***Official Carnegie Mellon University Class of 2021 Regular Decision Results ONLY***

Colleges and Universities A-Z Carnegie Mellon University
1

Haven’t seen a thread for this with decisions coming out a month from now so here is the official thread for Carnegie Mellon class of 2021 Regular Decision applicants. CMU says they will announce their decisions online “no later than April 15th” but judging from past few years, they will most likely announce them around March 25th. Good luck to Everyone!

Remove spaces when you post:

[ size=4][ color=green][ b]Decision: Accepted **[/color][/size]
[ size=4][ color=orange][ b]Decision: Deferred **[/color][/size]
[ size=4][ color=red][ b]Decision: Rejected **[/color][/size]

[ b]Objective:[/b
]
SAT I (breakdown M/CR/W/Essay):
SAT I superscore (breakdown M/CR/W/Essay):
ACT (breakdown):
ACT superscore (breakdown):
SAT II (subject, score):
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0):
Weighted GPA:
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable):
AP (place score in parentheses):
IB (place score in parentheses):
Senior Year Course Load:
Number of other EA applicants in your school:
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel, etc.):
Common Awards (AP Scholar, honor roll, NM things, etc.):

[ b]Subjective:**

Extracurriculars (name, grade levels, leadership, description):
Job/Work Experience:
Volunteer/Community Service:
Summer Experience:

[ b]Writing (Subject, 1-10 rating, details):**

Essays:

Teacher Recommendation #1:
Teacher Recommendation #2:
Counselor Rec:
Additional Info/Rec:
Interview:
Art Supplement:

[ b]Other**

Date Submitted App:
U.S. State/Territory or Country:
School Type:
Ethnicity:
Gender:
Income Bracket Range:
Hooks (URM, first generation, recruited athelete, development):

[ b]Reflection**

Strengths:
Weaknesses:
Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected:
What would you have done differently?:
Where else did you apply?

[ b]Other Factors: **

[ b]General Comments & Advice:**

2

Is anyone familiar with how the College of Fine Arts works? I read on some other thread that if the school itself likes your portfolio, you get in automatically, given all your other stats meet the univeristy’s general standards. I’m just really nervous now with only a few weeks until decisions!

3

^ “few weeks” is now 5 days! So nervous

4

10 hours left

5

ACCEPTED – (Business)

GPA: 6.87/6.0 weighted (my school is weird)
SAT: 1460 (800 math, 660 r+w)
SAT II: Math II 750, Math I 770, Physics 650
Rank: 5/850
AP Classes: Physics I, Physics C, Calculus BC, Econ, Govt, Literature,Bio, Chemistry, French 4
The rest are honors classes

President of Key Club (member 10-12)
Secretary of NHS
SAT tutor
Senior Ballerina for non profit ballet company
officer for school literary magazine

Attended LEAD Summer Business Institute
National hispanic scholar

first generation american
first generation college student
female
hispanic
texas

national hispanic scholar, ap scholar, honor roll, UPENN business plan competition

over 400 hours in community service

6

Decision: Accepted to Information Systems

Objective:
SAT I superscore: 1340 (700 Math, 640 R+W)
ACT (breakdown): Didn’t submit
SAT II: (Bio E, 650) (Math II, 670)
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.9
Weighted GPA: My school does not use weighted GPA
Rank: top 9%
AP: (4) AP Psychology (2) APUSH (I don’t know if these are automatically submitted. I don’t think I submitted either)
Senior Year Course Load (All Dual-Enrollment): Linear Algebra, Differential Equations, Number Theory (honors), General Physics I, Java I, Java II, Data Structures/Algorithms, Calculus IV, Intro to Education, Lifespan Psychology, Intro to the Humanities
Number of other RD applicants in your school: none that I know of
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel, etc.): William E. Boeing Community/Collaboration Award, Coca Cola Regional Scholar, Elks National Scholar, Ky and Yu-Fen Math AMS Award Recipient
Common Awards (AP Scholar, honor roll, NM things, etc.): honors society, honor roll, community college deans list, vball awards

Subjective:

Extracurriculars (name, grade levels, leadership, description): Lots of volunteer work, blog writing, sports, art, etc
Job/Work Experience: Worked three jobs my junior year, two jobs this year (long shifts).
Volunteer/Community Service: (1,000+ hours) Lots. I wrote all the Math Olympiad tests for my district and am a mentor for several elementary/middle schools, and mentor students online in a space program. Church server, volunteer tutor, etc.
Summer Experience: Junior Summer: Math camp, Space camp

Writing (Subject, 1-10 rating, details):

Essays: 8/10 I wrote about an experience at math camp. It was quirky and about theoretical computer science. My common app was about my diverse background and how I brought my high school its first CS course after contacting outreach coordinators at Microsoft. I compared my town to a soda bottle.

