<p>Stats:[ul]
[<em>]SAT: 2290 (750CR, 770M, 770W) One-Sitting
[</em>]SAT II: 800 Math II, 770 Physics
[<em>]ACT: N/A
[</em>]GPA: 4.0UW 4.0W
[<em>]Rank: 1/118
[</em>]Other Tests (AMC, AP, IB): N/A
[/ul]Subjective[ul]
[<em>]Essays: Interesting, but a bit rushed.
[</em>]Teacher Recs: 1 good, 1 great.
[<em>]Counselor Rec: Fantastic
[</em>]Supplementary Material: N/A
[<em>]Hook(recruited athlete, legacy, Nobel Prize): Low Income / strange high school?
[/ul]Personal[ul]
[</em>]Location: Santa Ana, CA
[<em>]High School Type: Public, Independent Study
[</em>]Ethnicity: Half Japanese, Half White
[<em>]Gender: Male
[/ul]Other[ul]
[</em>]Extracurriculars: Paid work 1200+ hours, volunteer at library, tutoring, secretary of NHS, Rubik’s Cube, Guitar.
[<em>]Awards: Nothing big. One for volunteer, National Merit Commended Student.
[</em>]Advice? Commiserations? Feel like bragging?: After looking through my applications and information, I think I know why I didn’t get in. For the most part, I have qualifying stats, but I didn’t tell my story well enough. I lack AP classes, but I didn’t thoroughly explain how that is related to my background. My advice to all RD HMC applicants is this – make sure you have a strong hook. It doesn’t matter what it is, just make sure you make it stand out.
[/ul]</p>
<p>Objective:[ul]
[<em>] SAT I (breakdown): 2150 (630CR, 800M, 720W); 2210 (750CR, 740M, 720W)
[</em>] ACT: Didn’t take.
[<em>] SAT II: Korean with Listening (800), Math IIC (800), Chemistry (800), US History (760)
[</em>] GPA: 3.87 UW, 4.67 W
[<em>] Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): First decile.
[</em>] AP (place score in parenthesis): European History (4), Computer Science A (4), US History (5), English Language & Composition (5), Chemistry (5), Calculus AB (5), Statistics (5)
[<em>] IB (place score in parenthesis): Chemistry (5)
[</em>] Senior Year Course Load: AP Physics B, AP Calculus BC, AP English Literature & Composition, IB Philosophy SL, IB Theory of Knowledge, AP Economics/Government, NJROTC 4.
[<em>] Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): AP Scholar with Distinction, AMC 10 (99, 118.5), AMC 12 (112.5), AIME (5), Korean-American Women in Science and Engineering (2008-2010)
[/ul]Subjective:[ul]
[</em>] Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Marksmanship (10-12th), California Association of Student Councils (CASC, secretary/treasurer 11-12th), Elementary/Middle School Tutoring (11-12th), Math Competitions (small and large, 9-12th)
[<em>] Job/Work Experience: Internship at a chemical sensor/analyzer manufacturing company (12th), Internship at the local library (11-12th)
[</em>] Volunteer/Community service: Volunteering at Library (9-12th)
[<em>] Summer Activities: CASC Summer Leadership Camp at UCSB (11-12th), numerous math/science workshops+conferences (10-12th)
[</em>] Essays: Worked hard on them.
[<em>] Teacher Recommendation: They were all from teachers I had for at least 2 years.
[</em>] Counselor Rec: Didn’t read.
[<em>] Additional Rec: None.
[</em>] Interview: Went pretty well.
[/ul]Other[ul]
[<em>] Applied for Financial Aid?: Yes.
[</em>] Intended Major: Chemistry.
[<em>] State (if domestic applicant): CA
[</em>] Country (if international applicant):
[<em>] School Type: Public (magnet), competitive.
[</em>] Ethnicity: Korean.
[<em>] Gender: Female.
[</em>] Income Bracket: Middle Class.
[<em>] Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): None.
[</em>] Other Schools Applied to: Caltech, finished RD application for Columbia.
