Decision: Accepted
Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): Didn’t report
ACT (breakdown): 35C 33E 35M 36R 36S 9 essay
SAT II: 780 Chem 800 Math 2
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.92
Weighted GPA: 4.64/5
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 4/451
AP (place score in parenthesis): Euro(5), Calc AB(5), APUSH(5), Lang(5), Chem(4)
IB (place score in parenthesis): N/A
Senior Year Course Load: AP German 4, AP Physics 1, AP US Gov/Microeconomics, AP Calc BC, AP English Lit, Art 1(dropping 2nd semester), Soccer(dropping 2nd semester)
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.):
Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis):
Competitive Overwatch(10,11)(Team Captain)- Was the team captain and shotcaller for an online competitive Overwatch team that took up the vast majority of my time during 10th and 11th grade.
Soccer(9,10,11,12)- Played frosh in freshman year, was cut sophomore year and then quit in the first semester of junior year. I came back in the second half of junior year and made varsity. Wrote my greatest challenge essay about this.
STEM Mentorship Program(11, 12)(Co-Founder+President)- STEM mentorship/tutoring program in collaboration with one of my middle school teachers to help struggling students. Wrote my community essay about this.
College Prep Club(11,12)(Co-Founder+President)- College prep club where we talk about preparing for college and essays and other stuff.
Job/Work Experience: N/A
Volunteer/Community service: N/A
Summer Activities/Fly-Ins:
Stanford IFSS Program(11)- 2 week program shadowing Stanford Chemistry PhD candidates. Highly competitive(~9% acceptance rate).
Summer@Brown(11)- 1 week Intro to Engineering Class. Program is more based on your ability to pay than anything else(but I did get a scholarship).
Columbia Engineering Experience(CE2)(12)- 3 day fly-in to Columbia where I learned a lot about engineering and specifically mentioned playing late night pickup soccer as something I wanted to do in college in additional info.
Hopkins Overnight Multicultural Experience(HOME)(12)- 3 day fly-in to Johns Hopkins where I learned that I wanted to join BSU.
Essays (rating 1-10, details):
Identity Essay: 7/10. Probably the worst essay in my application. I wish I had gotten more words to elaborate on this in an official essay but it was pretty good. It reads a bit conjointed now but the overall message of me being biracial instead of just African American is there.
Hobby Essay: 10/10. Wrote about how listening to music helps me deal with almost everything in life and just enhances my day. I also mentioned that I was from a suburban neighborhood here.
Major Essay: 8/10. My reasons for liking materials science in this essay are a bit weak in this essay, but they work well enough. The latter half of the essay saved it because I put a major emphasis on interdisciplinary collaboration and the importance of taking risks and not being afraid to fail and trying again. I also name-dropped a lab here.
Community Essay: 9/10. I talked about how a STEM night demonstration at my school inspired me to become a role model for other African American and minority students as well as start my STEM mentorship program. It was alright but not amazing.
Background Essay: 8/10. This could’ve been the best essay in my application but I didn’t have enough time to get through as many drafts as I wanted to because I kept changing topics. I eventually settled on how my mom and my dad contributed to my ambition as well as my hobbies and how I became adaptable due to my mom divorcing twice.
Challenge Essay: 9/10. I wrote about my experience in soccer and I think that this could’ve moved to a 10 if it was better written. I also changed topics like 4-5 times up to where I decided on this essay a couple days before the deadline(same for the background one) and I wish that I would’ve had more time with it.
Additional Info: 8/10. Elaborated on each of my summer activities+fly-ins and what I learned from them.
Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):
Teacher Rec #1 (rating 1-10, details): 10/10. From my chemistry teacher. Might not have been the most well written, but he’s my club advisor and he really likes me.
Teacher Rec #2 (rating 1-10, details): 8/10. From my AP Euro teacher. I never connected with her personally and she doesn’t really know my personality, but she’s always really liked me and encouraged me.
Counselor Rec (rating 1-10, details): 6-7/10. I’m from a school where we have 400 students per counselor, so I really don’t know him at all. He’s always done what I’ve asked him to do, but he hasn’t ever really taken the initiative or tried to challenge me.
Additional Rec (if any) (rating 1-10, details): 9-10/10. Not really sure but this was my advisor and the overall program manager for the Stanford IFSS program. I stayed after the program hours with him, talked with him a lot, and we really vibed with each other.
Interview (if any) (rating 1-10, details): 8/10. We talked for an hour in a coffee shop and there was some awkwardness. The guy worked at JPL so that was really cool and I asked about the weather and there were some laughs and I think that I answered the questions pretty well.
Other:
Applied for Financial Aid?: YES
Intended Major: Materials Science & Engineering
State (if domestic applicant): CA
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: Uncompetitive public ~2000 students
Ethnicity: Biracial(African-American and Caucasian)
Gender: Male
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): URM
Reflections:
UTILIZE ADDITIONAL INFO!!!
Seeing the admits for EA, I see mostly hooked applicants. There are a lot of athletic recruits, URMs, first gen, LGBTQ+, and ofc the major award winners. I want to say I’m surprised, but that’s really how it is. T20 admissions are a crapshoot, and HYPSM admissions are a lottery. It’s really gratifying to get into my top school and one that is so prestigious, but for all those reading who are prospective applicants or waitlisted or rejected, realize that admissions can come down to the smallest of variables(AO was tired reading your app or something like that) and that’s just the nature of admissions.
Strengths: Stats, URM, Essays
Weaknesses: ECs, no major awards,
Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: Strong stats and good essays combined with URM.
Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected: Accepted at Colorado School of Mines w/ 12k merit scholarship and applied to UC Berkeley, UCLA, UCSD, and UCSB. Once my financial aid package comes I’m going to withdraw my other applications and commit.
General Comments (if any):
- Try to visit any college that is close to you or that you’re reaching for. If you can’t afford to, then look at fly-in programs(CAH #opportunities) or admitted student weekends. The only two reasons that I was inspired to put a lot of effort into college apps were because I was recommended a college reaction video this spring and that I visited Stanford for the first time around then as well. Visiting Stanford and MIT for the first time is surreal and I knew that I wanted to go to both of them after walking around their campus. In the end, I chose MIT over Stanford for EA because I felt that the school’s culture fit better with my personality, and that’s held true.
- Imposter syndrome and other irrational fears start the second you get over the shock of being accepted. After opening my decision, I've had to constantly remind myself that I'm accepted, that I deserve to be accepted, and that I won't get rescinded. Remember to maintain your mental health and check your ego if you get accepted.