<p>Decision: Accepted</p>
<p>Objective:[ul]
[<em>] SAT I (breakdown): 2300: 720CR/780M/800W/12 Essay – SuperScore: 2320: 720CR/800M/800W – took twice (2280 & 2300)
[</em>] ACT: N/A
[<em>] SAT II: 800 US History/800 Math II/650 Spanish
[</em>] Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.84
[<em>] Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 35/313 – Top 11%
[</em>] AP (place score in parenthesis): US History (5), English Language & Composition (5), Psychology (5)
[<em>] IB (place score in parenthesis): N/A
[</em>] Senior Year Course Load: Gifted Education, AP English Literature, Computer Applications, AP United States Government & Politics, AP Microeconomics, AP Biology, AP Spanish Language, AP Calculus AB
[li] Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): National Merit Commended (missed semifinalist by 1 point), AP Scholar Award, Principal’s Honor Roll, Presidential Community Service Award (100+ hours/year), Concert Band State Runner-Up, Knowledge Bowl State Champion.</p>[/li]
<p>[/ul]Subjective:[ul]
[<em>] Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): HS Soccer, Club Soccer, Handball (national champion in singles, national finalist in doubles), Marching Band, Drumline, Indoor Winter Drumline, Pep Band, Concert Band, Academic Categories Team, Academic Decathlon, Science Knowledge Bowl, NHS, Spanish NHS, Blogging, Genealogical research.
[</em>] Job/Work Experience: Soccer Referee (since 7th grade) - I have travelled across the country and have reffed Youth Nationals, Regionals, Olympic Development Program Regionals, State Cup, Futsal Nationals. I am a nominee for my state’s 2011 Young Referee of the Year award.
[<em>] Volunteer/Community service: 384 hours. Volunteer refereeing (pro-bono), volunteering to run various events and help out in my city. Also I help out with youth referee clinics to improve the level of officiating in our area.
[</em>] Summer Activities: Refereeing State, Regionals, & Nationals, Internship at a downtown Advertising Agency (summer 2011), Internship as a Spanish/English translator with a railroad company (summer 2011).
[<em>] Essays: Worked for about 1 month on them, put in many, many hours and worked everyday after school with my teachers to perfect them. Literally put everything I had into them.
[</em>] Common App Main: My common app essay took several months of work and I believe it showed. Very strong. It was about the two halves of my brain and how they can bicker and fight, but also cooperate and collaborate for my success.
[<em>] EC Short Answer: Strong. About refereeing and the priceless moments that keep me going even when everyone around me is yelling and screaming.
[</em>] “Profile” questions: I just put my favorite artists/authors/songs/books/etc. Nothing special.
[<em>] Intellectual Vitality Essay: I wrote about a project I did in AP English Language class.
[</em>] Letter to Roommate Essay: I wrote about my peculiar foot condition and explained why I wear special shoes.
[<em>] What matters to you and why? Essay: I wrote about how human societal progress was important to me.
[</em>] Teacher Recommendation: 2 recs. Both were probably above average, although many other students at my school asked these same 2 teachers for recs, so I suppose they may have been somewhat generic or bland. But I talked with these teachers a lot during the admissions process and expressed my burning desire to attend Stanford, so hopefully they personalized their essays towards me.
[<em>] Counselor Rec: Strong. Personal. I fostered a very strong, tight-knit relationship with my counselor starting the end of my junior year. We are good friends and I often walk into her office just to chat about the Republican Debates or school or whatever. Extremely thankful for such a great counselor.
[</em>] Additional Rec: N/A
[li] Interview: N/A</p>[/li]
<p>[/ul]Other[ul]
[<em>] Applied for Financial Aid?: Yes
[</em>] Intended Major: Advertising/Political Science. Not sure.
[<em>] State (if domestic applicant): KS
[</em>] Country (if international applicant): USA
[<em>] School Type: Public
[</em>] Ethnicity: White
[<em>] Gender: Male
[</em>] Income Bracket: ~$120,000 - I think.
[li] Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): N/A</p>[/li]
<p>[/ul]Reflection[ul]
[<em>] Strengths: Test Scores, Essays (both common app and supplemental), extracurricular involvement (refereeing especially).
[</em>] Weaknesses: GPA, class rank.
[li] Why you think you were accepted: I poured my soul into those supplemental essays. I gave it all I had. Literally. [/li][/ul]General Comments: Still amazed that I was one of 755 students to be accepted REA in 2011. Even more amazed they picked me although I was NOT in the top 10% of my class. I got 5 B’s freshman year, 2 sophomore year, and none junior year. Stanford called my counselor to request my current senior grades during mid-November, and fortunately they were all A’s in my 5 AP classes. Surely they noticed my upward trend in my grades. I also have to believe they really got to know ME as a person through my recs and essays.</p>
Now I have to apply to a bunch more scores. Stanford is still my absolute dream though.</p>