[/ul]Reflection[ul]
[<em>] Strengths: Essays, rigorous high school curriculum.
[</em>] Weaknesses: A couple of B’s.
[li] Why you think you were accepted/deferred/denied: I showed early & consistent interest. I interviewed the admissions director for a school project in sophomore year, and that’s where everything started.[/li][/ul]General Comments: Happy & excited! Time to work on scholarship apps now…</p>
<p>Objective:[ul]
[<em>] SAT I (breakdown): 2400 one sitting
[</em>] SAT II: 800 Math II, 780 Chemistry, 730 USH
[<em>] Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.7, 4.27 Weighted
[</em>] Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): N/A (I don’t think my school reports either, although I am probably top 10%)
[<em>] AP (place score in parenthesis): USH (5), Chemistry (5), World History (5), English Language (5), Comparative Government (5), US Government (4)
[</em>] Senior Year Course Load: AP English Literature, AP French, AP Statistics, Honors Computer Science, AP BC Calc, AP Physics C
[<em>] Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): None really. Maxima Cum Laude in the National Latin Contest
[/ul]Subjective:[ul]
[</em>] Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Peer Tutoring, Science Olympiad, Robotics, Learning with Legos (basically teaching elementary and middle schoolers about robotics with Lego Mindstorm) (Coleader), Model UN
[<em>] Job/Work Experience: none
[</em>] Volunteer/Community service: Peer Tutoring + Learning with Legos total to ~100 hours
[<em>] Summer Activities: CTY 2 years ago, Carnegie Mellon AP/EA this past summer (I did Intro to Electrical & Computer Engineering and their intro Calc class)
[</em>] Essays: I thought they were really good. I usually write really well, and I put a lot of time into getting them exactly the way I wanted them.
[<em>] Teacher Recommendation: Also really good, both teachers had given me wonderful compliments in the past
[</em>] Counselor Rec: Decent? I barely know my guidance councilor (yay public high schools), so I can’t really gauge it.
[<em>] Additional Rec: N/A
[</em>] Interview: I thought the interview went pretty well too. I’d met Colleen Smith twice already (college fair last year at my school, and the HMC visit to my high school) so it made it easier to avoid being too nervous.
[/ul]Other[ul]
[<em>] Applied for Financial Aid?: No
[</em>] Intended Major: Engineering or Physics
[<em>] State (if domestic applicant): New Jersey
[</em>] School Type: High ranked non-magnet public high school
[<em>] Ethnicity: White
[</em>] Gender: Male
[<em>] Income Bracket: Upper Middle Class I guess?
[</em>] Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): None
[<em>] Other Schools Applied to: Carnegie Mellon (EA through AP/EA), if I hadn’t gotten into Mudd the rest of my list was MIT, Caltech, and Stanford (no safeties because I got into CMU)
[/ul]Reflection[ul]
[</em>] Strengths: My SAT and my essays, I think. My course load definitely helped too.
[<em>] Weaknesses: Extracurriculars. I only started most of my extracurrics last year or this year (I wrote about why in my Common App essay)
[</em>] Why you think you were accepted/deferred/denied: I wrote well, I have the scores, and I showed that Mudd was my top choice for a reason.
[/ul]General Comments: Really happy, really excited, and relieved that the worrying is OVER!</p>
<p>Objective:[ul]
[<em>] SAT I: 2320 (750 C, 770 M, 800 W)
[</em>] ACT: None
[<em>] SAT II: 790 USH, 800 Math II, 750 Physics
[</em>] GPA: 3.6 UW, 3.9 W
[<em>] Rank: School doesn’t do rank.
