I am a freshman at National Taiwan University, applying to Harvard SCEA and Yale/Penn/Duke/Amherst RD. All of these schools consider someone like me to be a freshman applicant, as I will drop out of NTU if I get accepted.
I’m mostly posting this because I am really nervous about Tuesday (which is when Harvard releases SCEA decisions). Since I am expecting a reject from Harvard, I need some opinions on whether I would possibly have a shot at the rest of my list. I don’t have safeties (or matches, even) because I already am in college—NTU is my safety school.
I’m applying to US universities because of my personal career plans as a MD-PhD, foreseeable political unrest between Taiwan and China, and other reasons.
Without further ado, here are my stats:
Nationality: Taiwanese (no US citizenship/PR). Spent all 19 years of my existence on this island.
Race: Asian
Gender: Female assigned at birth, but genderqueer+asexual.
Family: Dad-USC Alum (MA). Publishing firm exec of sorts. Mom-Went to trade school and is a newspaper editor.
Hooks: I don’t know if I’ll be considered as an ORM or an URM. Harvard and Yale each has ONE Taiwanese student only in their undergrad programs, but I’m Asian…so there’s that too. I also have lupus…which really, really sucks.
GPA/Rank: My school doesn’t calculate GPA or rank kids, but my transcript isn’t that hot. I’m guessing around 3.5?
Note: I went to a high school where everyone belongs to the academic top 1% of all Taiwanese students.
SAT: 1480/1600. Retook the December SAT and am expecting a score within the range of 1500~1550.
SAT Subjects: BioM 780, Math1 750, Math2 720. Took them in one sitting.
TOEFL iBT: 118/120
Intended Major: Biological Sciences
Other testing: I took both types of the Taiwanese College Entrance Exams and scored really well on them (hence my acceptance to NTU). In particular, I was the second highest scorer in Taiwan for English, and within the top 0.05% of all test-takers, almost all of them native speakers, in Mandarin Chinese. Not many Taiwanese applicants of US universities have taken these exams. I hope this provides perspective for how I rank among local Taiwanese students.
Awards:
- Taipei City Honor Student,
- Taipei City Scouting Award
ECs:
- Venture Scouts (Senior Patrol Leader, and Club President as well because it’s a school club).
- Biology Team (Was the first of 4 students picked to compete for my school in biology competitions).
- I run a blog on Tumblr centered around my studies, with around 10000 followers.
- Mountaineering: Scaled 6 mountains over 10000ft on 3 separate expeditions.
- Translation: I translated and published two books from English into Mandarin in 6th grade. They are still in print.
- I am involved in LGBTQ clubs at school and currently am part of a movement trying to legalize gay marriage in Taiwan.
- I was admitted into a 3-year program for gifted biology students, hosted by Taiwan’s leading research institution, and was one of the few to successfully graduate. We attended lectures, did lab work, and authored an academic paper.
- I was on the Diplomatic Envoy Team. For this we had to write and act in a play, do impromptu speeches, and participate in a quiz bowl. We won 6th place overall nationally.
- Triathlon: I did triathlon for a while, but it was in middle school so I mentioned it in the Additional Information section instead.
Essays: I gave it my best effort. Wrote about my greatest passion which is medicine, and poured my heart and soul into it. I’m really sincere and I hope it shows.
Recs:
- Lab PI: Renowned in his field of neuroscience. Knows me very well and likes me a lot. Offered to write my rec letter before I even asked him to.
- Biology Teacher: Likes me a lot as well. He’s my coach on the biology team, and we spent a lot of time working together. Highly supportive of my plans for the future.
- Counselor: She’s actually my Chinese teacher. Knows me well, likes me more than any other teachers I’ve ever had. She has always been there for me and knows me (and my family circumstances) on a personal level. I’m hoping she puts a more “human” touch to my application.
Misc: I initially struggled with this decision, but finally decided to send in an extra note/essay (via my counselor) explaining my struggles with lupus. In my Common App I only mentioned lupus in two sentences and referred to it as a “systemic autoimmune disease”.
That’s about it. Even though I don’t think I have much of a shot due to my transcript, standardized test scores, status as a (not rich) international student, and ORM ethnicity, I’m still clinging to that last bit of hope and my fingers are crossed.
I look forward to your replies and wish everyone the very best with college applications.