<p>To those who were accepted and had music as an extra curricular activity.</p>
<p>Could you please tell me if submitting an arts supplement helps ?</p>
<p>If you are good at music and don’t submit an arts supplement, is that considered a minus or will they read your essay and be impressed ? Please let me know.</p>
<p>^ </p>
<p>My orchestra class was just something I did because I had always done it–started in 4th grade, and just went to the classes. I didn’t do solo ensemble, didn’t perform anywhere else outside of school-mandated activities. I am horrible at the violin. Obviously, I didn’t submit a supplement.</p>
<p>I think if you’re already in music, you should continue (unless it makes you miserable… then quit). But don’t go out of your way to learn an instrument just to pad your resume.</p>
<p>Also, none of my essays were on music.</p>
<p>I agree with Mascara. Even if you put music as an ec, you don’t necessarily have to submit a supplement.</p>
<p>I had music as an EC but definitely did NOT submit a supplement lol :p</p>
<p>I’m sorry if I didn’t make it clear.</p>
<p>Did you write an essay on music as an extracurricular and not submit the art supplement ?</p>
<p>Hope that makes it clear.</p>
<p>Does it help in a significant way if you do submit an art supplement? :> I could probably practice a nice solo over the summer to use.</p>
<p>My son submitted an art supplement (music) to all colleges he applied to except for Caltech, and he got into most of them including Stanford and Caltech. He had very strong stats and ECs anyway, but we didn’t want to risk it. Remember though, that if you submit an art supplement to Stanford, the deadlines are a month earlier. Regular deadline is December 1st. They have very specific instructions which I recommend following precisely. For example, a recording cannot be edited. We made a nearly professional recording because our friends had good equipment.</p>
<p>Decision: Accepted</p>
<p>Objective:[ul]
[<em>] SAT I (breakdown): 2280, 730CR, 750M, 800W
[</em>] ACT: 35
[<em>] SAT II: Math I (750), Math II (750), Literature (780), US History (790), Chemistry (690)
[</em>] Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.0
[<em>] Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 1/305
[</em>] AP (place score in parenthesis): APUSH (5), Chem (5), Calc AB (5), Lit (5)
[<em>] IB (place score in parenthesis):
[</em>] Senior Year Course Load: AP Calc BC, AP Phys B, AP Lang, AP Bio, Leadership, Yearbook, Citizenship
[<em>] Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): National Merit Finalist, Lots of smaller state-level awards, QB Finalist (Not Matched)
[/ul]Subjective:[ul]
[</em>] Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Student Govt (ASB President), Cheerleading (Captain), FBLA (P.R.), NHS (VP), HOBY WA 2011 (Ambassador), Yearbook (Executive Editor), Frosh Mentor (Head Mentor), HS Tutoring Program, Rotary Volunteer Club, Concert Choir (Historian, Audition Based)
[<em>] Job/Work Experience: N/A
[</em>] Volunteer/Community service: +700 hr. Various Projects: Middle School Math Olympiad Coach, Church Activities, Homeless Shelter, Vietnamese Youth Leader, Youth Group, Bible School Counselor,
[<em>] Summer Activities:
2011: NSLC, HOBY, Cheer Camp, Volunteering
2012: University of Notre Dame Leadership Seminar (selective, free, application based), WA Aerospace Scholars, Cheer Camp, Leadership Camp, Volunteering
[</em>] Essays: Personal, Unique! About struggles with identity and family life.
[<em>] Teacher Recommendation: Excellent
[</em>] Counselor Rec: Excellent
[<em>] Additional Rec: N/A
[</em>] Interview: Alright, not my favorite (I don’t think interviews are that influential! They just want to make sure you’re not crazy!)</p>
<p>[/ul]Other[ul]
[<em>] State (if domestic applicant): WA
[</em>] Country (if international applicant):
[<em>] School Type: Public
[</em>] Ethnicity: Asian
[<em>] Gender: F
[</em>] Income Bracket: <60k
[li] Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): First Gen, Refugee family with past of being discriminated against for college admittance in home country</p>[/li]
<p>[/ul]Reflection[ul]
[<em>] Strengths: Essays
[</em>] Weaknesses:
[<em>] Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: I stood out as an individual with a unique story and struggles, who overcame to find success!
