I’m making this post because I wanted a place to show some of my underclassmen friends what resources I used for college admissions and give back to the CC community for all the help I got with the process.
Before I began this college admissions process, I used to have the mentality that UC Berkeley or any other UC would be enough. I attended a public school with classmates that treated the UC system as if it were the ivy league, so this was kind of natural. However, I began to venture out and see what other schools were out there. After attending a college program that had UPenn, Duke, and Georgetown, I became hooked on private schools and began researching what other options were out there. By my senior year, I had my eye on mostly private schools because of better research opportunities, a wider variety of internships, smaller classroom sizes, and stronger alumni networks. Attending a UC was more of a last resort by this point. My parents were generally supportive and didn’t really push me to apply anywhere (Although they wanted me to apply to HYPSMC). As a sophomore, I didn’t really have many EC’s other than community service, and was getting worried, so I researched college admissions books about how I should pursue the process. I ended up not doing a laundry list of random EC’s and focusing my activities around a couple of interests that I had enjoyed as a kid: IR, PS, and East Asian affairs. I searched for various programs throughout the SF Bay Area and networked with various professionals. Before I embarked on these EC’s, I used to think of holistic admissions as being annoying; I wanted to be judged solely on my grades and test scores because I thought I wasn’t interesting. But after I saw Johns Hopkins’s middle 50 SAT range for admitted students, I realized that I got in based on my personal qualities (LMAO) as my SAT score was 10 points below the 25th percentile.
The books and blogs I used for general college admissions advice are as follows:
A is For Admission by Michelle Hernandez
Acing the College App by Michelle Hernandez
Admissions Confidential by Rachel Toor
What Colleges Don’t Tell You by Elizabeth Wissner-Gross
What High Schools Don’t Tell You by Elizabeth Wissner-Gross
How to Be a High School Superstar by Cal Newport
You can access Cal Newport’s blog here: http://calnewport.com/blog/2010/02/18/want-to-get-into-harvard-spend-more-time-staring-at-the-clouds-rethinking-the-role-of-extracurricular-activities-in-college-admissions/
Cal Newport’s books and blog posts on study habits, college admissions, and work were really insightful and helpful; I strongly recommend them for whatever academic or professional goals you have in the future.
I recommend that you get these books from the library if possible. But all in all, I found all of these books to be really helpful with understanding what college admissions officers were looking for and what I could do to make myself be more competitive.
As for grades and test scores, just try to take the most rigorous course load available to you and to do as well as you can. Getting a couple of B’s will not kill you. Even if you were able to get a 4.0 UW GPA taking BS AP classes, you wouldn’t be prepared for the rigor at Harvard and would get wrecked early on, harming your college GPA. I had one B on average per semester, didn’t cure cancer, and still got into a top 10 school. If I can do it, you can too. Just take classes that will challenge you and give you experience for future educational goals. As for testing, take a practice test for both the SAT and ACT, and then decide which test to prepare for. DO NOT STUDY FOR BOTH AND WASTE YOUR TIME JUST DEVOTE ALL YOUR TIME TO ONE TEST AND THEN USE THE REMAINING TIME ON YOUR SAT SUBJECT TESTS AND OTHER FACTORS OF YOUR APPLICATION
SAT Prep books
Erica Meltzer’s Critical Reader and Grammar Guide
PWN for Math
Essays
Use whatever EC’s you used as tools that can tell the greater story of what you’re passionate about, what your identity is, what you want to accomplish in life, etc. Just try to show the admissions officer why you’re you and why you’re not like the rest of the population.Write about changing the world through what you’re passionate about.
I found this link at an MIT blog: http://www.uni.edu/~gotera/gradapp/stmtpurpose.htm
Choosing schools
I really believe that you should apply to schools that you feel connected with the culture and not just some rank on us news. Try to apply to a wide variety of schools that offer what YOU need and want in a school. Consider SAT ranges on the common data sets, acceptance rates (but take these with a grain of salt), location, and research/internship opportunities. I aimed for non-HYPSM privates because I was too scared for heartbreak and rejection. My top 5 big longshots were: UChicago, Williams, Pomona, Duke, and Johns Hopkins. I had my initial heart set on LAC’s because they seemed easier to get into and had more intimate educational environments but I took getting waitlisted at both Carleton and Middleburyas a sign that I didn’t belong at an LAC.
My results
SAT I (breakdown): 2150 (740 M, 690 (/cries) CR, 720 W)
ACT (breakdown): nope
SAT II: 770 USH, 750 World H, 720 Math 2, 770 Chinese
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.80 UW, 4.60 W
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 13/~900
AP (place score in parenthesis):World (5), USH (5), Chinese (5), Lang (3), Chem (3)
IB (place score in parenthesis):
Senior Year Course Load:AP Econ/Gov, AP Lit, APCS, BC, AP Physics 1, Intro to Political Theory at CC
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): Geraldine H Read Memorial Award from the World Affairs Council, WorldAffairs 2015 Scholarship, AP International Diploma, Speaking finalist at IE 3 and Colt Classic, research used by the Asia Foundation with their operations in China on environmental policy
Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): 1990 Institute Student Ambassador, World Affairs Council student ambassador, VP of Science Club (Team captain of bio/chem olympiad), speech and debate, independent research project, Boys’ State
Job/Work Experience: Internship at local Democratic center
Volunteer/Community service: local school district (TA at professional development, tutor, helped set up weekly events), Library (reading to kids in chinese, shelving books, summer reading game)
In total: 441 hours
Summer Activities: Boys’ State, debate camp, Summer Institute of International Affairs at the World Affairs Council
Essays: Unique I guess? I wrote my main on being a social conservative in the Bay Area.
JHU essay: Wrote on my deeply-rooted interest in East Asian politics and culture and how I wanted to pursue research (I included a paragraph on the lack of attention this gets in American society and why I want to change that in the Additional Info section)
Teacher Recommendation: Stellar, highlighted how I pushed others to consider different viewpoints
Counselor Rec: Talked about how I started the Boys/Girls State selection process at my school since I was the first delegate in years
Additional Rec:nope
Interview: nope
Other
Applied for Financial Aid?: Never
Intended Major: History
State (if domestic applicant): CA
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: Public
Ethnicity: Asian
Gender: Male
Income Bracket: not important honestly because they didnt know it was
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): Asian conservative with an interest in the humanities?