** Columbia University Class of 2020 RD Results **

Colleges and Universities A-Z Columbia University
1

Couldn’t find the results thread - so I made one.

[aB][asize=4][acolor=#008000]Decision: Accepted - CC[/color][/size]**
[aB][asize=4][acolor=#008000]Decision: Accepted - SEAS[/color][/size]**
[aB][asize=4][acolor=#FFA500]Decision: Waitlisted - CC[/color][/size]**
[aB][asize=4][acolor=#FFA500]Decision: Waitlisted - SEAS[/color][/size]**
[aB][asize=4][acolor=#FF0000]Decision: Rejected - CC[/color][/size]**
[aB][asize=4][acolor=#FF0000]Decision: Rejected - SEAS[/color][/size]**

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown):
ACT (breakdown):
SAT II:
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0):
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable):
AP (place score in parenthesis):
IB (place score in parenthesis):
Senior Year Course Load:
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.):

Subjective:

Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis):
Job/Work Experience:
Volunteer/Community service:
Summer Activities:
Essays (rating 1-10, details):
Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):

Teacher Rec #1:
Teacher Rec #2:
Counselor Rec:
Additional Rec:
Interview:

Other

Applied for Financial Aid?:
Intended Major:
State (if domestic applicant):
Country (if international applicant):
School Type:
Ethnicity:
Gender:
Income Bracket:
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.):

Reflection

Strengths:
Weaknesses:
Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected:
Where else were you accepted/deferred/rejected:

General Comments:

Just remove the ‘a’ in the bold, size and color in your decision.

MODERATOR’S NOTE: Results only on this thread; non-result posts will be deleted.

2

Decision: Accepted - CC

** Objective: **
ACT (breakdown): Highest Composite: 33; E: 35; M: 31; R: 35; S: 34; W: 32
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.61
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): top 10%
AP (place score in parenthesis): 5 in Biology and 3 in Chemistry
Senior Year Course Load: Calculus and Vectors, AP Calculus AB, Church and Culture (catholic school lol), Placement at Local Hospital
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): Honour Roll with Distinction

** Extracurriculars **
Job/Work Experience: Lifeguard / Swim Instructor at local pool
Volunteer/Community service: Mayor’s Youth Advisory Council (Chair), Me to We club (Leader), Anti-Drug Committee (Leader), Volunteer at Local Hospital, Volunteer at Church
Summer Activites: Volunteer at local summer camp
Essays (rating 1-10, details): Common App was 8/10; Writing Supplement 9/10
Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):
Teacher Rec #1: 8/10
Teacher Rec #2: 8/10
Counselor Rec: 8/10

Applied for Financial Aid?: Yes
Intended Major: Neuroscience and Behaviour
Country (if international applicant): TRUE NORTH STRONG AND FREE (Canada)
School Type: Catholic Highschool (about 1300 students)
Ethnicity: Black
Gender: Female

Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): My first language was German? Born in Africa? not much

Reflection: I’m super excited about this! So overjoyed! ** Kluge Scholar!!! **

Strengths: ACT, Essays, Recs
Weaknesses: GPA
Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected: I don’t know. I’m so overjoyed - I am still in shock from when I got my Likely Letter!
Where else were you accepted/deferred/rejected: Rejected: Harvard, Yale Waitlisted: UChicago Accepted: McGill, and some other Canadian universities

3

Decision: Accepted - SEAS

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 2040 (750 CR, 670 M, 620 Writing)
ACT (breakdown): 34 (34E, 33M, 34R, 35 S, 8 writing)
SAT II: 690 Chem, 670 Math II
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.88-3.92
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 6/288
AP (place score in parenthesis): World History(5), USH(4), Eng Lang and Comp (5), Chem(4), Phys I (3).
IB (place score in parenthesis): N/A
Senior Year Course Load: Eng Lit and comp AP, Bio AP, Calc BC AP, Phys C AP, Micro-Macro Econ AP, Spanish AP.
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): An Ap scholar here, State scholar there.

Subjective:

Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis):
Theater Technicians 4 years
Scioly 2 years
Forensics 2 years

Job/Work Experience: N/A
Volunteer/Community service: Volunteering through my old Church and school.
Summer Activities: Volunteering.
Essays (rating 1-10, details): Cannot tell.
Recommendations (rating 1-10, details): Cannot tell.

Teacher Rec #1: See above
Teacher Rec #2: See aforementioned
Counselor Rec: See the prior line
Additional Rec: Catch the line on top of this
Interview: None

Other

Applied for Financial Aid?: Yea
Intended Major: Biomedical Engineering
State (if domestic applicant): IL
Country (if international applicant): USA
School Type: Private Catholic
Ethnicity: Black as the night
Gender: Male
Income Bracket:
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.):

Reflection

Strengths: APs, test scores
Weaknesses: APs, test scores, C in one semester of Algebra II
Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected: No idea, every other Ivy I applied to rejected (2) or waitlisted (2) me. Pleasant surprise! I place no weight in interviews as this is the one school that did not request an interview for me.
Where else were you accepted/deferred/rejected:
Accepted: UIC, SLU, Howard, UMich, UIUC, Northwestern, Emory-Oxford.
Waitlisted: UChicago, Yale, UPenn
Rejected: Harvard, Princeton

General Comments: I may go here, I may not. Such is fate. First person to be accepted to Columbia in my school’s history, and first to Ivy Leagues since I was a freshman (though not the only one this year).
This is for you S&S twins!

4

Decision: Rejected - CC

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 2400 (taken October sophomore year)
ACT (breakdown): 35 (only took once June freshman year)
SAT II: 800 Math II / 800 Chemistry / 800 Physics / 800 French / 790 Spanish
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.0
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 1/500ish
AP (place score in parenthesis): BC Calc (5), Chemistry (5), Physics C (5), English CompLit (5), APUSH (5), Chinese (5), French (5), Macro (5), Micro (5). Self-studied for half of these.
IB (place score in parenthesis): [N/A]
Senior Year Course Load: WHAP, AP Bio, AP Comp Sci, AP Music, Advanced French (higher than AP), gym, philosophy (AP not offered, just a chill class). Dual enrolled at UARK for real analysis and Honors Physical Chemistry. Independent study with the professor I did research with over the summer.
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): made the USAMO 10th, 11th, 12th grade, (scored a 1 and 3, third time the charm?). Won state science fair but gave up my place at Intel fair due to a schedule conflict. National AP Scholar. National Physics Olympiad. Some state and city piano things, idk if “major”.

Subjective:

Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Student Government (President). National Honor Society (President). Varsity Tennis (Vice Captain). Varsity Track (Vice Captain). Mathletes (Captain solely by virtue of making USAMO). Physics Olympiad (founded at my school, Captain of 4 people :wink: Played piano since I was 4, only some minor awards.
Job/Work Experience: [N/A]
Volunteer/Community service: Common Core tutoring for high school students and Boys and Girls club since sophomore year. Founded a districtwide college prep program to bring undergrads at UArk schools to talk to and provide one-on-one college counseling/test prep to students in underperforming public high schools. At one point had 20 college students and 100+ high school students. Habitat for Humanity (2 years). Charity drives through my high school to raise money for MSF in Syria.

