<p>I appreciate your analysis.</p>
<p>Schools:</p>
<p>Carnegie Mellon (School of Engineering)
Columbia (School of Engineering)
Cornell (School of Engineering)
Dartmouth
Harvard
Harvey Mudd
Rensselaer (School of Engineering)
UPenn (School of Engineering)</p>
<p>Me:</p>
<p>Demographic:[ul]</p>
<p>State: Massachusetts
[<em>]School Type: Small Public (156 students in graduating class)
[</em>]Ethnicity: Asian American
[<em>]Gender: Male
[</em>]Income Bracket: Upper Middle</p>
<p>[/ul]Objective:[ul]</p>
<p>SAT I: 2300, 2nd Time (M: 800, CR: 740, W: 760); 2030, 1st Time (M: 720, CR: 610, W: 700)
[<em>]SAT II: Math 2c: 800, Physics: 740, Chemistry: 710, Latin: 670 (1st Time: 590)
[</em>]Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.9
[<em>]Rank: "Top 2%" of 156 students (how the school academic report phrases it)
[</em>]Senior Year Course Load: Honors Humanities, Honors Psychology, AP Chemistry, AP Physics C, EPGY Multivariable Calculus with Stanford, Honors Latin Prose (fourth year of Latin), Programming in C elective, Peer Leadership elective (a course that fulfills the physical education requirement). The EPGY course is a distance-learning course outside of my high school curriculum, taken with CD-ROM lectures and mailed exams. I've taken the toughest possible course load (in terms of offered Honors and AP classes) all four years.
[li]Awards: Rensselaer Medal, Department Honor Award: Mathematics (Top Junior in Mathematics), Department Honor Award: Latin (Top Junior in Latin), Tufts Citizenship and Public Service Award, National Merit Commendation, National History Day: Senior Group Documentary Finalist (Results: 10th Place Nation, 1st Place State, 2nd Place Region)</p>[/li]
<p>[/ul]Subjective:[ul]</p>
<p>Extracurriculars: Philosophy Club (Founder), Percussion Study (Marching Band, New England Conservatory Orchestras, Musical Pit Orchestras, Percussion Ensemble, Private Lessons), Math/Science Teams (Leading Scorer in Math), Literary Magazine (Editor), Newspaper (Business Manager, Columnist), School Council (Student Representative), National Honor Society (President), Latin Club (President)
[<em>]Work Experience: Research Data Coder (at Harvard Medical School), Hired Concert Percussionist (at New England Conservatory)
[</em>]Community Service: Math Tutoring
[<em>]Summer Activities: Worked the aforementioned jobs, Took Calculus I at Harvard Summer School (Grade: A), Took C Programming at University of Massachusetts - Lowell (Grade: A) - I sent these transcripts to all of the schools I applied to.
[</em>]Essay: About my love for, and history of, songwriting. Explains how I never practiced piano when I was much younger, gave up on lessons, but then, when I was 13, came upon a used, acoustic guitar. Transitions into a passionate retelling about how I've been writing songs, selling CDs, and performing in front of crowds ever since. Emphasizes creativity, independence, spontaneity, imaginative thinking, humor, and originality. And how these facets of my music making translate to facets that I embrace in my academics and extracurricular activities.
Overall, It has a very lighthearted tone and I throw in many tongue-in-cheek/self-deprecating jokes about the childhood appeal of Donkey Kong, my "musical genius" as a five-year-old, the crappiness of that first guitar, etc.
And in the additional info sections, I included a Guitar and Voice Performance Resume, which lists all the clubs and venues I've performed at - about 15 in total all in the Boston area.[/ul]</p>