I reached out to CCadmin_Sorin.
Depends on the major. PoliSci or econ maybe, but not CS or premed.
I started researching, applied for summer programs, and networked so that I could later secure presidencies.
I want to do something like math or data science, and maybe take some econ classes
In that case I would recommend UCLA. Their applied math program is really good, and normally Vandy isnât known for STEM.
Hello, Neha! First, congrats on all of your success!
- On your application, how did you present your research? What I mean is did you write about them in your activities section or mention it in your essays (would you recommend doing it differently from how you presented it)? Would you recommend writing the institution and name of the professor with whom you researched on the application?
- Do you have any interview tips (in-person or online)? How important do you think your interview was for your acceptance into UCB and UCLA? For MIT?
- What kind of non-academic, non-STEM activities/awards did you list for MIT? Other than internships did you have any other employment or volunteering activities listed MIT? What process did you use to narrow them down for MIT? I heard that they only allow you to list a few.
- What do you think the single most important part of your application was that got you into the UCs? MIT? Do you think that one most important thing was something different between the UCs and MIT (based on the school, culture, how their application was presented, etc.)?
- Are there any essay writing resources you would recommend? Who did you have or who would you recommend to read your essays?
Once again, congratulations! I hope that you have an awesome time at UCB!
@OmegaEpsilon25
These are amazing questions!
As I explained in #62, I presented my research on the activities list differently from college to college. I did the same thing for the essays, not mentioning them in my private uni applications and centering my public uni ones on it. I suppose since that didnât work for Harvard and Princeton, donât do that? But I talked to Ethan McFarlin who did an AMA a couple weeks ago and he also didnât touch upon his CS experience in his essays, and he got into Harvard and Princeton. So I donât know. And absolutely say the institution and prof you worked with, details are good.
UCs donât do interviews, but for my MIT and Regents interviews I was awkward and hopefully funny. It sounds so cliche, but be yourself. I know if I were an alumni interviewer for MIT I would go crazy if everyone I talked to droned on about their STEM expertise. So I tried to be friendly and ask the interviewer about their time at MIT/H/P. I donât know how helpful my interview was, since I didnât bring up anything totally new about myself and Iâm not a smooth talker with strangers.
I won an international writing contest, so I put that. I was a paid math teacher and I ran regional branches of two nonprofits, which I stressed in my MIT app. The thing with MIT is that by their standards, Iâm average or below average in the STEM area. So I tried to stand out by being funny and likeable in my essays and through the activities I listed.
UCs probably my insane courseload. MIT my essays and volunteering. Definitely, the UCs, MIT, and H/P are looking for different things.
Hack the College Essay by John Dewis. Iâd also have your English or Social Studies teacher read through it just to catch any glaring mistakes. Donât let your parents read it unless theyâre admissions officers or English professors, because theyâll either dilute your voice or youâll get self-conscious and delete the most introspective parts of your essay.
Congrats!
One question:
Did all this work sacrifice time with family? In other words, do you regret the amount of work you did/sacrifices you made to achieve your goals?
Thanks!
Oh wow a fellow VEXer! I did VEX in middle school and freshman year, great times. To answer your first question, not really! My high school was pretty lax in terms of grading and rigor, so even with a lot of APs I had time to spend with my family on the weekends. Sure, during robotics season, before debate tournaments, and before research deadlines, I got home at 10, but those are days are rare. I actually had quite a lot of free time most days of the year, and I donât regret the time I spent. The sacrifices my parents made to drive me places, judge at debate tournaments, and pay for travel cost, yes, I wish they didnât have to do that, but I donât know of any way around it.
Thanks for your help! I didnât study for my first SAT because I was counting on taking it a bunch of times, as my guidance counselor told me that the first SAT is like another PSAT. I ended up getting a 1050, and might be able to retake it once this fall before I apply. Do you think that I should submit my score or no? Thank you!
Congrats! I know you are majoring in CS, but do you have any advice for students that aspire in law? What to do over the summer or anything good to know. How did you develop your CS theme, how did you apply everything into your app? Congrats on UCB!!!
It depends on which colleges youâre aiming for! If youâre going for Ivies and top level UCs, probably not. If youâre going for your state flagship, perhaps. You should probably ask your guidance counselor about this, I donât know.
None of my friends are thinking of doing law, so I donât have that much insight into it. The best activities for prelaw as a high schooler would be mock trial, starting a blog or website about legal traps and how to avoid them, or interning with a Congressperson. I developed my CS theme by stacking up on STEM related ECs and in Bay Area there are tons of people interested in it too, so it wasnât hard to find extracurriculars. Thank you!
I also have another question. Do colleges average out all grades like from freshman sophomore junior and senior year for GPA? Or do they take a specific year like Junior year and only count that? Do senior year grades even have a factor in the initial admission or are they just used after you are accepted to see if they should deny you because of your performance in senior year? Can u explain to me how that works because people are saying that freshman year does not count and that colleges are only look at sophomore to senior year and others say senior year isnt looked at. Its just really confusing so can u explain how colleges calculate you GPA and what grades from what year they use to determine that. TYSM!!
Colleges add up all your grades (4 for an A, 3 for a B, +1 for every Honors/AP) and divide by how many courses you took from freshman through junior year. Some colleges (UCs, for example) donât take into account freshman year, so look into that. If you want a visual, look up rogerhubâs GPA calculator for UCs.
Chiming in here, this question might be off the beaten path, but looking for 1) where do you feel most comfortable /ahead of the curve on CS and 2) where do you feel most uncomfortable/behind the curve? Why?
Thank you and congrats!
Congratulations! Thanks for all the info!
Hi! Iâm really interested in doing research in linguistics (specifically syntax and semantics), but itâs kind of a difficult field to do independent research in, as there are fewer resources and courses available.
If I do independent research projects, but donât end up getting published in an academic journal, does this still hold enough value to show my interest and depth in the field? On a similar note, what if I am involved with a professorâs research, but donât end up getting published as an author?
Side question: for the three journals you were published in (congratulations, btw, your research seems very impressive), were they mainstream academic journals or youth journals?
Thank you!
Iâm good with data analysis and machine learning related stuff, but I have no idea how to approach USACO type problems. Ask me how to calculate the number of ways a column of cows can line up in a field and Iâm lost. I guess itâs just because I never trained for USACO, AP CSA only covers basic Java, robotics code is pretty simple and templated, and I have a lot of research experience with data analysis.
Youâre very welcome! 