<p>**Decision: Rejected **</p>
<p>Objective:</p>
<p>[list][<em>] SAT I (breakdown): 2090 (superscored - 720 M, 730 W, 640 CR)
[</em>] ACT (breakdown): 31 (35 E, 33 M, 27 R, 28 S, 9 W)
[<em>] SAT II: 660 US History, 660 Literature, 630 Math II
[</em>] Unweighted GPA: 4.195/4.0
[<em>] Weighted GPA: 4.72/4.5
[</em>] Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 1/43
[<em>] AP (place score in parenthesis): Not offered at high school
[</em>] IB (place score in parenthesis): Not offered at high school
[<em>] Senior Year Course Load:
Honors British Literature
Honors Calculus
Honors Physics
Honors Western Civilization
Sociology/Jurisprudence/Psychology
Guidance IV
Honors Spanish IV
Art IV
Physical Ed/First Aid
Church Lifestyle/Church History (Religion)
[</em>] Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): National Honor Society Scholarship Program Nominee, Hugh O’Brian Youth Leadership Award Runner Up, New Jersey Scholars Program Semi-Finalist, Bausch and Lomb Honorary Science Award, Certificate of Merit from the Society of Women Engineers, New Jersey Governor’s School for Engineering Nominee</p>
<p>[list]Subjective:</p>
<p>[<em>] Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis):
School Musical (Lead Role grade 10, 12)
Students Against Destructive Decisions (Secretary)
School Choir (Senior Soloist)
Art Club
Spanish Club
National Honor Society
[</em>] Job/Work Experience:
[<em>] Volunteer/Community service:
Soloist at Parish
Big Brothers Big Sisters
[</em>] Summer Activities:
Summer Camp at Local Community College; Graphic Designer online (through a forum and Tumblr); Fanfiction Writer
[<em>] Essays: Common App - excellent; Supplemental - Great, Unique; I wrote honestly and emphasized my geekiness and love of musicals, and I picked the essay about culture and wrote on how being a fangirl has shaped me socially, emotionally, etc.
[</em>] Teacher Recommendation: I had 3 - Precalc/Algebra II teacher, Literature teacher, and US History II/Geography teacher - and they were all excellent; I’m one of their favorite students and they adore me
[<em>] Counselor Rec: Excellent; she likes me a lot
[</em>] Additional Rec: Director of my school musicals - excellent; I saved my sophomore year show and he loves me
Note: For recs, I got lucky because my school is so small. My teachers know me very well, and I’ve taken to texting and talking to them in my free time. In addition, my musical director has been through a lot with me, and this year’s seniors are his favorite so he adores me.
[<em>] Interview: It went really well! We talked for about 45 minutes, and he was really nice. He asked about my school - all girls, so it’s pretty unique - and was impressed I was a singer at church. We also talked a little about musicals - we both love Wicked and Les Mis - and my fanfiction - he’s into Harry Potter, too.
[</em>] Supplementary Material (portfolio, etc.): Sent a link to my graphic design gallery</p>
<p>[list]Other</p>
<p>[<em>] State (if domestic applicant): NJ
[</em>] Country (if international applicant):
[<em>] School Type: Catholic, All-Girls
[</em>] Ethnicity: Asian
[<em>] Gender: Female
[</em>] Income Bracket: <$300,000
[li] Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): Parents are immigrants - if that IS a hook…</p>[/li]
<p>[list]Reflection</p>
<p>[<em>] Strengths: Recs, Grades, GPA, ACT, (maybe) Interview
[</em>] Weaknesses: SAT, SAT II; also, I’m Asian
[<em>] Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: My scores and extracurriculars aren’t much to look at
[</em>] Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected: Accepted: Northeastern, Babson College, University of Richmond, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute; Waitlisted: Brown, American University; Rejected: Cornell, UPenn</p>
<p>**General Comments: **</p>
<p>I didn’t think I would get in (oh, look, I was right!), but I gave it a shot anyway!</p>
<p>I thought maybe being a geek and an artist would help me, since I emphasized my unique hobbies (like, who else would have the gall to say they write fanfiction and they love Tumblr?), but I suppose my eccentricities weren’t enough to make me stand out (or perhaps they were my downfall?). However, it was fun to talk to the interviewer, and I loved writing my Theme Essay (although my parents told me my essays made me sound spacey).</p>
<p>If I could do this process all over again, I’d definitely shoot for higher scores and more various extracurriculars. Unfortunately, though, my lack of leadership in my EC’s is due to the lack of participation in school clubs. I ran for Vice President of NHS (with no campaigning or speeches or anything), and we had to re-vote twice (once junior year, once in senior year when we got back to school) because we kept having ties. In the end, the other girl won because everyone - due to the unpopularity of and apathy towards the society - kept switching their votes. (Seriously. One girl laughed and said something along the lines of “Who cares? I keep switching my vote. This is ridiculous.”) But, anyway, it was an interesting process (that we’ll have to repeat in four years). So congrats to everyone who got in and good luck to all those who were waitlisted!</p>