Accepted: Yale, Penn (SEAS, Rachleff Scholars)
Waitlisted: Princeton
Rejected: Harvard (deferred SCEA), Stanford, MIT
Intended major: Bioengineering
Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 2320 (800M, 800CR, 720W)
SAT II: 800 Math II, 800 Chem, 800 Bio M
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): ~95/100
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): ~10/100, but school doesn’t rank officially
AP (place score in parentheses): Chem (5), Bio (5), Human Geo (5), APES (5), APUSH (5)
IB (place score in parentheses):
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): Duke of Edinburgh Gold, Won ICDC (DECA), ranked in top 100 for NACLO, National Biology Competition, various national math competitions
Subjective (grades and details in parentheses):
Extracurriculars:A somewhat obscure sport (3-12, 20 hours/week, have competed internationally), A science olympiad (10-12), DECA (10-11, Won at ICDC in 11th), HOSA co-founder and co-president (11-12), Math Club co-president (10-12), Equity Committee (9-12)
Job/Work Experience:
-Worked as a paid research assistant for a month
Volunteer/Community service:
-600 hours
-Volunteer with disabled people (10-12)
-Summer camp counsellor (10, 12)
Summer Activities: Program at university
Essays: Above average
Teacher Recommendation: Did not read, but should be very good (I’ve worked with them outside of class, they know me very well)
Counselor Rec: Did not read, but knows me VERY well
Additional Rec: From coach, excellent
Other
Applied for Financial Aid?: Yes
Country (if international applicant): Canada
School Type: Competitive Private
Ethnicity: Asian
Gender: F
Income Bracket(mention if FA candidate): $120 000
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): N/A
Reflection
Strengths: SAT IIs, ECs/Awards
Weaknesses: GPA, Class rank (there was no official rank, but many top students applied to the same schools)
**You might notice that I don’t have any safety (or even match) schools on my list. I decided early on that it would not be worth it to take out the loans that would be necessary to afford a $60k+ price tag, so I only applied to full need schools. I did this fully aware of and okay with the fact that being shut-out was a very real possibility. **
Good luck to the Class of 2016 (and beyond!). I’m very happy with my results. I was lucky enough to check my acceptances first on Ivy Day, so the rejections barely stung. I also decided against picking a “dream” school/first choice until after my acceptances came in, because of the high likelihood of rejection. In my opinion, it worked well for me, because I did not become emotionally attached to any school.