[</em>] AP: USH (5), Calc AB (5), Calc BC (5), Physics (3)
[<em>] IB: None
[</em>] Senior Year Course Load: Latin V Honors, AP Chem, Programming in Python/Discrete Math Topics(1 Semester), Multivariate Calculus(1 Semester), Music Theory I, APEH, AP Lit, Chorus
[<em>] Major Awards:[list]
[li] School’s “best writer” award[/li][</em>] Honor Roll/Deans’ List/Other awards like this
[<em>] National Merit Commended (missed semifinalist by one point lol)
[</em>] National Honor Society
[<em>] AP Scholar With Honor
[</em>] Varsity Club
[/ul][/list]Subjective:[ul]
[<em>] Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis):[list]
[li] LOTS of guitar and music work (trained in jazz and classical styles)[/li][</em>] Bass sectional leader in school chorus
[<em>] Class Vice President (2yr), Student Body Secretary/Parliamentarian (1yr)
[</em>] Varsity Wrestling (4yr)
[<em>] JV(2yr)/V(1yr) Football
[</em>] Varsity Volleyball(1yr) (Shoulder injury kept me out of football)
[<em>] Eagle Scout
[</em>] Captain of Debate Team
[<em>] Captain of It’s Academic! Team
[</em>] Theater Stage Crew
[<em>] Peer Minister, Youth Minister, Confirmation Sponsor in Church (frosh only)[/ul]
[li] Job/Work Experience: None[/li][</em>] Volunteer/Community service: Over 150 hours with Boy Scouts
[<em>] Summer Activities: Took a 3 week tour of Europe as part of a touring jazz band, took Linear Algebra at JHU
[</em>] Essays: Counselor said my commonapp essay was one of the best he’d ever read.
[<em>] Teacher Recommendations: All very good.
[</em>] Counselor Rec: I assume good, don’t know.
[<em>] Interview: It could have been better, but I think I represented myself and demonstrated interest very well.
[/list]Other[ul]
[</em>] State: MD
[<em>] School Type: Small Private
[</em>] Ethnicity: White
[<em>] Gender: Male
[</em>] Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): Huge upward trend in grades, a lot of demonstrated interest (the admissions people knew me by name apparently, idk how common that is)
[<em>] Other Schools Applied to: Was planning on applying to UChicago, Duke, Rice, CMU, Princeton
[/ul]Reflection[ul]
[</em>] Strengths: Upward grade trend, lots of extracurriculars, interest in many subjects (liberal arts aspect is huge)
[<em>] Weaknesses: Low GPA
[</em>] Why you think you were accepted/deferred/denied: Idk, looking at the stats of others who weren’t accepted, it seems very strange, especially considering the fact that admit rate for males has been less than half that of females over the past few years. I think the fact that I made a very concerted effort to show HMC that I wanted to go to their school and that I emphasized a love for a liberal arts curriculum were key.
[/ul]General Comments: Very excited to be part of the class of 2015! Cannot wait. I do not plan on using this site much more, but I will check back every once in a while in case anyone, juniors or other prospective applicants, want to contact me about my experience with Mudd. I feel sorry for everyone who didn’t get in, but chances are if you are applying to Mudd, you still have so many more options that so many people would give an arm and a leg to have! So good luck to everyone on their own respective college searches.</p>
<p>Objective:[ul]
[<em>] SAT I (breakdown): 680 CR/720M/720W (2120)
[</em>] ACT: 31 composite, but I didn’t send the official scores
[<em>] SAT II: 720 - Math II, 790 - Chemistry, 650 - Literature
[</em>] Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.95
[<em>] Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): top 5%
[</em>] AP (place score in parenthesis): APUSH (4), AP Lang (4), AP Chem (5)
[<em>] Senior Year Course Load: Art 1, Citizenship, AP Physics, AP Calc, AP Lit, Advanced Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra
[</em>] Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): AP Scholar, honor roll every semester
[/ul]Subjective:[ul]
[<em>] Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): 4 years varsity swim team (co-captain), 4 years orchestra, 2 years Science Olympiad, 2 years FIRST robotics
[</em>] Job/Work Experience: Tutoring my elementary school neighbors in math every Sunday
[<em>] Volunteer/Community service: 2 weeks/50 hours volunteering in Ghana
[</em>] Summer Activities: Volunteering in Ghana
[<em>] Essays: I thought they were really unique, well-written, and showed my passion.
[</em>] Teacher Recommendation: I think they were amazing, although I never had a chance to read them. My chemistry teacher knew me really well and I always did really well in her class. My world history teacher didn’t know me as well, but I know she really really liked me.
