heyo!
Ive been reading so many of these for the past year and they’ve been pretty helpful, and as a rising senior (stressing a bit too much abt college) it’s my time to go through all of these. i honestly dont know if im aiming to high so any constructive criticism (pls be nice tho). Just wondering if you think of the list given my stats and everything, if there’s anything you’d change, add, take away, anything to remember for essays for any of those programs, anything at all! thanks a ton!
btw, the college list is at the bottom! PLEASE BE AWARE: THIS IS NOT MY FULL COLLEGE LIST, it’s mainly the top of the list, I also have a number of safeties (GW, American, St Adrews etc.), to be super super clear, I know that all of these schools are inherently reaches!!
PERSONAL STUFF:
I lived in France for 10 years (ive got the passport and nationality fun fun) and then moved to the US for 7, years and I’m actually moving back to France for senior year. technically I think i count as an interational studet, bc thats where im applying from, but I have a greencard so idt I use their “visa quotas” and all.
GPA
[most defenitly my weakest point!!] : 3.7 unweighted -my school doesn’t weight and doesn’t do class ranks so idrk abt that (it’s a pretty tough private school in ny with big time grade deflation tho so yikes)
just a quick note, no clue if it counts but there’s def an upward trajectory, the breakdown was smt like 3.59, 3.61, and 3.85
ACT:
because of corona this one’s been a real doozy, I only took it once in February and I had the flu and the day before i had 104 of fever so def not the best I could have done but I got a 32 (a single point away from the 33, so superscore should def be there). I was scheduled to take it again but it was cancelled 3 times in a row. I’m taking it again whenever I can tho and im hoping for a 34
COURSELOAD:
(so im def def on the lowside for number of APs junior year so im overstacking next year) -
Freshman Year: AP French (5), Advanced Spanish III, Advanced Precalc
Junior Year: AP US History (4), AP Art History (5), Senior Calc, Advanced Spanish IV
Senior Year: AP Comparative Gov, AP English Lit, AP Calculus AB, AP Macroeconomics,
AP Microeconomics, IB Spanish SL
SUBJECT TESTS
French: 800 + US History (not taken yet, hoping ~750) + Litterature (not taken yet, hoping anywhere from 700-800)
EXTRA-CURRICULARS: mainly centered around IR/Poli-sci
DEBATE: national-travel team (and nationally ranked), Captain of the Team (2 years)
MUN: President (2 years)
NEXT GEN POLITICS: CIVIC Fellow (we basically met with a whole buch of cool
politics peeps)
Private DEBATE COACH (yay money fun fun)
Politics Summer Program @ Princeton
Politics Summer Program @ Columbia
Politics Summer Program @ Georgetown
CURRENT EVENTS CLUB: founder and president (wasnt a big thing tho)
SERVICE TRIP CAMBODIA: [basically taught at this rural school for 2 weeks]
COO of the ONLINE DEBATE LEAGUE: (we organized half a dozen online tourneys which
was fun but it kinda died after 2-3 months so idk if i shoulD include it, probably wont)
Director of the Summer Senate Invitational (created a national online debate tourney
with 75+ ppl competing)
11 years of PIANO (classical and Jazz)
Internship @ The Economist
AWARDS
Ranked #2 in New York State in Debate by the national speech and
debate association (aka NSDA) and top 100 in the coutry
Academic All American by the NSDA (awarded to top 2% of debaters in the country)
Finalist at the University of Kentuky Speech and Debate Season Opener
Semi-Finalist at the New York City Invitational National Speech and Debate Tourament
Qualified to States 3 years in a row (freshman, soph, junior)
ESSAYS:
I’m actually really proud of those, I spent a lot a lot of time on them (prolly too much tbh). I’m not gonna talk abt all of the suplements, but my Common App is about how I came to the US without speaking a word of English and basically wanted to ‘do the impossible’ by doing debate and politics and all. the intro is a bit quirky too which i think makes it stand out. but there’s soooo many great essays that at this point idek
LORs
From Calc teacher and English teacher. I’m pretty confident in those. We’re not insanely insanely close, but I got an A in both classes, I was one of the only junior in senior calc and I kinda led the class and I think my English prof really liked me and I was a finalist in her school-wide essay contest. I haven’t been with them since pre-k and we dont chat for 5 hours every sunday, but i think these should be alright :))
FINANCIAL AID:
nope, im all good there (this is super super unfair to a lot of ppl, but i think that during corona, being international and not needing aid actually puts me at an advantage, which ig helps but is pretty unfair im sorry)
STRATEGY and stuff
I’m thinking of going Early Decision to Cornell (CAS), prolly Early Action to Georgetown, and Early Decision 2 to Tuft. I’m also applying to 4 countries for college (because why make it simple when you can make it complicated) -US/UK/France/Canada.
SCHOOL LIST (not including some safeties):
ED: Cornel
EA: Georgetown
ED2: Tuft
1st choice UK: Cambridge - applying as European
RD:
UPenn (i loveee Huntsman but its also impossible)
Columbia-Science Po Program (i would ED but its only RD)
UC Berkley
USC
UCLA
London School of Econ (UK)
McGill (Canada)
Williams
John Hopkins
Science Po Paris (France)
Northeastern
Also btw if anyone knows anything abt Cambridge admissions [especially in terms of choosing specific colleges, which ones are easier etc.] or UK stuff that’s also greatly appreciated !!
Thanks a ton yall, it means a lot