<p>Decision: Deferred</p>
<p>Objective:[ul]
[<em>]SAT I (breakdown M/CR/W/Essay): 790/800/780/8 (2370)
[</em>]SAT I superscore (breakdown M/CR/W/Essay): Same as above
[<em>]ACT (breakdown): 36M/34CR/33W/36Sci
[</em>]ACT superscore (breakdown): 35 composite, same as above
[<em>]SAT II (subject, score): 800 M2, 790 Physics
[</em>]Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.0
[<em>]Weighted GPA: 101.5 (out of 100)
[</em>]Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 5/600
[<em>]AP (place score in parentheses): Calc BC(5), Human Geography(5), World History(5), Physics B(5), Physics C: Mechanics(5), Physics C:E&M(4, didn’t study, didn’t take the class. Went in blind), US History(4), Comp Sci(5), English Lang and Comp(5)
IB (place score in parentheses): n/a (IB not offered)
[</em>]Senior Year Course Load: AP Spanish, AP US Gov, AP Macro econ, AP Chem, AP Lit, Calc II and Calc III (dually enrolled for math at number 4 engineering school in the US according to US news)
[<em>]Number of other EA applicants in your school: 2 or 3, all of them got deferred.
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel, etc.): None that I can think of
[</em>]Common Awards (AP Scholar, honor roll, NM things, etc.): AP Scholar(regular, w/ distinction, National; don’t know which is better, doesn’t really matter), Honors societies (Beta, NEHS, NHS, Mu Alpha Theta, SNHS, SHH), a few in school outstanding recognitions for science grades, Academic Letter (3yrs in a row), Helped team place in top 3 for a regional Calculus competition, Top Science score for state Academic Decathlon (and at regionals, along with other recognitions), various Science olympiad awards (mainly at regional and invitational level), Top 10 in 4 events at TSA state competition, a bunch of other stuff along those lines[/ul]</p>
<p>Subjective:[ul]
[<em>]Extracurriculars (name, grade levels, leadership, description): Science Olympiad, Academic Decathlon, Spanish Club, the honor societies listed, and different ECs I did in the past but did not have time for this year (including VEX robotics and TSA)
[</em>]Job/Work Experience: None, although I tutor and get paid on occasion
[<em>]Volunteer/Community Service: A bunch of hours because of honor societies and a purely volunteer club I was in for two years.
[</em>]Summer Experience: None, no way to pay for summer programs and I actively looked for other ways to gain experience, but there aren’t opportunities in my town for Science related fields/interests[/ul]</p>
<p>Writing (Subject, 1-10 rating, details):[ul]
[<em>]Essays: I wrote these in about 2 hours, and was having a hard time because I like anecdotes and explanations, but with their word limits, I was finding a hard time to truly reflect my personality, although each essay was true. As such, I think my essays are major weaknesses.[list]
[li]What You Do For Pleasure: Intense partner games (specifically catchphrase), 6-7[/li][</em>]Department at MIT: ChemE (I want to work with nanotechnology and/or energy), 6, well written, sounded like me, but they would have to know me to know that.
[<em>]Trait Most Proud Of: Strangeness/Enigmatic characteristics, 6, well written, was true, but didn’t have room for anecdotes or truly embodying statements. I wrote a similar essay, but it was 900 words, and there was literally no way to compact it.
[</em>]World You Come From: Small town/suburbs(to me, not necessarily on a larger scale), supportive family and community, this was probably my worst one, 4-5
[<em>]Significant Challenge: A state program that I had been denied from twice without another chance, talked about how I had to realize my limits, 7, it was personal, but now that I think about it, I should’ve mentioned why I didn’t get in and that it was something more of hobby than what I want to do (it was a program for Language arts)
[</em>]Additional Essay/QB Essays:n/a [/ul]</p>
<p>Supplements(teacher’s subject, 1-10 rating, details):
I didn’t read them, but my teachers like me, so I’ll take a stab.[ul]</p>
<p>[<em>]Teacher Recommendation #1: 7, Physics B&C; Had him for two years, known him for 3; sponsor for club I’m active in; as a science teacher though, I’m not too confident in his writing ability, but he likes me. Says he always has an extra paragaph for the people in the club, so it should be good. Got great grades in his class (one of the top 3 students)
[</em>]Teacher Recommendation #2: I’d give it a 9-10; She’s an English teacher, so I’m confident that it at least sounded good. I was one of her favorite students last year, and I talk to her outside of class, after school. She didn’t let me read it but was telling me about how she felt like she wrote a lot for me because the rec was about 2 pages.
[<em>]Counselor Rec: Didn’t read it, don’t want to take a stab. My old counselor got a position as an administrator in a completely different district, so my counselor is completely new. We had an hour meeting, and she seemed nice and liked what I told her about me, so hopefully it was good.
[</em>]Additional Info/Rec: 7, Didn’t read it, and she said she finished it in a 3 hour block while she was teaching. I had it for two years, and I was one of her favorite teachers; she’s a foreign language teacher and knows I do well, so hopefully it was good. She knows enough about me, because I used to sit by her desk due to my last name and her seating chart.
[<em>]Interview: 6-7; Could’ve gone better. When I get nervous, I talk 10x faster than I normally do( and I talk really fast as it is), so I feel like if I had slowed down it would have gone better. She seemed to catch all of it though, because she would engage in conversations about certain things I said. At one point we started talking about books and TV, and I gave her a few suggestions and she gave me a few. She was friendly, and I sent her a thank you note.
[</em>]Art Supplement:n/a [/ul]</p>
<p>Other[ul]
[<em>]Date Submitted App:Halloween
[</em>]U.S. State/Territory or Country: Georgia
[<em>]School Type: Public
[</em>]Ethnicity: White
[<em>]Gender: Male
[</em>]Income Bracket Range: ~100k
[li]Hooks (URM, first generation, recruited athelete, development):I don’t really have any; neither of my parents finished college, but they started, and my sibling has already graduated from college. [/ul]</p>[/li]
<p>Reflection[ul]
[<em>]Strengths: Test Scores, grades, Teacher recs
[</em>]Weaknesses: My essays were well written (I love writing, and hopefully they gleamed that from my diction), and they were true, but I don’t think they gave much personality unless the person already knew me(which obviously they don’t); no really outstanding science or math awards, no work experience
[<em>]Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected: Gender/race, no major awards, lack of opportunities, as well as lack of personal projects(I don’t really have money to engage in anything beyond purely book and internet research).
[</em>]What would you have done differently?: Spent more time on essays, making sure that my voice truly echoed in each word so they knew who I was; Written an optional essay that I now remember thinking about from 2 years ago after visiting MIT(I think it would have helped a lot).</p>
<p>[li]Other Factors: “and at once I knew, I was not magnificent.” [/ul]</p>[/li]
<p>General Comments & Advice:
I know a lot of it comes down to how they think you’ll do there. If you have the grades, they’ll defer you, but there is so much more than grades and test scores. I wish I would have spent the past few years finding some means to make myself stand out, but I would say a lot of factors keep all of us from being able to enter into competitions, or doing research. I hope they realize that it’s just not possible for everyone to have the perfect application with major awards, but I know that the people who do get in and end up there will be happy and a good fit. So good luck to everyone! If you get in, congratulations! If you don’t, it’s fine, you’ll most likely succeed anywhere. It’s what you do with your education that matters, not where you go.</p>
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