***Official Harvard University Class of 2020 SCEA Decisions***

Colleges and Universities A-Z Harvard University
41

Decision: Accepted

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 2220 (single sitting), 2250 superscore
ACT (breakdown): did not take
SAT II (place score in parentheses): Math 2 (780), Physics (800)
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): IB, but, 4.0 I assume (with a 43/45)
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): no official rank, but top 3 score-wise
AP (place score in parentheses): none
IB (place score in parentheses): 43/45
Senior Year Course Load: Heavy
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): F1 in Schools National and Regional + World Finalist

Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parentheses): F1 in Schools (Team Manager and Car Engineer for India), Golf - Won player of the year on a Junior tour and was selected for the Hong Kong Junior Open 2013, 2014 (top 20 finish), Book - funded to publish a book to promote hygienic practices and to supplement the curriculum of the charitable organisation I worked with, Coding - created a website to make stay-backs in my school more secure, Startup - investment offer of over USD 15000 for my app startup, Math olympiad - UKMT Math Challenge (Gold in Junior and Senior categories), School student council, Captain of the Basketball Team, Debating - since a young age and have been on the debate club

Job/Work Experience: none mentioned but but I have my startup

Volunteer/Community Service: Been volunteering for 3-4 years at a Charitable Organisation that educates marginalised children. Wrote a book for the curriculum and students (mentioned above). Other small-scale outreach projects (too long to explain). Community service representative on the Student Council so of course helped organise community based events in my school, website I made also helps community

Summer Activities: Sports, learning how to code and developing website, volunteering etc.

Essays: I would say they were very strong. Wrote about my family values and how they’ve shaped me 10/10
Teacher Recommendations: My teachers have said they see potential in me and I have kept good relations with them, so I assume they were good (8-9)/10
Counselor Rec: Can’t say for sure, but I guess (8-9)/10
Additional Rec: F1 in Schools Mentor, Startup Investor, Founder of Charitable Organisation 9/10
Interview: 10/10

Other
Applied for Financial Aid? Yes
Projected Concentration: Engineering / CS / Math
State (if domestic applicant):
Country (if international applicant): India
School Type: International Private
Ethnicity: Indian
Gender: Male
Income Bracket: Well, financial aid…
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): Sister went to Harvard and did well

Reflection
Strengths: EC’s definitely my strong points. Most of my EC’s were linked with my intended course of study because I’m genuinely interested in them! The relevance of the rest, although not linked directly with my intended course of study, were shown to develop me as a good person, especially in my interview

Weaknesses: SAT and standardised testing was okay-ish
Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected: Luck is a big factor, but I’d say I had the minimum required application to be considered.
Where else you are applying or have already applied: GTech (applied already), MIT (maybe)

General Comments/Advice/Hindsight: Best of luck.

42

**Decision: Deferred **

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 2400 (2nd sitting, only sent this one)
ACT (breakdown): N/A
SAT II (place score in parentheses): French with listening (800), Chemistry (800)
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): N/A
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): N/A
AP (place score in parentheses): N/A
IB (place score in parentheses): Predicted grades: HL English Lit (7), HL Economics (7), HL Biology (7), HL Chemistry (7), SL Maths (7), SL French Lit (7), Core points (3)
Senior Year Course Load: Bilingual IB Diploma Programme
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): Hong Kong Young Writer’s Award 2013, Highest mark in the world Cambridge IGCSE French First Language

Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parentheses): Law society (co-chairman), water polo (school and club), swimming (school and club), writing as a hobby
Job/Work Experience: Summer intern in a Law firm and an IT start-up
Volunteer/Community Service: Boarding house captain, school prefect, mentor and tutor of younger students, UNICEF club (chairman)
Summer Activities: Above internships, travelling
Essays: Ehh, common app one a bit rushed, supplement one a bit weird in hindsight
Teacher Recommendations: Written by economics and english teacher, both average because I go to a British school and I guess they weren’t too sure about the format? (7/10 both?)
Counsellor Rec: Didn’t see
Additional Rec: Didn’t see, was from Boarding housemaster
Interview: Flew in specially for an interview with Admissions, went really well, then had an alumni one in London which didn’t go as well (Arrived late, he had to leave early, only about 30 minutes in total? He was very nice though and said his job was just to show me in the best light possible to Harvard)

Other
Applied for Financial Aid? No
Projected Concentration: Undecided
State (if domestic applicant): N/A
Country (if international applicant): UK
School Type: British private boarding school
Ethnicity: White/Asian
Gender: Male
Income Bracket: Upper middle class
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): Mixed-race (half French, half Hong Kong Chinese)? Very international (speak 4 languages)? Mum didn’t finish high school?

Reflection
Strengths: SAT scores, IB scores?
Weaknesses: Essays? Recommendations? Arriving late to the alumni interview? Too many extracurriculars, no “hook”?
Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected: See weaknesses, no luck?
Where else you are applying or have already applied: Cambridge, Columbia, UPenn, Yale, Dartmouth, Brown, Princeton, Cornell, Stanford, UChicago, Duke, Northwestern, UCBerkeley, UCLA, HKU
General Comments/Advice/Hindsight: Really disappointed, I knew it was a long shot but thought I had a good chance. We’ll see I guess.

