Garcia Summer Research 2017

same, just got a confirmation email this morning

Hey guys. I applied this year and am really nervous about it. I applied to five programs and have already been rejected from RSI (wasn’t expecting anything but it made me more stressed out) and haven’t received any “likely letter” from Simons. I think that my essays are good, and I have research experience doing a molecular modeling internship (started in Jan and meet one to two times a week) and a DNA analysis internship (started in November, meets once a week) but my test scores are average at best compared to all of you who have posted, and my school does chem olympiad only for juniors, so I didn’t do it before the application deadline. I submitted my 1470 PSAT, 34 ACT and 5 on the AB calc and APUSH exam. I have a good gpa (3.97/4.0 UW, 4.14/4.3 W) but am worried that my subpar test scores compared to all of you amazing applicants will pull me down. How important are test scores in the process when looking holistically at the application? Garcia is my top choice bc I am really interested in chemical engineering, so even if I got into other programs I would loveeee to go to Garcia.

@skatergirl27 Same boat as you here. Rejected from RSI and no likely from Simons (although if you already made arrangements with a mentor I think the lack of a likely shouldn’t worry you). (98 W/95 UW GPA, 1580 SAT, 1510 PSAT, CUSHP member, decent essays I think, 20 SciOly medals - are these good ??? stressed out as well) Would like to hear some thoughts from others.

Anyways, your scores and research experience are pretty good IMO. Research should make up for low-ish test scores (they aren’t bad btw). Good luck!!

If we have new application updates (IE competition success), are we allowed to email the program about those updates?

@turntopage394 tbh i dont know. You can try emailing the email they provided and hopefully they take it into account but i really cant say. Its worth a shot. The worst they can do is not look at it.

just got rejected from simons :(. I hope I get in here.

@skatergirl27
Garcia is pretty competitive (Simons even more competitive) and from what I’ve seen last year the participants generally have decently high stats. However, don’t be discouraged yet. Your past research experiences will most definitely help.

@Kurisutina hi! Thank you, I don’t think my stats are too bad, I got high scores on math section for the PSAT, just dropped the ball a little on English.

any veterans wanna post stats?
Or any applicants wanna post stats?
This would help greatly.

@beast2718
Since you asked it.
I do not want to share mine but one of the students from last year posted his in our Facebook group. Please do not compare yourself to him because I’m sure he would’ve got into RSI had he even applied and he is pretty much the upper extreme (I’m nowhere near him) . I don’t know the validity of these stats but he got into the universities listed. He is super smart I’ll say that :

SAT I: 2400
ACT: 36
UW GPA: 4.0/4.0

5/5 on all his AP Taken (I have no idea how he achieved it):
Biology
Calculus (AB & BC)
Chemistry
Chinese Language and Culture
Computer Science A
English Literature & Composition
Environmental Science
European History
French Language
Human Geography
Macroeconomics
Microeconomics
Music Theory
Physics 1: Algebra-based
Physics 2: Algebra-based
Physics C: Mechanics
Physics C: Electricity and Magnetism
Psychology
Spanish Language
Statistics

4/5 on those:
U.S. History
U.S. Government & Politics
World History

IB: He didn’t share

Senior Year: Idk

School Type: Idk

EC and Awards:
Section Leader of Marching Band
Attended ISEF (I don’t know if he got anything though)
Siemens Competition National Finalist (this is afterwards)
Published a paper as 1st author. Holds 2 Patents.
Admitted to Stanford, MIT, Caltech and Columbia Likely Letter (this is also afterwards)
Plays both Violin and Piano. Attended an international Piano Festival & Played at Carnegie Hall
Debate Team Captain.
Tennis Team Captain.
Valedictorian (I think)
Volunteer: 300+ hours
Summer: Garcia Summer Scholar
State: Wyoming
Country: US

cool! anyone else? plz, im so nervous

I recently got a potential mentor for the summer but am a little nervous about if I get into Garcia because I would have to make a really tough decision. BTW did anyone get likely letters?

have they been released yet?

I applied. Rejected from Simons and RSI so far :(.

SAT I: 1580 (780 RW, 800 M)
GPA: UW 4.0, W 4.3 (our school does 100 scale and they are 95.00 and 98.04 on that)
APs: Chemistry (4), Calculus BC (5), Psychology (5)
SAT II: 800 Math II
Took hardest classes school offered (all honors freshman year, 3 AP soph year, 3 AP junior year + honors multivariable calc, 5 AP next year)
School type: Public

(I copied the below section from one of my apps haha please excuse the wall of text)

School ECs:
-Computer Science Club President (2016-Present) (Board Member 2015-2016, Member 2014-2015)
-[School Hackathon] Lead Organizer (School’s first hackathon coming this spring) (2016-Present)
-Science Olympiad (Div. B Captain 2014-2015, Div. C Competitor 2015-Present) (20 individual medals–7 at state tournaments, 5 at regionals, 8 at invitationals. State-level achievements–3 silvers, 2 4ths, 1 5th, 1 6th. Regional-level–1 gold, 2 bronzes, 1 4th, 1 6th. Team is #2 in state.)
-YMCA Model United Nations (Officer of [Committee] 2017-Present, Delegate 2015-2017)
-[School] Mathematics Academic Award Recipient (2015)
-STEM Board Member (2016-Present)
-Interact Club Member (2014-Present)
-Marching Band Member (2014-Present)
-National Honor Society Member (2016-Present)

Outside ECs:
-Columbia University Science Honors Program Member (2015-Present) (Courses: Energy in a Modern Economy, Sustainable Engineering, Programming in Java, Data Science)
-NCWIT Aspirations Award Recipient ([State] Affiliate Honorable Mention) (2017)
-[Local environmental organization] Volunteer (2016-Present)
-[Local tech company] Intern (Summer 2016)
-Avid coder/programmer since 7th grade. Know R, Javascript, HTML/CSS, Java, Python, Node.js, Github. Familiar with AutoCAD, Photoshop.
-[Youth orchestra] Member (2014-Present)
-[Local library] Volunteer (2014-Present)

Research:
-Have done research with materials science for AP Chemistry final project. It was pretty cool, actually - I made an all-natural lipstick that was close in quality to store-bought ones; started with natural lip balm recipe as baseline and tweaked ingredients to make it more lipstick-y

Im not sure anyone has gotten or will get likely letters. My grades and stuff are ok except I didn’t get my sat score until after I applied. The biggest thing for me is that my mentor from columbia university wrote me a rec… That probably won’t help much though…

any likely letters this yr?

I think last year they were sent out on the 22nd, but no one seems to have gotten one as of yet…

yeah the decisions come out on the 27th this year

I called them and they said that they had a lot of applications, so they wanted to get them out tomorrow, but it looks like they’re only going to come out on Monday.

Hey guys, get ready. Acceptances/Rejections coming out tomorrow. Did anyone receive anything yet? Because as of now, I didn’t get any emails. I’m assuming the emails will be sent out by 8:00am PST tomorrow.