Teacher Recommendation #1: Never Read
Teacher Recommendation #2: Never Read
Counselor Rec: Never read but she likes me.
Additional Info/Rec: I had the olympic volleyball coach write a letter on my behalf although I am no longer pursuing v-ball at the olympic level.
Interview: Never had one (except at the diversity weekend fly-in program) but I wasn’t really asked about myself.
Art Supplement: n/a

Other

Date Submitted App:
U.S. State/Territory or Country:
School Type:
Ethnicity: Minority Mix: Filipino, German, Moldovan, Native, Middle Eastern
Gender: Female
Income Bracket Range: 20,000-30,000
Hooks (URM, first generation, recruited athelete, development): I has the olympic coach as my vball recruiter, am from a small farm town in Washington, and a girl who loves theoretical computer science.

Reflection

Strengths: Unique factor, I overloaded on the most difficult college courses every year, participates in many extracurriculars/made a difference in my community.
Weaknesses: TEST SCORES OMG HOW DID THIS HAPPEN.
Why you think you were accepted: I think I am pretty diverse/unique. Also I spend a lot of time on my ZeeMee account to help illustrate my life in a more personable way and participated in the diversity weekend.
What would you have done differently?: Revise the ending of my essay. It is so damn cheesy, but I had to submit it before a certain deadline so I could apply to the fly-in program.
Where else did you apply? (16 schools) Cornell, University of Washington-Seattle(Accepted direct admit to CS), MIT (Rejected lol what a surprise), UPenn, Stanford, Caltech(Rejected), Princeton, Harvard, Duke University (accepted via diversity LL), USC, UCLA (waitlisted), Pomona College (Rejected), Tufts, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, UC Berkeley

**Other Factors: **
My location? No one really knows about CMU in my area.

General Comments & Advice:
THANK YOU GOD I FEEL SO BLESSED. Administrators in my high school told me not to apply here because my scores were too low for high-ranking schools. If you want to go somewhere, apply. As cliche as this sounds, you don’t have a chance at a chance you don’t take. Present the best version of yourself that you can, illustrate what makes you unique, and do whatever you can to show interest.

7

Decision: Accepted to Engineering

Objective:
SAT I- NA
ACT-35C one sitting (36E, 34M, 35R, 35S, 24W)
SAT II’s: Math II (780), MBio (740), Physics (730)
Unweighted GPA: 3.65
Weighted GPA: 4.14
Rank: School doesn’t rank, but I would guess only top 25% because i didn’t take competitive classes until junior year
AP’s taken: Bio (4), Eng Language (4)
Senior Courses- AP Latin 4, AP Physics C, AP Literature, AP Calc BC, AP Micro/Macro, Science and Religion, History elective

Major Awards (USAMO, intel, etc…): no major awards
-Various awards for high scoring on National Latin Exams and Junior Classical League state convention tests

Subjective:
Extracurriculars
-11-12 Stage Crew of theatre program, I run one of the followspots
-11-12 club lacrosse team, we play against varsity level teams and other clubs

-9-12 President of the Gamer's Club, we discuss gaming in popular culture and professions in gaming industries, became president in 12th grade

Job Experience:
-9-12 Not sure if this would count but ran an ebay shop selling electronics to pay for my high school tuition
-10-12 PayPal reconciliation, reconciling PayPal payments with their invoices

Volunteering:
-9-12 Service at dog adoption clinic, walking, feeding, answering questions about dogs
-12 Tutoring and daycare at a k-8 catholic school
-12 I spent a month out of school to volunteer at a school helping the teacher and students. I still had morning classes and some afternoon classes.
-10 Community service trip to new Orleans with school, various works (cleaning garden for sisterhood, cleaning school for new year, cleaning horse stables for horse sanctuary)
-9 high school placement test tutoring, tutoring 7th and 8th graders in math, english, vocab for a placement test

Teacher Recommendations: AP Bio teacher and US History teacher. Chose AP Bio teacher cus fun class and was most recent teacher for rec writing time. Chose history teacher because good relationship

Counselor Rec: He said he spent the most time on mine, so I hope it will be good. I have an excellent relationship with him, I talk to him the most about college and issues and I always bring him a sample of the desserts I make for classes.

Essays:
-recycled my UC essay into my common app one and then talked about different stuff for the supplement

Other:
prospective major: Materials Science and Engineering
Strengths: Test scores, STEM classes, taking the most advanced courses available to me senior year
Weaknesses: English (straight B from 10-11 grade while i was getting A or A- in every other subject), Theology (B+ avg),
no crazy amazing EC just the stuff that i am personally passionate about, GPA for reach schools
State: CA
School Type: Private religious
Ethnicity: African American
Sex: Male
Income Bracket: 200k
Hooks: none

[ b]Reflection**

Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected: good enough stats or compelling essays
What would you have done differently?: nothing i got in hehe
Where else did you apply? In at UCLA,UCSD,UCI,BostonU,Northeastern,SLO,CPP,GaTech,CSUF. Rejected at MIT

kinda suprised I got in but idk if i would even be able to afford it hehe

8

Oof, please excuse the typos that I seemed to have read over in my original post. Also my school type is public.