Summer Activities: Did unpaid research in physical chemistry at UARK for 2 summers, have a paper “in the works”.
Essays (rating 1-10, details): Thought it was a 10? I wrote about how working at different Arkansas public schools helped me to come to terms with my privilege middle-class Asian male with parents who value education. The interwoven exempli gratia was learning Spanish on my own outside school to communicate with a lot of students whom I tutored who were immigrants, which I am independently very proud of, in counterpoint to my having chosen French as a stupid freshman because I thought it was a more “elegant” language. My English teacher told me it was the best she’d ever read.

Supplement essay: my passion for the Core (of course) but also unrepresented voices such as Native Americans and PoC. I meant it to dovetail with my main essay.
Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):

Teacher Rec #1: 10 - aforesaid English teacher, who taught me in AP English as the only sophomore in a class of seniors. She LOVES me :slight_smile:
Teacher Rec #2: 9-10 - Physics teacher, went to Columbia. He is more reserved but I got a really good vibe from him, like if no one in the class can solve a problem he mocks resignation and asks me to go up to solve it. He asked me if I wanted to help him start a Physics Olympiad team.
Counselor Rec: 10 - worked with him to start my program. Apparently the number of APs I took and how early I took them was “unprecedented” - he showed the rec to me and it was sincere but almost embarrassingly praiseful, to the point where I almost asked him to tone it down.
Additional Rec: Research supervisor at UARK. Honestly I don’t know how good - he seems to like me and was really surprised as a high schooler I knew what physical chemistry was and wanted to go into it, but compared to him I’m an idiot. He hasn’t had high schoolers in his lab before which could be a plus (I was very persistent) or a minus (no idea how to write a college rec).

Interview: 8. Interviewed with a lawyer who kept talking about herself. Most of what she said had to do with Columbia Law and told me she had no idea about “that science stuff”. She was impressed by my volunteer resume though and said she thought I’d be a great fit?

Other

Applied for Financial Aid?: Yes
Intended Major: Chemistry and Physics
State (if domestic applicant): Arkansas
Country (if international applicant): US Citizen
School Type: Large public
Ethnicity: Chinese
Gender: Male
Income Bracket: $200,000-250,000
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): Research in physical chemistry in high school, enrolled this year in a PChem class, started a volunteer program, started a club. However even though my Spanish isn’t perfect what I am most proud of is learning Spanish independently

Reflection

Strengths: Loaded up on APs sophomore and junior year to show colleges evidence of being able to handle college level work. I test well.
Weaknesses: Asian. Possible weak add’l rec? Bad interview? Essay topic was patronizing? I don’t know, I really really don’t know. :frowning:
Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected:
Where else were you accepted/deferred/rejected:

Accepted
UArk

Waitlisted
Yale

Rejected
Harvard
Columbia
Stanford
Princeton
Brown
Dartmouth
UPenn
MIT
Caltech

General Comments: I am speechless, numb, beside myself. Presumptuous as it sounds, I can’t shake the feeling that there has been some mistake. My first rejections were Caltech and MIT but I rationalized to myself that I wanted to do academia, not engineering and I think it showed. The first few were disappointing but I had braced myself; good people get rejected, the officers said, but they always end up getting accepted somewhere just as good, they said. As the rejects piled up however I am questioning my self-worth, everything I have worked for I did it not for college but because I wanted to. I was arrogant - or perhaps gullible - and believed the college officers when they said my “genuine passion” would shine through. I had the mistaken confidence that I fit the college moulds without having to compromise and force myself to do for the resume what I didn’t want to do.

Now I am consumed with regret. Is it really this hard? Gosh I knew it was a little harder for Asians but can it be this much harder? I keep futilely replaying scenarios in my head, even the really stupid ones, tormented by the ‘what if’ - what if I hadn’t dropped MUN because I hated it? What if I had pushed a little harder to be Track Captain? What if I had pushed my supervisor to put me on a paper I only did a little for? What if I asked him to show me his rec? Was there one thing I could change about my app to turn everything the other way around?

I almost didn’t apply to UArk and /can’t/ go there - no disrespect to the school, but it doesn’t have the programs or the opportunities for me to pursue my dreams. The people I know there acknowledge as much. Creating this post was like a shot in the dark for me - I’ve read CC but never posted or even commented. I’m looking for answers, for closure. What did I do wrong? Please?

5

Decision: Accepted - CC

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 2100, M: 710 CR: 710 W: 680
ACT (breakdown): N/A
SAT II: Literature: 660, Math II: 680, US History: 780
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.78 (bad sophomore year, had one C then)
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 16/168
AP (place score in parenthesis): N/A
IB (place score in parenthesis): N/A
Senior Year Course Load: College US History, Honors English IV, Calc, Stats (most difficult)
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): I reported on President Obama as member of WH Press Pool for a visit to local campus? (IDK if that counts)

Subjective:

Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Editor In Chief of Newspaper, Scholars’ Bowl captain and school record holder state qualifiers, Math relays champ x2, youth group, numerous distinctions in above mentioned fields, teaching myself Hindi and JavaScript, founded school investment club, debate team captain
Job/Work Experience: Significant at home duties (farm work, landscaping, car repair), Janitor, sports writer
Volunteer/Community service: Eagle Scout
Summer Activities: MMSS math camp (highly recommend), boys state, mission trips, world travel
Essays (rating 1-10, details): Common App: 9-10 overcoming epilepsy and how I found love for my intended major Columbia specific: All very good. You’d have to read to understand. They showed my true self.
Recommendations (rating 1-10, details): didn’t read, but all of these were stellar. The teachers who wrote these really knew me and wanted me to succeed.

Interview: Went well. IDK if they mean much though, but we had a lot in common.

Other

Applied for Financial Aid?: Yes
Intended Major: Financial Economics
State (if domestic applicant): Kansas
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: Public Blue Ribbon (800 students)
Ethnicity: Native American
Gender: Male
Income Bracket: 200-250k
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): URM, overcame epilepsy (idk if that counts)

Reflection

Strengths: Really good ECs, lots of leadership, showed academic growth, genuine love of major, wrote best research paper my teacher had ever seen, URM
Weaknesses: Test Scores low (but not really 2100 is pretty good) and GPA
Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected: I checked all the boxes. Native, Top 10%, Great ECs and leadership roles, compelling personal story, good enough SAT score

Where else were you accepted/deferred/rejected:
Accepted: Columbia, Emory, Wesleyan, Southern Methodist, Louisville (Safety)
Waitlisted: UChicago, Johns Hopkins, Bates (so random)
Rejected: Yale, Harvard, MIT, Penn, USC, Georgetown

General Comments: So excited. Anything can happen in admissions. If you’re a native, don’t be afraid to apply. There aren’t that many of us, and you deserve to get the best possible education you can. See you in NYC!!! Kluge Scholar!

6

Decision: Accepted - CC

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 2170 (770 CR, 740 WR, 660 MA)
ACT (breakdown): 32 (can’t remember exactly; ranged from a 36 in reading to a 29 in science)
SAT II: 800 Lit, 650 Math I
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.75
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 9
AP (place score in parenthesis): Lang 5, Euro 3, US 4
Senior Year Course Load: AP Bio, AP Lang, AP World, Chorus III, dual enrollment Spanish, dual enrollment statistics
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): I won a regional award for LGBT+ activism. Not sure that counts

Subjective:

Extracurriculars: GSA (founder/programs coordinator), acapella (student director), NHS (president), ITS (Vice President), internship at a LGBT youth nonprofit, grant to attend a national LGBT advocacy conference, some journalism internships and chorus and theatre-related honors (I’ve been a lead in 7 of the 10 shows my school has put on since I’ve been there). I also successfully campaigned for some LGBT-inclusive policy changes at my school, and fundraised to donate LGBT-inclusive literature to the school library.
Job/Work Experience: Tutoring and babysitting
Volunteer/Community service: I was student chair for a youth literacy nonprofit last summer
Summer Activities: What I mentioned above, a Duke TIP Shakespeare camp, and some other minor stuff
Essays (rating 1-10, details): Common App was good. It was about the suicide of a trans student at a local high school and how that shaped me as an activist - maybe an 8? My Why Columbia was really good, I think, very well-researched and personal. A good balance of objective and emotional appeals - 10. And my lists of books/publications/shows/exhibitions were very thorough and diverse. My “activity most proud” was about an anonymous email I received last year thanking me for my LGBT advocacy work at Parkwood and how much that meant to me.

Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):

Teacher Rec #1: AP Lang teacher. Only knew me for a year, but knew me really well for that year. He let me read the rec and it was incredible - lots about my extracurricular involvement and my academics, “best of my career” type stuff. A 10.
Teacher Rec #2: APUSH/Psych teacher. Knew me very well, very praiseful, but not very in-depth. 8
Counselor Rec: I’m not sure. I don’t know her very personally, but I’m pretty well-known in the school and she’s hooked me up with some great opportunities so I’m sure she likes me.
Interview: It was good. She had a very scripted list of questions, which I didn’t like. She was super into the advocacy and we talked about that and theatre for a while. I think I bombed maybe one or two answers, but the rest was great.

Other

Applied for Financial Aid?: Yes
Intended Major: English
State (if domestic applicant): North Carolina
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: Public, small, kind of backcountry. We’ve never had an Ivy student to my knowledge.
Ethnicity: White
Gender: Female
Income Bracket: 200k-250k
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): I don’t know - maybe the LGBT advocacy would count? And I didn’t go into it very much in my app, but my mom has multiple sclerosis and survived a nearly-fatal boating accident when I was a freshman.

Reflection

Strengths: Extracurriculars. I think my app also made it clear that I live in a small town with very few opportunities, so I made them for myself and used them to their fullest potential. And I think my passion for Columbia really shone through.
Weaknesses: My numbers (GPA/tests)
Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected: Passion for Columbia and leadership (especially the LGBT advocacy)
Where else were you accepted/deferred/rejected:
Accepted: Duke, Davidson (Belk semifinalist), Wake Forest, UNC Chapel Hill (honors college), Clemson, Emory (and Oxford at Emory)
Rejected: Brown
General Comments: I think my acceptance (!!) really demonstrates that it’s not just about the numbers at Columbia; you just have to be really genuine and passionate and make sure to showcase that in your application. I was totally, totally floored by my acceptance and it is a total dream come true.

If anyone has any questions, wants help with essays or applications or whatever, I am more than happy to help!

7

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 720 cr, 800 m, 720 w
ACT (breakdown):
SAT II: 720 m2, 730 Chinese, 770 ush, 710 m1
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.87
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 25/650
AP (place score in parenthesis): did not send
IB (place score in parenthesis):
Senior Year Course Load: all AP and 1 honors
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): NMF

Subjective:

Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): decent. if you want more details you can message me but I doubt you would care lol
Job/Work Experience: lifeguard
Volunteer/Community service: 133 hours
Summer Activities: typical stuff
Essays (rating 1-10, details): decent I think idk
Recommendations (rating 1-10, details): didn’t read

Teacher Rec #1:
Teacher Rec #2:
Counselor Rec:
Additional Rec:
Interview: very short, but had a nice conversation

Other

Applied for Financial Aid?: no
Intended Major: Sociology, Econ, Art
State (if domestic applicant): FL
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: Public
Ethnicity: Chinese
Gender: dude
Income Bracket: upper middle
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): nope

Reflection

Strengths: Art supplement?
Weaknesses: I literally did the supplement at 11:00 pm the night before it was due. Of course I already had stuff to go off of from other college apps lol
Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected: see above
Where else were you accepted/deferred/rejected:
Accepted: Rice, UVa, UNC, UF, Southern Cal, UCF
Waitlist: Cornell, ND, JHU, NYU Stern
Rejected: Rest of the ivies-Yale (didn’t apply), Duke, Vandy

Please Cornell, accept me off your waiting list. I know its very unlikely but plssssssss I really want to go

8

Decision: Accepted - CC

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown):
760 Math
730 Reading
690 Writing
(2180 total)

770 Math
660 Reading
800 Writing
(2230 total)

Superscore is a 2300 (happened to bomb different sections each time)

ACT (breakdown): cancelled score, but it was a 31. No colleges saw
SAT II: 780 Lit, 750 Math 2, 780 Chinese
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.38
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 1/350
AP (place score in parenthesis): Compsci (5), Human Geo (5), Stats (5), Micro (4), APUSH (3), Chinese (5), Calc AB (5), Psych (5), Lang (5)
IB (place score in parenthesis): N/A
Senior Year Course Load: AP Spanish, AP Calc BC, AP Lit, AP Bio, AP American Gov, AP Comparative Gov, plus some random graduation requirements that I put off until senior year
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): National Runner Up in the National Center for Women & IT Aspirations in Computing competition, a bunch of regional debate awards, tedX talk

Subjective:

Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): for the sake of confidentiality, I won’t put specifics. I’m on the national staff of a youth political organization, started my own computer science camp for 8-12 old girls, started my own debate camp, published 2 poems, did speech/debate for 4 years, and have a couple leadership positions in school clubs
Job/Work Experience: Mathnasium tutor, private math tutor
Volunteer/Community service: See extracurriculars
Summer Activities: attended 3 week Georgetown debate camp summer after freshman year, attended Gonzaga debate camp summer after that. Worked, volunteered, etc.
Essays (rating 1-10, details): Common app was above average but not amazing, Supplements were decent
Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):

Teacher Rec #1: English teacher, he told me that I could get anywhere with this letter so I’m guessing 10/10
Teacher Rec #2: Math teacher, probably above average but nothing special. 6/10
Counselor Rec: Generic I’m guessing? 5/10
Additional Rec: Adult advisor who helped out with my coding camp. 7/10
Interview: Student interview, thought it went fairly well. 7/10

Other

Applied for Financial Aid?: Yep
Intended Major: I put polisci-stats, but I’m sure I’ll change it
State (if domestic applicant): Pacific Northwest (rural)
Country (if international applicant): USA
School Type: large public
Ethnicity: Asian
Gender: Female
Income Bracket: About 150,000
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): Nah I’m boring

Reflection

Strengths: Extracurriculars
Weaknesses: Test scores
Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected: No clue. My decisions were super werid
Where else were you accepted/deferred/rejected:
Accepted: Columbia, Georgetown, Northeastern, Boston College, University of Utah
Waitlisted: UPenn, Cornell, Vanderbilt, Grinnell, Pomona, Claremont Mckenna, WashU
Rejected: Stanford, Harvard, Dartmouth, Princeton, Northwestern

General Comments:
If someone could please tell me what was going on with my decisions, that’d be super helpful because I have no idea how I got waitlisted/rejected by so many schools but managed to get into Columbia. Not complaining or anything though. So excited.

