<p>So I’m weird and this is my second time applying to college as I’m on a gap year, so I’m gonna cheat and add a section to talk about that…</p>
<p>EDIT: uGH this is criminally long; I apologise</p>
<p>Decision: Accepted</p>
<p>Objective:[ul]
[<em>] SAT I (breakdown): 2270 (760 CR, 740 M, 770 W)
[</em>] ACT: 31, didn’t send
[<em>] SAT Subject Tests: 760 literature, 790 math II
[</em>] Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): school doesn’t do GPA, but probably around an A-
[<em>] Weighted GPA: school doesn’t do GPA
[</em>] Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): school doesn’t do rank
[<em>] AP (place score in parenthesis): Calc AB (AB subscore - 4), Chemistry (4), Physics C E and M (didn’t take exam), calc BC (4), stats (5), English lit (4)
[</em>] IB (place score in parenthesis): school doesn’t do IB
[<em>] Senior Year Course Load: (final grades in parentheses) AP English lit (A), AP stats (A), AP calc BC (A-), AP physics C E and M (B+), Ancient Greek (A), logic and set theory (winter trimester elective) (A), independent study with my English teacher of Shakespeare’s *Henriad<a href=“A”>/i</a>
[</em>] Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): these don’t really count as “major”, but NHS, English award, drama award, graduated “with distinction”, Smith College Poetry Contest semi-finalist, Wellesley Book Award, Best (mock trial) Attorney award and state championships</p>
<p>[/ul]Gap Year Info:[ul]
[<em>] Reason: Applied to college last year as a physics major, accepted to research universities and STEM colleges, but in after applying realised that I wanted to major in English. Said no to all the colleges I was accepted to in order to apply to liberal arts colleges this year.
[</em>] Official activities: working as a full-time, paid intern at my former high school. Working as an English teacher/teaching assistant, student advisor to seven freshmen, faculty advisor to our Gay-Straight Alliance, coach to our mock trial team, and assistant director of the student girl’s a cappella group. Also working under the advancement office as an archivist. Also working at my mom’s office (insurance-related things) as a document manager.
[<em>] Unofficial activities: auditing a philosophy/classics/art history class at the high school; singing in the faculty/staff women’s a cappella group; assistant stage managing a Shakespeare production; directed the middle school musical for a week, including for the two shows, as the actual director had to be away.
[</em>] Independent/other activities: teaching myself some German and Scottish Gaelic, attempted/failed National Novel Writing Month, reading all of Shakespeare’s plays in chronological order, continuing piano lessons, travelled to Scotland to witness the referendum in September, will be restarting horseback riding lessons</p>
<p>[/ul]Subjective:<a href=“ignoring%20gap%20year”>list</a>
[<em>] Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): mock trial (captain, lead attorney, social media), school musicals (stage manager), school plays (stage manager), literary and art magazine (managing editor), GSA (vice president), tour guiding, math team, disciplinary committee, robotics (co-secretary), classical piano
[ *] Job/Work Experience: AP chemistry tutor, seasonal sales associate at Brookstone at a major mall, full-time properties master for two youth shows, stage manager for a college-repertory theatre
[</em>] Volunteer/Community service: cleaner/book organiser/clothing organiser at a charity thrift shop, summer theatre camp assistant, college essay tutoring
[<em>] Summer Activities: going to Scotland twice, pre-college physics programme at WPI, stage managing, prop managing, assorted film contests
[</em>] Essays: MAIN COMMON APP - talked about how a lot of factors caused this change from a STEM person to a humanities person, but that I couldn’t sum them up because the point of the humanities/the point of being human is that there aren’t single concrete answers/causes for things like there are in science… I promise it was better than this summary makes it sound… EXTRACURRICULAR - as a stage manager, I open every show by walking onto the stage in front of the 400-person audience and telling them to shut off their phones, etc… just a two minute speech. I described my first time doing this and how terrified out of my mind I was. WHY VASSAR - I started off with something like “I could choose to spend this essay talking about (specific aspect of the the college), (specific aspect of the the college), or (specific aspect of the the college), but to do that would ignore the fundamental reason why I applied”. I used the entire essay to talk about the quote that is in their publications/info sessions all the time that’s about how if you want to go to college and leave the same person after four years, you shouldn’t go to Vassar. I connected that to the philosophy course I’m currently taking, and how I am IN LOVE with that class and how the teacher said almost that exact same quote about his class on the first day. YOUR SPACE - not an essay, but I submitted a poetry portfolio. ADDITIONAL INFO - 500-word, to-the-point description of my gap year, why I took it, and what I hope to get out of it
[<em>] Teacher Recommendation: English teacher who taught me for four classes and eight trimesters, and with whom I’m currently co-teaching. He’s my favourite teacher and probably one of the most influential people in my life.
[</em>] Counselor Rec: Probably pretty good, he likes me and knows me pretty well.
[<em>] Additional Rec: Ancient Greek teacher. Only had him for one year/class, but he’s awesome and knows me personally very well. He framed his rec around my love of anime/cosplay/K-pop and other nerdy subcultures. I haven’t read it but he told me about it.
[</em>] Interview: requested one but there was apparently no one in my area, so I didn’t have one.</p>
<p>[/list]Other[ul]
[<em>] Applied for Financial Aid?: yes
[</em>] Intended Major (undecided is fine): education and English double major
[<em>] State (if domestic applicant): NH
[</em>] Country (if international applicant): –
[<em>] School Type: private, college-prep, co-ed, day school
[</em>] Ethnicity: Caucasian - Middle Eastern and European
[<em>] Gender: female
[</em>] Income Bracket: ~80k
[li] Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): first generation college</p>[/li]
<p>[/ul]Reflection[ul]
[<em>] Strengths: essays, scores, senior year, extracurriculars
[</em>] Weaknesses: volunteering, may have submitted too much stuff (didn’t leave anything blank on the writing supplement, even the optional things), because I switched from being a STEM person to a humanities person I don’t really have a consistent “theme” in my courses/extracurriculars
[<em>] Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: gap year experience, strengths, recommendations
[</em>] Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected: last year I was accepted Worcester Polytechnic Institute EA, Rochester Institute of Technology, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Boston University, and the University of Rochester PR. I was rejected from Harvard, Yale, and Williams.
[/ul]General Comments:
I was so nervous to take a gap year as I didn’t know how colleges would see it, but I’m just amazed at how well this has all turned out. I’m so excited to already know as well. I actually visited Vassar on a whim because it was nearby two other colleges I was visiting on the same trip - and I completely fell in love. When visiting colleges, make sure that you get “the feeling”. You’ll know it when you get it. It may happen for more than one school (I got it for Middlebury as well). My advice would be to leave it all alone for a week, then come back to the issue. There will probably be one that you remember more, that left a bigger impression. That, for me, was obviously Vassar. Congratulations to all those admitted and, to those deferred or rejected, best of luck with the rest of your applications!</p>
