<p>Decision: Accepted
Objective:
ACT: 35, 36SS: E:36 M:36 R:36 S:33 (one question off, 35 different sit)
SAT I (breakdown): 2120, didn’t submit
SAT II: none, school didn’t tell me they existed and I’m stupid for not realizing until too late
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.9 something
Rank (percentile if rank is
unavailable): 6/500 but 4 before midyear
AP (place score in parenthesis): AP Euro (3), AP US History (4), AP Compski (not a spelling error, we call it that because it sounds cute 5), AP Lang (4), physics (3) psych (5)
Senior Year Course Load: calc bc, ap lit, apes, and AP Chinese
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): Nada
Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): I was involved in theatre both as an actor and techie. Directed my own shows, did ADing as well. NHS Officer but I don’t think I even included that. Link Crew Leader up until this semester (I needed to to switch into newspaper-- I figured I wanted to do this before high school ended and was left with no other choice), other stuff but I left most random stuff out-- theater is one of my passions, and I’d rather that shine through. Then comes Chinese, I took several outside classes at DePaul during summer and got As in them. Was in a million bands, have a vinyl collection still growing, etc.
Job/Work Experience: Work at this local donut shop about 20 hours a week. Wake earlier on weekends than weekdays, typically 4 am.
Volunteer/Community service: Though an atheist I did a lot through my church, but I mainly helped with stuff like theatre-- ie directing or tech for young uns’ shows. Will never forget warming up the munchkins on singing in Wizard of Oz! Don’t think colleges care about generic stuff too much so I kept it at that-- I didn’t raise $8000 for cancer.
Summer Activities: more theater, Chinese.
Essays: Good writer but with this ego-inflating thought In mind I tend to write lower than I’m capable of. Not the case here. I’m not being conceited, but these essays were brilliant, as we’re the questions-- pat on ND’s back for that! I turned the intelligence one on its head and made it make sense rather than be lame and meaningless, I explained my passion for music and how no one really likes it except me (loaded claim but I was persuasive enough for it to be believed against the preponderance of evidence at least), and also exposed my weaknesses in a self-aware and eloquent manner-- bluntly enough that it was obviously a flaw that permeates my everyday life, but that I still must deal with. In other words, I wish I could have written this high-caliber of essays at the other schools I applied to, too, because they certainly propelled my not-so-special grades out of consideration for my acceptance. Yes, I’m too proud of these and I apologize 
Teacher Recommendation: Id say generic but not at the same time? One was from a Chinese immigrant so I think, aside from being simply adorable, it held slightly more weight.
Counselor Rec: Annoyed her with my woes constantly-- therefore she addressed my weaknesses and strengths and that probably means it was good. Could not read it, right waived!
Interview: No interview.
Other
State (if domestic applicant): IL
School Type: Public, pseudo-rural wannabe-suburb
Ethnicity: Caucasian
Gender: Male
Hooks (URM, first generation college,
etc.): I’d say the Chinese thing is a hook.
Reflection
Strengths: Essays. QuestBridge. Chinese. Overall well-rounded application.
Weaknesses: Nothing stood out in terms of me being weak.
Why you think you were accepted/
waitlisted/rejected: My literally perfect (I’m not bragging, they were only perfect for this school and nowhere else) essays justified my slightly low-end stats (many Bs) and overall everything just lined up for this to be a perfect application. I had a gut feeling I’d be accepted here even if EVERY other school rejected me. Also was told I was in top 1% of applicant pool in a previous likely letter and can visit for free, which I’m doing.
Where else were you accepted/
waitlisted/rejected: Accepted at Carleton, DePaul, and Minnesota. Rejected at Northwestern and Rice. Waiting on Wesleyan, Brown, NYU, USC, and Stanford. Expecting rejections from all except hopefully a small chance at Wesleyan and USC, and praying to be accepted to Brown but certainly not expecting it.
General Comments:
I knew I’d get in since I applied out of rage… It’s hard to explain. I may end up going here, though socially it seems scary in terms of being a good fit for me… Hence the rage. I wish everyone luck-- it would seem their acceptances don’t follow a pattern, but it seems they look for well-rounded applicants with good essays. My friend, whose grades KILL mine, got rejected. </p>
<p>Cheers!!</p>