9

[asize=4][acolor=#008000]Decision: Accepted - CC[/color][/size]

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 2140 (superscored, I took it twice) (Writing: 670 CR: 760 Math: 710)
ACT (breakdown): N/A
SAT II: Chinese (800), Literature (750), World History (680)
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): My course doesn’t generally use GPA so not sure, final grade was 3A*1A
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): No idea but definitely not top 1%.
AP (place score in parenthesis): N/A
IB (place score in parenthesis): N/A

Senior Year Course Load: A-levels, decided to take 4 subjects rather than the minimum of 3, but this was the case for many others also so I wasn’t that special!

Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): N/A

Subjective:

Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Performing Arts Club (Producer and logistics director), Student newspaper (Deputy Editor in Chief), Free Arts Movement a tiny ass club that just threw paint around, dancer and performer

Job/Work Experience: Worked as a barista and also in a Korean barbecue shop as a waitress! Internships with Amnesty International (freedom of speech and all that jazz), a food magazine (YAHS FREE FOOD), and a feminist organisation (gonna trample all over the patriarchy). (I took a gap year which is why I had so much free time to annoy people into giving me jobs.)

Volunteer/Community service: Classroom Experience (raising awareness on the importance of education to underprivileged kids), Colours of Cambodia Charity Performance (raising funds for art supplied for children)

Summer Activities: Went for a week-long government organized summer camp and learned how to drive a car.

Essays (rating 1-10, details): 5? I’m genuinely not sure, because I began the Common App two hours before the deadline and finished it literally thirty seconds before 00:00am, 1st February while crying like an idiot. It was about my grandfather and the expectations I faced growing up. Thank the fucking gods that someone on the admissions committee saw something in it and didn’t throw it into the trash. For the Writing Supplement I wrote about cauliflowers…

Recommendations (rating 1-10, details): 8? Again I have no idea because the teachers I asked thought I was their most annoying student for the whole time I was in their class. They did know me very well as the person I was (including my faults which are many) and for sure wrote their recommendations as such.

Teacher Rec #1: Math lecturer, also my form teacher. I think he liked me as a student but also thought I was really bitchy? Will we ever know.

Teacher Rec #2: English Literature lecturer, liked me but also forgot about the whole thing until I reminded her literally one day before the deadline.

Counselor Rec: A very generic one written by the school principle. He uses the same template for everyone. However, he did know me personally from my many visits to bug him about my scholarship so I cannot be sure if he did something different.

Additional Rec: N/A

Interview: 9/10 YAHS JUST YAHS. I think out of all the interviews I went for my Columbia one was the best? We started out awkwardly because I didn’t bring any portfolio/project to show my interviewer but we shared a lot of the same values and had a really great conversation. I also cried like, a lot in front of her (maybe she felt sorry for me…). Even though it was supposed to be 30 minutes we dragged on for an hour and she bought me a muffin afterwards. Funny story: we scheduled the meeting at a cafe and were both 30 minutes early and just sat next to each other at different tables without realizing it.

Other

Applied for Financial Aid?: Nay because I was slated to get a scholarship but unfortunately it has been taken away so I do not know what to do now pls save me.
Intended Major: English
State (if domestic applicant): N/A
Country (if international applicant): Malaysia
School Type: Private college for A Levels, public high school
Ethnicity: Chinese-Malaysian
Gender: Female
Income Bracket: IDEK but middle class.

Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): None, I think. Maybe being an Asian from Asia who kind of sucks at Math?

Reflection

Strengths: I guess I showed a diversity in interests? In my A-Levels I took Math, Biology, Chemistry and Literature which was a weird combination with a class of only 4 people. I did push myself in extracurriculars, so there’s that. Also, I think Columbia appreciated my involvement in civil rights seeing as it’s a controversial issue here in my country. IDK I’M JUST SO HAPPY OKAY I MUST CONTROL MYSELF

Weaknesses: My essay, definitely. My grades weren’t spectacular

Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected: My goals and career aspirations were a fit for Columbia (civil rights and social activism). I wrote about the stupidest things like my love for Chris Evans’ butt and cleaning tables, and maybe they liked that. I definitely think my interview helped a lot.

Where else were you accepted/deferred/rejected:

Accepted: Columbia, NYU (NYC is just the place for me), a bunch of other universities in the UK and Australia
Waitlsited: UChicago, Tufts
Rejected: Stanford, Harvard, Princeton and Yale

General Comments:

10

Decision: Accepted - CC

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 740 (Reading), 560 (Math), 620 (Writing)
ACT (breakdown): N/A
SAT II: 610 (English Lit), 530 (Math 1), 580 (US History)
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.97
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): N/A
AP (place score in parenthesis):Took 2 classes, no tests
IB (place score in parenthesis): N/A
Senior Year Course Load:Physics, Meteorology, Climatology, Additional Advanced Math Subjects, Analytic Math, Calc 1 and 2, Black History, Cooperativism, AP Spanish, AP English
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.):

Subjective:

Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Lots of political work, mostly as the Chairman of the High School Democrats of Puerto Rico; gave speeches at the UN and such.
Job/Work Experience :Bookkeeper for a local grocery shop
Volunteer/Community service: Environmental work (100+) hours
Summer Activities: Lobbying, political work, etc.
Essays (rating 1-10, details): (10 and 8 (?)) Common App essay was one of the best things I’ve written. The Columbia Supplement really allowed my personality to show and I am sure that helped me a lot.

Teacher Rec #1: (10) Teacher loved me, it was pages long and it was very candid.
Teacher Rec #2: Generic (5)
Counselor Rec: She hates me; no idea.
Additional Rec: Less generic (7).
Interview: N/A

Other

Applied for Financial Aid?: Yes
Intended Major: Econ
State (if domestic applicant): Puerto Rico, kinda applies
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: Public magnet
Ethnicity: Hispanic
Gender: M
Income Bracket:
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): URM

Reflection

Strengths: Recs, extracurriculars, URM.
Weaknesses: Scores.
Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected: URM, strong extracurriculars.
Where else were you accepted/deferred/rejected:

Accepted: Amherst College, Boston College, BU, Cornell (early write), University of Maryland, U of Minn, UNC, Pomona College, University of Puerto Rico, Swarthmore (early write), UWash, Wesleyan (early write, Allbritton Scholar)

Waitlisted: WUSTL

Rejected: UVA, Harvard

General Comments: See you on campus! And for those who think they cannot get in, look at me. Miracles do happen.

11

Decision: Waitlisted - CC

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 740 (Reading), 780 (Math), 790 (Writing) - 2310 overall
ACT (breakdown): N/A
SAT II: 780 (Math 2), 690 (Chemistry)
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.0
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): Top 10%
AP (place score in parenthesis): 5 (Computer Science A)
IB (place score in parenthesis):
Senior Year Course Load: AP Calculus, Chemistry, Biology, Physics, English, Law
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): Honor Roll with Distinction, English Award, First/second place on some math contests, some others

Subjective:

Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Regional Director of Solar for Life charity, Solar for Life club (President), HOSA Team, School newspaper (editor), GSA (Exec), School science team, some others
Job/Work Experience: Intern at 2 hospitals in London, UK
Volunteer/Community service: Regular volunteer at museum and soup kitchen
Summer Activities: Intern at hospitals, English literature courses
Essays (rating 1-10, details): Common App: 6.5 (wrote it pretty fast, could have been a lot better. Talked about my activism in school), Supplementary: 4.5 (again, wrote it really fast, was very generic)

Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):

Teacher Rec #1: 9 (really loved me but was lazy, so might not have been a 10)
Teacher Rec #2: 8 (liked me but was very objective)
Counselor Rec: 4-5 I don’t even know, she hates me.
Additional Rec:
Interview: It was decent. We talked about books a lot.

