<p>Copied and pasted from my post on the Harvard decisions thread:</p>
<p>Decision: Deferred (Harvard SCEA)</p>
<p>Objective:[ul]
[<em>] SAT I (breakdown): 2350 (760 CR, 800 M, 790 W)
[</em>] SAT II: 750 Literature, 790 Math II, 800 French, 800 Chinese with Listening, 790 Spanish, plus two other (bad) scores that are currently being rescored due to a mix-up
[<em>] Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.8
[</em>] Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 1
[<em>] AP (place score in parenthesis): Calculus AB (4), Chinese Language (5), English Language (5), English Literature (5), French Language (5), German Language (4), Macroeconomics (4), Spanish Language (5), US History (4)
[</em>] Senior Year Course Load: Hardest Possible
[<em>] Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): National AP Scholar, National Merit Semifinalist; internationally recognized language proficiency certificates in Mandarin, French, Spanish, and German, AP Spanish Excellence Award, Spanish Honor Society, National German Exam Gold Certificate (96th Percentile Nationwide); AMC 12 School Winner; National History Day State Finalist (Historical Paper); ABRSM Grade 8 Piano, Michigan Music Teachers’ Association Level 10 Piano, recital at fairly well-known international arts venue outside the US; Scholastic Writing Silver Key, Royal Commonwealth Essay Competition – Commended, guest writer for Mensa’s young members’ magazine
[/ul]Subjective:[ul]
[</em>] Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Foreign Language (Volunteer Tutor, Teaching Assistant), Piano (Solo/Ensemble and Church Accompanist), Church Youth Group, School Newspaper (Editor-in-Chief), Literary Journal (Editor-in-Chief), Writing/Journalism Club (Co-President), Math Club (Peer Tutor), Cambridge University Math/Science Summer Courses (Math and Nature, Astronomy), International Travel
[<em>] Volunteer/Community service: Publishing Company Proofreader (1,500 pages), Spanish III Teaching Assistant (160 hrs), Solo/Ensemble and Church Accompanist (300 hrs), Interpreter for School Immersion Trip to French Alps (200 hrs)
[</em>] Summer Activities: Cambridge University Math/Science Summer Courses, Moving, Travel, Language Study, Reading
[<em>] Essays:
[list]
[li] 150 Word Activity: Foreign exchange/travel: the true definition of my “hometown”, including my various travels, experiences, and friendships, and how they relate to my personality and future aspirations[/li][</em>] Common App: Discussed my trip to North Korea, which was like a real-life version of George Orwell’s 1984, and also where I realized that the right to free thought and speech was truly a human right. Also saw for the first time that in spite of my knowledge of multiple languages, knowing another language wouldn’t always break down interpersonal barriers (especially when ideological/political barriers were present), but knew what I could do to help given this realization.
[/ul]
[<em>] Teacher Recommendations: Waived right to view, but they were from my English teacher (a Harvard alumna) and my Calculus teacher. Both know me very well and highly respect me.
[</em>] Counselor Rec: Waived right to view, but presumably very strong
[<em>] Interview: Was offered one, but could not participate due to being out of the country (on top of a busy travel schedule). Presumably waived by the admissions office.
[/list]Other[ul]
[</em>] State (if domestic applicant): CA
[<em>] Country (if international applicant): Canadian Citizen
[</em>] School Type: Private (applies to all 3 high schools; first was a large international school overseas (top 5-10% attend Ivies/Stanford/MIT), second was a small, competitive college prep school with 10-15% attending Ivies annually and most of the class going to top 50 USNWR schools; third was an even smaller school that regularly sends students to the top UCs)
[<em>] Ethnicity: Chinese
[</em>] Gender: Female
[<em>] Income Bracket: Middle
[</em>] Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): Not hooks, but certifiably fluent in five languages (English, Mandarin, French, Spanish, German), graduated from high school at age 16 (currently on a gap year), traveled to North Korea, visited 27 countries in Asia, Europe, North America, the Middle East, and Africa
[/ul]Reflection[ul]
[<em>] Strengths: Standardized testing, multilingualism, international perspective, varied academic interests (languages, applied math/physics, history to some extent), essays (?), adaptability to different environments, being diverse/interesting (?)
[</em>] Weaknesses: GPA (relative to the rest of the applicant pool), two lousy SAT II scores (may not have been considered as they never showed up in my application status tracker)
[<em>] Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: Already denied from Harvard once before last year. They could just as easily have denied me again, so I wasn’t expecting much. I’m actually very satisfied with being deferred. 
[</em>] Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected: Waiting on Yale, Columbia, Stanford, Penn, Amherst, Dartmouth, Brown, Duke, University of Cambridge (UK), and McGill (Canada).
[/ul]General Comments: Guess I have to wait 3 more months…</p>