[</em>] Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected:
Accepted: Yale University (matriculating Fall 2013), Princeton University, Stanford University, University of Notre Dame, Pomona College, Carleton College, Whitman College, Gonzaga University, University of Washington
Waitlisted: Scripps College</p>
<p>[/ul]General Comments:
Good luck to all rising seniors! It seems like I started this application process yesterday. Feel free to message me with any questions! (especially if you are QB) I love helping and will try to give you detailed answers! I can also give input on essays and help you get started with yours if you haven’t yet.</p>
<p>!!! Another Washingtonian! And you did WAS, too.</p>
<p>Congrats to everyone who was accepted!!!
And it seems as if those who were rejected have other good choices.</p>
<p>Here’s a late one for ya. I promised myself I’d make one of these.</p>
<p>Decision: Accepted</p>
<p>Objective:[ul]
[<em>] SAT I (breakdown): 2280, 770 Math, 720 Reading, 790 Writing
[</em>] ACT: 34
[<em>] SAT II: Math 2 (780), Physics (800)
[</em>] Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.0
[<em>] Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 3/280
[</em>] AP (place score in parenthesis): Calc BC (5), Calc AB subscore (5), World History (5), APUSH (5), Physics C: Mechanics (5), English Comp (5)
[<em>] IB (place score in parenthesis):
[</em>] Senior Year Course Load: AP Lit, AP Chemistry, Anatomy and Physiology, online course: EPGY M52B (multivariable integral calculus), gov and econ
[<em>] Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): National Merit Winner (for apps I just put semifinalist at the time), Eagle scout?, 1st in state FBLA Business Math, 4th in state FBLA personal finance. Those FBLA ones aren’t really major, but they’re what I put under awards on common app. I also put Governor’s school for the sciences[/ul]
Subjective:[ul]
[</em>] Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): 4 yrs varsity soccer, BSA (Senior patrol leader), community service, FBLA, Mock Trial, National Honors society, National english honors society, National Beta Society, science club. The first 5 were by far the most important/time consuming, and that’s reflected on my common app.
[<em>] Job/Work Experience: none
[</em>] Volunteer/Community service: I forget the details, but I think it’s something like 250+ (mostly through BSA)
[<em>] Summer Activities:
2011: NYLF on Medicine, FBLA national Conference
2012: Gov school for the sciences (very competitive- 10% acceptance)
[</em>] Essays: They were pretty decent, although my best essay was for harvard (rejected). I wrote about community service/BSA in one essay and about tutoring+my love of math in another. I also posted one about my family and upbringing (very diverse) and all the counterbalancing influences on my life (liberal household living in conservative state etc.) and how it lead me to have a balanced mindset on most things in life. I’d rate them 8/10. I didn’t spend too much time on them (I did them last second), but I’ll talk down there of something good that I realized in hindsight.