Other

Applied for Financial Aid?: Yes
Intended Major: Biology
State (if domestic applicant):
Country (if international applicant): Canada
School Type: Public
Ethnicity: South Asian
Gender: Male
Income Bracket:
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.):

Reflection

Strengths: some extracurriculars, good GPA
Weaknesses: essays, international applicant, bad SAT subject tests
Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected: Not good enough lol
Where else were you accepted/deferred/rejected:
Accepted: McGill, McMaster, UofToronto, Queens, Western
Rejected: Harvard, Stanford, Northwestern, Yale, Brown, Dartmouth, UPenn, Duke, Johns Hopkins
Deferred: UChicago, Columbia
General Comments:

12

**Decision: Accepted: CC **

Objective:

[ul]
[] SAT I: 2300 (800M, 770W, 730 CR)
[] ACT: N/A
[] SAT II: 800 Math II, 800 Physics
[] Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): School doesn’t do GPA, but around a 92/100 cumulative
[] Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): School doesn’t rank, but probably top 10%
[] AP (place score in parenthesis): Physics C: Mechanics (5), Physics C: E&M (5), Calc BC (5), Chemistry (5), Eng Lang and Comp (5), Microeconomics (5)
[] IB (place score in parenthesis): N/A
[] Senior Year Course Load: English, Comp Sci, World History, Philosophy, Economics, Statistics
[] Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.):[/ul] This is where I thought I really stood out: International Physics Olympiad (IPhO) bronze medallist, International Olympiad on Astronomy and Astrophysics (IOAA) bronze medallist, AAPT PhysicsBowl Canadian winner, a few other national/international physics competition awards that I won’t list for the sake of the reader (lol)
Subjective:

[ul]
[] Extracurriculars: Debate Club (President), Physics Club (President), physics olympiad training (this one was huge), astrophysics research and biochemical research at 2 local universities, JV basketball

[] Job/Work Experience: Taught science at a local tutoring hub
[] Volunteer/Community service: Volunteered at local science centre
[] Essays: Essays were above average at best. Nothing spectacular and I don’t think I got in because of my essays.
[] Teacher Recommendations: English Teacher (who is also my debate club coach): 9/10 and Physics Teacher (who is also my physics club mentor): didn’t see but probably 8-9/10
[] Counselor Rec: Didn’t see, probably pretty good though (8/10)
[] Additional Rec: N/A
[] Interview:[/ul] N/A
Other

[ul]
[] State (if domestic applicant):
[] Country (if international applicant): CANADA BABY
[] School Type: Semi-competitive public
[] Ethnicity: Ashun
[] Gender: Mael
[] Income Bracket: ~ High enough to not qualify for Fin. Aid
[] Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.):[/ul] International awards? Not sure if this counts as a hook
Reflection

[ul]
[] Strengths: Awards, ECs, recommendations, test scores (I guess)
[] Weaknesses: ESSAYS, grades
[] Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: AWARDS
[] Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected:[/ul] Accepted: JHU, Duke, UPenn; waitlisted: UChicago, Stanford; rejected: HYPM (I cry)
General Comments: Well its been a long ride and I’m extremely lucky to be in such a good position. I’ll refrain from being all sentimental and stuff, but for future applicants I would recommend developing a spike (focus alot on something), like I did with physics. I think that was the reason I was accepted, and this way, its easier for you to stand out.

Cheers and good luck to everyone!!! :slight_smile:

13

[aB][asize=4][acolor=#008000]Decision: Accepted - CC[/color][/size]**

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 2200 (750 M 750 W 700 CR)
ACT (breakdown): didn’t take
SAT II: 740 Math II and 700 Physics
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.9-ish
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): top 8%
AP (place score in parenthesis): not available at my school
IB (place score in parenthesis): not available at my school
Senior Year Course Load: Pretty competitive school; don’t wanna list the courses but pretty rigorous curriculum
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): Best delegate Award in 3 conferences (one of them was in NY Headquarters); 1st place national public speaking competition; I think I’m forgetting things

Subjective:

Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): 6 Years of Varsity Volleyball ( captain of senior varsity team while still in junior year; won 1st place in three tournaments that year)
6 years Varsity Basketball (like 10 MVP’s)
Environment Club (president) 3 years; I care a lot about hygiene and cleanliness/sustainability so yeah; and I raised money in school to buy new flower pots (with the flowers) for all high school classes (9-10-11-12) including the administration’s office (they love me lol)
MUN: since 7th grade (when I won my first award). This is not a school club; directly participated in local conferences and in freshman year my adviser signed me up for the NY headquarters conference (won Secretary General)
Student Body President Junior Year: did a lot for the school that year including founding the school newspaper and some other minor things
Founder and President of a non-profit advocating LGBTQ rights and recruits volunteer psychologists to help LGBTQ individuals with personal/family issues (i.e. coming out to self/family)
Job/Work Experience: Some office work
Volunteer/Community service: 600 hrs with an NGO that advocates against sexual exploitation/assault; funny one of our activities was writing in red on mattresses and protesting in streets which was once done by students at columbia. pretty much it
Summer Activities: none lol; beach and books
Essays (rating 1-10, details): Common App 10. It was about overcoming my sexual assault experience when i was 9 and being gay + a social activist. 3/3 of the people that read it cried (one of them was my mom; that’s how I came out to her) Columbia essay was non-traditional. SO RISKY. I think they liked it i dunno. Talked about Alma’s owl and related it to my superstitions.7 to 9? My Major essay showed true passion. I love it. 10. Activity essay was about my LGBTQ involvement. 9?
Recommendations (rating 1-10, details): didn’t read any; but my teachers and counselor love me. Im very energetic and fun to be around (I’ve been told haha).

Teacher Rec #1:
Teacher Rec #2:
Counselor Rec: Probably talked about the things i did for the school, the same things i represented in my app so he probably didn’t add that much
Additional Rec: N/A
Interview: Great. It was with a gay Columbia student so we talked a lot and had lots in common (he’s hot haha). We talked about how beautiful columbia is, LGBTQ life there, NYC and books. Good report. 9.

Other: naah

Applied for Financial Aid?: LOTS
Intended Major: Astrophysics
State (if domestic applicant): CA
Country (if international applicant): USA
School Type: Private
Ethnicity:
Gender: Male
Income Bracket: 40K
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): URM, first gen, gay, overcame a traumatic experience others might have committed suicide because of.

Reflection

Strengths: I knew what to shed light on when presenting myself (queer identity, social activism, and personal achievements). Essays. I refuse to call my test scores and numbers a weakness; they’re in the range and that’s enough (for me). Focused EC’s?
Weaknesses: I dunno. No AP’s/IB’s perhaps?
Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected: I’m a perfect fit tbh: creative, socially active… and I love Columbia. Hooks contributed too. My major? I dunno
Where else were you accepted/deferred/rejected: Accepted: Harvard, UChicago (deferred then accepted), Yale, Brown, Duke, JHU, Dartmouth, MIT, Cornell, Rice, Stanford (likely), Penn (likely), UFlorida, Yale-NUS, Vassar, Middlebury, UNC CH, Colgate.
Waitlisted: Williams; dont ask why
Rejected: Caltech, Princeton (shoot; would’ve actually had a choice to make)

General Comments: OMFGG I GOT INTO 7 IVIESSS I NEVER THOUGHT THIS WOULD HAPPEN. NYC HERE I COME. GOING TO COLUMBIA WAS MY DREAM SINCE FOREVER. Advice: be smart in your application. Be yourself, and let them want you.

