***BU RD 2020 Decisions ONLY ***

Senior2016M
Sat, 02 Apr 2016 17:47:42 +0000

Decision: ACCEPTED [College of Fine Arts w/ 50k merit scholarship]

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 2170 (CR 720 M 680 W 770) 2150 single sitting
ACT (breakdown): didn’t take
SAT II: didn’t send
Weighted GPA: 4.09
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): Top 10%
AP (place score in parenthesis): English Language and Composition (5), Music Theory (5)
Senior Year Course Load: 5 APs (Bio, Stat, French, Literature, HG) and 2 music ensembles
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): Princeton Book Award, several music composition and music awards etc.

Vanderbilt Merit Scholarship: N/A

Subjective:

Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis):
Music: Violin (concertmaster of several orchestras up to All State), Composition (works premiered by major orchestras), Vocal performance (Top tenor in the state),
Honors: French Honor Society (President), National Honor Society, International Thespian Society
Job/Work Experience: Freelance writing and editing business
Volunteer/Community service: Several trips, worked at hospital for several summers, trips to homeless shelters
Summer Activities:

Essays (rating 1-10, details):
Common App: 9/10 - thought this was solid
Why BU?: 10/10 - I was specific, and I really enjoyed writing it.
Kilachand Honors College: 10/10 - I wrote persuasively and showed my good writing skills

Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):
Teacher Rec #1: AP Lang Teacher - 8/10 - didn’t read, assume it was good
Teacher Rec #2: Anatomy Teacher - 8.5/10 - didn’t read, assume it was good
Counselor Rec: 7.5/10 - sure it was fine, but you never know, counselors are often not amazing writers so
Additional Rec: Two supplemental letters - Capstone project mentor (9/10) and letter from composition professor (8.5/10)
Interview: Didn’t have one, other than meeting people in person for my audition.

Other

Applied for Financial Aid?: Yes
Intended Major: Music Composition and Biological Sciences (and Japanese?)
State (if domestic applicant): Northeast, foreign citizenship
School Type: Public
Ethnicity: Caucasian
Gender: Male
Income Bracket: Irrelevant
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): International person, trilingual

Reflection

Strengths: Composition Portfolio, Essays, Interview, Grades, meeting faculty in person, letters of rec
Weaknesses: Test scores
Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: I clicked with the people I met and I worked hard on my essays, audition and portfolio.
Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected:
Accepted: Vanderbilt, Grinnell ($15k merit), UConn (Honors $7k merit)
Waitlisted: Williams, Tufts, UChicago
Rejected: Northwestern, Harvard, Yale (deferred SCEA), Dartmouth

General Comments: I was incredibly honored to receive such a large scholarship, and admission to the Honors College. I am leaning toward Vanderbilt currently, but am still considering BU given how generous they have been to me with their reputation for poor aid. We’ll see. Congrats to everyone accepted and waitlisted, and to those rejected, my heart goes out to you and wishes you the best in your next chapter!