**Decision: Accepted!!!
Objective:[ul]
[] SAT I (breakdown): 650 Math, 650 Writing, 730 Crit Reading for a total of 2030 on my second try.
[] ACT (breakdown): didn’t take
[] SAT II: didn’t take
[] Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.0
[] Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 1/8, Valedictorian
[] AP (place score in parentheses): n/a
[] IB (place score in parentheses): n/a
[] Senior Year Course Load: We only have one advanced course and it’s a college credit class, so my course load is really unimpressive: Senior English, Personal Finance, Physics, Cit Ed, Fitness, Math 111/112 (the college course) and Yearbook.
[li] Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): none, just lots of local-level awards.[/ul][/li]
Subjective:[ul]
[li] Extracurriculars (place leadership in parentheses): FFA (President of Chapter and District), Yearbook (Co-Editor) (though it’s also a class), President of Senior Class, Drama Club, Tech Club, National Honor Society (Vice President last year), Track and Field. Outside of school I do 4-H and orchestra.[/li]
[li] Job/Work Experience: I only ever worked for pay one summer on a local mint field. I also live on a ranch, however, so you could count that.[/li]
[li] Volunteer/Community service: I volunteer at the hospital every Friday, local museum during the summer, and I’m a 4-H Camp Counselor during the summer. I also have [/li]
[li] Summer Activities: Not much! The aforementioned museum volunteering, 4-H camp, music lessons, etc. [/li]
[li] Essays: My Common App essay was about living in such a rural area and wanting to get the most out of my education and get new experiences. My Harvard essay was the future roommate one; I really got to be myself in that one and I thought it was an entertaining read at least, so I guess they liked it! I’d rate them both around 8/10. I thought my writing was good but without seeing anyone else’s essays I have no idea how they compare.[/li]
[li] Teacher Recommendation: Probably pretty good. I like my teachers a lot and (as far as I’m aware) they like me too! I didn’t read them though. 8/10[/li]
[li] Counselor Rec: Again, probably pretty good. My counselor is a cool lady. 8/10[/li]
[li] Additional Rec: I don’t believe I submitted one.[/li]
[li] Interview: Awesome! I think I came across as a bit shyer than I would have liked but my interviewer was a really great lady and she was very easy to talk to. I think she liked me a lot and she said (when I called her a few minutes ago to tell her I got accepted) that she had strongly recommended me, so that must be a good sign. 9/10[/li]
[li] Supplementary Material: n/a[/ul][/li]
Other[ul]
[] Applied for Financial Aid?: Yes
[] State (if domestic applicant): OR
Country (if international applicant):
[] School Type: Public
[] Ethnicity: White
[] Gender: Female
[] Income Bracket(mention if FA candidate): 80,000 (ranch and my mom’s work income included)
[li] Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): Coming from an extremely rural area and ranch.[/ul][/li]
Reflection[ul]
[] Strengths: Essays, interview, from a unique situation
[] Weaknesses: SAT score, lack of advanced classes, no SAT II, no major awards…lol
[] Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: Honestly, I think it must have been something in my essays or interview, or perhaps my unique location. I mean, it had to be, since my academics are less than the average for Harvard.
[] Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected: I was rejected from Yale, Princeton, and Columbia (since I didn’t take the subject II tests some of my applications weren’t even considered complete anyway) but accepted to my more local private universities.[/ul]
**General Comments: **
I am genuinely shocked that I got in. I come from an extremely, EXTREMELY rural area (I drive 15 miles to school every day and we have more cows than people in my county) so I think that must have been an advantage. My school has 52 students 9-12 grades, if that says anything. I mean, as you can see, my academics are below the average (which is partially due to the lack of classes to take) so I’m truly humbled by the fact that I got in when so many other amazing students didn’t.
I’m very, very pleased however. And also nervous! If I end up attending I can’t wait to meet everyone else. I hope I can keep up!!