9

Decision: Rejected (Electrical Engineering)

I applied to these other schools:

RPI (Applied as safety and accepted)
Northeastern (Applied as safety and got admitted to honors program last month)
MIT(Deferred ED then rejected RD)
Harvard
Princeton
Columbia
Cornell
Carnegie Mellon
UPenn

Short Biography: I was born in Bangladesh. At age 4, I moved to Japan because of my mother pursuing her PhD in Immunology there. We lived there for 6 years, and in 5th grade I moved to Philadelphia where my mom worked at Upenn. We stayed in Philly for 2 years and then we moved to Baltimore where my mom worked at the NIH. We lived in Baltimore for 3 years from 7th grade to 9th grade. At the end of 9th grade, we moved to upstate NY. I lived in NY for sophomore year, and then I moved to Gainesville, Florida where my mom worked at UF. I stayed in Florida for junior year, and now as a senior I am back in NY. I am fluent in Bengali, Japanese, English. Highly proficient in French, Spanish, and Arabic.

Objective:

SAT I (superscore): 1520: 770 Math and 750 Writing
ACT (breakdown): no
ACT superscore (breakdown): no
SAT II (subject, score): Japanese - 660; Math 2 - 800; Chemistry - 760.
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4
Weighted GPA: around 4.5
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): not ranked and class size is 453
AP (place score in parentheses): Chemistry (3), Physics-1 (4), English Composition (4), US History (5)
IB (place score in parentheses): no
Senior Year Course Load: AP Calculus BC, AP English Literature and Composition, AP World History, AP Statistics, AP Physics C Mechanics, Computer Science 1, Economics Honors
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel, etc.): National Spanish Exam Bronze Award, National Youth leadership forum in Engineering and Technology Distinguished Alumni
Common Awards (AP Scholar, honor roll, NM things, etc.): AP Scholar with Honor, National Merit Finalist, honor roll all four years, Academic achievement award (top 10% of class by Unweighted GPA at end of junior year)

Subjective:

Extracurriculars (name, grade levels, leadership, description):

  • My biggest EC was babysitting my currently 6 year old sister for 4 hours every weekday.
  • I am a religious Muslim and I know around 200 pages of the Quran by heart. I started memorizing when I was 5 and still do. I memorize and recite with an imam or my father.
  • JV soccer 10th grade(captain), JV Tennis 10th grade, Varsity Tennis 12th grade
  • I go to the Mosque almost every day at around 6AM for our first prayer of the day. I also frequently go there on evenings and afternoons to pray.
  • In 9th grade, I helped my father and his fellow Masters in Industrial engineering students build a near perpetual hydroelectric generator that won first place for Thurgood Marshall Entrepreneurship competition. I did a lot of labor and hands on work such as working with the piping, woodworking, etc.
  • New York Mathematics League
  • Coding club
  • School newspaper sports writer
  • Co-Founder of math team
  • Science Olympiad
  • Model United Nations
  • Quiz Bowl
  • I came very close to joining a 7 consecutive national title winning Mu Alpha Theta
    Math team at my school in Florida but I was rejected at the last minute because I had just moved from New York and
    learned a different math curriculum the previous year.
  • Chess club
  • NASA SEMAA program, Morgan State University
  • Owner of Youtube channel (mentioned in major of interest essay) with over 50,000 views
    and Instructables page with over 75,000 views dedicated to DIY engineering projects,
    technology workshops, reverse engineering tutorials, science experiments, and
    electronics repair. My goal is to teach and promote interest in STEM for young people and
    beginner enthusiasts with little to no background knowledge.

Hobbies and activities:

  • knitting, giving haircuts, and furniture repair
  • growing vegetables in my backyard (I grew Basil, Chili Pepper, green beans, cucumbers,
    and cherry radishes this summer)

Job/Work Experience: Survey taker at a Market Research Firm
Volunteer/Community Service:

  • I helped with the construction of a new Mosque in NY. I currently volunteer by serving food during community events, cleaning, and doing other menial work.
  • Volunteering at a local auto repair shop
    Summer Experience: Did a lot of moving work every summer since I moved around the country so much

Writing (Subject, 1-10 rating, details):

Essays:
Not going to talk much about these. I found they were pretty good and reflected my personality.

Teacher Recommendation #1: Did not read.
Teacher Recommendation #2: Did not read.
Counselor Rec: Did not read.
Additional Info/Rec: Did not read.
Interview: It went very well but was only like 20 minutes long. I guess it was because my interviewer was very concise and got to the point of everything very fast and did not bother to small talk.
Art Supplement: no

Other

Date Submitted App: 12/30/2016
U.S. State/Territory or Country: NY
School Type: Public
Ethnicity: Bangladeshi
Gender: Male
Income Bracket Range: 60k
Hooks (URM, first generation, recruited athlete, development): URM maybe??

