I’m mainly looking to Columbia or Brown. I’ll be going ED Columbia, EA Brown if it makes a difference. I’m applying to mostly non-ivies but am most curious for the Ivies.
I’ve yet to take SAT IIs, but my SAT I scores (based on practice tests; I’m taking the test this Saturday) were:
750 CR, 750 Writing, 700 Math (Studying to improve math & hoping for straight 750s… considering I haven’t taken it, it could fluctuate obviously.
UW GPA: 3.8
Weighted: 3.95 (my school’s weight is tiny. It’s not a really weak schedule.)
Classes: Honors Algebra I, Honors Spanish 1-4, Honors English 9th/10th and AP English 11th/12th. AP US, AP Euro, AP Gov, AP Psych, Honors World History (1/2 year course), Honors American History
Honestly, my class rank isn’t where it should be. Out of 100ish, I’m only top 20%. It can largely be attributed to a competitive high school where everyone tries really hard and the fact I wasn’t always “in the know” about competitive scheduling (counselors advise not all honors/APs, but most students ahead of me did just that… I’m missing 3 years of math honors/AP and 4 of science.)
P.S. APs are only available 11th/12th grade. Six in two years is okay, no?
Volunteer work:
– 50 hours volunteering w/ Christian Action Program @ Local elementary school
– Participated in many charitable races. Maybe 20 hours total? I’d say five races or so.
– Participated in a couple environmental clean ups. Again, maybe twenty hours total.
– Scoreboard keeper for local basketball league. Probably 15 hours per year (10th - 12th grades)
Awards:
– National Honor Society
– Our school’s writing award
– 2x Teen Ink Editor’s Choice
– NHD States Winner, Planning to attend Nationals in June
– (Previous year) NHD Honorable Mention Locally
Jobs/work experience:
– Summer job helping out the family on weekends. Nothing spectacular.
– Planning to intern with a newspaper this Summer and possibly write the student section for one next year. Going to begin with the “most prestigious” papers in the area and work down contacting each.
– 200k views writing for a sports blog online.
– Selected as an extra on a Woody Allen film. This isn’t “impressive” but it was a cool experience.
– Planning to attempt to get an article published on cracked. It’s pretty difficult to do so I feel this could be impressive. Thoughts?
– Occasionally tutor fellow students, though not for pay.
Sports:
– 2 years track, 2 years basketball (only 1 year basketball Varsity)
– 4 years cross country (I’m not sure how many varsity? Our school is weird in this regard.)
– One year JV lacrosse.
– Is it worth noting I’ve tried out for golf and baseball but not made the teams? It shows I’m willing to try things I’m not the greatest at, I guess, if they care.
Recs:
– Planning on grabbing three because I have three teachers I equally trust for a good recommendation. May even be “great.”
– My english teacher loves the work I do and I’m an active participant in class.
– My History teacher realizes how self-determined I am and my other history teacher I’ve worked closely with for projects and he recognizes my abilities as well.
Hooks:
– I’m white, but I am first-generation college. This surely counts for something, no?
Essays:
– I’ve been plotting these for a while. My plan is to have my application form a STRONG identity for myself as someone who loves the creative process and is highly interested in pursuing a writing career. I watch loads of movies (in the past year, possibly 50-100) and read a solid amount of books (in the past year, possibly 10.) I also co-run a small website that fluctuates from 10-40 regular members where we write (of sorts, too much to explain here.) My essay should be pretty good as it shows what I love just so much about writing and such. I’m putting a heavy amount of time into it so it’ll be an application strength, hopefully.
Major: English or Politics. Undecided on a focus, either. My true love is creative writing, but popular theory is that a creative writing degree is useless (so yes, I’ll substitute it with an equally useless political science degree.) Either way, I have some accomplishments in both fields and I’m not even sure if this is asked on your application?
So, what is my outlook? Reading this, do I seem to be “in line” with other applicants? Personally, I read some of the extracurricular activities of some of the people here and it’s straight up daunting. I mean, I plan to have written for some pretty solid publications and will intern at some solid places, if possible, but some seem to be world-conquerors at such a young age. Are my ECs actually equally impressive and I just don’t realize it because it’s myself?
