<p>Hello! I'm a white, middle-class female looking to enter as a transfer student to UIUC. I earned 104 credits and an A.A. Degree at Pierce College in Washington State as a Running Start student and have taken a year off to pursue a position with AmeriCorps in the Rainier Valley neighborhood of Seattle (considered the most ethnically diverse ZIP code in the entirety of America by reps of the Census Bureau with over 60 languages spoken within it, fun fact). My position was designed through a social justice organization called Solid Ground to build literacy rates in key locations throughout the city. We also do anti-racism and anti-poverty training and organizing. </p>
<p>Cum. GPA: 3.36 (Not the greatest, I know, but I excelled in all language-related courses with strong As and my technical courses brought me down, although I did well in Statistics which is relevant to my major)</p>
<p>SAT Score: 1990 (Math: 570; Reading: 690; Writing: 730) I'm sending this in as a supplement despite the number of credits I have.</p>
<p>ECs, etc;: I didn't get the opportunity to do many ECs in high school once I began Running Start because my college was quite a drive and I had to work in order to afford gas back and forth to school. However, I worked throughout my junior school year, and then on my college's student programs setting up the guest lecture series (which featured author Sara Gruen and choral group Seattle Pro Musica) as well as family programming for non-traditional students. I sat on district committees as a student representative of the college as well. As an AmeriCorps member now I serve the Seattle Community in building literacy rates in a K-8 School, volunteer at a library conversation group twice a week for immigrants and refugees, and partake in anti-racism and anti-poverty organizing through my site. I also participate in writing groups and study languages (Arabic, Spanish, Norwegian, Russian) in my free time. </p>
<p>I definitely need this school for its linguistics program and specific language course options. I want to eventually work in the State Department of the US. I don't know if my demographic as a west-coaster helps my chances for a midwest school either...</p>