[<em>] Recommendations (rating 1-10, details): I didn’t read the recs but I hear they were pretty good. I got a math and a physics one, they were probably 9/10 recs though because both teachers thought I was like the greatest or one of the greatest students they had ever had.[list]
[li] Counselor Rec: I honestly have no idea. It was probably decent but not the best, like a 6 or a 7. I didn’t really know my counselor that well, but I guess I knew her better than most.[/li][</em>] Additional Rec: none[/ul]
[li] Interview: none[/list]</p>[/li]
<p>Other[ul]
[<em>] State (if domestic applicant): TN
[</em>] School Type:Public
[<em>] Ethnicity:north African/middle eastern
[</em>] Gender:M
[<em>] Income Bracket:200,000+
[</em>] Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.):no hooks[/ul]</p>
<p>Reflection[ul]
[<em>] Strengths:essays were pretty good as I said. They didn’t seem like my best essays ever though, which if you are going to write college essays they might as well be your best ever. Start early on them and take your time to revisit them. Don’t view writing them as a chore but rather as something that you really want to do. In hindsight I realized that I had written about my academic passions: about how I love the elegance of mathematics and how I had a fascination with understanding the core principles of the universe, and since I’m majoring in physics that was good for me to do. make sure that in at least one of your essays you talk about your academic passions in some way. Also, being in a public school in TN helped probably a ton. I took advantage of nearly every academic opportunity- taking all the ap classes offered except ap studio art, and I pushed myself to go forward in math beyond everyone else in those public schools- I was never afraid and took calc bc as a sophmore. Only 1 other kid in that public school made 5s on all his aps. I recommend that you too get mostly 5s and 4s on aps otherwise maybe applying to stanford isn’t the best idea, as ap classes are probably the best indicator of collegiate success. My test scores (sats/act) were good enough. once you’re above 2150/33 It really doesn’t matter what you get. I knew this so I wasn’t worried about my standardized test scores. On your sat 2s though make sure you do really good. the 780 on math 2 was disappointing but that’s because I procrastinated till the last second before studying- so don’t do that. By contrast I literally learned about 60% of the physics SAT 2 content in the month prior- studying for a month- and completely knocked that test out of the park. I just used a princeton review book to teach me the material and a lot of paper/pens. good ecs are very important- pick a few and go all the way with them. I did boy scouts, varsity soccer (huge time, physical,mental commitment. 15 hours a week of solid practice/training for 10 months out of the year- by far the hardest thing about highschool for me), FBLA, and Mock Trial were my main ones, although we didn’t go far in mock trial and I never won anything national with FBLA.
[</em>] Weaknesses: counselor rec? Essays could have been better, but maybe a more natural/less edited approach ended up better? I’m honestly not sure- just write about a passion of yours somewhere in your apps. 780 on Math 2 is pretty bad (I think over 10% make an 800 in case you didn’t know- it isn’t as hard as the normal SAT math section to make an 800). only 7 aps, but then again that’s all that was offered (except for studio art)
[<em>] Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: Essays and luck. Even though I know my essays could have been better- they really do make all the difference- also the short answers on the supplement app were very important- just like the essays.
[</em>] Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected: Accepted: UCLA, UCSB, UC berkeley Rejected: Harvard, MIT[/ul]</p>
<p>**General Comments: I got in to my #1 choice, so that’s awesome. Initially it was MIT, but honestly I wasn’t even sad or surprised I didn’t get in. Over time I grew to love stanford even more- you too should be willing to change your own perceptions. Be a little bit realistic with your aps and realize that applying to stanford is a total crapshoot even with perfect applications. Just take it easy with your apps and apply early. Make sure you get your safety schools in. Also about 3 of my colleges did not get a complete app due to counseling mistakes- so make sure that doesn’t happen to you. You’re primary academic focus should be on AP/IB classes and 2-3 really good ECs+community service. </p>
<p>MOST OF ALL HAVE FUN and realize that worrying constantly over your apps will only make you feel bad and will actually probably make your apps worse. Just take it lightly and with an open mind ready and willing for failure!!! I honestly was fully prepared to not get accepted to my reach schools and that is perfectly ok. Just get up and make a first draft of an essay. **</p>
<p>Decision: Accepted</p>
<p>Objective:[ul]
[<em>] SAT I (breakdown):2360
[</em>] ACT:
[<em>] SAT II:760,760 (Math II, Lit)
[</em>] Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0):98/100
[<em>] Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable):top 10%
[</em>] AP (place score in parenthesis): 5555542 (bio, euro, latin, eng lit, eng lang, macro micro)
[<em>] IB (place score in parenthesis):
[</em>] Senior Year Course Load: ap ab calc, ap environmental science, music, ap english,
[<em>] Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.):eagle scout, citizenship award
Subjective:[list]
[</em>] Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): student government (all 4 years), boy scouts (hundreds and hundreds of hours), tutoring
[<em>] Job/Work Experience:
[</em>] Volunteer/Community service: hundreds of tutoring hours
[<em>] Summer Activities:boy scouts, tutoring
[</em>] Essays (rating 1-10, details): 10, started all my essays the minute junior year ended after studying the college process extensively. talked about my conflicted feelings about boy scouts because of all their good messages and yet they discriminate against LGBT and atheists people.
