QuixoticRick

Decision: Deferred

Stats:

• Fee Waiver Used?: No
• SAT I (by section): 1760 (630 CR, 540 M, 590 W)
• SAT IIs: US History 650, World History 670, Molecular Biology 680, Ecological Biology 680, Literature 550, Math II 600
• GPA, Weighted and Unweighted: 4.00 uw, 4.51 w, 4.21 UC GPA (weighting system used officially by school for ranking)
• Rank: 1/273 uw, 2/273 w
• APs (including this year's): Junior year: Biology (4), World History (4), Senior year: English Literature and Composition and Calculus AB (most APs taken out of anyone in school including valedictorian; maxed out on all APs considering I'm not language fluent for the other AP subjects and scheduling conflicts)
• Senior Yr Courseload: Chinese 5/6 (Independent Study), Chemistry (school offers no honors or AP Chemistry), Drawing (graduating requirement due to UC system), AP Calculus AB, AP English Literature and Composition, American Democracy and Government/Economics (school offers no honors or AP Government or Economics)
• Number of Apps from Your School: No other early applicant to ANY school except me.
• Other stats (Awards, etc.): California Legislature Assembly Certificate of Recognition for Balboa JROTC Battalion Commander, University of San Francisco School of Law Street Law Completion Certificate, California Mock Trial San Francisco City and County Championship Team, Various JROTC awards, most notably: Superior Cadet Award, National Sojourners Award, Scottish Rites Award.
  

Subjective:

• ECs listed on app: Mock Trial 10-12 (Varsity Trial Attorney, Varsity Team Captain), Army JROTC 9-11 (Battalion Commander, Battalion Trainings and Operations Officer), School Newspaper 9-10 (Opinions Page Editor and Regular Contributor), Political Science Club 10 (will continue mock trial involvement, newspaper, and political science in college with political science as a major and law school in the future)
• Job/Work Experience: Peer Educator and Facilitator at Diversity Works (2002-2005) and Summer Clerkship at Munger, Tolles & Olson under attorneys, partners, and paralegals.
• Essays (subject and responses): I wrote my short answer essay about my interest in the law and what I've done to make that career path a choice: law academy, mentorships with Bar Association, mock trial, clerkship at a major law firm. My first essay was about my epiphany that got me into the law (how I was first awed and amazed by it) and how I made it come true; it also goes into great detail about my experience in mock trial and how it really helped me mature and grow stronger as a person from my meek freshman year to the confident, down-to-earth, won't shut up kind of guy that I am now. My second essay goes into detail about my epiphany, becoming who I am, and my maturation as a person.
• Teacher Recs: My first recommendation is from my Law Academy History teacher who wrote about my personal characteristics and life outside of school, as he's also the teacher sponsor and coach of mock trial. My second recommendation is from my Law Academy English teacher who wrote about my traits in the classroom and lectures. He also talks about my personal traits outside of the classroom as well.
• Counselor Rec: She wrote about my involvement with the school, the community, and how I juggle a lot of things and get stuff done nonetheless.
• Interview (feel, interviewer and general location): I had my interview done downtown in a bar in the large Hyatt by the Embarcadero. It was a very interesting and great interview, as he is involved in the legal career as well. It went pretty well; we ended up talking for an hour and a half.
• Hook (TASP, RSI, Research, etc.): No one has ever applied to Yale from my school before. In addition, no one has ever been to a major ranking university outside of the UC system. For a while, my high school didn't have anyone going to college. Last year was the first year that anyone applied to an Ivy (valedictorian applied to Harvard) but she got outright rejected. This year, many more are applying to Ivies but none are applying to HYP sans one other person.
  

Location/Person:

• State or Country: California, United States
• School Type, Average Stats of School (if available): Public, never sends students to top schools outside of the UC system (Berkeley, LA) and last year where two went to Wellesley and Stanford (one each).
• Ethnicity: Asian -- Taiwanese
• Gender: Male
• Income Bracket: Middle class ($75,000)
• Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): First generation of applicants to HYP, Ivies, or top colleges.
• Strengths: GPA, rank, extracurriculars, leadership positions, essays
• Weaknesses: SAT
• Why you think you were accepted/deferred/denied: I expected either deferral for the most part. My SAT scores put me in the bottom 50% of the applicant pool, I believe. However, I like to believe that everything else is solid. Thus, I believe they've deferred me for the following reason. In addition, I doubt they wanted to deny me because they've never had people apply there from my school. They sent student ambassadors to come and visit and whatnot. I think some "politicking" was involved but I really do believe that I could and did stand my own in the early applicant pool and hopefully in the regular pool as well.
  

Other Factors:
General Comments/Congratulations/Venting/Commiserations,etc: Good-luck everybody! I'm going to send them some additional things. I'm definitely rooting for all of you that have been deferred as well. I checked it in front of my class on the projection screen in Government and it was really nerve-wracking. I hope that didn't happen to any of you guys. We'll make it someplace and we'll do extraordinarily well. I've had a blast meeting all of you and talking to you here; you guys rock!