My Grades
ACT (breakdown): 27 (resitting)
Predicted 3 As at the moment for my A-levels
3 Bs for my AS-levels
Taking the hardest subjects on offer, which are often required to get into Oxford or Cambridge. My teachers will increase or decrease my predicted grades based on my performance in this first half term. After conversations with my teachers they say I’m on track to at least 2 A*s.
My ECs
- Voluntary work in a primary school for a year
- Maths mentoring for a number of years
- School Orchestra 5 years
- School Gospel and Chamber choirs 5 years
- Violin- 8 years
- Solo-vocalist- 5 years
- Marshalling at the Jamaican Grand Gala
- Readings at the Jamaican High Commission
- Annual project targeting marginalised youths
- 1 year project on local history
- Summer project- Music, volunteering and advocacy
- Acceleration programme for gifted STEM students- 6 Years (Sponsored by Google, Arup, Barclays, BNY Mellon)
- University Summer Schools
- National Maths Challenges
- Festival Assistant at various annual events
- Progressed through various sports leadership roles- Sports Leader> Sports Captain> Sports Ambassador
- Trained wheelchair basketball facilitator
- Trained Track & Field and Gymnastics officiator
- Worked for Mahogany Carnival and performed at Carnival and The London Zoo
- Worked at a property software company
- Co-founder of a fitness blog
- Waitress- Pop up restaurant
- Shop assistant- Arts supply store
- Customer assistant- Marks & Spencer’s
- Junior DJ for one of London’s first female led sound system- 4 years
- School Basketball Captain for 3 years
- School Track and Field Captain for 3 years
- Cheerleader for 3 years
- Started a school cheer team- large, all-girls
- Marketing Coordinator for a dance company- 4 years
- Member of the local organising committee- 4 years (organise community events such as fundraisers and street parties)
I have some pretty strong Recommendation letters from teachers who know me well. I’m applying to study Civil Engineering with financial aid. I’m an international student from the United Kingdom studying at a public school. My hooks are: URM (Black), First generation to go to college in the US, Woman in STEM?. All my siblings have gone on to higher education, my sister is currently studying Medicine at Oxford University.
First gen to college in the US is not a hook- the hook is for students whose parents didn’t go to college at all.
Women in STEM won’t be an admissions boost at Stanford, where compsci is the most popular major for women, followed by bio…
URM is a hook.
Your ECs are all over the map- suggest pulling them together into categories, and ordering them from most substantial to least.
Your ACT is in the bottom 10%, which is a non-starter without something else strong - such as athletic recruitment.
Even with AAA predicted for A2, your Bs at AS will hurt you. Were your GCSEs stellar?
@collegemom3717 Thank you for your reply.
I’ve categorised my ECs on my application. I am also registered to take the ACT again. I sat a number of my GCSEs early but I only got 5 As and 6 Bs.
@collegemom3717 there have been some extenuating circumstances that I’ve explained in my application which outline the reasons behind why my grades are low.
Extenuating circumstances could help, though unless it continued over time, your GCSEs seem in line with your AS marks.
Have you categorized and prioritized your ECs in a way that shows depth and shows something about who you are/where you are going? b/c you have such a laundry list of things it is hard to see that.
@collegemom3717 I’ve categorised them in a way that presents 2 or 3 common themes in my application which show off my personality as well as how they have a role in my professional and social aspirations. I’ve only listed them on here to show all that is included on application. The ECs that don’t correlate with those themes are listed in the activities section as well as the optional essay.
@collegemom3717 “Stanford, where compsci is the most popular major for women”
Wow, that’s good. Did you see that in an article or is it an anecdotal observation?
Omoyelerp, contrary to Collegemom3717, I think you look very accomplished. Take what some people say on these threads with a grain of salt. As you know the ACT score is low, but your studing to raise that. Also your URM status and the fact that you’re female is indeed a hook when applying for civil engineering. Just keep in mind that kids with perfect scores will be denied acceptance to schools like Stanford. So just keep an open-mind. This is a tough process. Good luck.
@Dungareedoll thank you for your comments!
The link is [url=http://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/news/2015/10/12/computer-science-nowmost-popular-major-for-female.html]here[/url].
@Dungareedoll, I think you miss the point of my post- I made no negative comments about the OPs accomplishments per se. While you may think that the OP looks “very accomplished”, I suggested that an AdComm reading the list would have a hard time discerning what is most important to the OP, of seeing where the depth and commitment are, of recognizing how they fit in the narrative arc of the OPs application. The OP’s got that- as you can see, she responded that she has organized them thematically and in the context of aspirations.