[<em>] Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):10- chose teachers who loved me
[</em>] Teacher Rec #1:science
[<em>] Teacher Rec #2:english
[</em>] Counselor Rec: got some facts wrong but good
[li] Additional Rec:[/ul][/li][li] Interview:went great</p>[/li]
<p>Other[list]
[<em>] State: Georgia
[</em>] Country (if international applicant):
[<em>] School Type: Private
[</em>] Ethnicity: Black
[<em>] Gender:Male
[</em>] Income Bracket:200,000+
[li] Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.):URM, double legacy</p>[/li]
<p>Reflection[list]
[<em>] Strengths: test scores, legacy, essays, rec letters
[</em>] Weaknesses: extracurriculars
[<em>] Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: Not too many black males with high test scores and I’m sure my recs helped
[</em>] Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected:Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Duke (full-scholarship), UGA, UVA, Duke, Vandy</p>
<p>**General Comments:i wish i could clone myself and go to all these schools…also, DO BOY/GIRL SCOUTS! It builds character and you can get tons of community service</p>
<p>Hi Mactor,
I want to transfer to Stanford and I want to do the screenwriting,too. I think we have a lot in common. Can we have a chance to talk?
Thanks!</p>
<p>Decision: Accepted</p>
<p>Objective:[list]
[<em>] SAT I (breakdown): 2210–800V, 740M, 670W
[</em>] ACT: 33
[<em>] SAT II: Didn’t take any…o.O
[</em>] Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.0
[<em>] Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): Top 10%
[</em>] AP (place score in parenthesis): Lang (4), Stats (4), APES (4), APUSH (4)
[<em>] IB (place score in parenthesis): Not offered
[</em>] Senior Year Course Load: AP Lit, AP Calc AB, AP Bio, Fun classes
[li] Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.):…AP Scholar? </p>[/li]
<p>Subjective:[list]
[<em>] Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Student Council (Freshman Class President, Sophomore Class President, Junior Class President, Senior Class President, State President, NHS (Secretary), Dance, Piano, Choir, etc etc. My big thing was student council
[</em>] Job/Work Experience: Hostess/ Bus Girl at Fine Dining Restaurant
[<em>] Volunteer/Community service: Nothing special. Completing Requirements for clubs, etc…
[</em>] Summer Activities: …Sleeping
[<em>] Essays (rating 1-10, details): 2(common), 3(intell vitality), 4(roommate), -5 (passionate)…(I Started them the night before the deadline sooooo…)
[</em>] Recommendations (rating 1-10, details): I wasn’t able to read them or know anything so I’ll guess based on the relationship and their will to help me out
[<em>] Teacher Rec #1: StuCo Advisor-7
[</em>] Teacher Rec #2: Stats Teacher-5
[<em>] Counselor Rec: Didn’t know too well so 4-5?
[</em>] Additional Rec:N/A
[li] Interview:N/A</p>[/li]
<p>Other[list]
[li] State (if domestic applicant): NC</p>[/li]
<p>[<em>] School Type: Public, Small Town
[</em>] Ethnicity: Asian
[<em>] Gender: Female
[</em>] Income Bracket: 70,000-80,000
[li] Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): First generation</p>[/li]
<p>Reflection[list]
[<em>] Strengths: My work with student council
[</em>] Weaknesses: MY ESSAYS WERE TRASH!!! DO NOT PROCASTINATE!!! Mediocre scores as well…nothing special at Stanford.
