Decision: Accepted
Applied to which school/college: Newhouse for Newspaper and Online Journalism
Accepted to which school/college: Newhouse
Objective:
SAT I (breakdown):1950 (W680, M650, CR620)
Not superscored ACT (highest): 28
SAT II: Math 1(700), Literature (680)
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.92
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): N/A
AP (place score in parenthesis): AP World (3), AP Lang (3), APUSH (3), AP Lit, AP Bio, AP Calc AB, AP Spanish, AP U.S. Government
IB (place score in parenthesis): N/A
Senior Year Course Load: AP Lit, AP Spanish (taken Spanish classes all 4 years), AP Bio, AP Calc AB, AP U.S. Gov, Chamber Choir (taken choir classes all 4 years)
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): N/A
Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Drama Club (student director, stage manager, actor) (4 yrs), Yearbook Editor (1 yr), Spanish Club (Secretary for 2 yrs), Choir (Officer for 2 yrs), Church Cantor (4 yrs), Acapella group (2 yrs), Selective Youth Leadership Program (1 yr) that I wrote articles for in their magazine
Job/Work Experience: local children’s theater job
Volunteer/Community service: 80+ hours of community service required by my heavily Catholic high school
Summer Activities: Journalism internship at a business journalism company, Governor’s School for the Arts participant (Drama)
Essays (rating 1-10, details): 8; I wrote them in one sitting in less than an hour and didn’t bother to have someone critique it since I was lazy (I applied RD at the last minute ugh so lazy), but I tried to show great interest in the school and its programs, along with mentioning other parts of the university that I hoped to involve myself in. I wrote with that “student voice” or perspective that admission officers constantly talk about at information sessions for college admissions. You’re writing about you in your own tone, so the essay doesn’t have to sound like an AP Literature paper. If you are constantly flipping through a thesaurus or dictionary for words to spice up your essays, I’m not saying that it’s a bad idea, but you really don’t have to. 
Just be yourself.
Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):
Teacher Rec #1: didn’t read
Teacher Rec #2: didn’t read
Counselor Rec: didn’t read
Additional Rec: N/A
Interview: did not interview
Other
State (if domestic applicant): KY
School Type: private
Ethnicity: Asian-American
Gender: Female
Income Bracket: ~55,000
Merit Scholarship: 12,000 (Founders)
Reflection
Strengths: grades, test scores (I think they fit in the average range), extracurriculars, difficult school curriculum
Weaknesses: essays definitely could have been better in my opinion, no major awards to help me stand out
Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected: being a good student academic-wise, taking honors and AP classes throughout all four years of high school, and I guess my essays, being a yearbook editor, writing articles for that program, and pursuing a journalism internship over the summer helped me get into Newhouse.
Where else were you accepted/deferred/rejected: BC, Bellarmine, Centre, Louisville, NKU, Notre Dame, UChicago, UK, UVA
General Comments: Happy about getting into Newhouse! We filed our FAFSA kind of late, so that may affect our potential Financial Aid package. If the total price to pay is still sky high, I will probably not attend. I’m interested in minoring at Newhouse in Public Communication Studies for undergrad and majoring in Acting at VPA if I do attend. Perhaps come back to journalism as my focus in grad school eventually.