Grade: 12th (rising senior, Class of 2018)
Possible Majors: Cognitive Science (Symbolic Systems at Stanford), Computer Science, English, History
SAT I (breakdown): 1440 (800 verbal, 640 math) retaking in August
ACT (breakdown): Won’t send
SAT II: Taking literature and history in October
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.9
Weighted GPA: 4.27
Rank: School does not rank
AP (place score in parenthesis: AP US History, AP Lang - scores haven’t been posted yet. My school only offers 7 APs and only allows juniors and seniors to take 3 at a time
IB (place score in parenthesis): N/A
Senior year course load: AP Comp Sci, AP Art, AP Physics B, AP Literature, Integral Calculus, Human Genetics, etc.
Major awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): **Which awards should I use?
- Outstanding Student in:
English
History
- Girls’ State President Pro Tempore (freshman year)
- National 2017 Saunders Scholar Semifinalist
- Google Startup Weekend 1st Place
- Sewanee Book Award for Excellence in Writing
- NHS
- Subjective -
ECs/Clubs: **I cut out a lot but I still can't decide which ECs to include over others. I'm grouping related activities to save space
- Writing
- Published in Caged Bird Magazine (African American centered magazine with around 50 contributors across the country)
- Published in Media Diversified (UK magazine, minority focused, selective)
- Published in Transcendence Mag
- Published in Affinity Mag
- Published in Fjords Review
- Published in school lit mag
- Published in TeenInk
- Published in the Intersectionalist
- Writer for Google Arts & Culture
- Graphic Design
- Graphic Design Intern @ local hospital ('14 - present)
- Yearbook – Head (only) Graphic Designer ('12-)
- Founded a boutique/indie graphic design studio after years of freelancing.
- Design print + digital branding collateral for businesses in my area + online.
- Design websites for businesses.
- Design all major administrative publications/branding for my school, including alumni magazine.
- Designed my school's website.
- Run a graphic design blog with around 500,000 followers (started when I was 12) to get feedback on my art/critiue the art
of others
- STEM Activities
- Founder of Girls Who Code (16-) *Hosts events like Java, C++, HTML and general Web Design seminars for students,
hosts female speakers from local community/around the country that are involved in CS or CE.
- School's computer science Women in STEM Ambassador
- Gay Straight Alliance President
- Volunteered at local Gay Pride Parade and raised $1,000 and raised $300 dollars volunteering at local AIDs
organization
- Hosts weekly meetings
- Appealed to my school's administration (met with school president and chairmen of the board several times) to get rid of
discriminatory rules against LGBTQ+ students and succeeded
- Service
- Key Club Member (14 - present) + Lead (only) Graphic Designer (15 -present)
- Interact - Treasurer ('16-), President (17-)
- Beta Club (15-)
- Volunteer English Teacher
- English Teacher @ Ogbomosho Central Academy for Young Women in Nigeria *I teach over the summer when my
family visits our relatives that live there.
- Founded a Non- Profit Org
- Founded a non-profit AP test prep organization that's free for any student that demonstrates financial need. Made in
attempt to minimize the discrepancy in opportunities between students from low income areas and their suburban/high
income counterparts. Inspired by the students I tutor + teach who are willing to learn but don't have access to quality
resources.
- Will be adopted in 3 school systems/community programs by October
- Volunteer at Autism Daycare
- Arts + Autism Volunteer ('12-) *After school program for special needs children. My little brother attends this and I have
committed over 900 hours
- Special Olympics Coach ('12-)
- Varsity Cross Country Girl’s Team Captain
- Women of the World President
-Club for women's empowerment/feminism
- Underserved area tutor ('12-15) *Program for disadvantaged inner city students elem.- high school, lot of time committed
before I moved to a different school
- Music
- Solo + Ensemble - Medaling Oboe Soloist (12-present)
- Solo + Ensemble - Medaling Ensemble (13-present)
- UA Youth Strings Chamber Orchestra (06-15)
- Mobile Youth Symphony Orchestra (15-present)
- District Honor Band, First Chair Oboe (13-15)
- Band ('11-)
- Marching Band (14-15) *new school doesn't have a MB
- Competitive Violinist (05-present)
- Youth Orchestra ('08 - present)
Additional Info:
- I attend a public STEM boarding school that prospective students apply to during their freshman year. Because of that, many of my ECs were started during the 2015-16 school year.