[<em>] Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: It’s complicated but either it was an accident, there was a blind lottery/drawing, or, for some odd reason, they genuinely liked the person described in my essays =]] Message me if you want a more detailed explanation!
[</em>] Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected: Duke, Chapel Hill, and a bunch of local/ community colleges bc I didn’t think I was going to get in anywhere…</p>
<p>**General Comments: While I felt my essays were crap, I also felt that they were honest…and maybe that was all they really wanted. So don’t be afraid to be your complete self. Advice from a another Stanfordian…don’t write like you have a stick up your butt, unless that’s who you are!. I YOLO’d on my essays and went a little bit crazy/quirky because that’s who I am! ( I even wrote YOLO) I feel with a school like Stanford, you need to be bold. You either go big or go home! ^-^</p>
<p>Good luck future applicants! Message me for any further questions! ^-^
PS. Excuse horrible grammar, spelling, etc. PREESH</p>
<p>Can you please let me see your personal essay, if you think it is not that personal?</p>
<p>Decision: Accepted </p>
<p>Objective:
SAT I (breakdown):
ACT: 34 (35 W, 34 M, 33 R, 35 S, 9 essay)
SAT II: 770 Chem, 760 Math 2
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.0
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 1/637
AP (place score in parenthesis): Calc BC (5), English Language (5), US History (5), Spanish Language (5), Biology (5)
Senior Year Course Load: AP Statistics, AP Psychology, AP Gov/MUN, AP Econ, AP English Lit, AP Environmental, Ballet Ensemble
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): National Merit Commended, AP Scholar with Distinction, 11 Best Delegate and Outstanding Performance awards at Model UN conferences, a lot of regional, state, and national dance awards
Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): principal ballet dancer in local company, dancing since I was 6 for multiple hours a day every day of the week, ballet ensemble at school, Science Olympiad (captain), Model UN, National Honor Society
Job/Work Experience: research intern at biotechnology and cancer research company for a summer, paid teacher’s aide for AP Chemistry summer prep class for 2 summers
Volunteer/Community service: president and founder of an organization dedicated to sponsoring the education of Ugandan orphans affected by the AIDS epidemic or the strife in the area, NHS volunteering events and tutoring
Summer Activities: lots and lots of dancing and performing, teaching chemistry to incoming AP students, informal Astronomy classes, internship last summer
Essays: pretty good I was told
Teacher Recommendation: great
Counselor Rec: never saw it, but she said it was amazing
Additional Rec:
Interview: quick half hour talk in Starbucks, we hit it off right away and afterwards he emailed me saying that I was the best applicant he had seen in many years.
Other
State (if domestic applicant): CA
Country (if international applicant): USA
School Type: large public
Ethnicity: Half Asian, half French
Gender: F
Income Bracket: $100 K-$150 K
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): absolutely none
Reflection
Strengths: grades, ECs
Weaknesses: scores
Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: Throughout high school, I only did things that I truly loved and I think that showed in my app.
Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected: Accepted Princeton, Stanford, Duke, USC, UCI, UCSD, UCLA, UCB, Drexel, and Cal Poly SLO. Every school I applied to.
Chose Princeton! Go Tigers!</p>
<p>derivative… Stanford doesn’t do interviews for CA residents.</p>
<p>Nice try though.</p>
<p>^^you are correct (great pick-up)…it seems derivative got into Princeton…and most likely got rejected from Stanford…looking at “his story” post…wanted to make himself feel “better” by going to P…</p>
<p>…CA students do not get interviews for Stanford! (tell-tale sign in his post)…</p>
<p>^^ Two other things are odd.
<ul>
<li>Why are they posting now? Shouldn’t they be in the middle of midterms, or recovering from midterms, or doing a bunch of crazy college stuff? Why go to the Stanford forum and post now?</li>
</ul>
<p>so nervous for letter</p>