Hey everyone! I’ve already applied to some of my schools and nothing really can be changed at this point, but I’d like everyone’s opinion about what my chances are at the schools on my list, especially Penn, which I applied ED to! Thanks!
Objective:
School: large, public, decently ranked but not superb
GPA: 3.92 unweighted, don’t know weighted but it’s definitely very high.
ACT: 34 (35 E, 36 R, 33 M, 33 S, 12 E)
SAT II’s: 760 Math, 680 Literature; kinda low, yeah, but I don’t think these matter too much for most schools.
APs: Calc BC (5); English Lit (5); Euro (5)
Rank: school doesn’t rank, but top quarter at least
Senior Year Course Load: IB Stats HL2, AP Physics, IB Spanish SL, IB English HL2, AP Art History, AP US History, AP Gov, Student Government
Awards: National Honors Society, High Honor Roll, Poetry Out Loud 2014 School-wide Winner, maybe Sterling Scholar for my school in English (will know this week).
Race/Ethnicity: Hispanic (White)
Gender: Male
Location: Utah (so, like, under-represented area maybe?)
Hooks: URM, legacy at CMU
Extracurriculars:
- Student Body Publicity Officer -- Responsible for running the school's social media accounts, running advertisements, making video announcements, coordinating public relations with the community, fundraising, etc.
- Founded a club at my school that allows for open discussion between students about current events or controversial topics that would otherwise not get talked about (President and founder).
- Published writer for a major news website (won't say which one for privacy reasons). I got paid $500 for a personal essay I wrote.
- Have participated in the National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) competition 3 years in a row, winning twice.
- Volunteer at the state natural history museum with over 130 hours working with kids ages 5-13 in summer camp and after school programs.
- Peer tutoring & paid babysitting
- Self-taught graphic designer, extremely proficient in Adobe products; will submit an art portfolio to top schools.
- I'm also a member of the Multicultural Club, Spanish Club, and a few other things.
Subjective:
Essays were outstanding, at least for the schools I’ve already submitted to.
Common App: 9/10, really heartfelt, wrote about my identity and connected it with moving schools in the middle of my sophomore year and how that affected how I viewed myself and my ethnicity.
Penn Supplement: 8/10, again pretty heartfelt, could have been a little more provocative but it was specific about what I plan to do on campus.
Recs: One from my Euro teacher. We spend a lot of time together and he’s the adviser to my club so it should be great. Other one from my Spanish teacher. Didn’t read it but she told me afterwards that she called me “one of the best students she’s ever had.” Counselor rec should be decent, although she has a lot of students so maybe it’s not too personal.
Special circumstances: I’ve moved around a lot in my life (across states and countries), and I addressed this in my essays. I’m currently attending my third high school and tenth school overall, which has made it difficult to participate consistently in extracurriculars. However, it’s also shaped a lot of who I am as a person so I think it adds a cool facet to my application.
Schools:
Penn ED (CAS)
Ohio State University @ Columbus
Northwestern University (this is my second top choice, assuming Penn doesn’t work out)
University of Washington @ Seattle
University of Michigan @ Ann Arbor
Carnegie-Mellon University (double legacy) - Arts and Sciences
So yeah, if anyone could do the safety-match-reach thing with these schools that’d be greaaaaaat. Thanks again!