Congrats to those who got in. CLASSMATES :D. Good luck for the waitlisted applicants. And hard luck for the others, remember you’ll end up exactly where you should be.

14

Decision: Accepted!

Likely letter + C.P. Davis Scholar

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 2340 (800CR, 740M, 800W), took only once
ACT (breakdown): Didn’t take
SAT II (place score in parentheses): 800 Math, 780 Lit, 770 Spanish reading, 760 US Hist, 760 World Hist, 720 Physics, 710 Chem
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.98
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): officially N/A (school doesn’t rank), unofficially top 10%
AP (place score in parentheses): Calc AB (5), English Lit (5), APUSH (5), Spanish Lang (5), World History (5), Psych (self-studied, 5)
IB (place score in parentheses): N/A
Senior Year Course Load: AP Econ (combined Micro/Macro), AP American Gov, AP Physics C, AP English Lang, AP Calc BC, Leadership
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): Top-ranked in USA for debate, several debate tournament awards, national scholarship winner for debate, AP Scholar with Distinction

Subjective
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parentheses): Debate captain, ASB position in Leadership, CyberPatriot founder/captain, varsity volleyball, math tutor
Job/Work Experience: Internship at national laboratory as software programmer and TA for cybersecurity classes
Volunteer/Community Service: On planning committee for large American Cancer Society fundraiser for the past 2 years
Summer Activities: Study abroad after sophomore year
Essays (rating 1-10, details):: Personal statement was decent, probably a 7.
Teacher Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):: Probably 8’s or 9’s. My AP Calc AB teacher and APUSH teacher, both like me and I did well in their classes, but I know my APUSH teacher wrote hers last minute so idk how strong it was
Counselor Rec (rating 1-10, details):: 8, my counselor likes me but I go to a large public school and she writes hundreds of recs, so probably not too original
Additional Rec (rating 1-10, details):: 9, internship mentor, very professional, talked about work I did for the lab
Interview: Didn’t get one

Other
Applied for Financial Aid? No
State (if domestic applicant): California
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: Large, public, competitive atmosphere
Ethnicity: White
Gender: Female
Income Bracket: 200k+
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): Girl in STEM, legacy

Reflection
Strengths: Essays, grades, legacy status, debate accomplishments
Weaknesses: Not many STEM accomplishments, no outstanding community service
Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected: Definitely my essays, which I thought were pretty unique and creative, and very interesting to read.
Where else you are applying or have already applied: Princeton (accepted), Penn M&T (accepted), Yale (accepted), Harvard (rejected), Brown (accepted), NYU (accepted), UCLA (accepted), Carnegie Mellon (accepted), UC Berkeley (accepted, Regent’s), Michigan (accepted), MIT (waitlisted), USC (Accepted, Trustee Scholar & Viterbi Fellow) Caltech (rejected), Stanford (rejected), UChicago (accepted, Dean’s Scholar), UVA (accepted, Honors), Maryland (accepted, ACES, Honors), Duke (rejected)
General Comments/Advice/Hindsight: Just be really genuinely yourself. I believe that my essays were successful because I wrote about what I WANTED to write about, and in doing so I let them see my adventurous and goofy side. Every effort to change who you are makes your essay weaker and more basic. Just capture a raw, original slice of yourself and be unique.

15

Decision: Accepted - CC

w/ a likely letter, named John Jay scholar

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): Did not submit.
ACT (breakdown): 36 (35, 35, 36, 36; W: 26)
SAT II: 790 Math II, but did not submit official score report.
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.0
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 5/423
AP (place score in parenthesis): Lots of 5s and 4s among AP Stats, Calc AB, World History, Gov, Lang, Lit, Environmental Science, and US History. Taking Micro/Macro and Human Geography right now.
IB (place score in parenthesis): Psychology (6). Taking History of the Americas HL, Physics SL, English HL, Math HL (lol), and Spanish SL.
Senior Year Course Load: ^^^
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): Scholastic gold medal in poetry, NSP semi-finalist. Nat. AP Scholar, Commended Nat. Merit.

Subjective:

Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Swimming (junior coach of summer league, club swimming, high school swimming), writing, violin (orchestra, private lessons, and quartet for weddings). Did not mention these, but my recommenders probably did: Odyssey of the Mind, Young Democrats, writing improvement club.
Job/Work Experience: AdmitSee intern last spring.
Volunteer/Community service: Tutoring program (founder)
Summer Activities: Nothing except swimming, playing the violin, writing. Doing my own thang.
Essays (rating 1-10, details): I have NO idea how well these essays are written. Common App — I really just let go with this one, talked about passions from memes to hot men. Why Columbia — I was really detailed, mentioning courses and student organizations and the Core. My Major — compared comparative lit to the study of memes. EC — I talked about being a junior coach for swim.
Recommendations (rating 1-10, details): Still don’t know how these went, but I’d say that both are really good writers. I also filled out a resumé form, and I think this also helped them.

English teacher — Don’t talk to him much, but we’ve had a few interesting conversations now and then. He’s also witnessed some of my best work (not gonna lie), so I suppose that could be a plus.
Physics teacher — I also don’t talk to him much, but I do put extra effort into showing him respect (bc a lot of my classmates disrespect him and I don’t like that). I do very well in his class, too, and I always ask him questions outside of class.
Counselor — I also don’t talk to her much, but I once made her laugh? (byyyyeeee)
Interviewer — N/A.

Other

Applied for Financial Aid?: Yes
Intended Major: Comparative literature/physics
State (if domestic applicant): FL
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: Medium public
Ethnicity: Asian af
Gender: F
Income Bracket: 110K
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): I said this before, and because I like saying trite things I’ll say it again: if a hook was a mountain I’d be a black hole t b h.

Reflection

Strengths: My essays. I definitely tried to show them who I really am; I thought of the whole thing as a sort of dating thing where I had to write my absolute bestest to win over a very hot person. I also am extremely committed to my ECs, and I happened to win some national awards (and I’m incredibly lucky for having done so). Also my test scores.
Weaknesses: Lack of leadership and initiative. I see students having start-ups and non-profits and their own inventions and having some darn initiative. But yeah, I had none of that. I also could have connected with my teachers more so they could write my personal and glowing recommendations — also something I have to work on in college.
Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected: No clue. I’m a pretty average applicant, so I’m guessing my essays probably won them over? I was so open in them.
Where else were you accepted/deferred/rejected:
Rejected @ Princeton (after SCEA deferral), Stanford. Waitlisted (and denied spot on waitlist) @ UChicago and Rice. Accepted @ UF Honors, Pitt Honors (full tuition scholarship), Vassar, Wellesley, Pomona, UPenn.

General Comments: t b h this whole college application process has been really confusing and stuff. After receiving my SCEA deferral, I lost the little hope I had for getting into the schools I applied to. After Princeton, I did my research and mentally prepared to attend UF and Pitt, both of which offered excellent facilities and a great classroom experience albeit with a higher acceptance rate.

Receiving a likely letter from Columbia was the most pleasant surprise to say the least, and I’m still stunned and incredibly grateful that I was accepted (imposter syndrome anyone?). Nonetheless, I still have that mentality I developed after my deferral — that no matter where you go, you will succeed. College is honestly just a bunch of buildings with a bunch of labs and a bunch of professors and a bunch of books. Make what you will of it.

