Applying to: Lawrenceville, Peddie, Exeter, Groton
Status: International School Student in East Asia, US Citizen, Japanese Citizen - Mixed Blood, URM but comprised of an ORM and Caucasian?
Grade: 8th, applying for 9th
My school is not particularly competitive. We have a few kids applying to Boarding school this year (similar to those of my choice). Most kids move onto high school at mine (K-12).
SSAT Score:
95th Percentile Overall - 2250~
PM me for more information
Grades:
G6: All A’s or A+ (we use different scale but my school has converter to US grades), two B+'s in Chinese
G7: All A’s or A+, second semester received almost all A+'s except for Chinese which was A
G8: All A’s or A+ for the first semester, except for accelerated math which is a B+
PM me for more information if interested. My school only streams in Math, wherein I have been placed in the highest stream. We have language levels as well, where I am in the third phase of Spanish and Chinese. I take an after-school language commitment to Spanish. Not stellar grades, but pretty good and I feel like they meet what they would like.
Interviews: All of them went amazingly well besides Lawrenceville (which was still decent). All of them were well over 40 minutes and some over an hour talked very genuinely about my interests, seemed like they were impressed with some gestures they made (don’t want to be too specific). Overall, I’d rate the experience 9/10.
Essays: I think I’m really shining through on these, trying to tie in my genuine sense of witty humor with my very personal upbringing as a foreigner in China attending an international school. My dad is a Lawyer, has experience with writing, he’s helping me out with just wording and idea generating. Overall, right now I’d say 8/10.
Recs:
Personal: 10/10 - my Kung Fu master, very favorable recommendation.
Math: 10/10 - even though this year my grades aren’t the best, my teacher really likes me for my attitude and effort, also said she put in good recommendation because she saw how proactive I was throughout the process.
English: 8/10 - don’t know him too well, he thinks I’m an incredibly talented writer (from what he has told me), went to Hotchkiss (don’t know if this is good since I’m not applying), should be favorable.
Principle: 10/10 - vice principle, know her personally very well, has nominated me for multiple school awards.
Guidance Counselor/Transcript: 8/10 - should be fine, he said that along with the transcript he said some nice words.
EC’s:
I think this is the strongest point of my app, where I can stand out distinctly:
Debate & Academic Decathlon:
- World Scholars Cup regionals, Beijing round (March 2017): First Place Overall Student, Overall Champion Team, Junior Division (out of 45 teams, 120 individuals).
- World Scholars Cup Global Round, Hanoi (June 2017): 63rd Overall Student, 70th Debater 79th Overall Team, Junior Division (2200 individuals, 750 teams).
- Claremont Colleges Summer Middle School Debate Institute - First Place Team (2017, 2016), Fifth Place Individual Speaker (2017), Fourth Place Individual Speaker (2016).
- Capstone Beijing Debate Spring Classic (June 2017) - 7/28 speaker
- Asian Schools British Parliamentary Debating Championship (Oct 2017) - Sixth place speaker in the U13 age category, top 50 for the Open Age category, 150~ students participating.
- Been co-coaching our school team as student, teaching debate fundamentals, and research techniques
HS Nationwide Social Innovation Competition:
Run by One Education & Harvard Business Review
- 4th place team out of 54 teams
- Finalist
Children With Leukemia Project:
Big Achievements:
- An Art Gallery of paintings from the Children we have worked with, displayed in several Beijing art galleries while also giving keynote speeches there.
- Contacted an international health broker about setting up a donor card system for our organization.
- Organized fundraiser piano concert in March, many prominent non-profits in China will be attending to look at making future partnerships.
- Raised well over 1000 USD in sales of products we have designed such as phone cases, bags, wallets, etc. Have been the treasurer, working on cash flow. So far, all profits have gone towards our fund for future projects or treatment for the children
- The website I designed link: not linking here, it is not finished yet.
Piano:
2017 4th Jing Zhu Cup Young Piano Competition, Silver Medalist, Finalist - Most Potential Award
2016 3rd Jing Zhu Cup Young Piano Competition, Gold Medalist
2015 2nd Jing Zhu Cup Young Piano Competition, Bronze Medalist
Sports:
- U12 Boys Soccer - Most Improved Player
- U13 Boys Competitive Tennis Team - Most Improved Player
Kung Fu:
Awards:
- Hong Kong International Wushu Tournament 2017: Apparatus Joint Gold Medal, Freehand Joint Gold Medal
- Shaolin Temple Zhenzhou International Wushu Tournament (13-18 year olds) 2017: Apparatus Bronze Medal, Freehand Bronze Medal
- Shaolin Temple Zhenzhou International Wushu Tournament (10-12 year olds) 2015: Appartus Silver Medal, Freehand Bronze Medal
School does not provide academic awards
Question here: On Gateway it states to talk about achievements, should I be as specific as I am in here (especially for my community service project and debate)? Some of this stuff is extension off the part 1’s I’ve already submitted, most in the Children with Leukemia and debate section.
Thats it! Thanks for reading this if you took the time, sorry it was long!