Reflection

Strengths: Now I don’t really think I ever had any. I guess I had some good looking academics going for me, and I am a National Merit finalist. I also know 6 languages.
Weaknesses: I feel like I am mediocre. I haven’t won Intel or won a major award. I feel like students going to top schools excel at a particular field and put a lot of time and effort in that passion like research in Molecular biology, competing in US Math Olympiad team, etc
What would you have done differently?: I don’t really know

10

[ b]Decision: Accepted SCS **
[ b]Decision: Rejected COE**

**Objective:[/b
]
SAT I: 1450(Math:770, English:680)
ACT: 33(M:35,E:34,R:30,S:33), 32(M:35,E:29,R:27,S:36)
SAT II: Math 2:800, Physics:740
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.9
Weighted GPA: 4.4
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): best guess, top 5%
AP (place score in parentheses): Calc AB(5), Calc BC(5), Spanish Lang(4), Euro(3), English Lang(4), Physics C: Mech(5), Comp Sci(5)
IB (place score in parentheses): none
Senior Year Course Load: Adv. Animation, Amer. Gov, AP English Lit, AP Statistics, Differential Equations, Finite Math, AP Physics E&M
Number of other applicants in your school: one other
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel, etc.): Two time national medalist in ice dance, member of team USA
Common Awards (AP Scholar, honor roll, NM things, etc.): AP scholar with distinction

Subjective:

Extracurriculars (name, grade levels, leadership, description):Ice Skating, Girls Who Code (president), Ice Skating Junior Board(secretary), project Euler, Stanford Advanced Math Circle.
Job/Work Experience: Filing paperwork, teaching skating lessons for birthday parties
Volunteer/Community Service: teaching ice skating classes 3 hrs per week
Summer Experience: Competing and teaching skating summer camp

Writing (Subject, 1-10 rating, details):

Essays: Not great, but reasonable. Written night before

Teacher Recommendation #1: Didn’t read
Teacher Recommendation #2: Didn’t read
Counselor Rec: Didn’t read
Additional Info/Rec: Didn’t read
Interview: On campus in September. Went really well
Art Supplement: 8 min video of me skating

Other

Date Submitted App: Jan 1st
U.S. State/Territory or Country: CA
School Type: Public
Ethnicity: White
Gender: Female
Income Bracket Range: 200k+
Hooks (URM, first generation, recruited athelete, development): Female in Comp Sci, Father left family before high school started and passed away right before senior year.

Reflection

Strengths: Female in Comp Sci, visited campus, two national medals
Weaknesses: test scores, I haven’t done anything extrodinary academically
Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected: IDK. I fully expected to be rejected from both.
What would you have done differently?: retaken ACT or SAT again to get better scores, spent more time writing essays.
Where else did you apply?
Accepted: University of Miami, UC Berkeley, UC San Diego, Cal Poly SLO, UC Santa Barbara, Rice University
Watlisted: UCLA
Denied: Stanford

11

Decision: Accepted MCS

Objective:

SAT I (breakdown): 1590 total; 790 CR+W, 800 Math
ACT (breakdown): 35C; 36E, 35M, 34R, 35S
SAT II: 800s Math II, Chem, USH
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.0
Weighted GPA: 4.7037 (4.72 as of 7th semester)
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 13/251 (15/254 as of 7th semester)

AP (place score in parenthesis): World History (4), Music Theory (5 overall, 5 nonaural, 4 aural), Chemistry (5), Calc AB (5), Literature (5), Seminar (4), U.S. History (5), Physics 1 (4)

IB (place score in parenthesis): none offered

Senior Year Course Load: French IV, Honors Comp Sci I, JROTC IV, AP Lang, AP Physics 2, AP Calc BC, AP U.S. Government

Awards: National Merit Semifinalist, National AP Scholar, AP Scholar with Distinction, ACS Chemistry Olympiad 1st Place in Region Tests Level 1&2, Beta Club Membership Selection

Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis):

Old-Time Fiddle for 8 years-won school talent show, 3rd place in state youth fiddle contest, some
ensembles (submitted arts portfolio)

JROTC since 9th grade (C/LTC & Battalion Commander-highest position in program, numerous
lesser positions) - Scottish Rite of Freemasonry JROTC Award, Superior Cadet Award,
attended JCLC

Junior Civitans since 7th grade (Club Pres, District PRC, Club PRC, Club Secretary) - 2013 District
Female Junior Civitan of the Year

Pulsar Search Collaboratory since July 2016 (School Club Founder/President) - attended 2016
PSC Camp in Green Bank, WV, founded school Club for research, training, education etc

Biography published by WV Division of Culture and History in WV Veterans Memorial Archive
Database spring 2016 (coauthor)

Private fiddle teacher: half hour per week since September teaching son of my dad’s friend

Job/Work Experience: aforementioned private fiddle teacher

Volunteer/Community service: 650+ between JROTC and JCivs

Summer Activities: PSC Camp 2016, Vandalia Gathering Fiddle Contest, JCLC

Writing:
Essays (rating 1-10, details): CommonApp 7/10? Wrote about my experience with JROTC and why I did not want to go into the military. I think the quality of writing was probably fine, but the topic was kind of lame.
Supplementals were ok, but I felt somewhat pretentious/ridiculous reading and writing them.

Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):
Teacher Rec #1: 8/10 English teacher, had me for AP Literature junior year. I was one of 2-3 kids
she had last year that got 5s. Knows me pretty well and probably a good writer. Likes me a lot,
although we might have butted heads a little bit in class. She liked that I contributed to the
discussion and stuff I think but obviously I couldn’t read it so I don’t know how good it is.