16

**Decision: Rejected **

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown):
ACT: 35 Composite, 36 Math, 36 Science, 34 English, 34 Reading
(36 Superscore)
SAT II: 800 Math II , 740 Chem
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.6
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable):
AP (place score in parenthesis): Human Geo 5, World History 5, Chemistry 4, Calc BC 5, Bio 4, Physics 1 4 (self “study”), English Lang & Comp 5, US History 4
IB (place score in parenthesis):
Senior Year Course Load: AP CS, AP Lit, AP Econ, AP Physics C, AP Seminar, Honors Adv Math II, Academic Decathlon, WOOT
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): National and state medals for academic decathlon, but really nothing, probs why I got rejected, National merit scholar, National ap scholar, city and state medals for math team, invite to nationals for science bowl

Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis):
Math Team 9-12
Physics Olympiad, 10-12, Captain
Science Bowl 11-12, Co-Captain
Table Tennis 9-12, Co-Captain
Academic Decathlon 11-12
Piano, 1-12

Job/Work Experience:

Volunteer/Community service: 100+ service hours

Summer Activities:
Math camp at UChicago after 7th, 8th, 9th
Particle Physics Research at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory after 10th
Summer Math Program at MIT after 11th
Astrophysics Research at UChicago after 11th

Essays (rating 1-10, details): Common App 7/10, I thought my roommate essay was funny and showed my personality. I tried to show how much I liked Stanford in my essays and thought they were good. 8/10 for short essays.
Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):
Teacher Rec #1: idk
Teacher Rec #2: idk
Counselor Rec: idk
Additional Rec: none
Interview: none

Other
State (if domestic applicant):
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: Public Magnet
Race: Black
Gender: Male
Income Bracket: 120k
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.):none

Reflection
Strengths: none
Weaknesses: GPA, lack of significant awards. Tried to do stuff like math and physics olympiads but never got to the point I should’ve for the amount of work I put in. I sacrificed my grades to try to become good at them in the same way an athlete or musician might, but ultimately it didn’t pay off. no regrets though, still learned a lot. Now that all of my decisions are out, I’m guessing it was also my essays.

Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: ^

Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected:
Rejected Caltech, WashU, Northwestern, UChicago, Stanford, Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Columbia, Brown, UPenn
Waitlisted MIT, University of Michigan
Accepted Carnegie Mellon, University of Illinois

17

WAITLISTED: SEAS

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 740 CR 720 M 730 W (2190 Total)
ACT (breakdown): NA
SAT II: 750 Chem, 680 Math II
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.85
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): ?
AP (place score in parenthesis): Chemistry (3) Human Geo (5) Spanish Lang (5) APUSH (4) World History (4)
IB (place score in parenthesis): NA
Senior Year Course Load: AP Environmental Science, AP Calc AB, AP Physics C, Spanish Lit, British Lit and Puerto Rican History (it’s a requirement lol)
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): Ap Scholar with Distinction, National Hispanic Recognition Program, Presidential Scholar candidate

Subjective:

Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis):
Ballet/ Modern Dance (I play a pretty big role in my company) 9-12
Student Council (Class Treasurer) 11
Piano 2-12
Art (Drawing and Painting) 9-12
Cheerleading 12
Soccer 9
Also I’ve had to take care of my little sister so basically raising a child (my respects to single mothers out there) 9-12
Job/Work Experience:
The only “job” I’ve had was translating Physics pamphlets from Spanish to English for a local uni (11-12)
Volunteer/Community service:
tutoring (10-12)
Summer Activities:
Contagion course at UChicago (11)
Apart from that ballet intensives every summer and I did a piano intensive the summer after 9th
Essays (rating 1-10, details): English is like my third language so my Common App was like a solid 8/10, wrote about a really difficult time for me (eating disorders, family trouble, loved ones dying) and how I was able to overcome that
Short essays were like 7/10s, my brain was saturated by that point and my why Columbia essay was like a 9/10, like I did my research during the CE2 fly-in
Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):

Teacher Rec #1: AP Calc teacher, doesn’t know me very well but guidance counselor recommended me to ask him bc he writes great letters (?/10)
Teacher Rec #2: APUSH/ Puerto Rican history teacher, he’s told me he “holds me in a very high esteem” (10/10)
Counselor Rec: 7/10, poor woman’s always busy but she’s nice with me and knows about my extracurriculars
Additional Rec: 8/10, professor at UChicago during the summer
Interview: My interviewer replied like 10 days late every time I tried to schedule something and eventually never got to interview me :slight_smile:

Other

Applied for Financial Aid?: YES
Intended Major: Biomedical Engineering
State (if domestic applicant): Puerto Rico
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: Small Private
Ethnicity: Hispanic
Gender: F
Income Bracket: let’s just say between 50k and 100k
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): Hispanic, girl in STEM

Reflection

Strengths: I’m Hispanic, speak three languages fluently and I’m a girl in stem. That’s about it.
Other than that I’m really committed to dance and music
Weaknesses: Everything

Alright, more like SAT scores, some letters of recommendation and my lack of leadership positions in extracurriculars (Id say GPA and some AP scores too)
Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected: Honestly not an impressive student, I thought I would be rejected
Where else were you accepted/deferred/rejected:
Wait listed: Yale, Columbia, Tulane, Georgia Tech
Accepted: University of Puerto Rico, Smith College and UChicago

General Comments:
Please buy my book “How to get wait listed by every single college,” the prequel to “Working at McDonald’s”
(just kidding, guys)

18

Decision: Accepted - SEAS

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 2310 (750 R 770 M 790 W)
ACT (breakdown): didn’t take it
SAT II (place score in parentheses): Chemistry (800), Math II (800)
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.0
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): top 10%
AP (place score in parentheses): Chemistry (5), Spanish Language (5), Spanish Literature (5), English Language (5), Calculus BC (5), AB subscore (5), Physics 1 (5), Physics 2 (5), U.S. History (5)
IB (place score in parentheses): not available at my school
Senior Year Course Load: AP English Literature, Calculus D (Multivariable Calculus)/Linear Algebra, Speech and Debate, AP Biology, AP Art History, AP Microeconomics, AP U.S. Government
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): National AP Scholar, Speaker at U.S. News STEM Solutions National Leadership Conference, presenter at 2016 Oncofertility Conference at Northwestern University

Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parentheses): varsity swim team, speech and debate team (student teacher and treasurer), engineering program to send an experiment to the International Space Station (one of two project managers), brief internship at Qualcomm
Job/Work Experience: tutoring, research assistant in organic chemistry lab (published on paper as coauthor)
Volunteer/Community Service: environmental club (President), NHS, chemistry club (President)
Summer Activities: science program at UCSD, research at USD
Essays: about math, pretty good
Teacher Recommendations: fantastic
Counselor Rec: fantastic
Additional Rec: fantastic

Other
Applied for Financial Aid? Yes
Projected Concentration: something in STEM
State (if domestic applicant): CA
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: public
Ethnicity: Asian American and Caucasian
Gender: Female
Income Bracket: upper
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): none

