<p>Decision: Finalist</p>
<p>**College Match Schools: N/A. Applying Regular Decision.
**RD Schools: MIT, Yale, Princeton, Dartmouth, Columbia, University of Pennsylvania (via QuestBridge and/or Common App and/or MyMIT). Johns Hopkins, SUNY Stony Brook, Harvard (via Common App).</p>
<p>Objective:[ul]
[<em>] SAT I (breakdown): 1910 (630 CR, 620 M, 660 W). Retook in November.
[</em>] ACT: N/A. Taking in December.
[<em>] SAT II: N/A. Taking Math 2, Physics, and Biology in December.
[</em>] Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.0
[<em>] Weighted GPA: 4.2
[</em>] Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 2 out of 205.
[<em>] AP (place score in parenthesis): AP Calculus AB (4), Biology (4)
[</em>] IB (place score in parenthesis): N/A.
[<em>] Senior Year Course Load: AP Calculus BC, AP US History, AP Physics B, English 12 Honors, Health, Government, Economics. Taking College Comp I on college campus. Aiming to take Calculus II in the spring.
[</em>] Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): OSHA 10 (national), Ujima Honor Society (local, all 4 years), Awards from NYU, NYC School Construction Authority, Catalyst Network Foundation (local career-oriented agency), and AP Scholar.
[/ul]
Subjective:[ul]
[<em>] Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): FLL/FTC Robotics (Captain), Catalyst Network Foundation (2013 Fellow), ACE Mentor Program (Senior Member), Banneker Brothers United (Male empowerment group; two-year member), STEP at New York University (Senior Member)
[</em>] Job/Work Experience: Intern with Bradford Construction Corporation (2013) and NYC School Construction Authority (2012-13). Construction Apprentice with local city firm (2009 - present).
[<em>] Volunteer/Community service: Academic Tutor,
[</em>] Summer Activities: Intern for March Architects last summer, and took summer classes at New York University in 2012.
[<em>] Essays: I basically talked about an incident in robotics and how that was similar to a lot of things in my life. The second essay was about how I would act as a leader to the community I live in.
[</em>] Teacher Recommendations: I received recommendations from my teacher for AP Calculus AB and English Honors. One was known to give very good recommendations, while the other had to be asked VERY early. I know they helped A LOT for this program.
[li] Counselor Rec:[/ul]Our school has a college advisor, and she wrote a very good recommendation after I gave in a school-mandated senior profile on myself.</p>[/li]
<p>Other[ul]
[<em>] State (if domestic applicant): New York
[</em>] School Type: Public School
[<em>] Ethnicity: African American
[</em>] Gender: Male
[<em>] Income Bracket: $35,000 - $45,000
[</em>] Assets: None.
[<em>] Property: Pretty OK, since it was bought in the 90s. However, it was damaged in a fire in 2012.
[</em>] Extenuating Circumstances: Raised without a father, and my mother was rarely home, since she worked and was trying to attain a bachelor’s degree.
[<em>] Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): URM, and possibly my transcript and ECs. Based on what’s seen on College Confidential, SAT scores would not have done anything for me.
[/ul]
Reflection[ul]
[</em>] Strengths: GPA, ECs.
[<em>] Weaknesses: SAT scores. I retook it on Nov. 2, and I feel pretty confident that the score increased. Currently studying for the ACT and SAT Subject Tests in December,
[</em>] Why you think you were chosen/not chosen as a finalist: To this day, I’m still not sure why I was a finalist. Honestly, I thought I was out automatically, because of the college rank sheet. I was almost shocked when I found out I was a finalist.
[/ul]
General Comments:
It’s not just standardized tests that determine where you go. From what I’ve seen in CC, it seems as though I’m really below average. It was probably the essays and the ECs that gave me this honor. I think if you have a large combination of ECs, a high GPA, and stable test scores, you can get anywhere. =)</p>