Hey! I just thought it would be great to have '21 forum. Hope to see you all in fall 2017.
When do we get to start our applications ?
@ChitiCrimson August 1st, when the CommonApp firsts. Or, you could have started assembling all your activities and compiling a resume when you became a freshman.
just dropping by lol im trying to decide where to apply SCEA next year and thought id join this discussion thread!
Woah, so weird seeing this pop up. I’ve been looking at all the application threads for seniors this year crazy to see one already for our group haha.
Can you all post your stats, just to make a sense of this fall’s applicant pool? 
i got a 34 on ACT + writing (36 on essay, will retake until i get a 35 composite), 800 on german sat2, 750 on world history (probably wont submit) 5 on AP world history, and am currently taking AP bio, AP lang, AP us history, SUPA presentational speaking, and an online german class (300 level). Next year I am going to take ap chem, ap physics, ap lit, ap comp sci, ap euro and ap calc and that’ll be all AP classes except one that my school offers (stats). I have a 4.0 and am involved in many extracurricular activities like math team, girls who code, feminist club, musicals, a violence prevention club etc. I also volunteer 5 hours a week and started my own organization to assist the group of people I volunteer with (prefer not to say who they are on this rn because I don’t want to identify myself). Additionally, I work 10+ hours a week, tutor, have a fashion blog, and plan on working at a local university’s fashion magazine this semester.
sorry for how unorganized this is I just didn’t feel like typing it all out nicely haha
You all are too excited :))
From a current high school senior - don’t stress, get everything done early, be flexible, and please please ENJOY your senior year. Don’t let stress about college be your life.
Hey guys! I hope to see you guys fall 2017! Do any of you do dual enrollment or take college classes? What is your stance of DE vs AP?
Hey guys! I hope to see you guys fall 2017! Do any of you do dual enrollment or take college classes? Do you think it helps over AP?
After reading Harvard SCEA 2020 Results, I found myself way out of league with those admitted. I don’t have any math or science awards; I don’t have many clubs activities; I don’t do much stuff at school at all except running my film club. I would consider myself an atypical applicant. I hope Harvard has a place for someone like me.
Academics:
GPA: 3.9965/4.0 as of second semester in junior year. I am in the IB diploma program.
SAT: 2400
Awards:
a. Gold medal: 2016 Northwest Chopin Festival
b. First Prize: 2015 Crescendo Int’l Piano Competition
c. Silver medal: 2015 Northwest Chopin Festival
d. Second Prize: 2015 American Protégé Music Competition
e. Third Prize: 2015 Washington State Outstanding Artist Competition
f. Semi-finalist: 2015 Seattle Int’l Piano Competition
g. Second Prize: 2014 Crescendo Int’l Piano Competition
h. Second Prize: 2013 Seattle Bach Festival
I have performed five times at Weill recital hall at Carnegie Hall. I also performed at Benaroya hall in Seattle and Salle Cotort concert hall in Paris.
Extra-curriculum:
- I compose music, both orchestral and electronic, using Pro tools, Sibelius, and FL Studio. Kindly listen here https://■■■■■■■■■■■■■■/ac_7_seven/cruise
- I run a film club at my school. We are currently shooting scenes for a feature length film I wrote about high school academic cheating club.
- I have been training in Funakoshi Shotokan Karate since age 5, earning my black belt at age 15. I train on average 4 hours a week. I started teaching Karate to young children after obtaining my black belt.
- I play soccer for a Seattle area premier league club, I train 4.5 hours a week in season.
honestly i feel like youre pretty on track @Satoract !!! you have crazy good scores (obviously) and major accomplishments in a semi unusual hobby!
IB Diploma candidates represent @Satoract ! (also, not sure what you are talking about, from what you listed, you are pretty darn qualified).
Honestly reading the 2020 applicant thread made me question lots of decisions I’ve made so far in my life lol.
Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): Haven’t taken yet (taking it tomorrow actually haha)
ACT (breakdown): Haven’t taken yet
SAT II (place score in parentheses): World History (780)
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.9/4.0 (weighted GPA 4.3, currently at the top of my class)
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 1/500
AP (place score in parentheses): AP Human Geography (5), APES (5), AP Chem (1)(let’s not talk about that though haha, I did terribly on the test, but I got an A both semesters), AP World History (4), AP French (will take the exam at the end of this year)
IB (place score in parentheses): IB Math Studies SL, IB History of the Americas HL, IB Biology HL, IB Psychology SL, Theory of Knowledge, IB Literature HL
Senior Year Course Load: AP Statistics, IB French SL, IB 20th Century Topics HL, IB Biology HL, IB Psychology SL, Theory of Knowledge, IB Literature, AP Art History, Work Study (one free period to do an internship instead)
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): Scholarship from the Georgia Department of Education to study Arabic at the Federal Service Language Academy at the Univeristy of North Georgia, the National Security Language Initiative for Youth Scholarship (full scholarship to study Arabic in Morocco over the summer), Model Arab League Marist- Outstanding Delegate: Palestinian Affairs (not very major, but it meant a lot to me:)).
Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parentheses): NSLI-Y Regional Alumni Representative, Palestinian Children’s Relief Fund (Youth Committee), Model Arab League (began the initiative and organized for my delegation to go), Arab Cultural Society (founder and president), French Club, Beta Club, NHS, Arabic (afterschool tutoring with a professor at Emory University), International Club (co-president), Track and Field (Varsity), Mentor two refugees from Burma
Job/Work Experience: Next year will (InshAllah) begin an internship
Volunteer/Community Service: Mentor two refugees from Burma, hopefully, will begin volunteering at a local refugee resettlement organization this summer
Summer Activities: TBD
Teacher Recommendations: Planning on getting one rec from one of my teachers who honestly is more like family than my teacher, I know she will write a strong one (she wrote me one that helped me get into NSLI-Y), she knows me really well and can articulate my best qualities. Also getting one from another who is my IB HOA teacher. We get along very well, I put a lot of effort into her class, and she has mentored me a lot and really helped me grow as a person while in the IB program. Also, will probably get an extra rec from my RD while I was in Morocco. She and I got along very well as well and she mentored/advised me a lot while we were in Morocco, she will be able to articulate well how much I gained from my experiences abroad.
Counselor Rec: I get along very well with my counselors so hopefully it will be good.
Other
Applied for Financial Aid? I will, most definitely
Projected Concentration: Political Science and Middle Eastern Studies
State (if domestic applicant): GA
Country (if international applicant): USA
School Type: Public
Ethnicity: White
Gender: F
Income Bracket: $100,000-$125,000
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): lol nope just a middle-class white girl chillin in suburbia
Reflection
Strengths: My international experience + I speak Arabic, French, and English. I also generally focus the majority of my ec on one area (the Middle East/Arab World/Arabic) so hopefully that will show them how passionate I am about the Middle East and studying MESAS. Also, I am in the IB program which is very prestigious and rigorous program (lol look it up on Urban Dictionary, the definitions for IB are hilarious). I have taken the maximum amount of AP courses possible and always took the most difficult classes offered. I took two APs in freshman year, which no one else did at my school. I took AP Chem in 10th grade without taking Chem 1 and I did the IB program. I am also taking online AP Art History next year.
Weaknesses: Hopefully I will do well on my SATs and ACT, but as of right now my weakness is my test scores.
Are you doing BOTH IB and AP? Your unweighted GPA is a tad low but not that much off the mark(3.94). Your ECs looks great! Your language skills are definitely a big plus.
When are you going to take your SAT? Aim for 2400.
@TimeUpJunior I took AP classes in my freshman and sophomore year and at our school IB only fills up 5 periods (it’s weird how they do it and doesn’t maker much sense tbh) out of seven so I decided to take AP courses in junior and senior year as well.