Teacher Rec #2: 9/10 AP Chem teacher junior year (my intended major is Chem). Loves me but
doesn’t know me reaaallly well on a personal level. I’ve heard that he uses my work as answer
keys in class and he’s said that he’s had one other student of my caliber, and that student went
to MIT (I got rejected though lololololol). Also loves me for the ACS Olympiad stuff we did last
year. Plus overall he’s a teddy bear to everyone, but again I don’t actually know what he put.

Counselor Rec: 6-7/10? I don’t know my counselor very well, but she seems to really like me. On
the one hand, she’s realllly old and kinda crazy, but on the other hand she’s been doing this
college stuff for so long that she seems to know her stuff. She interviewed me for an hour or so
to help her write the recommendation.

Additional Rec: none

Interview: N/A didn’t have one

Other:
Applied for Financial Aid?: No
Intended Major: Chemistry
State (if domestic applicant): WV
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: best public high school in state, but that’s not saying much since it’s WV
Ethnicity: White
Gender: Female
Income Bracket: pretty up there? We don’t live in a gated community or anything but it’s high
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): none. WV and female in STEM might be bonuses though.

Reflection:
Strengths: GPA, test scores, leadership/community service/ECs?
Weaknesses: no big draws, no big awards, non-stellar essays, ECs, and recs…basically everything
else?
Why you think you were accepted: above strengths
Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected: so far Accepted WVU Honors, Ohio State, Case Western Reserve U, Northwestern; Rejected MIT, UChicago; Waiting on Princeton

Other Factors: ?? This is so long, what could have not been covered?

General Comments: I don’t think I will be attending CMU, but I feel truly blessed to have been accepted. Congratulations and good luck to everyone from here on out!

12

Decision: Accepted College Of Engineering

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown M/CR/W/Essay):
1st test:
Math 780 / CR 620 :confused: / W 730 / Essay: 9
2nd test:
Math 710 / CR 620 ://// / W 760 / Essay: 10
SAT I superscore (breakdown M/CR/W/Essay): Math 780 / CR 620 :confused: / W 760 / Essay: 10
ACT (breakdown): Reading 35 / Math 35 / Writing 34 / Science 27 / Composite 33
ACT superscore (breakdown): Reading 35 / Math 35 / Writing 34 / Science 27 / Composite 33
SAT II (subject, score): Math2 780, Chem 760
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): dunno 3.8 maybe?
Weighted GPA: 4.3113
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): probably 15th/350
AP (place score in parentheses): AP physics c1 Mechanics (3), AP Statistics (4), AP US History (5), AP World history (4)
IB (place score in parentheses): n/a
Senior Year Course Load: regretfully AP Lang, AP Comp Sci A, AP studio art, AP gov and pol, AP microeconomics, AP Calc BC, chorus, gourmet cooking, gym
Number of other EA applicants in your school: wat?
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel, etc.): Scholastic Art and Writing Gold Key Nationals, ABRSM Distinction on Music Theory and Grade 8 Piano (not sure if this is special since like every korean kid gets this…), Bruce Museum exhibit finalist. That’s it other than that I’m a joe schmo, National AP Scholar with Honor, principals honor roll?

Subjective:
Extracurriculars (name, grade levels, leadership, description): varsity swimming scoring swimmer (nothing special dough), school newspaper head editor, new jersey science league, jazz band pianist, marching band captain 2016, peer tutoring, national history day, cultural club, a couple of after school math competitions sad boiz, national honors society, national art honors society, mu alpha theta math honors society, language honors society
Job/Work Experience: Papaya clothing (minimum wage, do not recommend save yourselves), piano tutoring and academic tutor
Volunteer/Community Service: MILAL Wheat Program for Children and Adults with disabilities (Korean church run non profit organization), HOPE: Hurricane sandy relief 3 day program (you make houses for peeps), Cambodia Missions, ACE Constructing Engineering Architecture internship, boston leadership institute engineering research, oogie art, Edward Hopper House Museum Volunteering, Library volunteer
Summer Experience: HOPE, Cambodia, oogie art, boston leadership institute camp

Writing (Subject, 1-10 rating, details):

Essays (rating 1-10, details): 9.5/10 literally one of the best essays I’ve written sorry dont mean to boast but tears swell in my eyes whenever i read it. Your essay should really reflect who you are. Then both you and ur college will like it :slight_smile: (lol obvious point made sorry) but really dont care what the college thinks about you and dont write cliches plzzz. Wrote about my most prized artwork and how it reflected my life as a Korean American adjusting to America (you can also take a really cliche topic like mine and make it supa awesome).

Supplements were hahah interesting. 8/10 for the why carnegie supplement I had no idea what i was writing about the bxa and computer engineering stuff i just copied and pasted the brochure. But I had a really good story on the diversity of the campus definitely visit the school if u really wanna go :D. 6/10 for the optional thing bc i sound like shakespeare in it. I wrote about Fahrenheit 451 and how it relates to my Korean American life (once again cliche sorry sad boiz)

Teacher Recommendation #1: 9/10 Art teacher who has known me for 4 years. We dont really talk it’s kinda awkward but she has seen my strengths and weaknesses and my achievements so yeet
Teacher Recommendation #2: 8/10 Comp Sci teacher who told me i would fail his class if i were to join it in the second quarter but did anyway and got an okay grade so now he approves of me? we talk sometimes but i think he really liked my perseverance for the class even though i get shitty grades in java now :////////////////
Counselor Rec: 7/10 she knows i study hard yadi yadi ya but we ain’t dat close. I bugged her a lot about my application and she got mad at me a couple of times for not giving in my early forms… whoops. Still, she’s nice enough to still accept my last minute stuff dunno.

