Decision: Accepted
Objective:
[ *] SAT I (breakdown): 750 CR 800 Writing 680 Math
[ *] ACT:32 (didn’t send)
[ *] SAT II: Literature (800), US History (780)
[ *] Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0):4.45
[ *] UC GPA: idk something like a 4.3 or a 4.4 last I checked?
[ *] Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): top 10% of my class
[ *] ELC: yep
[ *] AP (place score in parenthesis): Psych (5), Lit (5), USH (5), Euro (4)
[ *] Senior Year Course Load: AP Statistics, AP Enviro Science, AP Micro/Macro, AP Lang, AP US Gov, Powerwalking (lol)
[ *] Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): Lots of debate & writing awards, AP Scholar w/ distinction, ranked in the top 20 for debate the past two years
[ /list][ b]Subjective:[ /b][ list]
[ *] Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): President of Speech & Debate, worked at a non-profit to eradicate sexual trafficking in the bay area, poetry/creative writing journals, interned for a Congressman
[ *] Job/Work Experience: paid internship for the CA Democratic Party HQ in San Francisco
[ *] Volunteer/Community service: I volunteer a lot for my debate team, and the aforementioned nonprofit
[ *] Personal Statement: One of them had a lot of humor in it (I talked about how I taught my grandma how to email), I worked really hard on the other two, but the one I was most proud of was adapted from my Common App. I talked a lot about the adversities I faced in debate - an activity I absolutely adore - and how that fueled me to be even better.
[ *] Letters of Rec: I got invited to do this, I sent one from my APUSH teacher who I was really close with my junior year, we always talked about politics and current events. The other rec was from my debate coach who is honestly an extended member of my family. I 100% feel like her letter was the reason I got in because it really captured my personality and passions in a super unique format.
[ /list][ b]Other[ /b][ list]
[ *] Applied for Financial Aid?: yeah, but I got none
[ *][ b] Intended Major [ /b]: Political Science
[ *] State (if domestic applicant):CA
[ *] Country (if international applicant):
[ *] School Type: Huge public
[ *] Ethnicity:South-Asian
[ *] Gender:Female
[ *] Income Bracket:150,000+
[ *] Hooks (URM, first generation college, research, etc.):
[ /list][ b]Reflection[ /b][ list]
[ *] Strengths: Debate accomplishments, writing accomplishments, volunteer work, subject test scores (though I hear they don’t count for that much) and my grades
[ *] Weaknesses: ACT & SATs
[ *] Schools were you accepted/waitlisted to? UCLA (accepted), UC Davis (accepted), UCSB (regents invite), UCSD (accepted), UCSC (accepted), UCI (accepted), Cal Poly (accepted), USC (offered the Trustee scholarship), Barnard (accepted), Columbia (accepted), Cornell (accepted), NYU (accepted), GWU (accepted w/ 25k scholarship), American (accepted)
[ *] Schools you were rejected from? Stanford, Georgetown SFS, Brown & Princeton
[ /list][ b]General Comments:[ /b] For a super long time I was pretty much paralyzed in stress and anxiety because I was worried about being rejected from my dream school which was Berkeley. I would scour College Confidential and that took me away from things that I actually loved and cared about like writing, debate, and most importantly, my family. I can’t say that everyone should just stay away from this site, because let’s be honest, that’s not going to happen. But what I will say is that the college admissions process is both a crapshoot and a testament to your hard work and will to make your dreams come to fruition. Don’t think of yourself as just a sum of your scores or GPA because you are WAY more than that. Just focus on the things you can control, believe in yourself, and have faith that everything will work out the way that it’s meant to. GO BEARS!!! <3
