Hey, thank you so much for looking at this! So I have a bit of an unusual application due to having been to three high schools in three years (I’m a junior now and there’s a good explanation for every transfer). Freshman year I went to an underfunded rural public school, sophomore year I moved 500 miles and went to a better public school in a small city, now I commute 4 hours every day for a difficult prep school in a major city.
Race: White
Religion: Irish Catholic
Prospective Major(s): International Relations and Chemistry (might take chemistry as minor)
Prospective Career: Public health policy (w/ law school)
SATs:
Comp: 1920
Reading: 740
Math: 530
Writing: 650
I’ve since taken a prep class and plan on retaking them at least 2 times.
GPA (unweighted): 3.6
GPA (weighted): 4.6
*A note on this: only my GPA from junior year in IB which is an extremely difficult course load
Course Load (full IB diploma):
SL French (I have never taken a French class before but have brought my score from a 1 to a 4 in one year, shows hardworking nature, will be written about in letter of rec.)
SL Math
SL Film
HL English
HL Chemistry
HL History
Another note on this: I didn’t exactly go to school sophomore year because of violence in my second high school, so I have no prerequisites for any of these classes, which will be written about in a letter of recommendation. I had to work extremely hard to keep my head above water.
Extracurriculars/Awards:
Varsity tennis freshman year, varsity crew and varsity lacrosse junior year (not quitting, new school doesn’t offer tennis)
Captain of Model UN team
Captain of Mock Trial team
National History Day
Organized within school large donations and groups of walkers for a walk improving education for Pakistani women
Founder of school’s Philosophy Club (taught by a Harvard professor of theology and Eastern philosophies)
Independent lab research on drinking-water safety when exposed to PET at high temperatures
Prefect
Summer job at plant nursery, went to helping parents pay bills
QuestBridge Prep scholar (going to the Yale National College Conference soon!)
Best Delegate at MIT Model UN
Best Delegate and Best Position Paper at Northeastern Model UN
One of 12 area students selected for poetry workshop taught by Nobel Prize winner
Regional Poetry Out Loud finalist
8th place nationally on National History Day documentary about housing segregation in Levittown
I will have really good letters of recommendation that (I hope!) will go into detail about how I brought myself up from having missed a year of school and several at-home issues (mom having cancer, serious poverty, a difficult commute, and being a victim of violent crime). I know HYP is out of reach without higher scores, but do you think lesser Ivies or similar tier schools are okay?