Senior planning to major in computer science. I’m applying to MIT, Caltech, CMU, Georgia Tech, UCF, UF, UMiami, Harvard, Princeton, Cornell, Yale, Columbia, and Stanford.
- Weighted GPA: 6.3 / 7.0
- Unweighted GPA: 4.0 / 4.0
- Rank: 1 / 466
- SAT: 1460 (710 math, 750 reading | first try), 1540 (770 math, 770 reading, 9/12 essay | second try)
- ACT: 35 composite (36 english, 35 math, 35 science, 34 reading, 18/24 essay | first try)
- Subject Tests: Math 2 (results come out in July, probably a 790-800), Biology E (results come out in July, probably a 750-780)
- AP: Human Geography (5), World History (5), Psychology (5), Calculus AB (4), English Literature (results come out in July, probably a 4), Computer Science A (results come out in July, probably a 5), Calculus BC (taking next year)
- IB: Math HL, Biology HL, English HL, History HL, Physics SL, Spanish SL (already took the Spanish exam, results come out in July, probably a 6/7)
ECs:
- FRC Robotics - 9-12. Programming Captain. My team consistently rates among the best in the world (we've done very well in the world championships for the last five or six years, and actually won the world championships in 2012).
- Math Club - 9-12. President. We've made monthly math challenges at our school to encourage math, and we compete at local competitions (not at a mu alpha theta level though).
- MIT Launch Club - 11-12. Vice President. Entrepreneurship/business club where different groups in the club make their own company and present it to potential investors.
- Competitive Programming Team - 11-12. Captain. We compete in three or four statewide and international competitions each year and do pretty well.
- Quiz Bowl (Academic Games) - 10-12. Co-Captain. We compete in some regional and state tournaments and place pretty highly.
- Varsity Tennis - 9-12. Captain. I'm pretty decent at tennis, but my team has never made it past the regional tournament.
- STEM Literacy Outreach at my local library for about 65 hours - 10-12. I help teach STEM classes to adults who don't have much experience with technology. I've also developed several introductory programming classes for kids.
- 120 hours of research at a neuroscience lab (I was working on a CS project within the lab) at one of the most prestigious nonprofit research institutions in the US
Awards:
- 3rd at I-SWEEEP International Science Fair
- 2nd at ACM Mobicom App Contest (an international app competition sponsored by ACM, a prestigious technology organization)
- 1st place in Mathematics and Computer Science at Sigma Xi Student Research Showcase (online international science research competition)
- Special award at ISEF for $1500
- 3rd/4th/5th at State Science Fair (in 2018, 2017, and 2016 respectively)
- 1st place at my state's Junior Science, Engineering, and Humanities Symposium (statewide research competition)
- National Junior Science and Humanities Symposium Finalist (national science research competition - qualified because I won 1st in my state)
- Volunteer of the Month in my local library system out of roughly 250 volunteers
- My representative will be giving Congress a short (6-10 sentence) speech about my research to the House of Representatives
- Junior Academy of Science Finalist (another statewide science competition)
Middle class Asian male in FL
Also, this isn’t an award, but I was selected for a prestigious scholarship in my area. The scholarship comes with really well known college counselors to help with my application/essays (one of the counselors was the dean of admissions at Columbia for 20+ years).
Also, I can speak 4 languages fluently, 1 language intermediately, and 1 language at a basic level (if that serves as any kind of distinguishing factor). I also have a pretty decent programming supplement prepared to show to colleges that allow a supplement (MIT). My letters of rec should be great because the counselors read my two teachers’ letters and said they were some of the best they’ve seen in their career.