Decision: Rejected
Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 2360 (780 CR, 800 M, 780 W)
SAT II: 790 M2 and 750 Physics
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.76 (Hardest rigor possible at a “Top-10” Prep school. I also noted that my father isn’t really around because he travels for work, and that my mom was extremely sick for the first two years of high school, forcing me to take on a lot more responsibility - this basically included taking care of my younger brother)
Weighted GPA: NA
Rank: NA
AP (place score in parenthesis): Calculus BC (5 self-studied in 10th grade), Statistics (5),Macroeconomics (5 self-studied in 11th grade), Spanish Lang (5), US History (4), Physics 1 (4 self-studied 11th grade), Microeconomics (4 self-studied 11th grade)
IB (place score in parenthesis): NA
Senior Year Course Load: Non-Euclidean Geometry (Fall), Honors English, AP Physics C Mechanics (Fall), Astronomy (Fall), AP Computer Science, AP Physics C E&M (Spring), Number Theory (Spring), Advanced Microbiology (Spring), Theatrical Productions (Fall)
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): Published Poet, National Merit Commended, AP Scholar with Distinction. Nothing crazy i guess…
Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis):
Listed on app:
Debate Club [9-12, President during 11-12]: Intra-school club that fosters an environment in which students can defend their positions on various topics. (360 hours total) Fencing [11-12]: School team (100 hours total)
Theater/Drama [9-12]: I played a chorus member in “Guys and Dolls,” Herrick in “The Crucible,” Boatswain in “The Tempest,” and Macbeth in “Macbeth” (384 hours total)
Successful SF Kids Co-President [9-11]: This program takes students from my independent school to a low-income public school once a week, and has them tutor these kids in numerous subjects. (270 hours total)
Kung Fu [9-12, Blackbelt]: Weekly Kung Fu practices at the academy and at home, with occasional tournaments (I have won several awards, including a first place trophy). (320 hours total)
Admissions Ambassador for HS [11-12]: I work open houses, speak on parent and student panels, represent my school at high school fairs, give school tours, and interact with applicants. (60 hours total)
Job/Work Experience:
Substance Cataloguing at Biotech firm [9-10]: I catalogued the various substances and chemicals at this Biomedical firm into a newly appointed state system, and generally helped manage inventory. (120 hours total)
Volunteer/Community Service:
Non-profit Admissions Board [11-12): Responsibilities include interviewing low-income middle schoolers for this tutoring non profit, reading applications, and deciding whether to admit. (108 hours total)
English and Math Tutor [9-11]: During trips to India, I tutor children in Gurgaon (small city outside Delhi) and Dharavi (slum in Mumbai) in mathematics and english. (300 hours total)
Summer Activities:
During the summer of 2013, I visited family and tutored kids in India, and then returned home to work at a Biotech firm, as explained above.
During the summer of 2014, I interned at an international observatory in Chile - I helped in their library (yes, I went to Chile to be a library volunteer), redesigned part of their website, and attended various lectures with all sorts of renowned scientists who humbled me greatly. I then came back to America to take Linear Algebra + Diff Eq at UCLA, which I completed in the top quartile (tbh, probably the top decile) of my class.
During the summer of 2015, I studied theoretical physics + astronomy at the Harvard Summer School. Noted this, but couldn’t submit the grades (sucks too, because I got As in both classes).
Essays (rating 1-10, details):
Common App [9/10]: I was really proud of this essay, as it attacked the dismissive undertone of the word “talent” (i.e. when someone says you’re so lucky because you’re “talented” in an area, they effectively diminish all the effort you’ve put in). I used this argument to segue into how I’ve built up my math considerably, and how much I enjoy math for its puzzle-solving nature.
Intellectual Development [7/10]: Used feeling airsick in a plane with a barf bag as an extended metaphor for some physics revelations, which I soon realized were inaccurate because I hadn’t learned enough yet - end message was that I still had more to learn. Generic, but innovative I guess.
Roommate [10/10]: I’m just going to toot my own horn on this one - it was amazing. I basically wrote about how I was sending my roommate specific objects that he would need to live with me (i.e. shoe inserts, earplugs, etc.), and then gave reasons for why he would need said objects to show my personality.
What matters to you [9/10]: Talked about how I got into tutoring, and how I felt “selfishly-satisfied” by helping others. Transitioned into talking about less fortunate kids I tutored, and how I helped enable them to teach themselves through technology by starting laptop drives. Finished by talking about how I planned to expand this program on The Farm.
Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):
Teacher Rec #1 [9/10]: Math teacher. He taught me everything from Multivariable Calculus to AP Statistics to Non-Euclidean Geometry. We’ve had our ups and downs, but I know that he really cares about how I do, so I’m sure this was great.
Teacher Rec #2 [7-10/10]: English Teacher for 1 semester/Academic Dean. So I’m not sure how this recommendation was, as I only had this teacher for a semester. That being said, I know I was probably the top student in her class, and my college counselor told me that she writes amazing recommendations, so this could’ve been really solid.
Counselor Rec [10/10]: He was an admissions counselor at Stanford, and he’s one of the most-informed people I met, so I feel like he would’ve written a great recommendation. Plus, I know that I’m basically his favorite student in the grade, so I’m sure this was amazing.
Additional Rec [8/10]: UCLA Linear Algebra + Diff Eq. Professor. I was the youngest student in the class by far, but I know I was one of the top students (we were told the final grade distribution in the class). Apparently, he was a big deal at MIT some years ago when he was an undergraduate, and wrote about how impressively competent I was by comparing me to that environment. My college counselor read it, and said it was great.
Interview: N/A - didn’t get. 
Other
Applied for Financial Aid?: No
Intended Major: Math
State (if domestic applicant): CA - arguably the worst state to apply to Stanford from.
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: Private
Ethnicity: Asian (basically death tbh)
Gender: M
Income Bracket: $300,000+
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): None, sadly.
Reflection
Strengths: SAT score, extracurriculars, recommendations, and essays in my opinion.
Weaknesses: GPA.
Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: Basically GPA (explained above in a mini-rant). Also because it’s Stanford, and I’m applying from CA as an Asian male.
Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected: Accepted: UMich, UCLA, UCB, Swarthmore, UChicago, Villanova, Boston University. Waitlisted: Amherst, Williams, Wesleyan, Wash U
Rejected: Northwestern and now Stanford
General Comments: College admissions is really a crapshoot, and I guess it didn’t work out for me this time. I thought I might have a shot once Chicago came through, but I guess I was wrong. It sucks to know how much emphasis schools put on certain GPA thresholds (they never say this explicitly, but given the statistics Stanford releases each year, it’s clear that they can only take so many kids with GPAs in a certain range). That being said, I have more decisions to face on Ivy Day - who knows what’ll happen (probs rejection though). Stanford was a dream so I can’t say that I’m not bummed - congrats to all who got in!
