Hello all,
First of all, I would like to thank anyone who takes a look at this thread. I am quite anxious to get answers back from these schools, and would appreciate anyone who gave me any comments and / or constructive criticism. I have applied to Stanford, Harvard, Cornell, UCLA, UC Berkley, and UC Irvine.
I am a white caucasian male, and am currently finishing up high school. (going to Senior year)
I am graduating from a moderately-prestigious public school (considered one of the best in the state) and have maintained a 4.0 GPA (unweighted) - all years, and a 4.4 GPA (weighted.) - Junior Year.
I received a score of 2390 on my SAT (800 Math, 800 Critical Reading, 790 Writing).
AP Classes:
Algebra 2 Honors
Trig / Pre Calc Honors
Biology
Calculus BC
Computer Science
Physics B
Music Theory
Chemistry
- Spanish Language - Taking Next Semester
My Sport EC’s:
Swimming for 9 years at national level ; 3 of those 9 years were High School Varsity swimming (toned it down a bit to focus on my studies)
Basketball for 5 years; 3 of those 5 years were High School JV and Varsity
Track and Field; 3 years of High School JV and Varsity
Tennis; 6 years total; 3 of those 6 years were on High School JV and Varsity
Other EC’s:
Piano for 8 years; finished MTAC (Certificate of Merit) - Did 1 year of Panel Competition.
I believe the following to be one of my greatest accomplishments. - I founded a company with my business partner at age 13 (Application Development and Software), and have since then generated over 400,000 worldwide downloads / sales. (it is actually a real company, meaning it is registered with the state).
Co-President of the App Dev Club at my school. (For 2 years, member for 3 years)
Around 100 volunteer hours.
Thanks so much for taking the time to read this, and I welcome all discussion and replies!
I’m pretty sure you’ll get in all non harvard Cornell stanford.
For those above (ivies) , I believe you’ll get it one of them or 2 perhaps. All 3 is a bit pushing it.
I think that you are very strong but the uniqueness factor is lacking. The app company is almost unique so I’d focus on its specific qualities. Good luck
What do you mean unique? What are some unique EC’s?
Sorry, double posted on accident. Edited comment.
When you fill out the Common App, I would suggest that you include only one or two of those sports. Having four sports will make an admission officer conclude that you are not very good at any of them. In other words, they will think that you have done all of those sports to supposedly “bolster” your college application. You should include swimming because you have national achievements there; however, you should only list one of the others if you have received a similar level of recognition.
The company that you co-founded should be the centerpiece of your application. If it is truly as good as you say it is, then it is certainly “unique” enough.
I see you mentioned “100 volunteering hours.” The key here is not the number but where and how those hours were spent.
It’s nice to see a smaller activity list, and I can tell that you have spent considerable time in each one. Contrary to what some will tell you, three in-depth and developed activities are much better than nine “well-rounded” ones.
Thanks for the reply! I will definitely use a lot of that advice!
I disagree with the advice to not include all four sports. Why not show you are a good all-rounder? The adcom doesn’t care how good you are at any given sport - they care about what your sports say about you in terms of leadership, dedication etc. Being a four-sport athlete is remarkable.
I’m also not so sure that the “company” (do you have any employees?) will be the most impressive thing about the application. You made an app, it has 400,000 downloads. That is impressive. But making it about the company - I don’t know. I feel like adcoms respond best to selflessness; I don’t think businesses impress them as much as some here do.
Why not make it about the app and how much fun you had coding it, what technical challenges you overcame? “I made an app” is one thing; “I have a business” invites two questions: 1) “Is this kid only in it for the money?” and 2) “Is this business for real? What kind of revenue and profit are we talking about?”
I’d only make it about the business (as opposed to the app) if you have a good answer to 1), and the answer to 2) is really impressive.
You make some valid points. Thanks NavalTradition! So you don’t think the business should be the centerpiece?
I’m not telling you how to do this, but…
You made an app. It was fairly popular. It was likely difficult to do.
“I started a business” is one way to describe that. It’s a way that probably sounds impressive to many people. I just question whether adcoms are among them.
Personally, if I were filling out your application for you (which I’m not) I would put it down as “wrote an app with a friend, got 400,000 downloads” or something along those lines. I think “started a business, wrote an app, got 400,000 downloads” is not only wordier, but also could make you sound mercenary.
I think adcoms are more interested in the technical challenge than in the making of money. I’m not a member of any adcom, that’s just my general impression.
Also, a company is hard to evaluate. The adcom can’t look over your profit and loss statements, it’s hard to tell whether it’s real or just a front to impress people. An app is more concrete - they can find it for themselves on Google Play or whatever, conceivably. So I think putting the accent on the app rather than the company makes it more believable.
Unless: you actually had employees. In which case, I’d say “started a business with X employees”, because that shows leadership in a palpable way.