43

**Decision: Deferred **

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 2260 (720 CR, 770 M, 770W, 10 essay)–taken twice, this is my second test
ACT (breakdown): 35 (35E, 34M, 36R, 34S, 9 essay)–taken once
SAT II (place score in parentheses): 770 US History, 710 Chemistry
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.0
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): N/A, school doesn’t rank but probably top 10%
AP (place score in parentheses): World History (5), US History (5), English Lang and Comp (5), Chemistry (3)
IB (place score in parentheses): N/A
Senior Year Course Load: AP US Gov and Pol, AP Spanish, AP Calc BC, AP Biology, English 12, Theology
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): Nothing huge, but AP Scholar with Honors/National Merit Commended Student

Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parentheses): JV Tennis 9-10 (Co-Captain 2013, MVP Award 2013), Varsity Tennis 11-12 (Co-Captain 2015, Coach’s Award 2015), FIRST Robotics 9-12 (Safety Captain 2014-2016, Scouting and Analytics Co-Lead 2016, loads of awards), National Honor Society 11-12, Girl Up! Club 12, Stage Crew 10
Job/Work Experience: Order Processor/Admin Temp at a local business (summers 2014-2015)
Volunteer/Community Service: Checkout volunteer at school’s biggest fundraiser 9-12, Lego League mentor/table resetter at my team’s QT 9-12, Volunteered at a local hospital (summer 2014)
Summer Activities: Mini Medical School at the UR (2015), volunteering, working
Essays: Common app essay 11/10, this essay I took a lot of pride in and my English teacher loved it. It was about what I’ve learned from participating in robotics. 10/10 for the supplemental essay, my teacher loved this one as well, and this was about having major back surgery and how that’s inspired me to pursue medicine in the future.
Teacher Recommendations: 9/10 for my PreCalc teacher, I’m just concerned she could’ve put in a comment she made to me about “being very bright but lacking a bit in confidence.” 10/10 for my Spanish teacher, we have a very good relationship and she knows me to be a hardworking student.
Counselor Rec: 8/10. She seems to really love me but since my school only has three counselors, they’re all quite overloaded and I just don’t know if she put enough effort into it to call it fantastic.
Additional Rec: 10/10. It came from a family friend who has known me for a very long time and was able to accurately portray me as a person.
Interview: 9/10. Talked for about an hour, felt as though the conversation went well though perhaps that was just me. Could’ve focused a bit more on one passion rather than basically listing off my resume.

Other
Applied for Financial Aid? Yes
Projected Concentration: Biological Sciences
State (if domestic applicant): New York
Country (if international applicant): N/A
School Type: Private/Parochial
Ethnicity: White
Gender: Female
Income Bracket: 150k+
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): N/A

Reflection
Strengths: Scores, GPA, essays
Weaknesses: Don’t have a hook, letters of recommendation, no major awards, ECs might be weak?
Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected: Probably deferred due to the aforementioned weaknesses. Harvard apps obviously have to be great all the way around, and in those areas I believe I was lacking.
Where else you are applying or have already applied: Applying: Johns Hopkins, Applied: University of Rochester (REMS), Case Western Reserve (PPSP), SUNY University at Buffalo, University of Pittsburgh (GAP)
General Comments/Advice/Hindsight: I think that I could’ve worked harder in a couple of my classes/self-studied some APs to give my application more beef. I also believe that I could have participated in more national activities to help promote the idea that I am dedicated to what I do, and show that I can perform well on a larger scale. But I suppose I can’t worry so much about the past; what’s done is done.

44

Decision: Accepted

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): N/A
ACT (breakdown): 34 (Science - 33 Reading - 36 Math - 33 English - 33)
SAT II (place score in parentheses): Lit (740), Spanish (780),
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.92; weighted 4.21
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 4/178
AP (place score in parentheses): N/A
IB (place score in parentheses): Anthropology IBS - 7
Senior Year Course Load: IBH Chemistry, IBS Calculus, IBH Spanish Literature, IBH History of the Americas, IBH English, TOK, Weight Lifting (lol)
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): Boys Nation, National Merit Semifinalist, (not much honestly)

Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parentheses): Study Buddies (director) - program that tutors inner city kids, middle school debate program (head coach,) Speech and Debate (captain,) NHS, Spanish NHS, Stuco, Superintendent’s advisory board, a bunch of other crap
Job/Work Experience: Bus boy, house sitter, Banana Republic, Coaching debate, Tutoring,
Volunteer/Community Service: Landscaping, volunteering with mentally disabled/troubled past students,
Summer Activities: Debate camps, Boys state and nation, speech camps,
Teacher Recommendations: Incredibly personal from my antrhopology teacher and a nice one from my debate coach (probably a 9 and a 6 respectively)
Counselor Rec: OK I guess
Additional Rec: From a counselor at a camp I attended who knows me very well (also the president of very large charitable organization)
Interview: One at Harvard that went very well, talked about structural inequality and protests at Harvard and just had a great time. One in my hometown, scheduled for half an hour, lasted two hours. Told me afterwards that he hoped I didn’t become a cynic before I became president (never even talked about political aspirations.)

