Accepted, Rejected, or Deferred: Accepted
Intended Major/School: BME
Objective:
SAT I (breakdown):
ACT (breakdown): 33 (36E, 30M, 34R, 33S)
SAT II:
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.9
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): Small school, we don’t rank
AP (place score in parenthesis): AP Biology (3) and the only other AP test I’ve taken was Spanish (last year when I was still in honours Spanish 4) and I got a 3 (we only get offered AP classes during junior and senior year, and there are only 2 options for juniors).
IB (place score in parenthesis):
Senior Year Course Load: VHS AP Computer Science, AP Spanish V, AP Physics, IS AP Studio Art, AP Eng Lit & Comp, AP Calculus AB, Honours US History (this year I took every AP available/recommended for me and an extra VHS one, since this is when all of them were offered).
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): History day regional winner & honourable mention at State, and just honour roll/academic letters for school (not much in this department lol)
Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): JV/Varsity volleyball and basketball 9th/10th grade, art and National Art Honour Society (president), Orchestra 5th grade-11th grade, 11th grade junior class VP, Spanish club, Science/Bio-med/Chemistry clubs.
Job/Work Experience: nada
Volunteer/Community service: Volunteering at my local hospital since 9th grade, year-round and weekly for the first few years (reduced when I got harder classes but still continued).
Summer Activities: Intro to Medicine/Medical mission and volunteering trip to Costa Rica (volunteered at a free clinic, got CPR certified, practiced Spanish, had fun). Went to Chicago for funsies, saw the big bean.
Essays: 9-10/10. This thing was my pride and joy. It’s honestly what I spent majority of my time on, and it was the reason I submitted applications late. I wrote about art, first hooking readers by delving into a specific process of one drawing (of my beloved RDJ/iron-man), then expanding into how the art process helped me improve my classroom skills, knowledge, and creativity. I shared the essay with my mum, dad, sister, several aunts and uncles (one who is a writing professor at a college), my own writing teacher, my advisor, my Spanish teacher and my guidance counselor. I wanted to make sure that anyone who read this essay would have no doubt that I wrote it. I used a lot of imagery and specific memories/events, so it would be easy for the reader to “see” what I was talking about.
Teacher Recommendation: 9-10/10. I didn’t read either (of the two) recommendations, but I picked teachers who I have known and loved since freshman year. One even told me that he wished I could read his letter because he had never had so much fun writing a recommendation for a student. Get to know your teachers! They’re great and will help a lot!
Counselor Rec: 8-9/10. Most of us seniors only got to really know our counselor this year. I made sure to go in as often as possible though, so she would know enough about me to write a recommendation.
Additional Rec:
Interview: Was never contacted for one
Other:
State (if domestic applicant): MN
Country (if international applicant):
Intended major(s): BME
School Type: College prep, really small (like 50-something students in our graduating class)
Ethnicity: African American
Gender: Female
Income Bracket: Upper-mid class
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): URM, parents are African American and Russian so that’s a thing lol
Reflection: The essay really does matter. I thought I was doing a lot academically, but was hit with the reality stick once I discovered CC and saw that apparently, perfect/near-perfect scores on standardized tests and 4.0s are common. It’s easy to get lost in the numbers and all the APs, but you have to remember that the point is to set yourself apart. The essay is the part of the application that you can really show who you are and what you’re about, so try to write about something that colleges can’t see with the rest of the application (try not to focus heavily on academics; this part is about personality). My counselors asked us a very good question about our essays: if you were to slip this under someone’s door anonymously, would they be able to tell you wrote it?
Strengths: Heavy course-load with good grades for my school (took every AP/Honours available including a VHS, to show where my interests lay), Good ACT within JHU’s range, ethnicity, female in engineering, showing medical interests through summer activities (would recommend that you do any program you can that interests you), essay, and recommendations.
Weaknesses: My ACT/AP scores aren’t bad, but I’m not a very good test taker in general. I had to study/practice a lot harder than my classmates to get the same scores, which was a little discouraging. I got an A- or two in 9th/10th grade which wrecked chances at a 4.0, and a B+ in AP Physics this year (advice to all: unless you’re a science genius, I don’t recommend AP physics with a stacked course load for senior year, especially if you want to keep that 4.0). I dropped orchestra this year, after taking it for so long, but I replaced it with art (my bigger passion).
Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected: I really think a lot of it was the essay. Also, the classes I picked showed that I am willing to challenge myself and that I am ready for a rigorous course-load.
General Comments: Don’t get too discouraged when you see people who seem to have done everything and have fantastic grades/scores on top of that. Quality matters as much as quantity. Colleges will like to see that you’ve done well and have true passions in your extracurriculars, even if they are not many.
good luck to everyone else!