Be brutal with me, I can take it. Thank you!
Race/Ethnicity: Black
Sex: Male
Intended Major: Linguistics
GPA and Coursework:
3.6 UW, my school doesn’t weight GPA or report it to colleges (they just give the transcript).
My school is the 8th best private school in Pennsylvania , very competitive.
DISCLAIMER: At my school, we aren’t allowed to take AP classes until Junior/Senior year. There are 17 APs offered but feasibly you could only take ~9 max (3 Junior Year + 6 Senior year). This is due mainly to overlap in scheduling or subject matter among offered classes. For instance, here you can take AP World OR AP Gov OR AP Art History, AP Calc AB OR AP Calc BC, AP Physics OR AP Physics E&M, AP Spanish OR AP Latin because of prerequisites, etc.
With that said, I’ve taken 5 APs (2 Junior Year, 3 Senior Year):
APUSH, AP World, AP Spanish, AP Computer Science, and AP Calculus AB
I’ve also taken 7 of the 10 offered Honors classes:
Algebra II, Chemistry, English XII, Geometry, Physics, Pre-Calculus, and Spanish IV
My school doesn’t report rank, but my guidance counselor says I am in the top bracket for rigor among my class of 105 students.
Test Scores:
1500 on the new SAT (770 english, 730 math)
710 on SAT II Spanish
720 on SAT II Math 2
4 on AP Spanish and APUSH
Haven’t taken the other AP Exams yet
Personal Statement: I chose the prompt about challenging an idea or belief. I talked about a time my best friend (1st generation African) and I had a falling out over my decision to learn Swahili. Long story short, by the end of it my views on racial/cultural identity, which were pretty toxic before, were radically changed for the better.
Extracurriculars:
1.Leader of our school’s selective A Capella group, 9-12
2.Founder/Leader of Linguistics Club, 12
3.Leader of Creative Writing Club 11-12
4.Captain of Varsity Track and Field in senior year, member 9-12
-1st place in Triple Jump at both local and state relays 2 years in a row, our team won the 2017 PAISAA State
Championships.
5.Self-taught in Swahili for the past year, took a self-guided online French course from Middlebury College over this past summer
6.Internship as teaching assistant in ESL (English as a Second Language) night classes for immigrant workers in Philadelphia this past summer
7.Lead role in every theatre production since freshman year, for a total of 7 shows, counting senior year. 9-12
8.Senior Member of Performing Arts Council, 11-12
-Oversees miscellaneous performing arts related events throughout the year. As part of my duties, I help host bi-monthly
open-mic nights for students to perform for each other, and write/record/star in silly music videos to advertise said events, which are sent out to the entire school.
9.Main Anchor for Weekly Student Newscast, 12
-Totally student run, films on weekends, writes scripts during the week. I’m a writer and one of the two main anchors. We give announcements, interview teachers and students in Student Life segments, cover sports news, etc.
10. Volunteer storybook character at local children’s museum, 9-12
-This is one of my personal favorites. I dress up as prince charming/peter pan/shiny knight/pirate and entertain children for like 5 hours at this annual event called the Storybook Ball. It’s not the most intense EC but man do I love making the kids smile.
Awards:
Awarded the Drama Prize in 11th grade for performance as Jesus Christ (Godspell)
Awarded the Music Prize in 11th grade for leadership in A Capella group
Not really an award, but…I was part of an accelerated Spanish program that only takes 2 students every year. Essentially, I started freshman year in a 10th grade Spanish class, meaning I was a year ahead for the rest of high school. As a result, I sort of ran out of spanish classes to take by Senior Year, which is why I don’t have a foreign language on my transcript this year.
Recommendations:
Spanish teacher who I’ve had 9th-11th, I came up with the idea for Linguistics club with her over the summer and created it in collaboration with her, so I think it’ll be good. My only worry is I slacked off a little in AP Spanish Junior year, ended up getting a B (86.9%) – she likes me so I know she won’t badmouth me, but she’ll probably mention it 
APUSH teacher in 11th grade, wonderful woman, we’ve had many laughs together and she likes watching me perform. I did really well in her class and never slipped up, so I have faith in this one too.