Hey! I’m a second semester senior who has just recently committed to a college. I’d like to create a post as a sort of cathartic release of emotion to provide myself a sense of closure but also benefit underclassmen in the future, when they apply to college!
Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 2040 superscore (720 W, 670 R, 650 M), did not send for some schools
ACT: 34 Composite (36 E, 36 R, 34 S, 29 M)
SAT II: 690 World History, 660 US History, 640 Lit
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.975 (one B from ninth grade in Painting is tainting my otherwise perfect transcript)
Weighted GPA: 4.4329
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 4/~400
AP (place score in parenthesis): World (4), Environmental Science (5), Human Geography (5), Calc AB (3), US History (4)
IB (place score in parenthesis): have not taken yet
Senior Year Course Load: Math SL, Chemistry SL, AP Psych, Lang and Lit HL, German ab initio, Visual Arts HL, History of Americas HL, TOK (this is the most rigorous schedule available at my school)
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): AP Scholar with Distinction, High Honor Roll, Principal’s List (our version of the dean’s list), Student Athlete. Did not invent the cure for cancer or anything like that.
Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Doubles and singles tennis player (3 yrs on team, varsity for 2 yrs), karate (brown belt, 6 yrs), journalism proofreading editor (2 yrs), class officer (2 yrs), Amnesty International board member (2 yrs), president of program to fund service projects for the high school (2 yrs), founding member of social activism/empowerment club (1 yr).
Job/Work Experience: N/A
Volunteer/Community service: Helper at the local church/teacher’s assistant for 4 yrs (~250 hours)
Summer Activities: Internship to revitalize LA River summer before 11th grade. JSA at Princeton summer before 12th grade.
Recommendations (rating 1-10, details): Teachers - 10/10. One was from my former AP Environmental Science teacher/current IBDP Coordinator who says I’m one of his favorite students he’s ever had in 20 years. The other is my English teacher for 3 consecutive years and class officer sponsor. She lauds my writing and contributions to the club.
Counselor - 7.5/10. We just got a new counselor but we bonded.
Interviews: Depends on the school. The earlier ones were meh; later on, I grew comfortable and sure of myself.
Other:
State (if domestic applicant): CA
Country (if international applicant): USA
School Type: large LAUSD public school
Ethnicity: Filipino
Gender: F
Income Bracket: <$65K
Hooks (Athlete; first generation college, etc.): lower socioeconomic background, first IBDP cohort in district history
Results:
ACCEPTED: Tulane (awarded Premier Scholarship), UVA (EA), UNC Chapel Hill (EA), Cal Poly SLO, UCSB (Regents Scholar), UCD, Kenyon (did fly-in in October), Northwestern, UCLA (Regents Scholar), UCB
WAITLISTED: Swarthmore (did fly-in in September), Wesleyan, Emory, Brown, Reed
REJECTED: Duke, Pitzer, Princeton (deferred EA and then…), UPenn (applied to Huntsman), Dartmouth (invited to fly-in in July but could not attend)
WILL ATTEND: Northwestern
Reflection:
Strengths: GPA, rank, ACT, essays, letters of rec
Weaknesses: SAT II, extra curricular activities, lack of major awards.
Why you think you got in: It’s a combination of my strengths, hooks, and luck. It astounds me that I got into 10 amazing, prestigious, world-class institutions when people more qualified than myself do not. The experience within itself was also humbling; I remember getting into Northwestern and because I am the first person in my school to get in Regular Decision (the only other person who has ever gotten in was through POSSE), I got a little arrogant. I was on a streak of acceptances, which was shattered by the Swarthmore waitlist which, frankly, took me by surprise. I needed that. I also needed to not get into Princeton, which was my dream school, as it represented my need to define my success in terms of arbitrary, external factors. Although I do regret not developing my passions fully in high school, I’m proud of my accomplishments. I did all I could, and though I did not get into the “dream,” I am going to Northwestern on basically a full ride. I have no reason to complain. I can only celebrate.
Advice: Aim high but don’t take admissions decisions personally. That was my biggest mistake. I thought that my rejections from certain schools meant that I was incompetent, a complete failure. In retrospect, I know that there were so many variables I could not possibly control. It’s a luck of the draw, so all you can do is your part to get a slight edge. Had I known this earlier, I don’t think the bad decisions would have been as disappointing as they were. I would have been able to celebrate my successes more. Also, DO NOT APPLY TO 20 SCHOOLS. I DON’T KNOW HOW I DID IT, BUT THE PROCESS DRAINED ME. Choose your schools carefully; I could have done without applying to most of the schools I was waitlisted from. Why? Because, even though I was qualified + interested in them, they weren’t schools I was 100% committed to attending had I gotten in. Apply to schools you would be happy to attend if worst comes to worst; don’t apply to a school you don’t want to attend as a “safety” to only find out that that’s the school you’re going to spend 4 years there. Finally, whatever happens, happens. Take the events as they come. My interview for NU, in my opinion, was not good; imagine my surprise when I found I got in. Imagine my surprise when I found I got rejected from Duke with an amazing interview. I tried to rationalize this but I learned that you can’t. You can only let it be and move on. If you don’t, you’ll literally go insane.
ANYWAYS, good luck to future college applicants! Know that you’ll do great things, regardless of where you end up. And GO CATS! 