[<em>] Counselor Rec: Probably pretty good.
[</em>] Interview: Didn’t have one.
[/ul]Other[ul]
[<em>] Applied for Financial Aid?: Yes
[</em>] Intended Major: Undecided.
[<em>] State (if domestic applicant): WA
[</em>] School Type: public
[<em>] Ethnicity: extremely white
[</em>] Gender: female
[<em>] Income Bracket: Upper-middle class?
[</em>] Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): Maybe my gender?
[<em>] Other Schools Applied to: Just UW. Didn’t want to pay application fees if I didn’t have to.
[/ul]Reflection[ul]
[</em>] Strengths: grades and rigor of classes, letters of rec, essays
[<em>] Weaknesses: SAT scores, lack of leadership in ECs
[</em>] Why you think you were accepted/deferred/denied: I think they could see that I’ve worked hard and done well through high school, and I’m going to continue to do so in college.
[/ul]General Comments: I’m so happy that I got in! And so happy that I can actually enjoy my winter break instead of having to frantically finish all my other apps!</p>
<p>CC has been a great resource, so I guess I should post my stats to help future applicants: </p>
<p>Decision: Accepted</p>
<p>Objective:[ul]
[<em>] SAT I (breakdown): 2150 (800CR, 740M, 710W)
[</em>] ACT: 35 (35E, 33M, 36R, 36S)
[<em>] SAT II: 800 MathII (second try), 780 Chemistry, 780 Physics, 800 US History, 780 French
[</em>] Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.9
[<em>] Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): none
[</em>] AP (place score in parenthesis): APUSH (5), French (5), Calc BC (5), Chem (5), EHAP (5), German (5)
[<em>] IB (place score in parenthesis): French SL (7), German SL (7), World History (5)
[</em>] Senior Year Course Load: IB English HL, Calc 3/IB Math SL, IB Bio HL, IB Film, IB Latin HL, IB Physics HL, Science Fair Research
[<em>] Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): National Merit, National French, German, and Latin exams.
[/ul]Subjective:[ul]
[</em>] Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): violin
[<em>] Job/Work Experience: none
[</em>] Volunteer/Community service: various random stuff
[<em>] Summer Activities: two engineering-type camps at the local public university
[</em>] Essays: we had to turn them in to our English teacher, she said they conveyed my sense of humor and personality really well
[<em>] Teacher Recommendation: both really good, one has had me for 2 years, the other for all 4
[</em>] Counselor Rec:really good
[<em>] Additional Rec:none
[</em>] Interview:went pretty well
[/ul]Other[ul]
[<em>] Applied for Financial Aid?: yes
[</em>] Intended Major: engineering
[<em>] State (if domestic applicant): CO
[</em>] Country (if international applicant):
[<em>] School Type: public
[</em>] Ethnicity: white
[<em>] Gender: male
[</em>] Income Bracket: middle middle class
[<em>] Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): lots of languages maybe?
[</em>] Other Schools Applied to: was going to apply to Brown, Rice, and Stanford
[/ul]Reflection[ul]
[<em>] Strengths: a lot of good classes with decent grades; essays and recs
[</em>] Weaknesses: SAT/ACT test scores, especially in math; lack of sciency extracurriculars
[li] Why you think you were accepted/deferred/denied: Honestly after reading some of the stats posted here it seems to depend a lot on luck.[/li][/ul]General Comments: I knew HMC was my number one choice pretty early on, but luckily I had guaranteed admission to the public flagship with a pretty decent engineering department as a backup, so I was never really stressed or worried.</p>
<p>I found out that there’s like nobody in the 2015 harvey mudd facebook group right now.
So, if you want to start talking with people, you can join.</p>
<p>I am waiting for the decision anxiously and wonder why HMC is still stuck with snail mail. This is a bit of a downer for a school which will prepare its students for the 21st century.</p>
<p>I think it has to do with size - the admissions office is really small and just doesn’t have any staff to spare to set up the online stuff. It was a tough wait for us too - here on the other coast!</p>
