I’m a rising junior who goes to a top 20 high school in IL. It’s somewhat competitive and has sent students to UChicago, UIUC comp sci and engineering, UC Berkeley, Duke, Cornell, Brown, Stanford, etc.
Chance me for UIUC, Georgia Tech, University of Waterloo (Canada), Northwestern (and generally schools along those lines of prestige)
Race/Gender: Asian female (rip)
Prospective Major: STEM (engineering or CS) with a minor in business
UW GPA: 3.9
Rank: N/A, school doesn’t rank
ACT: taking next month
SAT: taking spring 2019
SAT II: will be taking Math II, Chemistry spring 2019
APs: AP World History (4, freshman year), AP European History (projected 4, sophomore year), AP CS Principles (projected 5, sophomore year)
Junior year APs: AP Chinese, AP Lang, AP Physics I and II, AP Computer Science A
Hooks: female in STEM? (lol that’s so overused)
ECs:
Computer Science Club: President, in charge of creating and organizing community outreach events. Started an elementary school program teaching 4th and 5th graders about game design and computer science. Will be teaching high school girls computer science through a GWC club. Will be teaching fellow high school students web development and calculator programming.
Innovation Fair: Main Organizer, in charge of finding sponsors and judges for my school's competition where local business owners judge students presenting their innovative ideas (kinda like Shark Tank)
STEM conversation series: Founder and Organizer of a 4 month STEM speaker series with speakers from IBM, a Chicago blockchain non-profit, and Baxter.
Google CS First Chapter: Founder - worked with a local elementary school principal to launch two free CS First programs (Fall 2018 and Spring 2019) to teach 5th graders and 4th graders about computer science and game design
FBLA: As a freshman, I placed third at state and qualified for nationals. As a sophomore, I placed fifth at state (I competed in a much more competitive and complex event). Minor leadership positions include being a Career Advisory Council Student Representative and Partnership with Business Council Member (very minor).
Math Team: As a freshman, I was on the regional and state team. As a sophomore, I focused on other clubs. Probably will quit because competitive math is NOT my cup of tea.
WYSE: IL and MO academic competition created by UIUC. Competed on Regional and Sectional Team. Competes in Computer Science and English.
JV Girls Swimming: broke two JV girls swim records during my freshman year. Quit swimming, but I guess it's still notable?
WORK EXPERIENCE:
Campaign for Governor: Organizing Fellow, engaged new potential volunteers and supporters through canvassing AND organized local campaign events.
Student-run video production business web designer: designed a website for a business that produces videos for local clients, as well as clients in Europe and Africa. (does this make me a freelance web designer idk)
Marketing Intern for a global student-run nonprofit that empowers people through conversation series, and currently has 303 student-run series in 45 countries.
Information Technology law firm Intern: programming SQL database, professional photographer, graphic designer with promotional infographics/graphics, updating website
MISC:
Starting a non-profit soon, working on coding the website, working on finding sponsors too!!!
Going to two engineering, entrepreneurship, computer science competitive summer programs in Canada this summer.
You are a competitive applicant. Your stats and ECs are good. Get a 33+ on the ACT or a 1500+ on the SAT with 700s+ on two SAT subject tests. Narrow down your EC list and really focus on the ones that you like and are good at. You want your ECs to be related and to convey a subject matter that you’re interested in. Write amazing essays and you could get accepted to any of these schools
@doorrealthe Thank you! I might seem like I have a lot of ECs but it’s mainly bc I’m President of CS Club. My main duties are being the organizer of the Innovation Fair and starting community outreach projects, like the Google CS First Program and STEM speaker series. Those technically should be within the CS Club section.
Your extracurriculars are really really good! I would be surprised if you didn’t get into one of the schools on your list. I’m also a rising junior aiming for ivies too haha! Best of luck!!
I think @doorrealthe put it perfectly, and I don’t think I would have anything to add. I would say that’s also the reason nobody else is responding, and this isn’t a very urgent post since you are only a rising junior, not a rising senior beginning to fill out applications and the Common App, so I would ask you to stop bumping your post. All I can say is, glad you aren’t in my graduating class! Also, just keep doing what you are doing, knock the essays out of the park, and remember that even if we give you great chances, the colleges you are looking at are uber selective and holistic in admissions, so it’s beyond us whether you’d get in or not. Follow @doorrealthe ‘s advice though, it’s very sound. GL!
@DJCURRYBEATS19 Thank you! And haha sorry about all the bumping. I didn’t take into consideration how I was just a rising junior. Thank you for your advice
@needtosucceed27 WOW! This is incredible! You seem like you’re super passionate about everything you do. Also, I’m really fascinated by some of the ECs you do. Can I PM you about them? I’m a rising junior too, from MO btw.
The only suggestion I would probably say for you is to narrow your focus onto what you’re truly passionate about and want to pursue as a career. You seem to be really well-rounded in your activities, but I am having some difficulty figuring out your future career passions. But regardless, you are Ivy League caliber!!
@needtosucceed27 BTW, this is slightly off topic from this discussion, but are you considering the Penn Jerome Fisher M & T program? It seems like it might be a good fit for you, and you are definitely in that caliber…
Be careful with contact with strangers over the internet. The prior poster joined, posted exactly enough messages to send/receive PMs and is now soliciting minors to “network”. Whether this person is selling something, trying to make inappropriate contact with minors or an innocent person just giving the appearance of being skeezy, that demonstrates the risks of the internet.