Other:
Applied for Financial Aid? YES (how could you not)
Projected Concentration: Sociology
State (if domestic applicant): KS
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: Public HS (Magnet and Inner city)
Ethnicity: White
Gender: M
Income Bracket: 30-60K
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): Inner city school, Boys Nation,

Reflection:
Strengths: Amazingly personal essays. Great interviews. A few hooks that probably helped a ton.
Weaknesses: My ACT and SAT II scores weren’t great. No huge accomplishments. I haven’t cured cancer yet or anything.
Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected: Essays. Interviews (Harvard has a personal rating and an academic rating they give every applicant. I recommend you research this. I’m guess that although my academic rating was middling, my personal rating was likely very good.
Where else you are applying or have already applied: UC Berkeley, UCLA, USC, Stanford, Columbia, Claremont McKenna, WashU, KU Honors
General Comments/Advice/Hindsight: Be very honest about who you are. Play to your specialities. Get really luck, honestly that’s all I did. Honestly if you’re reading this and looking for advice mine is very simple. I got in, I believe, because they thought I would be a nice person to have on campus. Sometimes they let people in because they will discover great things, because they have a lot of money, or a variety of other things. Honestly though, the thing that will make it most likely that you get in, is making them very aware that you would be someone that they’d love to have at Harvard.

45

**Decision: Accepted **

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 2350 (1600 M/CR)
ACT (breakdown): –
SAT II (place score in parentheses): Math II: 800 | Bio M: 690
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.97
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 1/251
AP (place score in parentheses): Biology (4), Physics 1 (4/self-study), United States History (5)
IB (place score in parentheses):
Senior Year Course Load: AP Calc BC, AP Physics C M/EM, AP Chemistry, Honors Civics, AP English Literature, AP Computer Science
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): 10th Place in the nation for FBLA event, 5th place in state for FBLA/Science Olympiad events/county award in math

Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parentheses): FBLA (State President/State Secretary/National Assistant/local President–super, super involved in FBLA), Class President, Founder and President of Cultural Club, Varsity Soccer all four years, Science Olympiad, Math League
Job/Work Experience: Unpaid Intern at local IT firm for two summers
Volunteer/Community Service: middle school tutor, volunteer at hospital/senior citizen center/FBLA stuff
Summer Activities: Unpaid Intern at local IT firm for two summers, Governor’s School in Engineering and Technology, E2@MIT, Boys State
Essays: Common App Essay - 7.5/10 | Supplemental Essay - 8.5/10
Teacher Recommendations: Teacher 1 - 8/10 | Teacher 2 - 7.5/10
Counselor Rec: Good - 7.5/10
Additional Rec: Supplemental Recommendation(s): 11/10 (FBLA Adviser’s recommendation with words from Governor’s School Dean and E2@MIT Adviser. This guy wanted to adopt me as his own son)
Interview: Good - 8/10

Other
Applied for Financial Aid? Yes
Projected Concentration: Economics
State (if domestic applicant): Can’t Say
Country (if international applicant): USA USA
School Type: Public
Ethnicity: White
Gender: Male
Income Bracket: 100k+
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): First Generation

Reflection
Strengths: Good scores, pursued one EC in depth, not many AP classes, some state/national awards, good leadership, well-rounded
Weaknesses: bad Subject test score, maybe didn’t do that many ECs
Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected: I think they saw through my recommendations and extracurricular activities that I was a good leader. I guess they were looking for passionate individuals and I showed that through my common app essay by writing about what meant most to me, aka FBLA.
Where else you are applying or have already applied: UC Berkeley, UCLA, Yale, Princeton
General Comments/Advice/Hindsight: I’m really excited and I want to thank everyone on this site. I’ve been using this site since I was in sixth grade. I wanted to figure out how to get into Harvard and while I did get in, I don’t think there is any formulaic approach. To those seeking admission to Harvard, the best advice I can give you is to get good grades, pursue one extracurricular in depth, be well-rounded, talk about your passion in your essays, and sell yourself! Be busy during your summers, but still live a balanced lifestyle and have fun. I had a great four years, and also really get to know your teachers and establish good relations with them!

46

**Decision: Deferred **

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 2250 Superscore (800M,800W,650R)
ACT (breakdown): didn’t take
SAT II (place score in parentheses): 760 Chem, 750 Bio, 740 M1, 700 Physics
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.00
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): school doesn’t rank
AP (place score in parentheses): Bio(5) Psychology(5) Human Geo(5) Calculus AB (5) Macroeconomics(5) Physics C Magnetism (4) Microeconomics (4) Calculus BC(4) Environmental Science (4) US Gov. and Politics (4) Chem(3) Physics1 (3) Physics2 (3) US History (3) —> took classes for 5 of these APs, self-studied the rest. School offers only 5 AP Classes in a given year
APs In Progress: World History, Language and Literature, Statistics —> all classes
IB (place score in parentheses): no IB program
Senior Year Course Load:
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): national bio olympiad semifinalist, neurobiology state finalist, NJRSF Freshman Award

Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parentheses):

Student government and Yearbook Committee (President in Junior Year) - 4 years
Science Olympiads/Biology Olympiads (Team captain) - 4 years
Life Savers - 4 years
Turkish Cultural Club - 4 years
Wrestling (captain) - 3 years
Mixed Martial Arts - 2 years
Bodybuilding - 3 years

Job/Work Experience: Domestic Abuse Organization, medical clinic in foreign country, working in doctors office, researcher in environmental interest group
Volunteer/Community Service: turkish humanitarian organizations, bengali humanitarian organization, tutoring
Summer Activities: 2 classes at local colleges, 2 classes at Harvard summer, wrestling camp at Harvard, internship at clinic
Essays: not a good writer… most teachers liked it
Teacher Recommendations: English teacher (10), science teacher (10),
Counselor Rec: 5/10 - generic
Additional Rec: employer (8), coach (8)
Interview: went really well. we talked for almost 2 hours about lots of topics

Other
Applied for Financial Aid? yes
Projected Concentration: neurobio
State (if domestic applicant): nj
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: private
Ethnicity: South Asian - Bangladesh, Middle Eastern - UAE
Gender: Male
Income Bracket:
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): multilingual, first generation student and american

Reflection
Strengths:
Weaknesses:
Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected: Lot’s of amazing applicants with stories and passions
Where else you are applying or have already applied:
General Comments/Advice/Hindsight: Harvard is my first choice, but there are lots of other schools! There’s no key to acceptance. Just be yourself!

47

**Decision: Accepted **

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 2280 (750 CR, 800 M, 730 W)
SAT II (place score in parentheses): Bio: E (770), US History (800)
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.94
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 1/272
AP:
Human Geography: 5
Art History: 5
World History: 5
Environmental Science: 5
Statistics: 5
English Language: 5
US History: 5
Comparative Government: 5
Microeconomics: 5
Biology: 5
European History: 5
Calculus AB: 4
Physics 1: 3
Senior Year Course Load:
Full year:
AP Physics 2
AP Calculus BC
AP Psychology
AP English literature
AP Computer science
S1:
AP US Government
General Psychology (Community college)
Communication Skills for Policy and Management (Florida International University)
Theories of Personality (Florida International University)
Special Topics in Literature: James Bond (Florida Atlantic University)
S2:
AP Macroeconomics
Environmental Law and Policy (Florida Atlantic University)
Biological Basis of Behavior (Florida Atlantic University)
Adolescent Psychology (Florida International University)
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): National Merit Scholar Semifinalist, National AP Scholar, National Hispanic Recognition program scholar, photo selected as Editor’s Favorite on National Geographic. Not sure if any of those are “major” so decide for yourself :slight_smile: Also I was rejected by Coca Cola for their scholarship!

Subjective:

Extracurriculars:
Cross country varsity (8th-10th grade)
Student government liaison and morning announcements anchor (9th-12th grade)
Animal and Environmental Science Club (9th grade VP, 10th-12th President, started recycling program in my school in the 10th grade)
Brain Bowl team (9th-11th grade, 12th grade captain; won regional competitions and qualified for national competitions we couldn’t go to and have appeared on local TV)
Under a Tree, Inc. Director of Policy and Communications (11th-12th grade; work on development of civic leadership curriculum and outreach to minority-majority schools in South Florida)
Editor for #Animals on Tumblr (May 2012 - November 2015, the program was terminated like 2 weeks ago sadly)
Blog on Tumblr with 24,000 followers where I share my photography and others’, mostly of animals and some nature (Dec. 2011 - present)

Job/Work Experience: None

Volunteer/Community Service:
700 Volunteer hours fostering kittens (9th-12th grade)
90 Volunteer hours at a dog shelter (9th - 12th grade)
120 Volunteer hours at a wildlife rehab center in Costa Rica (3 weeks in summer between 11th and 12th, sponsored by my school)

Summer Activities:
Harvard SSP (summer 2014)
Cornell veterinary medicine program (summer 2015) (I wanna be a veterinarian!)
Costa Rica volunteer program I mentioned above

Essays:
Commonapp 9/10: Wrote about my parents’ separation and moving across the country, and how animals helped me to cope. The ideas developed around an analogy between me and a humpback whale pod
Supplement 8/10: 1100 words first of all, which might have been a little much in retrospect. Wrote about being bullied and questioning my sexuality because I’m an effeminate guy, and how it has motivated me to help others.

Teacher Recommendations:
Counselor Rec: 7/10
Teacher Rec #1: 8/10
Teacher Rec #2: 8.5/10
Supplemental Rec #1: No idea/10, but it came from a professor I had at the Harvard summer program, and I found out yesterday that he was on the admissions committee for Class of 2019 SCEA. He’s also been teaching for over 40 years.
Supplemental Rec #2: 10/10, from someone on the Board of Directors for my schools
Supplemental Rec #3: 10/10, i’ve worked with this guy on a number of projects for a company that he started recently about social justice and civic leadership
Interview: 6.5/10

Other
Applied for Financial Aid? Yes
Projected Concentration: Environmental Science and Public Policy
State (if domestic applicant): FL
School Type: Public charter
Ethnicity: Hispanic
Gender: Male
Income Bracket: ~50k
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): URM, 1st gen

Reflection
Why you think you were accepted: First and foremost, my recommendations. They were amazing. I also had passionate extracurriculars that I’m passionate about, and they aren’t terribly commonplace. Essays were very personal and exposed a lot about my background and who I am and the struggles I’ve faced. I’ve taken an insane amount of classes since 9th grade through my high school and local colleges and have done well in them. In short, I don’t think any one thing got me accepted. It’s a whole mess of things that ended up working out for me I suppose.