Reflection
Strengths: extracurriculars, grades, test scores, well-rounded
Weaknesses: not outstanding at any of my extracurriculars like swimming or debate
Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected: no idea. it’s pretty random
Where else were you accepted/deferred/rejected: accepted to UCLA (engineering), UC Berkeley (engineering), UCSD (engineering), MIT, BU, Columbia (engineering), and Rice (engineering), didn’t get waitlisted or rejected anywhere
General Comments/Advice/Hindsight: work really hard on your essays so that when decisions come out, you have no regrets or doubts about what would’ve happened if you’d tried harder

19

Decision: Rejected - SEAS

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 2190: 800 M; 720 CR; 670 W (lol)
ACT (breakdown): did not send
SAT II: 800 Math II; 800 Math I; 800 Physics
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.0
Weighted GPA: 4.0 (all classes had same weight b/c the school was selective)
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): school does not rank (only 50 kids in my grade)
AP (place score in parenthesis): All of my AP’s are self-studied: AP Calc BC (5); AP Computer Science (5); AP Microeconomics (5); AP Macroeconomics (5); AP Psychology (5); AP Statistics (5); AP Physics C: Mechanics (4, rip retaking this year for the 5 lol); AP Physics C: Electricity & Magnetism (5)
IB (place score in parenthesis): n/a
Senior Year Course Load: All dual-enrollment college courses. Senior/Junior undergraduate level courses in Math and Computer Science as well as some grad courses.

Math: Ordinary Differential Equations, Rings and Fields, Abstract Algebra (grad level), Real Analysis, Complex Analysis
CS: Systems Programming, Assembly and Machine Organization, Foundations of CS, Programming Language Design

+Self-studied AP’s: AP Politics and Government, AP Human Geography

Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): Intel ISEF Regional 3rd, Massachusetts State Fair 4th, USACO Gold, WPI Programming Contest 1st place, 2nd place gold division Cyber Patriot (internationally), National Merit Finalist, NMF $2500 Award Winner, AP National Scholar, Rensselaer Medal, HiMCM (meritorious)

Minor Awards: AIME Qualif. 2 times - scored a 6. Qualified for MAML 2 (proof based Massachusetts Contest for top 5% of math people) 3 times (freshman, junior and senior year). Local WOCOMAL competition top 25 for a few years, some other stuff.

Subjective:

Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Math Team captain, Programming Team captain, ARML Regional Team, Research (engineering and designing mobile applications to solve health problems), National Honors Society, Science Olympiad, Science Bowl, Mock Trial, Varsity Crew, 1st Clarinet in Marching Band
Job/Work Experience: Paid research software internship Junior year of high school + Part time software job offered by that company after internship. Also private tutoring.
Volunteer/Community service: 300+ hours volunteering as a math tutor at a local center.
Summer Activities: Software internships, taking Coursera classes online, and reading textbooks to self-study subjects I find interesting.
Essays (rating 1-10, details):
Essay #1 (Common App, 9/10): Edited this one quite a bit, really tried to create a polished version of my vision of myself and what I wanted to do in life. Wrote about research and applying research through engineering.
Essay #2 (A whole host of smaller essays actually, 9/10): I wrote pretty genuinely about everything, but the highlight was writing about how I started programming at the age of 9 and made a YouTube channel to teach people Java that has now become a small community of 2200+ subscribed people.

Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):

Teacher Rec #1 (CS Teacher, 9/10): We got to know each other pretty well, and she liked me personally. She also advised part of my research during junior year.
Teacher Rec #2 (Humanities Teacher, 6/10): Knew me pretty well but didn’t get to know him too closely throughout the year. He liked me as a student. Was probably pretty generic.
Counselor Rec (4/10): Talked to her like once throughout the year. Her essay was probably rather generic, rip.
Additional Rec (Employer/Boss, 10/10): He was a great guy, and was so impressed with me that he offered me a full-time job, and then when I declined he offered a part time job near the end of my internship. He told me that in his rec he said I was working at the level of most other people with PhD’s in our group.

Other

Applied for Financial Aid?: Yes
Intended Major: Computer Science
State (if domestic applicant): MA
Country (if international applicant): USA
School Type: Public Magnet (50 people per grade, only 11th and 12th grade)
Ethnicity: White
Gender: M
Income Bracket: ~100K
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): First generation immigrant, but that doesn’t really count for anything…

Reflection

Strengths: Work experience, Self-studied AP’s, High-level college courses, maybe research.
Weaknesses: SAT Writing, didn’t make ISEF international fair.
Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: Lots of excellent applicants, no legacy or URM status, college admission is a crapshot as I’ve learned. Also applying to CS, to which the majority of applicants are guys.
Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected:

Accepted:
Duke
Cornell

Wait List:
Carnegie Mellon SCS
UChicago
Georgia Tech (lol)

Rejected:
Harvard
MIT
Stanford
UC Berkeley (Engineering)
Brown
Caltech
Yale
Columbia
Upenn

General Comments: I actually wanted to go to Columbia, but I guess they fill too much of their pool in ED to accept many people in regular. Oh well. Congrats to everyone that got in! Will probably choose Cornell over Duke next year, because it has more well developed CS (although the environment is a little more depressing unfortunately).

20

[aB][asize=4][acolor=#008000]Decision: Accepted - SEAS[/color][/size]**

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 2280 (750 R, 760 M, 770 W)
ACT (breakdown): -
SAT II: 800 Math 2, 800 Chem
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): -
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 3/64
AP (place score in parenthesis): -
IB (place score in parenthesis): 44/45 predicted, senior year has been 45s
Senior Year Course Load: IB HL Chemistry, Mathematics, Economics, Physics, SL Mandarin, Literature
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): UKMT Senior Competition

Subjective:

Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): (Head of Academics) - a student government role, (Engineering Club, founder), (MUN - Deputy President), (Journalism - layout editor), (Photography club - VP), (Red Cross - Secretary)
Job/Work Experience: none
Volunteer/Community service: (Red Cross), fundraisers for school’s partner charities, (peer tutoring)
Summer Activities: Stanford summer camp, Red Cross Volunteer
Essays (rating 1-10, details): Common App: 8?, Columbia: 7, discussed why Columbia / Engineering and linked to personal interests but it could have been more specific / could have used less common examples
Recommendations (rating 1-10, details): 8/10

Teacher Rec #1: 9/10, economics teacher that knows me really well inside and outside of class, mentor for community service, some activities, I go to him for college help, has seen me at my high and lows
Teacher Rec #2: 6/10, chem teacher I had in junior year, didn’t know me outside of class (but well enough in class), in retrospect I would have gone with a different teacher
Counselor Rec: 8/10? rank high in comparison / a lot of involvement, but counselor doesn’t know me personally
Additional Rec: none
Interview: 9/10… to be honest, I didn’t know Columbia well enough (and it showed) and I was nervous, but my interview kept saying she was betting on me

Other

Applied for Financial Aid?: no
Intended Major: Chemical Engineering
State (if domestic applicant):
Country (if international applicant): Philippines
School Type: Private, British system
Ethnicity: Asian
Gender: Chinese
Income Bracket:
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): woman engineer?

Reflection

Strengths: grades, interview, recommendations
Weaknesses: essay was a bit generic
Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected: I honestly don’t know
Where else were you accepted/deferred/rejected:
Accepted: Northwestern, UC (Berkeley, San Diego, LA, Santa Barbara, Davis), Tufts, Rice, UPenn, McGill, Toronto, Waterloo, Carnegie Mellon, UCL, Imperial, Birmingham, Manchester
Waitlisted: Princeton, Brown, Vanderbilt
Rejected: Stanford (EA), Georgia Tech