Additional Info/Rec: 9/10 from a close family friend who is a dartmouth alumni and doctor. I went to cambodia with him and he liked my work ethic?
Interview: N/A
Art Supplement: Yasss. It was full of shitty work though

Other

Date Submitted App:12/25 yes Christmas was fun.
U.S. State/Territory or Country: NY nearby nyc
Financial Aid: Yes, but undecided yet
Intended major: computer and electrical engineering
born in Korea dont know if that matters dough
School Type: Public unfortunately
Ethnicity: Asian- Korean
Gender: Female
Income Bracket Range: 120K
Hooks (URM, first generation, recruited athelete, development): I’m a STEM girl?

Reflection

Strengths: I think my essay and my stubbornness to be myself (I’m honestly nothing special my essay probably saved me). My mom and a bunch of dramatic Korean parents have constantly nagged me to do this and that and give up stuff i like but i said hell no (no i really didn’t curse at my beloved elders i just nodded innocently) and just did what i loved. Part of my common app and supplements was about it and how i felt being confined into their thoughts and standards. Really really really just remember to be urself and to express that clearly. Also nag ur English teacher A LOT and meet nice smart people that will motivate u and help critique ur essays.
Weaknesses: My SAT critical reading grade and few awards and leadership positions.
Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected: mentioned in strengths
What would you have done differently?: i would’ve applied to more summer programs and narrow my activities so that i can excel at something academically bc i only excelled in art which will not help me at all in comp eng. Also would’ve taken more ap classes in junior year bc senior year is busy as hell with 6 aps. There was nothing i could do about it dough bc my school had stupid ass budget cuts so half of our ap courses were cut ://////////// just public school problems i think… write that in the common app if that happens at ur school!!!
Where else did you apply? Accepted: Northeastern, Boston University, SUNY Binghamton, Carnegie
Deferred: Columbia University
Rejected; Northwestern, Notre Dame, Cooper Union ://///////////////////////////////////////
Still waiting for the IVs and NYU Yikes

Other Factors

General Comments & Advice:** For the Koreans and sufferers of after school academies out there: HAGWONS (after school academies such as C2 COUGH COUGH COUGH) R SCAMS. I PAID 8000$ for one and nothing improved, but when i studied by myself i went from a 27 to a 33 on the ACT like WTFFF. Really, don’t go to hagwons they just want ur money and also they make bad study habits. Wasted weeks in there for nothing gdsjgjsdbhjfdigojeoijgngjsdkjkgnsjf. Anyway, once again be urself sorry i said that like a bunch of times i sound so monotonous but i am so oh wells and love what you love to do. Also, have fun with friends and hang out with people every once in awhile don’t burn urself out in high school bc that happened to me a lot of times :P. Experience a lot of stuff; don’t be limited to just ur passions u should really explore different people and activities.

13

Accepted - Dietrich College

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 2090 (only sent this to UCs)
ACT (breakdown): 32 C (35E, 32R, 29S, 33M) 33C superscored
SAT II: 790 USH, 700 M2
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.96
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): na
AP (place score in parenthesis): APUSH (4), Spanish (5)
IB (place score in parenthesis): na
Senior Year Course Load: 4 APs + 2 other fun classes
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): Gold President’s Award, National Hispanic Scholar

Subjective:

Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Editor in chief of arts magazine, news editor of news publication, secretary of MUN club, co-founder of journalism summer camp, did three internships in HS, photographer at a White House Cybersummit, did JV track/XC/badminton
Job/Work Experience: Paid intern for a local website but no real job
Volunteer/Community service: Volunteered ~300 hours but only reported 183 (oops) – Interned at BGCP and got most of my hours that way.
Summer Activities: Clemson Summer Scholars, BGCP internship, other summer classes for fun
Common App Essay (rating 1-10, details): 8-9; I discussed speech therapy and how it made me more resilient
CMU Supplement Essay: 6.5/10. This essay was dense, dull & uninspired but I went into a lot of detail about the specific programs I would be a part of at CMU.

Recommendations (rating 1-10, details): didn’t read any of them - I feel like maybe those were average?