Where else you are applying or have already applied: UF, Middlebury, WUSTL (all before I was accepted), and I’m going to apply to Stanford, Yale, and Amherst for sure. Maybe Penn and Duke.

General Comments/Advice/Hindsight: The admissions process is stupid. Getting accepted to a college or rejected by a college means absolutely NOTHING. Before you applied you were beautiful/smart/talented/hardworking/passionate and after you got your decision you were beautiful/smart/talented/hardworking/passionate. Success isn’t defined by a college admission’s decision, whether it said accepted, deferred, rejected, or fish fry, but rather by the experiences you create. And that’s true no matter where you go! Someone who will be successful will be successful no matter where they go to school. And as hard as it may seem to believe, it is possible to be happy at so many different schools for any individual.

48

**Decision: Deferred **

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): n/a
ACT (breakdown): 33
SAT II (place score in parentheses): us history 720, biology m 780
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.7
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable):n/a

Interview: none

Other
Applied for Financial Aid? yes
State (if domestic applicant): south
Ethnicity: black
Gender: male
Income Bracket: low
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): urm, first gen

Reflection
Strengths:
Weaknesses:
Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected:
Where else you are applying or have already applied:
General Comments/Advice/Hindsight: i have no hope for march

49

**Decision: Accepted **

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): n/a
ACT (breakdown): 36 Composite (35,36,35,36) 31 writing
SAT II (place score in parentheses): 800 Math II, 800 Physics, 800 Spanish, 720 Literature
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.88
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 2/200 (School doesn’t report rank)
AP (place score in parentheses): US History - 5, Human Geography - 5, Environmental Science - 5, Statistics - 5, English Language - 5, US Government - 5, Comparative Government - 5, Calc AB - 5, Spanish Language - 5, Physics 1 - 5
IB (place score in parentheses): n/a
Senior Year Course Load: AP Physics C: Mechanics/E&M, AP English Lit, AP Macro/Micro Econ, AP Calc BC, AP Spanish Lit, Competitive Debate Honors
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): National AP Scholar, National Merit commended, Washington & Lee University Book Award, couple good debate competitions

Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parentheses): Debate (co-captain), Spanish Honor Society (president), Mu Alpha Theta, Cum Laude, NHS
Job/Work Experience: Tutoring kids for classes and standardized tests, putting most of my time into it in recent months, but some experience throughout high school
Volunteer/Community Service: 2 two-week trips to the Dominican Republic; worked with kids, teaching english and helping in educational projects
Summer Activities: Harvard SSP before senior year, 7-week debate camps before sophomore and junior years, 5 weeks of debate camp before freshman year and JHU CTY course
Essays: Common App about my love for statistics, why I want to become a stat professor, how I perceive the world in terms of statistics (10/10). Supplement is what I would consider normal length (about 650 words) describing how I fit within my family and a weird rebellious phase I had (8.5/10)
Teacher Recommendations: Stat teacher (10/10) - put lots of effort into his class, talked to him early this school year about the stat and math classes I took at Harvard over the summer; seems like he likes me, said it was an easy rec to write
English teacher (8.5/10) - asked me if he could write it for me; I spoke more in his class than most, and visited him after school to ask questions, which I think he appreciated
Counselor Rec: (7.5/10) - don’t really talk to her, though I’m sure she did a solid job. Probably not incredibly an influential part of my app
Additional Rec: (8.5/10) - stat professor I had at Harvard over the summer; told me I could have taught the class. Really nice guy, though I didn’t get to know him personally
Interview: (9/10) - only lasted about 45 minutes. He said he’d do his best to make a case for me, seemed to be impressed by interest in statistics and undergraduate classes I’d already taken at Harvard. Nothing super crazy

Other
Applied for Financial Aid?: No
Projected Concentration: Statistics
State (if domestic applicant): Florida
Country (if international applicant): -
School Type: Private
Ethnicity: Hispanic
Gender: Male
Income Bracket: 200k+
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): URM

Reflection
Strengths: Standardized test scores, GPA were solid. Classes at Harvard (Intro to Econometrics, Multivariable Calculus, As in both classes) helped put me deeper into a quantitative niche; stat specifically I think was a big help, which the Common App explained. Harvard is a really big fan of debate, which I devoted the vast majority of my time outside school into. Hispanic status is great too, which I milked with the community service and club activity
Weaknesses: ECs not out of this world
Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected: arguably a similar question as strengths. Really hard to say; guess the debate/stat combination is somewhat rare. Hispanic kid from South Florida is good, and high test scores/grades + As in classes at Harvard were maybe enough to vote for the acceptance?
Where else you are applying or have already applied: Stanford, Yale, Princeton, Duke, Penn, Berkeley, Columbia
General Comments/Advice/Hindsight: Standardized test scores and essays are really the only elements of your app you can change at the very end, and are actually some of the most important (weaving a coherent story throughout the app is important, i.e. these are the two or three things I really enjoy doing and am skilled it; at least one essay should expand on an activity, and ultimately provide a reason as to why you should be accepted [seems obvious but can be less common in practice than one may expect]). Everybody should put an immense amount of effort into both of them.

