Despite being deferred, I thought I should do this for the classes to come.
**Decision: Deferred **
Objective:
SAT I and/or ACT (breakdown): 1480 SAT (720 reading, 760 math). 33 ACT (don’t know breakdown).
SAT II (place score in parentheses): None
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): School doesn’t do unweighted. 4.18 W though. It’s also worth noting that our school weights less than most others. AP classes only worth .667 of weight, not 1.0.
Rank/Percentile: 24/600
AP (place score in parentheses): AP Chemistry (4), AP Calculus AB (4), AP Biology (Enrolled), AP Calculus BC (Enrolled), AP Government (Enrolled). School doesn’t allow Freshman AP classes. Only 1 Sophomore AP class.
IB (place score in parentheses): N/A
Senior Year Course Load: Spanish IV Honors, Physics, AP Calculus BC, Anatomy and Physiology, AP Biology, AP Government, Economics
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): None
Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parentheses): Weakest part of my application. I wasn’t involved a lot. I did play 4 years of CYO basketball as well as 4 years of rec league basketball.
Job/Work Experience: Work at a pizza place part time.
Volunteer/Community Service: Weekly at a local food bank.
Summer Activities: Part time job, work with my mother doing yardwork and house maintenance for the elderly
Essays: 8/10. Solid. I tried to be original. I wrote my essays with one thing in mind - being unique. I think, or hope, it came across well. I took some risks
Teacher Recommendations: Chemistry teacher - 10/10. Favorite teacher of all time and she loved me as well. Got to read this one.
US History Teacher - 8/10. Didn’t read this one and she didn’t like me as much as the chemistry teacher. I’m sure it was a good recommendation though.
Counselor Rec: Didn’t get to read it. Was probably really generic, she does this for hundreds of kids.
Additional Rec: None
Interview: None
Other
Applied for Financial Aid? Yes
Projected Concentration: Undecided/Chemistry/Biology
State/Country: Indiana
School Type: Large public
Ethnicity: White
Gender: Male
Income Bracket: $55,000 - $65,000
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): None
[ b]Reflection**
Strengths: GPA, test scores. I think those are the only reasons I was deferred.
Weaknesses: Extracurriculars. I didn’t do a lot outside of school. No varsity sports.
Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected: Lots of good applicants. I had the scores, not the activities.
Where else you are applying or have already applied: Notre Dame (defer), IU (accept), Butler (accept), Purdue (not sure), Vanderbilt (not sure)
General Comments/Advice/Hindsight: Everyone knows the deal with ND. Unless you’re hooked, just give it your best shot and buy a lottery ticket at the same time. Good luck to the deferred.