Hi! Please chance me for some Top 10s. Thank you so much!

I go to a very competitive high school with about 2.1K students in New Jersey. I’m ethnically Chinese. Family income ~300K before tax. Not first gen. American citizen but grew up and lived in China for 10 years.

Major: Debating between psychology/sociology/non-pre-med biology, or business/economics

Academics:

SAT: 1580 (780R/800M)

SAT2: 800 (BioM); 800 (Chem); 800 (Math 2)

Rank: Top 3% in a class of ~500 students

GPA W: 4.54; GPA UW: 3.83

8 APs were taken by the end of junior year. Taking 7 APs senior year. 15 total APs. 17 total AP tests.

College courses: BIOL230 Cell/Molecular Biology + BIOL350 Genetics at a nearby institution.

Awards (in order of importance):

USABO National Finalist (top 20 out of ~10,000 students)

NJSL (NJ Science League) 3rd place in the state in biology (out of ~500 students)

NSE 1x Gold Medalist 2x Silver Medalist

NMSQT Semifinalist

ABRSM Level 5 Theory + Level 6 Practical passed

Extracurriculars (in order of importance):

Started an impactful 501©(3) Nonprofit: Promoted science education among disadvantaged kids. 20,000+ students impacted. $200,000+ raised in donations + actual/in-kind grants. Hundreds of textbooks and equipment donated worth ~$15,000. All currency is in USD.

Owner of a freelance writing LLC: $6,000+ in revenue. Featured on websites like Medium, Forbes, etc. with millions of visitors/day. My articles have well over 100,000 views.

STEM Initiative: Part of my nonprofit. We had partnerships from 8 other organizations and hosted science workshops/seminars for kids to explore their passion for science. So far we have hosted 15, but more to come.

Research: Working on a project with a professor (started in the summer). Will be publishing a paper but might not be published in time for the early action deadline. It will definitely be finished and published by the reg. deadline.

Internship: Currently working as an intern at a DNA analysis biotech company.

Project Director in SNHS (Science Honor Society)

Blogger: I upkeep my own blog in addition to my writing. My work has been translated into German and French (voluntarily by foreign editors). Have professional networking experience on LinkedIn with more than 10K connections.

President of Save the Children (a service club dedicated to improving the livelihood of children)

Member of a bunch of NHS + some minor clubs

JV Track & Field (9th + 10th grade)

Recommendation Letters & Essay:

AP Biology teacher (sophomore year for AP Bio and junior year as USABO test admin + SNHS advisor). 9.5/10

AP Chemistry teacher (junior year for AP Chem). 8.5/10

Essay: Writing about an emotional experience that I had while in a workshop working with children. I started it over the summer and have been editing it ever since. I also love writing a lot so it should be an excellent essay.

Schools:

I won’t mention safeties here to save space.

Harvard, Yale, Princeton, MIT, Stanford, Columbia, UPenn Wharton (for business), NYU Stern (for business) + safeties

Thank you guys so so much! Have a nice day!

I would like to start off by pointing out your most impressive resume credential:

JV Track & Field (9th & 10th grade).

Because it shows that you are human.

Ooooh. ^
When applying to tippy tops, you have to realize the process is holistic, they’re building communities for the 4-year experience, expect kids to engage with peers.
Not just looking for kids who found this or that and can be diverted by the organizations they found. Blogging is also non-peer. NHS doesn’t tip, it varies too much among high schools. Number of views is not a college admit tip. Nor funds raised or earnings. Be careful this doesn’t read like a job resume.

Are those 20k kids in a foreign country?

Also, for humanities/business, why no non-stem LoR?

@lookingforward: Any thoughts about “USABO National Finalist (top 20 out of approximately 10,000 students)” ?

Thanks for the response.

You have a fair point that colleges look for peer engagement activities, but I feel like I do have plenty–president of Save the Children that managed and communicated with members. As the proj. director for SNHS, I also had to communicate and work with teammates to ensure the success of the project. These ECs didn’t have nearly as big of an impact on my local community as did my nonprofit, but they definitely embodied a “peer engagement” activity, right?

As for the 20K kids, they are all American (in Deep South states, Great Lakes states, and Puerto Rico).

@Publisher I think you and I start on the same page. It will get attention, but for private, holistic, top 10, the rest needs to be there.

If anyone wants an idea of how even top award winners can be rounded, look at the bios of the 2019 USABO finalists. (I can’t link it.) Not all of their interests would go on an app, under Activities, but there’s a wow factor and you can imagine them as real kids. (Maybe some of those bullets would show up in the supps.)

@lookingforward @lookingforward just wanted to make sure you saw my response? Thanks.

@lookingforward are you getting this?

@lookingforward hello?

I have little to say, OP.

Peer engagement is more than having a title and communicating with members of some club.

And holistic is not about quantity of books, blog views, or claiming to be a freelancer, etc.

You’re applying. To college. You need a better view of what your targets look for.

You seem to have missed a few points we made here.

Here you go: www. usabo-trc. org/sites/default/files/allfiles/USABO%2019%20NF%20Finalists%20Bios%20web%206.3.19. pdf [delete spaces to access the link]

@Uniquee1 Did you apply/get in anywhere EA/REA?