Teacher Rec #1: Didn’t read
Teacher Rec #2: Didn’t read
Counselor Rec: Probably really good
Additional Rec: NA
Interview: NA

Other

Applied for Financial Aid?: Yes
Intended Major: International Relations
State (if domestic applicant): CA
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: Public but prestigious
Ethnicity: Hispanic
Gender: Male
Income Bracket: not high
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): URM

Strengths: GPA, CA essay, URM, ECs
Weaknesses: ACT
Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected: My only weakness was my ACT score (which was about average anyway) and my strengths were all pretty strong.
Where else were you accepted/deferred/rejected:
Accepted: Johns Hopkins, Cornell, Carnegie Mellon, Emory, UCSB, Tulane, UC Davis, UC Irvine, UMiami
Waitlisted: UCSD
Rejected: WashU, UCLA
Deferred at Brown ED

14

**Decision: Accepted **

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 2130 (Math-720, Writing-750, Reading-660)
ACT (breakdown): 32 (Math-35, English-33, Reading-30, Science-30)
SAT II: Physics-750, Math-790
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.99
Weighted GPA: 4.2
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 1
AP (place score in parenthesis):
IB (place score in parenthesis): Predicted scores- English SL -6, French SL -7, Chemistry SL-7, Physics HL-7, Math HL-7, Economics HL-7
Senior Year Course Load: English SL, French SL, Chemistry SL, Physics HL, Math HL, Economics HL, Theory of Knowledge
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): Nothing too big
International awards: All Tournament Team at soccer ISSTs (most prestigious international school sports tournament in Europe)
School awards: Scholar athlete (3 years), 9th and 10th grade english award, HL Physics I award

Subjective:

Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Varsity basketball (captain 11th and 12th grade), National Honor Society (secretary), founder of science club, buddy squad (leader), varsity soccer, theater crew
Job/Work Experience:
Volunteer/Community service: Administration at preschool, head coach of local basketball league, assistant coach of elementary girls basketball
Summer Activities: Preschool administration and lots of studying (nothing impressive)
Essays (rating 1-10, details): Common app (9-very personal and showed a lot about me) Roommate (9-showed my quirkiness and displayed who i am) intellectual vitality (8-not that interesting but I put an interesting spin on the format) what matters to you (8-topic might have been a bit generic but it was an honest essay)
Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):

Teacher Rec #1: 10 My counselor read it and said it was really impressive.
Teacher Rec #2: 10 My counselor read it and said it was really impressive.
Counselor Rec: 9 I’ve known him for a while and he even took me under his wing to help other students with their college apps.
Additional Rec:
Interview: -

Other

Applied for Financial Aid?: No
Intended Major: Undeclared engineering
State (if domestic applicant):
Country (if international applicant): Canadian living in Egypt
School Type: Private
Ethnicity: White
Gender: Female
Income Bracket: -
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): Lived through two revolutions

Reflection

Strengths:
Weaknesses: Standardized tests, lack of one activity that I excel in, lack of impressive awards
Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: Essays, GPA and recommendations
Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected
Accepted: Mcgill/ UCLA/ UCSD/ University of Toronto
Waitlisted: Northwestern

15

**Decision: Accepted **

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 2130 (Math-720, Writing-750, Reading-660)
ACT (breakdown): 32 (Math-35, English-33, Reading-30, Science-30)
SAT II: Physics-750, Math-790
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.99
Weighted GPA: 4.2
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 1
AP (place score in parenthesis):
IB (place score in parenthesis): Predicted scores- English SL -6, French SL -7, Chemistry SL-7, Physics HL-7, Math HL-7, Economics HL-7
Senior Year Course Load: English SL, French SL, Chemistry SL, Physics HL, Math HL, Economics HL, Theory of Knowledge
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): Nothing too big
International awards: All Tournament Team at soccer ISSTs (most prestigious international school sports tournament in Europe)
School awards: Scholar athlete (3 years), 9th and 10th grade english award, HL Physics I award

Subjective:

Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Varsity basketball (captain 11th and 12th grade), National Honor Society (secretary), founder of science club, buddy squad (leader), varsity soccer, theater crew
Job/Work Experience:
Volunteer/Community service: Administration at preschool, head coach of local basketball league, assistant coach of elementary girls basketball
Summer Activities: Preschool administration and lots of studying (nothing impressive)
Essays (rating 1-10, details): Common app (9-very personal and showed a lot about me) Roommate (9-showed my quirkiness and displayed who i am) intellectual vitality (8-not that interesting but I put an interesting spin on the format) what matters to you (8-topic might have been a bit generic but it was an honest essay)
Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):

Teacher Rec #1: 10 My counselor read it and said it was really impressive.
Teacher Rec #2: 10 My counselor read it and said it was really impressive.
Counselor Rec: 9 I’ve known him for a while and he even took me under his wing to help other students with their college apps.
Additional Rec:
Interview: -

Other

Applied for Financial Aid?: No
Intended Major: Undeclared engineering
State (if domestic applicant):
Country (if international applicant): Canadian living in Egypt
School Type: Private
Ethnicity: White
Gender: Female
Income Bracket: -
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): Lived through two revolutions

Reflection

Strengths:
Weaknesses: Standardized tests, lack of one activity that I excel in, lack of impressive awards
Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: Essays, GPA and recommendations
Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected
Accepted: Mcgill/ UCLA/ UCSD/ University of Toronto
Waitlisted: Northwestern

16

Congratulations on acceptance into the IS program @math3matical - where are you leaning?

