Hey there! So, I’m currently a rising senior getting ready to being the application process. I was wondering what people here believed I should work more on to realize my dreams of attending a top tier school. It may be important to mention that I am an arts student and plan on applying for a Fine Arts degree. However, growing up in the academic community I am currently in, I absolutely love learning and I would love to be in an environment that is strong and intellectually challenging, which is why I’m applying to the schools I am. I realize that saying ‘fine art’ as intended major may not affect the chances of me be accepted to the colleges, but it does help put in perspective the activities I do and my ECs.
Alright! Now on to my stats 
Major: Fine Arts
State: Georgia
School: Top 20 Private (nationally)
Ethnicity: Caribbean American/Pacific Islander (Papua New Guinea)/Asian (Indonesian)/White
Gender: Female
Class: Rising Senior
GPA: 94.5 (my school doesn’t use the 4.0 scale…)
Hooks: Legacy (at Penn and Columbia), Minority
ACT: Will be taking in September
SAT: 1360, a 680 on both sections (yikes, this is the reason I’m taking the ACT in September, + retaking in August)
Subject tests: Math 2 - 680, Literature - 680, French - 650 (ouch, will be retaking in October)
AP: English Lit, English Lang, 2D Design, and French (all 4s… idk if I will submit)
Extracurriculars & Awards:
Varsity Tennis - all 4 years, part of 5AAA state championship-winning starting lineup, I have played since I was three years old, I have played all over the world and in International tournaments
Intel ISEF Finalist - did a project on finding a cure for cancer, I did research with Georgia Tech and Stanford and was able to find a new treatment for ovarian cancer
Internship at Sonsbeek '16 - an arts festival in The Netherlands that is held every 4 years, its a big cultural event (I actually had a chance to meet the king of The Netherlands!) and all the materials came directly from the park where the exhibition was held, I worked and created pieces with many different artists from all over the world as part of the job, it was super fun and cool
Saatchi Gallery Art Award - an international art competition for secondary and primary students where they select 20 out of 24,000 submissions to be able to show their work in the Saatchi Gallery in London, I was very very honored to be a part of that
Scholastic Art and Writing awards - I have won a Gold Key for an art piece, and a silver key for an essay
Video Content Creator - I have had a YouTube channel for my entire high school career, even though this isn’t really a big accomplishment, it has been a huge part of my life and it has taught me a lot about where I would like to go in the future, and about skills such as public speaking, Adobe Premiere video editing and After Effects and Photoshop animation, video directing, etc
Art Shows/Publications - I have also had the chance to exhibit my work in various different local museums and publications, most recently, at the High Museum in Atlanta
Music Production + Songwriting - I have written and produced 3 original songs for which I have also directed and produced music videos to, and I also plan on further releasing an EP this coming school year (I’m so excited!)
Film Crew - I have had the chance to be part of the Art Department and be a camera operator for various feature films and short films in the Atlanta area (which is a great hub for the movie industry)
One Love Generation - an art volunteer program that inspires young artists to pursue their passions, painted a mural for international school, created art to raise money for a soup kitchen, raised over $10k for Guatemala library building program
Chinese Exchange Program - hosted a student for 1 months and spent 1 month in Asia and exploring the continent (China, Japan, Korea, Hong Kong)
Creative Communities - at my school this is a program of approx. 10 students that explore the city and spread awareness for and learn about creative opportunities in Atlanta and abroad. This year we will be visiting Nuit Blanche in Toronto (which is sooooo exciting!!!)
ASK - mentor, after school program with elementary school kids getting them active and involved in the community, I am in charge of creative activities
Also, I should mention, I attended a fine arts and philosophy focused boarding semester-school on the West Coast, in the fall of my Junior year, which was an absolutely incredible experience.
I plan on this year continuing some of my interests by working on a short film to submit for film festivals, applying for a creative internship abroad, get a music and arts magazine I’ve started truly up-and-running and conducting interviews, doing press at various music festivals, and art shows, and also put together an arts and music show in Atlanta showcasing talent from youth around the city. This will be the plan for my activities this year along with continuing with the other things.
The schools I plan on applying to are:
- Stanford
- Yale
- RISD/Brown dual-degree
- Penn (for their Visual Studies program @CAS)
- Columbia
- USC (film program)
- UCLA
- NYU
- WUSTL (or WashU)
- Carnegie Mellon
- Cooper Union
- CalArts
(I’ll also be applying to schools abroad, but that’s a different story!)
Let me know what you think!