- I am a black female with immigrant parents (my mother is Jamaican and my father is Nigerian).
- I was not allowed to leave my house before I began attending boarding school (except for school activities like band), partially because my parents were protective but also because I spend a lot of my free time watching my severely autistic little brother. When I am home for the summer or for breaks, I am not allowed to leave for summer programs, etc., for this reason. Because of this, I self studied for 7 AP exams freshman year so that I wouldn't be bored all the time. I made 5s on all of my exams but I don't think I'm going to report or use these scores because I 1) don't remember much 2) think it was a waste of time 3) don't want to look as though I was trying to hard to impress admissions officers
- I'm a rising high school senior (Class of 2018)
Income Bracket: $200,000+, but my family is paying nearly full price for my older sister’s tuition (we’ll be in school at the same time)
Which honors and ECs should I 100% include and which should I leave out? Are my extracurriculars focused enough?
Also, I think I’m going to apply to:
Stanford
Yale
UChicago
Vanderbilt
Emory
Duke
UT Austin
Rice
Brown
Columbia
UPenn
USC
NYU
Howard
Spelman
Auburn
UNC Chapel Hill
I’m definitely going to trim this list down quite a bit, but as it stands, what do you think my chances are? Also, which honors and ECs should I leave out? I have one too many for honors and two over for ECs. Also, what things should I do to improve my overall application?
Thank you in advance!
Hello, I definitely think with your qualifications, you have a good shot at getting into the schools you listed. If I were you, I would focus on raising your SAT score above 1500 or even above 1550 to improve your chances of getting accepted. You have listed a wide range of majors, so I am not sure you will try to pursue one specific major or double major. Either way, your extracurriculars do seem all over the place. They are very impressive and sure to boost your application, but they are not exactly concentrated around your areas of interest. If you plan to double major, I would indicate that on your application and only mention the awards and ECs that correspond with that area. Also you should definitely report your AP scores!!! Getting 5s on all 7 AP tests does not make admissions officers think you are trying to impress them. First of all, as a freshman applicant, you ARE trying to impress the officers, and they KNOW that. Secondly, getting 5s on 7 AP exams will definitely boost your application, so you don’t want to exclude them. Good luck!
@tripledouble2000 Thank you for your advice! 1550 is definitely my target score. Because I’ve been trying to focus my ECs towards Symbolic Systems/cognitive science (an interdisciplinary major involving computer science, philosophy, psychology, and linguistics), I’ve been trying to emphasize my interest in both computer science and the humanities (which is also why I was planning on indicating so many majors so that they’d be able to better contextualize my interests, although I’m only considering cog and comp sci), but I do understand that this could cause my activities to seem scattered (especially because I’m combining similar activities into one item). Right now, my 3 points are graphic design, social entrepreneurship, and computer science, with the occasional mention of cross country (which I wrote about in my personal statement). Do you have any suggestions to make my EC clusters more cohesive?
@zahmata I would suggest you tailor your application and present your activities in a way that makes them seem directly related to your field of interest. I definitely think you should mention most of your activities since they are very impressive and will boost your profile, but tie them to the area you are interested in studying in college.
Leave all of your ECs and honors on there. They look great! Also, considering that you’re an urm with high stats, I say you have a good shot at any of these. The one thing will be to try to raise your sat 60-100 points and you’re golden.
I think you have great chance to getting into all of these schools! Your SAT score is a little low for some of these but I would try taking either the ACT or SAT score again just to see what you can get. You’re EC’s are AMAZING and you have so much experience in your fields!! I think you have a great chance getting into many of the schools you applied to just keep trying! Please chance me back! http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1989430-chance-me-for-uchicago-and-northwestern.html#latest
First of all, I am SO impressed by your resume and I don’t see how you could possibly not get into a stellar school. You’re a fantastic student with diverse interests, which is what the Ivies want. Some people might advise you to find an area of focus to hone your application, but after doing HOURS of extensive research into the Ivies myself, I found that the people who get in are sometimes a jumble of interests, jack-of-all-trade people who own their diversity and look to college as a place to find their calling. So use your essay questions to address how contradictory some of your interests are; things that might not seem to fit together but they all work in your world. English and History are less competitive than STEM, but clearly you have accomplishments in all your areas of interest, so let them know! Don’t hold anything back. Editing your life story for an application is exactly what they DON’T want. Be yourself, with all your quirks and all your interests, but be focused and be your BEST self. Excluding AP scores and certain ECs constrains the free-flowing, unabashed love of learning I take away from your resume. If I had even half of your resume, I’d want to share it all. This is where you’ll fill in that “additional info” space.