50

Choose One:
**Decision: Accepted **

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): Didn’t take
ACT (breakdown): 36 (36 English, 34 math, 36 reading, 36 science)
SAT II (place score in parentheses): 800s in Math II, Chem, Bio M, Literature
Unweighted GPA: 11.1 (We’re on a 12 scale, with 12 being straight A+s)
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): N/A
AP (place score in parentheses): 5s in Chinese, Chem, Bio, Art History, English Lit & Lang
IB (place score in parentheses): N/A
Senior Year Course Load: AP Calc BC, AP Physics C, APUSH, AP French, Shakespeare, American Literature, Creative Writing
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): Published an anthology through a famous publishing company, sales decent, reviews very good; YoungArts National Finalist Short Story (2014), Merit in Poetry (2015); Scholastics Art and Writing Contest National Winner (2 Gold, 1 Silver); 4 Publications in <0.1% acceptance rate literary magazines, Winner of 3 Concerto Competitions, All-State and Regional Orchestras for violin, produced an iPhone app with 10,000 downloads with some friends (kind of random, I know)

Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parentheses): County Youth Orchestra (9,10 Concertmaster 11,12), Member of a quartet at Julliard (9,10,12), Science Olympiad (10,11,12)
Job/Work Experience: Internships at a major research university, both paid (11,12)
Volunteer/Community Service: Very active in a local music nonprofit run by my violin teacher (9-12), also a program where I teach kids vocabulary (11) and programming (12)
Summer Activities: My internships in chemistry and computer science (The latter was very hard to get), Iowa Young Writer’s summer program (11), Meadowmount and Summit music camps (9,10)
Essays: 9/10 called “Incredibly insightful and original” by my consultant
Teacher Recommendations: Didn’t read, but should be okay. They both seem to like me.
Counselor Rec: Didn’t read, but she wrote me a nice rec for one of my summer opportunities
Additional Rec: One rec from a professor I worked with over the summer, another from the editor of my book
Interview: 7/10 - Eh

Other
Applied for Financial Aid? Yes
Projected Concentration: English
State (if domestic applicant): In the Northeast
Country (if international applicant): USA
School Type: Private
Ethnicity: Asian
Gender: F
Income Bracket: Not telling
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): Fac brat? (My uncle works there)

Reflection
Strengths: Writing
Weaknesses: Probably my race
Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected: Rather surprised I got in frankly, since historically only the students with the highest GPAs get in. I probably won’t even be Cum Laude (Top 20%) by the end of my senior slide.
Where else you are applying or have already applied: Yale (If I get in, I’m going here), Princeton, Columbia, Penn, Cornell Presidential, WashU Danforth Scholarship (If I get either of these last two, I’m going there, even if I get into Yale)
General Comments/Advice/Hindsight: Anything is possible! :smiley:

51

Decision:
**Decision: Deferred **

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 2370 (800 CR 800 W 770 M (lol missed an algebra question))
ACT (breakdown): Didn’t take
SAT II (place score in parentheses): Math II (800), Chem (800), Bio (790)
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.0
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 2/518
AP (place score in parentheses): Human Geo (4) World History (5) Calc BC (5) Bio (5) Chem (5) Physics 1 (5) Physics 2 (5) Macroecon (5) English Lang (5) Gov (4) APUSH (4)
IB (place score in parentheses):
Senior Year Course Load: AP Stats, AP Lit&Comp, APES, Academic Decathlon, 3D Modeling and Animation, AP Physics C, AP Spanish Lang, Tennis/Soccer
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): National Merit Semifinalist, National AP Scholar with Distinction

Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parentheses): Academic Decathlon (Team Captain, 2nd In state overall) Tennis (3 time all district, regional finals, regional newcomer of year) Soccer (All-District) UIL Academics (Science 3rd Pl State, Math Science and Number Sense Team Captain) Mock Trial (Lead Attorney, Regional Finals Outstanding Attorney) United Way Youth Division (Vice Pres, 200+ hours) Chemistry Olympiad National Qualifier, AIME qualifier
Job/Work Experience: University Animal and Food Science Lab Assistant, University Muscle and Cell Biology Lab Assistant, Tutor
Volunteer/Community Service: 200+ hours, presidential award for community service, youth service organization VP
Summer Activities: Working in labs, BU Summer Challenge in business and economics, Coursera classes in Computer programming, finance, and public policy
Essays: Common App 7/10. Wasn’t beautiful but shouldn’t have hurt me, pretty common theme but funny and personal. Supplement 10/10, counselor and English teacher said it was best they had ever read and simultaneously showed academic and personal side.
Teacher Recommendations: 7/10 chem teacher, was probably rushed and generic since he did all the rec letters in one day but he really likes me. Second 9/10 my English teacher is my favorite teacher ever and basically my hero.
Counselor Rec: 8/10, she didn’t really know me before this year but now she likes me a lot
Additional Rec: 10/10 A different counselor who said she would do whatever it took to help me, I have known her forever.
Interview: 9/10, My guy was super interesting and we hit it off pretty well. He told my dad I was a one of a kind kid.

