I’m extremely late, but I’ll post my results for Early Decision I.
Pick one:
Decision: Accepted
Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 1550 (800 M / 750 RW)
SAT II: Math II - 800, Physics - 770
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.92
Weighted GPA (out of 5.0): 4.36 (no APs / Honors in freshman year)
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): No ranking
AP (place score in parenthesis): Physics C Mechanics - 5, Calculus BC - 5, Chinese - 5, US History - 4, English Language (self study)- 4, Music Theory - 3
Senior Year Course Load:
AP Chemistry
AP Statistics
PLTW Principles of Engineering
US Government / Economics
Mythology and Folklore Writing
PE Weight Training
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): Ranked with in the top 300 table tennis players in the USA by USA Table Tennis, AP Scholar w/ Distinction, AP + PLTW Achievement in Engineering, medals at USA Nationals for table tennis and state competitions.
Subjective:
Extracurriculars (should be leadership, but I’ll put years):
- Computer Hardware Tinkering, I build and tear down computers to build frankenstein gadgets and also do overclocking / undervolting on processors and GPUs + elementary-level Arduino (4+ years)
- Table Tennis (4+ years)
- Volunteer and Recreational Pianist, former competitive pianist (4+ years)
- Super random thing I put on my app: Flight / space simulator enthusiast (4+ years)
Job/Work Experience: None
Volunteer/Community service:
- Math tutor in my school's Academic Center (1.5+ years)
- Student Volunteer, Event Coordinator and table tennis teacher at a folk arts camp (1 week)
- Taught some computer hardware related stuff at an enrichment program (~3 weeks)
Summer Activities:
- UC Berkeley EECS - Student Research Intern (Jun - Aug 2018)
Essays: My points came across clearly, but I had some typos + awkward sentence structure. My supplement also went WAY over the suggested word limit (498 words vs 250-300 words). I tried to show and not tell as much as I could.
Teacher Recommendation: AP Physics teacher. Nothing outstanding, but I was an active participant in the class and was (and still am!) interested in learning about the material outside of the classroom.
Counselor Rec: Generic. I never talked to my counselor and she likely used a template
Additional Rec: UC Berkeley professor mentor. My professor commended my initiative to do what I could to learn about and contribute to the project I worked on.
Interview: None.
Other:
State (if domestic applicant): CA
Country (if international applicant): N/A
Intended major(s): Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering or Biomedical Engineering (considering Pre-Med as well, but I’ll see how first semester goes)
School Type: Hyper-competitive Bay Area public high school known for grade deflation
Ethnicity: Chinese / Asian
Gender: Male
Income Bracket: $100,000 - $150,000
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): None. Anti-hooks were: Asian male applying to engineering
Reflection:
Strengths: GPA + SAT + AP scores, extracurricular commitment.
Weaknesses:
- I had essentially zero leadership positions and I did not start / create / lead / join any clubs in high school. I also have relatively little extracurriculars / interests.
- I planned my senior year schedule with rampant senioritis in mind, so the course rigor wasn’t so great and definitely could have come across as me trying to slack off.
Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected: I showed demonstrated interest; I visited campus over the summer, attended my school’s information session hosted by the regional AO, and was on the mailing list. My academics also fell within WashU’s range, at least for SAT scores
General Comments: I 100% expected to get rejected from the school since my profile is less than stellar / superstar compared to the applicants I saw on the results only threads for past years. Consequently, getting accepted was “a surprise to be sure, but a welcome one.”