Best of luck (not that you’ll need it)! Last minute advice for when you’re struggling to pick which fantastic school to attend: visit schools, ask ten million questions, go on a housing tour, and see what your vibe is. If it feels right, go for it. If it doesn’t don’t force it for the sake of a school’s cool academic program or a reputation. You only get to be an undergrad once!
@softiestudies Thank you!! I’m definitely going to study a lot for my next (and hopefully last) test!
@aspiringauthor7 Thank you so much! I’ve been trying to group all of my ECs into the 10 spots open on the CA and I didn’t know if it’d be excessive to add the rest of it to the additional information section. I think I’ll do that! Thanks again 
My gosh. You are absolutely incredible. You should get into many of the schools you listed. Congrats on your achievements.
The only recommendations I would have is to not apply undecided. Schools are not fond of that. Depending on what major you apply for, take Subject SAT’s in all of them. Focus on improving your Math Score in August.
I noticed you had a blog on graphic design with 500k followers. Nice!! I just started a blog on my programming experience from a teenager’s perspective (https://medium.com/@dylan.fernandes00). Could you take a look at my most recent post and tell me what you think? How did you get so many followers? Any advice for me?
@collegeboundprogrammer I just finished reading your most recent post and I really enjoyed it! Your writing voice is extremely personable and I had a similar experience with web development so I could relate a lot to your points at the end. As far as growing your audience, I think you’re on the right track - it’s important to be genuine and open to feedback from your audience (something that you encouraged in your ending thoughts). Also, try linking your blog to other social media accounts and promoting it that way, as well as collaborating with other bloggers and writing articles about your niche (also, it’s always easiest to target a tiny niche and build a following there, and then gradually expand to wider audiences). Don’t get hung up on trying to increase the size of your audience or making a profit though - if you genuinely enjoy what you’re doing and care about your community, the growth will come naturally over time. If you have any other questions, feel free to PM me! Good luck!
Thank you so much for your advice! I will PM you if I have any questions. Best of luck in your applications!
@collegeboundprogrammer I’d be happy to chance you back!
Off topic, but how do you find those small journals to submit your work to?
@RelicAndType I got access to a lot of opportunities through my writer’s guild and on Twitter. When I was just getting started, I was really into slam poetry and wanted to find an indie printer + publisher so I reached out to a well known UK author/slam poet. She took me on as a mentee and referred me to Media Diversified, and after some networking, I was able to find a supportive writer’s guild, form more connections, and find a place at Google Arts + Culture. I found Fjords, Transcendence, and Caged Bird on Twitter. If you follow one and go through the “who to follow” feature, you’ll find an endless network of places looking for submissions (you could also do this on Instagram). Because I write recreationally, I usually always have works of creative nonfiction ready to submit (the drawback is that a lot of it is really personal so I often submit pieces under alias, so it’s harder for me to curate a recognizable public portfolio/presence in my genre). I’ve found that the best way to create publishing opportunities at bigger journals (like Affinity and GAC) is by being a nice person though - it’s surprising how many people in the publishing space are unwarrantedly entitled and hostile. I hope this was helpful - feel free to let me know if you have any more questions :0)
@RelicAndType Also, do you have any advice on how I could improve my application or what my chances are now as things are?
@zahmata Thanks for that. I’m afraid I don’t have any advice on how to trim down your EC’s. I might leave out NHS under awards and put it under service clubs. Overall your ECs are very strong. Work on you math SAT and you’ll really be in business. Best of luck.
Think about adding Carnegie Mellon to your list, apply for Cognitive Science (Not SCS). It is easier to get in for Cog Sci than some of the other programs, it is a top notch program, and you can double major in computer science if you want, and they do give merit aid to highly desirable students (meaning students they think will diversify class).