Other
Applied for Financial Aid? No
Projected Concentration: Cellular and Molecular Bio
State (if domestic applicant): Texas
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: Public
Ethnicity: Asian
Gender: Male
Income Bracket: 100,000-250,000
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): I’m a super nice dude!!!

Reflection
Strengths: Test scores and transcript
Weaknesses: No wow factor
Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected: I initially thought it was because Asian but 25% of the accepted students are Asian! No excuses I guess, I just didn’t work hard enough throughout HS!
Where else you are applying or have already applied: MIT Stanford UPenn Columbia Yale Princeton Rice UT
General Comments/Advice/Hindsight: Congrats you guys who got accepted! I feel the pain of my people that got deferred:/ nothing you can do about it now!

52

**Decision: Accepted **

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): None
ACT (breakdown): 35 (35E, 36M, 34R, 36S)
SAT II (place score in parentheses): Biology M (800), Math 2 (800), Chemistry (790)
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.0
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 1/300
AP (place score in parentheses): Calc BC (5), Biology (5), USH (5), Stats (5), Chem (4)
IB (place score in parentheses): None
Senior Year Course Load: 4 IB courses, Linear Algebra, Abstract Algebra, 300-level biology courses, 2 AP classes
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): Chem Olympiad Semifinalist, Some major debate awards, NIH SIP, Siemens Semifinalist, Major statewide leadership position

Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parentheses):

  • Speech and Debate (captain)
  • Research Assistant for 3 lab groups
  • Started several academic workshops in my area
  • Math Club (officer)
  • Science Olympiad
  • Mock Trial (lead attorney)
  • Quiz Bowl

Job/Work Experience:

  • Paid tutor
  • NIH SIP
  • Research assistant

Volunteer/Community Service:

  • Started and taught extensively at several workshops
  • Political campaigns

Summer Activities:

  • NIH SIP
  • Boys State
  • Community Service

Essays: 7/10 (alright but I kind of got lazy after a bit, fairly unique topic though)
Teacher Recommendations: 10/10 for all three (maybe even 11/10 if that exists!)
Counselor Rec: 10/10
Additional Rec: None
Interview: 8/10 (went pretty well)

Other
Applied for Financial Aid? Yes
Projected Concentration: Molecular Biology
State (if domestic applicant): prefer not to say (very underrepresented state)
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: Public
Ethnicity: Asian
Gender: XY
Income Bracket: less than $150,000
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): None

Reflection
Strengths: Heavy course load and upper division college classes, good mix of humanities and STEM
Weaknesses: No super major awards, Asian-male,
Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected: See strengths
Where else you are applying or have already applied: still contemplating but maybe Stanford, Princeton, MIT, JHU, and a few others…

General Comments/Advice/Hindsight:

Good luck to all the RD applicants!

53

Choose One:

**Decision: Deferred **

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 2400 superscore (took four times)
ACT (breakdown): 35
SAT II (place score in parentheses): Math II (800), Chemistry(800), Physics(790), Biology E(780), Spanish w/ Listening (800)
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.0 (4.8 weighted)
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 3/500 (i know, didn’t even make salutatorian)
AP (place score in parentheses): 16x5 in a variety of subjects, too many to list here
IB (place score in parentheses): n/a
Senior Year Course Load: mutlivar. calc, linear algebra, ap comp sci, ap physics, ap chem, apush, ap english
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): top ten in state-level speech and debate tournament, won several state and local science fairs, 99th percentile AMC, AIME qualifier, nat. merit finalist

Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parentheses): speech and debate club(president), political action club(president), varsity soccer(captain), varsity basketball(captain),varsity baseball(captain)
Job/Work Experience: worked at john muir hospital 20 hours a week, summer camp for four years
Volunteer/Community Service: hundreds of hours
Summer Activities: biological research at mit and stanford, training for sports, speech and debate nationals
Essays: common app 10/10, wrote about my passion for helping other, harvard supplement 8/10, wrote a list of books i’ve read, almost exceeded file size limit
Teacher Recommendations: 10/10 for all three, i’m sure glad i read them over, they would’ve been trash if i hadn’t given my teachers direction
Counselor Rec: 10/10 we’ve developed a really good relationship over the past year, i also got one from my personal college counselor, which i’d give 10/10 as well
Additional Rec: would have gotten john muir supervisor, camp supervisor, research supervisor, but harvard only allows 5 recs
Interview: 3/10 really short, and the interviewer was very rude

Other
Applied for Financial Aid? yes
Projected Concentration: molecular and cellular biology
State (if domestic applicant): CA
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: public
Ethnicity: white
Gender: male
Income Bracket: <30,000
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): first gen

Reflection
Strengths: where do i begin?
Weaknesses: 790 physics and 780 bio in a sea of 800s, 35 act, 3rd in class
Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected: i honestly have no idea
Where else you are applying or have already applied: stanford, princeton, mit, caltech, yale, columbia, dartmouth, cornell (safety), brown, upenn, duke, uc berkeley, ucla (safety), uc davis(safety)
General Comments/Advice/Hindsight: seriously the game is rigged if you’re white or asian male applying to a STEM major

54

MODERATOR’S NOTE: This is a decisions thread. Discussion is not allowed.