Yea:/ my greatest weakness is math and I got a B for two semesters, otherwise I would have a 4.0. I’m not sure if they have a space for it, but if they do I definitely want to explain to them that math and I do not work well together and honestly the As I got in some math classes and even the Bs have been a blessing and I can’t complain haha.
Thank you! Yea, I try to do ECs that I am passionate about (Middle East/Language) so hopefully they’ll be able to see that in my App. I’m considering taking more French/starting Hebrew classes next year but I haven’t decided on it yet.
I took it last weekend (I think I did well on the lit/reading/writing section but probably not stellar on the math. I’m definitely going to take it again though and I’ll aim for 2400 but I’m not sure how probable it is. My realistic goal is a 2150 which will probably end up being my fatal flaw but what can ya do.
If you (or anyone else) has any other advice, please let me know! It would be awesome!
Be aware that the new SAT now follows the 1600 system so I’d advise you to take the ACT íntead. Also there is a threshold/range on what you need to get in gpa and standardized test score to pass the academic assessment process. After you pass through that round, the differences in scores don’t matter anymore as they now look for character through LORs, essays, etc.
@hola1997 I forgot about that, I think I will anyways though just in case (take the ACT I mean). I didn’t know that, that makes me feel a lot better tbh. Thank you!
oh god honestly i’m terrified for when college apps are gonna start because i feel like i don’t have much of a chance because of my grades.
gpa: 2.14 unweighted, 3.4 weighted. not sure where i rank but it is absolutely nowhere near the top, i’m going to try to get straight a’s the rest of high school though. the past two years i have done terribly because of extenuating circumstances that i can probably get my guidance counselor to explain
sat: not taken yet :-/ i’m registered and prepping though
act: same as sat, wow
hooks: i’m a URM, first gen student, yearly income is below $60,000, is being lgbt a hook? i feel like it would be these days
my classes this year:
ib english hl
ib spanish sl
theory of knowledge
ib philosophy hl
environmental systems and societies, sl
ap statistics
ib film
next year:
ib eng, hl
theory of knowledge
math studies sl
ib philosophy, hl
ib film
ap psych
and i’m going to see about being a student aide for one of my favorite teachers- if that isn’t feasible, then i’ll see if i can take another ap class my school offers.
extracurriculars:
treasurer of my school’s gsa, running for pres for the 2016-2017 school year!!
founder & president of college club
secretary of yarn club
co-writer of my ib program’s monthly newsletter
i teach some peers of mine very basic art stuff during lunch
i volunteer at my aunt’s daycare like, all the time
i am also planning on volunteering at the local community college’s summer youth arts program during summer break
i’m a self taught artist and i draw constantly. i do not want to go to art school though
this is going to sound like an excuse but i honestly cannot really do much because my family is ridiculously busy and overprotective and i can only ever leave the house for school and a small handful of social gatherings, and there’s no way to explain that on the app without it sounding like a straight up excuse
awards:
do the write thing 2013
i entered the atlantic & collegeboard’s writing competition with no teacher help and hopefully i’ll at least be a finalist or something
i’m getting my english and philosophy teachers to write letters of rec for me- my english teacher knows of my background and will probably make me sound great. my philosophy teacher will likely do the same
i’m from florida, and i can speak spanish but considering i’m hispanic that probably won’t be seen as a big deal of any sort
my achievements feel so quaint and useless compared to some of you guys’es
@anddespair Honestly I think everyone’s achievements are amazing if they helped you grow and learn as a person, don’t ever sell yourself short!
Also, if it makes you feel better, one of my friends had abysmal grades sophomore and freshman year because of circumstances that were out of his control, but then was able to bring them up and do very well junior and senior got into Yale, so don’t give up hope!
Hello, was admitted RD this year. Probably going to Columbia but would still be happy to offer advice or chance you if you message me.