Hey all, I’m a rising senior from Las Vegas, Nevada, and I apologize preemptively for the long post. I’ve attempted to bullet wherever possible. The post looks longer because of this, but I’ve tried to make it easier on the eyes 
Thank you for any time you choose to spend reading this!
My main “story” is that I’m the first in my family of Filipino immigrants to be born in the United States, and my biological father left me when I was very young. He hasn’t been involved for years. My mother supports two other older half-siblings of mine that live in the Philippines with my grandmother (presumably because of economic troubles in their early life). They’re both in Filipino universities now (their tuition paid for by my mother) and my half-sister is applying for American graduate schools. I would be the first in my family to go to an American university for undergraduate studies.
Demographics: Male, Pacific Islander, Clark County (Nevada, a relatively underrepresented state), Magnet (math and science focused) high school, First in the family to be born in US, other stuff from up ^there^, middle to upper-middle class.
Intended majors: A double major in biology and political science.
Goals: I’d like to become an epidemiologist, researching diseases in the lab and tracking them in the field. During my undergraduate years, I’d like to perform and assist in research in this field. I’ve already assisted in a local study in this field.
ACT: 36/36 (35 En/36 Ma/36 Re/36 Sc) (One sitting)
SAT: 2280/2400 (800 Re/770 Ma/710 Wr) (One sitting) and 1530 (800 math, 730 reading, 13 on essay) (One sitting)
PSAT: 1520/1520, in the running for National Merit (One sitting in this format)
SAT II (aka Subject Tests): Math II: 800, Bio-E: 790, Bio-M: 740, World History: 690 (all one sitting)
Class rank: 32/~650 (top 5%) at a VERY competitive school (possibly the most competitive in the state, or at least the city)
UW/W GPA: 3.8/4 Unweighted, 4.6/5 Weighted
Coursework: I got an A in each of these unless otherwise noted.
- []AP Calculus BC: B in the class, 5 on the AP Exam
[]AP World History: 5
[]AP Biology: 5
[]AP English Language and Composition: 5
[]AP Seminar: 4
[]AP United States History: 4
[]AP Physics I: 4
[]3 years of Mandarin Chinese
[]One of around sixty students in the inaugural AP Capstone program at my school.
[]Senior coursework: AP Research, AP Physics C E/M, AP Government, AP Environmental Science, AP English Literature, Genetics Honors, Speech and Debate, Calculus III (aka Multi-variable Calculus, college credit through UNLV)
School-based Extracurriculars:
[ul]
[li]Varsity Quiz: This is a form of quiz bowl played exclusively in Nevada. I’ve been on the team all four years, and I will have been the team’s captain for my junior and senior years. I won two state titles and one semifinal finish. I expanded and popularized the team, doubling its size (and thus my responsibilities) soon after I became captain. This year, I was also selected as one of the top 15 students in the city-wide league to play in the All-Star Game.[/li]
[li]Science Bowl: I have been competing in Science Bowl since the sixth grade, making it to the national competition twice and finishing outside the top four teams only once. Under my cocaptaincy in my junior year, the team has had the best finish my school has seen in a decade (2nd), and we were the top team from Las Vegas.[/li]
[li]Science Olympiad: Relatively new to this, but I will be a three-year member of the State championship-winning team. I’ve done six events over those years, mostly biology. I’ve gotten a medal in Cell Biology and a top 5 finish in a chemistry event.[/li]
[li]We the People: I was one of 15 students selected out of several dozen applicants in my year to represent my school in this political speaking competition for my senior year.[/li]
[li]Although I am nowhere near as involved with these clubs, I have attempted to broaden my horizons in the past few years, joining the VEX Robotics team and the Speech/Debate team (Public Forum and Congressional Debate). I’ve also been on my school’s Rubik’s Cube team all four years, winning the team competition in my first two years with my school’s first team and getting second in my junior year with the second team.[/li]
[li]National Honor Society: Two-year inductee with over 200 hours of community service, both inside and out of the club.[/li][/ul]
Speaking of which…
Community Service: I do a lot of educational outreach though tutoring and judging academic competitions. Specifically, I’ve been involved in:
- SkyBot Challenge: I was part of the founding team for this engineering and business event, and I’ve been judging since its inception in the 2014-2015 school year. I have recently become involved with the administration team, and we have worked on expanding the competition across the nation and even internationally.
- Camp Counseling: I have been a volunteer counselor at YMCA holiday camps since 2012, and I am looking to become a paid counselor in the very near future. I also hope to become a counselor at my local chapters of Boys State and RYLA, as well as a member of the Student Advisory Committee at a weeklong summer camp I attend annually.
[]Local STEM competitions: I have also been an event judge and coordinator for several STEM competitions in the Las Vegas Valley, including the Middle School Science Bowl and the Elementary School Science Olympiad.
Outside of school:
-
[]Nevada Boys State: I was one of 126 students who went to my state’s chapter of Boys State. I was elected a city-level Party Chairman and a state-level Senator. In the former role, I worked with my party’s leaders to solve simulated crises. In the latter, I sat in the state’s Senate chamber and debated bills for approximately 7 total hours.
- RYLA: I was one of a few students from my school sent to my local chapter of RYLA, a weekend camp for young leaders in the region.
- Jeopardy: This past year, I tried out for the Jeopardy Teen Tournament. In the online portion of the tryout, I got what is widely considered by the Jeopardy community to be a qualifying score, but was not randomly selected to participate in the live tryout phase.
- Piano: I have learned and played the piano for approximately seven years, performing at two local recitals per year.
[]Summer Research: For a week at a camp in the Pacific Northwest, I helped a university biostatistics professor and one of his students perform research on the species and counts of mosquitoes at a wildlife refuge.
Awards:
-
[li]Rotary Youth Leadership Awardee[/li][]Varsity Quiz All-Star
[]Harvard Book Prize winner (one of ten in my state in my year)
[]Western Academic Talent Search top awardee based on standardized tests
[]Under consideration for National Merit Scholarship (likely will get it based on my PSAT and resume)
[]Possible Harvey Dondero Award (Varsity Quiz MVP) winner in senior year
[]Davidson Young Scholar (Western version of the Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth)
Schools: These are my “main” choices:
[ul]
[li] Johns Hopkins University (Number 1 choice – should I apply ED?)[/li][] Harvard
[] Georgetown
[] George Washington
[] University of Washington
[] Emory
[li] University of Toronto[/li][/ul]
Thank you for your time!