55

Choose One:
**Decision: Deferred **

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 2270
ACT (breakdown): N/A
SAT II (place score in parentheses): Math I (770), Math II (800), Chemistry (720)
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): N/A (weighted was 3.99)
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): N/A
AP (place score in parentheses): Chemistry (4), Language (4), Literature (5)
IB (place score in parentheses): N/A
Senior Year Course Load: AP Calculus BC, AP Economics, AP Statistics, Physics Honors, Love and Literature (English 12), Ceramics Major
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): National Merit Commended Scholar, a few crew awards, most noticeable being our Nationals Qualifying Women’s Second Varsity 4+ Second Place Award

Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parentheses): Jack and Jill of America (President, Treasurer, Sergeant at Arms), Varsity Rowing, Black Student Union (Secretary), JV Volleyball (Co-Captain)
Job/Work Experience: Brief stint in fast food
Volunteer/Community Service: Two summers in a shelter, various activities through Jack and Jill
Summer Activities: Good, I definitely showed a trend. I attended CTY for a very long time and one of my courses influenced my internship
Essays: Common App was excellent , supplemental was mediocre
Teacher Recommendations: Good, my teachers were chosen very strategically
Counselor Rec: Great, I think she likes me. However, this is her first year and that could have impacted things negatively
Additional Rec: Didn’t use :frowning:
Interview: Good, it was one of the worst interviews I’ve had though. He stumped me on “Why Harvard?” and " What would you be like in 30 years?"

Other
Applied for Financial Aid?: Yes
Projected Concentration: Computer Science
State (if domestic applicant): Rather not say
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: Private
Ethnicity: Black American
Gender: Female
Income Bracket: Rather not say
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): URM, first generation immigrant (?)

Reflection
Strengths: Common App Essay, a respected source said it was one of those “one in a million” type essays
Weaknesses: GPA, Common App (filled out without much detail)
Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected: GPA, a very similar candidate (with probably a higher GPA) from my school was accepted
Where else you are applying or have already applied: All the Ivies, Stanford, MIT, Northeastern (likely letter), University of Maryland (accepted with honors), Howard (accepted), RIT (accepted?)
General Comments/Advice/Hindsight: Be very careful with regards to how you fill out you Common Application (it’s more important than you think). If you have a rough patch in high school, REACH OUT, it will save your GPA. I’m ready for the regular decision batch!

56

**Decision: Accepted **

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 2310 (750 R 770 M 790 W)
ACT (breakdown): didn’t take it
SAT II (place score in parentheses): Chemistry (800), Math II (800)
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.0
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): top 10%
AP (place score in parentheses): Chemistry (5), Spanish Language (5), Spanish Literature (5), English Language (5), Calculus BC (5), AB subscore (5), Physics 1 (5), Physics 2 (5), U.S. History (5)
IB (place score in parentheses): not available at my school
Senior Year Course Load: AP English Literature, Calculus D (Multivariable Calculus)/Linear Algebra, Speech and Debate, AP Biology, AP Art History, AP Microeconomics, AP U.S. Government
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): National AP Scholar, Speaker at U.S. News STEM Solutions National Leadership Conference, presenter at 2016 Oncofertility Conference at Northwestern University

Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parentheses): varsity swim team, speech and debate team (student teacher and treasurer), engineering program to send an experiment to the International Space Station (one of two project managers), brief internship at Qualcomm
Job/Work Experience: tutoring, research assistant in organic chemistry lab (published on paper as coauthor)
Volunteer/Community Service: environmental club (President), NHS, chemistry club (President)
Summer Activities: science program at UCSD, research at USD
Essays: about math, pretty good
Teacher Recommendations: fantastic
Counselor Rec: fantastic
Additional Rec: fantastic
Interview: AMAZING talked about Harry Potter for half the time

Other
Applied for Financial Aid? Yes
Projected Concentration: something in STEM
State (if domestic applicant): CA
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: public
Ethnicity: Asian American and Caucasian
Gender: Female
Income Bracket:
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): legacy

Reflection
Strengths: extracurriculars, grades, test scores, well-rounded
Weaknesses: not outstanding at any of my extracurriculars like swimming or debate
Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected: no idea. it’s pretty random
Where else you are applying or have already applied: got into UCLA (engineering), UC Berkeley (engineering), UCSD (engineering), MIT, BU, Columbia (engineering), and Rice (engineering)
General Comments/Advice/Hindsight: try to apply to most of your schools before you get your early decision back because it is a lot harder to write good applications after being accepted/rejected