17

**Decision: Accepted to CIT **

Objective:

OLD SAT(M/CR/W/Essay) - 750/570/600/9
SAT Redesigned(M/CRW/Essay(R/A/W)): 780/640/(7/6/6)
SAT II (subject, score): MATH2 - 800 | PHYSICS - 780 | CHEMISTRY - 760

Indian CBSE Board system. No GPA.
9th CGPA - 9.4
10th CGPA - 9.6
11th %age - 78.4%

Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): Top 10%(In 11th… I was low before that.)
Senior Year Course Load: English(Core), Mathematics, Chemistry, Physics, Computer Science

Subjective:

Extracurriculars (name, grade levels, leadership, description):
9-12: MUN
11 - Editing for Magazine
11-12 - Worked on Maker Project
10-12 - Writing(Poems and Stories)
12 - House Captain

Job/Work Experience: Worked at Techshiksha for 2 years as a teaching assistant

Writing (Subject, 1-10 rating, details):

Essays: They were great according to me. I split my topics between CommonApp Essay and CMU Supplement. So I think I was able to put myself across really well. :slight_smile:

Teacher Recommendation #1: Math Teacher
Teacher Recommendation #2: Physics Teacher
Counselor Rec: She is also my CS Teacher
Interview: -
Art Supplement: -

Other

Date Submitted App:
Application - 12th December
Supplement - about a week after that
Portfolio - 31st December

Country: India
School Type: CBSE
Ethnicity: Asian
Gender: Female
Hooks (URM, first generation, recruited athelete, development): Woman in Engineering

Reflection

Strengths: My portfoilio(Maker Project)
Weaknesses: A lot of things. Honestly, if I did not submit my portfiolio my application was a sure-shot reject.
Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected: THE MAKER PROJECT PORTFOLIO.
What would you have done differently?: Maybe tested SAT again without preparing for it in a hurry.
Where else did you apply? CWRU, Purdue, RIT, RPI, WPI(EA) , University of Washington Seattle, UC(B, LA, SD , SB), UIUC , Rice, Cornell, GATech(EA), UPenn, CMU, JHU, MIT

General Comments & Advice: SELL YOURSELF! The admissions officer is the customer and you have to make yourself a bargain that the university can’t deny and they think they must have!

18

Posting for S
Decision: Accepted SCS

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown M/CR/W/Essay): 1510 (710 V, 800 M)
ACT (breakdown): 35
SAT II (subject, score): 800 Chemistry, 800 Math 2C
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.0
Weighted GPA: 4.7/4.8
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): Doesn’t rank but definitely top 5% unofficially
AP (place score in parentheses): Calc BC, Physics 1, Language, Stats, Bio, Chem (5), US History (3)
IB (place score in parentheses):
Senior Year Course Load: MV Calc, Linear Algebra, AP Literature, AP Physics C, AP Macro, AP Psych, AP US Government, some other fun classes
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel, etc.): High-School Girls’ Swimming All-American Consideration award x2
Common Awards (AP Scholar, honor roll, NM things, etc.): National Merit Semifinalist, National AP Scholar

Subjective:

Extracurriculars (name, grade levels, leadership, description): Lots and lots of swim, swim job, some research that didn’t have high impact.
Job/Work Experience: Swim instructor
Volunteer/Community Service: NHS minimum hours
Summer Experience: Swimming

Writing (Subject, 1-10 rating, details):

Essays: They were OK

Teacher Recommendation #1: Great but not amazing
Teacher Recommendation #2: Great but not amazing
Counselor Rec: Probably generic
Additional Info/Rec: Coach’s support
Interview: LOL she missed it
Art Supplement:

Other

Date Submitted App: Very close to the deadline but not sure
U.S. State/Territory or Country: Midwest US
School Type: Large Public (~4000)
Ethnicity: Asian
Gender: F
Income Bracket Range: Upper Middle Class
Hooks (URM, first generation, recruited athlete, development): Recruited athlete

Reflection

Strengths: Swimming was the tipping factor. High academic index. Scores and GPA.
Weaknesses: not a standout by any other means
Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected: Swimming
What would you have done differently?: I don’t think she would’ve done anything differently.
Where else did you apply?
UChicago (Waitlisted), MIT (Accepted), UIUC CS (Accepted), Princeton SCEA (Deferred)
Other Factors:
Coach told her that he had no pull with the SCS admissions decisions. He encouraged her to apply ED, but she decided to stay RD. It was thus kind of a surprised when she was accepted rather than waitlisted.

General Comments & Advice:
Pick something you love to do, and stick to it. For her that was swimming. There is an element of luck here because that’s a really hard thing to find and stay committed to.

We will see how financial aid turns out, but she probably will not attend. She is not set on studying CS either, so MIT would be the better fit and the more affordable choice. Congrats to all admitted!

19

@SkepticalOfMost Thank you! I am still deciding. I have some visits planned and I still have to compare financial aid.

20

@math3matical - good luck with the decision. My daughter had started out applying to schools for Engineering but on her first visit to CMU she saw a two-pager for IS, a program she hadn’t previously heard of. Her interest was really piqued by the list of companies that hired from the program and by its flexibility. She didn’t care much for CMU otherwise that first visit on a rainy day but when she went back for an accepted student visit in the spring when the weather was nicer she got to meet upperclass students, learn about leadership opportunities and spend time learning about the IS program in depth.

We put the deposit down that day and she’s never regretted her decision.

Your mileage may vary - and it’s great that you have options. Make the best of whatever you choose!