Decision: Accepted to College of Engineering
About Me:
Sex: Male
From: Public High School
Race: Indian (Asian)
Stats:
SAT: 1550
Subject Tests:
Bio: 800
Chem: 790
Math II: 780
Rank: 1
Weighted GPA: 101.2 (no 4.0 scale)
AP Scores: 4 (Lang, APUSH) and 5 on chem: taking calc AB, lit, computer science principles and bio this year
Classes:
-Senior year classes: shown above plus honors macroeconomics and participation in government
Extracurriculars:
-Done research my summers going into junior year and senior year at a chemical company
-Conducted literature research throughout high school on brain disorders in my science research class
-volunteered in the emergency department at my local hospital
-shadowed doctors at my local hospital
-accepted into young physicians program at a local health clinic where I learned about different medical specializations
-Varsity Football Captain
Student Council (school secretary and class rep for three years)
-Vice president for the Youth Against Cancer club at my school
Employment:
-Youth football coach for three years
Athletic Awards:
1st team All-County, All League, All-Conference Varsity Football 2018
All-League Honorable Mention for Varsity Football 2016
All-state honorable mention Varsity Football 2018
Academic Awards
National Merit Scholarship Semifinalist and Finalist 2019
County Scholar Athlete (Article published in local newspaper)
AP Scholar Award 2018
Member: National Honor Society, Mu Alpha Theta (Math) Honors Society
Court of Excellence Award
Essays:
-common app essay was pretty strong: (I did it on my experience as a youth football coach and how it changed my perspective from just being a player all my life to an influential coach and how it changed my definition of success
-supplemental essay was extremely strong: I connected my ongoing summer research to research at cornell. Specifically I claimed that through cornell I could extend my research project to other areas and make my results much more applicable to real problems and how cornell would do that for me.
Letters of rec:
One was from my football coach who was also my social studies teacher for my junior year: Therefore he was able to give insight on how I am on and off the field and emphasized my leadership skills
Another one was from my Science research teacher who talked about my devotion to research
My final one was from my bio teacher: we had a really strong relationship
State: NY
Income Bracket: > 300k
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): I honestly do not think I have any hooks. One possible thing is that I am not the typical asian male because I am the captain of my varsity football team and won many awards playing the sport.
Tips: I am adding this section because I know and feel for the position you are in right now: trying to get a much info as possible and stressing out a little bit (hopefully not a lot lol
Pursue what you love: DO NOT do activities in high school because you “think” the admissions officers will like to see that activity: if you truly love and have a passion for the activities you do, you will excel at those activities and rack up awards and recognitions which will make you shine in the admissions eyes.
I think this tip is very overlooked and not known by many: try to get a letter of recommendation from an advisor of a club you excel in or a coach of a sport you participate in: this letter will show your leadership qualities and the drive you have to achieve success OUTSIDE of the classroom
Do not write your essays for admissions officer: write essays that will tell admissions officers what you want them to know ABOUT YOU: do not write to impress and instead write to address and show off your personality and writing style (key point) through your essays
***if you have an essay in mind that may be risky and you are unsure about it: DO THAT ESSAY: i did this for the cornell engineering supplement and I guess it worked out just fine
Finally why I think I was accepted: tbh there are so many factors that go into an admissions decision but my best guess is that I had created a theme to my application where I talked about how sports (specifically football) has fueled my passion for medicine and how engineering ties into this combination: I had extracurriculars to back this up (shadowing, volunteering and research). Therefore my application meshed with my future ambitions and I guess this made sense in the admissions officers eyes.