Hello! I am a female high school senior who very strongly wants to get into Williams! While I do know that my ECs and scores might be adequate, I’m worried because of the smaller sizes of Williams’s incoming freshman classes and because I am an Asian studying at a relatively wealthy public school in Southern California. I also did apply to Yale early action and got deferred, and that lowered my confidence quite a bit as well (I did not apply to Williams early decision because I have never visited the campus… and I am regretting this SO MUCH).
I have strong letters of recommendation from my history teacher and my biology teacher. I also have an additional letter of recommendation from my employer during the summer (work history below). I believe my Common App essay is well-written but not very deep; it reflects my love for both the sciences (I’m a bio nerd!) and the humanities (I’m a music nerd as well). My Williams supplemental, I’m afraid, is similar to my Common App essay… I am hoping this does not affect my chances TOO much. I applied as a Biology major. I also sent in a music supplement of me playing violin.
SAT: 2280 (old SAT), 1550 (new SAT)
ACT: did not send
AP Exams: AP Biology (5), AP U.S. History (5), AP Calculus AB (5), AP Calculus BC (5), AP Psychology (5), AP European History (4), AP Chemistry (4), AP Physics (4)
Current Course Load: 4 AP classes (Stats, Music Theory, Government, Literature). I explain in my “Additional Info” the specific reason why I could not take a core science class senior year… mostly because I already took all of the AP science classes offered at my school)
Junior Course Load: 5 AP classes (U.S. History, Physics, English, Psychology, Calc BC)
GPA at end of Junior year: 4.39
Current GPA: 4.40
Extracurriculars:
- President of Academic League and Captain of Varsity Team: Academic League is a trivia club at our school that competes with other schools around our area in a trivia tournament (Jan - March) run by our district.
- Editor-in-Chief of The Beaker: The Beaker is a science magazine run entirely by students. I basically gather writers for the magazine, organize funding, and oversee the entire production of the magazine.
- President of Refugee Tutoring Club: We go to an elementary school downtown and tutor refugees from all around the world (Syria, Somalia, etc.) in English and mathematics. We also organize book drives and summer camps for the students!
- Concertmistress of En Gedi Ensemble: The En Gedi Ensemble plays at nursing homes and hospitals; we also raise money through benefit concerts for North Korean and African orphanages.
Work Experience:
- Interned at a biotech company lab for the summer (2015)
- Interned (with pay!!) at a biotech startup company in the management department for the summer (2016)
- Interns at one of the largest hospitals in our city (2 years)
Honors:
- National Merit Semifinalist
- Top 5% (in terms of GPA) at my school
- National AP Scholar
Thank you so much for reaching the bottom of this monster of a list! I hope I didn’t miss anything… what do you think my chances are?