

Our stats - at least in numbers - are extremely similar. I was accepted Duke RD so you are definitely competitive.

Best of luck Thursday!

8

@viphan‌ Do you have any special hooks?