<p>Alot of summer programs I know; I might cut them down along the way. </p>
<p>Ethnicity: Asian
Household income: ~ $150k
State: California</p>
<p>Objective:
SAT: 2210 (I will be retaking December, and any applications with deadline later than Jan should get a better score)
UW GPA: 3.8</p>
<p>No SAT 2s.</p>
<p>APs: AP Macroeconomics, AP Microeconomics, AP Statistics, AP Calculus BC, AP Physics C Mechanics, </p>
<p>Subjective:</p>
<p>Ec’s:
Tennis (3 years) I suck, our school sucks, I think I count as Varsity.
Community service music group - 3 years (Founder and President all 3 years)
Yearbook - 2 years (Section Editor 1 year)
MUN - 2 years (Secretary)
Economics Team - 1 year (Founder and President)</p>
<p>Summers:
Foundation for Economic Education Summer Program (1 Summer)
HOBY (1 summer)
Forex company intern (1 summers)</p>
<p>Please chance me…I just want to absolutely be able to get into one of the programs.</p>
<p>I think you have a good chance at the Notre Dame Leadership Seminars. My daughter went last summer and absolutely loved it. The Science tract is the most competitive, but you could have a good chance at it.</p>
@FigLeaves, do you mind elaborating on what you said about Launch and LBW? As in, since you have an idea of what ECs are weak and not weak, what kind of activities would you say would significantly increase my chances at Launch and LBW? I would also appreciate it if you could share a list of some of your ECs, since I am genuinely interested in what the average accepted applicant is like. Here are my ECs that might help for the application to Launch and LBW:
DECA: public relations officer
Developed and published an Android app which got 800+ downloads (I also talkd about the process, including monetization, marketing, making a press kit, etc.)
President of a student volunteer group
I mainly focused on these three because i felt they would be most advantageous for applying to a business program. What are your thoughts?
@potatoz The app is what you have going for you imo. It seems like everyone in my session was the president or something like that of their FBLA/DECA chapter. I was one of the few people NOT involved in that - and that was because no one in my area of the Midwest has heard of either of those things. As far as my ECs, and ECs of other people at Launch we had: Published authors (selling 10,000+ copies), app developers (some with over a million downloads), ISEF award winners, AIME champions, people who ran their own start-ups (music platform supported by some of the largest artists, Bitcoin services, political awareness apps). One person’s start-up generated revenue in the 100s of thousands of dollars and he had a higher income than his parents. Basically, almost everyone was very talented in at least one area - not necessarily related to business, but everyone had a passion for business.
It’s an advantage that you are an app developer. It’s an advantage that you’ve developed and published an app. It MIGHT be disadvantageous that it only has gotten 800+ downloads.
@FigLeaves Thanks for the thorough response! It really helps to know what last year’s students were like. The RD deadline is in Feb so there is still some time to improve the application.
Since the android app would be helpful to my application, I’m thinking I should emphasize that EC and the skills I learned in the process. Do you think I should use this as the topic for my 1 minute video (Launch, not LBW), and then in the activities (written) section just give a brief summary, something like “I’ve developed and published an app”, without going into much detail? The reason I ask is because I want to make this EC look really good but not repeat it in many different parts of the application or else the admissions officers might get tired of hearing it and it’ll across as bragging. I have a feeling the video is more important than the “activities involvement” list.
@potatoz We didn’t do videos last year, so its hard for me to make a call on that (I don’t even know what the videos are supposed to be about). But being that they are only one minute long, I can tell you that they want to see how effectively and thoroughly you can explain your ideas etc. in a short time frame as a big part of the program revolves around the elevator pitch. Imo, saying “I’ve developed and published an app” is extremely vague - they will want to know everything about the app. I remembered talking to the person who runs the program and was surprised about how involved they were in the process - they researched every little bit of our activities (downloading apps if someone created them etc.).
@FigLeaves Well, I was thinking in my activities involvement form, I’ll just say “I develop Android apps”. In my video I I’ll focus on one specific app I made (utility app). That’s where I go into detail, and also mention the name of the app to prove it’s real. How does that sound?
Also, if they research our activities, isn’t it strange if I provide a link to every single app I made? (that might be a little overwhelming to list in the activities section…) Instead, one possibility is, since I’m talking about my Android app in the video, they will know the name of the app after watching it, and they can search it up themselves if they want to and see all of the apps I made in my developer profile. How does that sound?
@potatoz Imo you could go either way, either naming them and no link, or links for all of them. I would make sure you could find your apps through just googling the name though.
@Seneca17 Not sure about the first session companies (I was in second session), but I know one of the companies, UScan, got a hefty investment from an angel investor.
For second session, Astute is progressing well (making deals), LandMe is up and running. The rest are still in development or testing phase. The full list of companies is on the Launch website.
@amnesiac99 I would actually characterize the people at Launch differently - meaning they all had clear, developed passions and not necessarily the GPAs and grades etc. You’re right when you mention that entrepreneurship is all about taking initiative - execution is everything. Most of the people in my session had already created successful companies before even going to the program, so you definitely do not need the program. Think of Launch as more of a way to meet potential co-founders and a way of receiving some guidance along the way. Still apply, and see what happens - many of the people in my session (which was much more selective), had less than perfect GPAs, but their entrepreneurial experience/passion contributed to them getting in. As far as other entrepreneurship programs, I would argue that as of right now, the rest aren’t even worthwhile. But that’s just me. You don’t need a program to learn how to become an entrepreneur - there’s tons of information on the web that can help you get started. That’s the route I took with my businesses.
I find it really surprising that most people had already created successful companies before attending Launch…it’s impressive enough for teens to even start their own companies, let alone make them successful. If this is the case, Launch (and Endevvr too) will be extremely tough to get into. I haven’t started a company and have very little entrepreneurial experience, but I hope creating several Android apps will help show my passion for something, since the process taught me a lot of things relevant to entrepreneurship like marketing and sales. Do you think I would stand a chance if I apply this year, or will my lack of experience starting a company severely lower my chances?
@potatoz I think you have a good shot because you have experience with creating apps - something that was much needed last year. There were some people with no entrepreneurial experience but who were very good coders who got in. So by saying you even know some basic marketing and sales that would put you at an advantage.
@FigLeaves Thanks, that’s a very interesting piece of information…
In that case, it sounds like my deciding factor will be how well I can demonstrate my coding skills.
If I made a desktop game (it’s on steam), and it received ~1350 downloads; do you think it would be okay to mention this instead of my Android app? This one has been slightly more successful than the app, it received several nice user reviews, and overall I think it’s a much more impressive example of my programming skill & experience. What are you thoughts on me focusing on this in my application instead of the Android app? I’m just not sure if when you said “creating apps” you were talking only about non-game mobile apps and you think that games won’t give me the same advantage in the application.
@potatoz I would mention both tbh. The coders in my session had all made multiple apps. One of them only made games, so games are not an issue. I think the game would convey your coding skills, and your other app would prove that you can apply your skills to other areas too. But then again, I’m by no means an expert at this sort of thing
@FigLeaves Thanks for the suggestion. It’s super helpful to hear advice from someone who’s gone through the whole application process before.
I have a few last-minute questions before I start to apply…I won’t bother you with too many more questions.
(1) What is the role of the interview in the application process? Do they interview a select group of strong applicants to decide the final admits, in which case it is a make-or-break type of thing, or is it just an extra factor of the application which a large portion of applicants are given the opportunity to do?
(2) How was the interview experience for you? Was the interviewer familiar with your written application and ready to ask questions specifically about what you wrote, or did they just use generic interview questions not really relevant to the rest of your application? About how long was it?
(3) Assuming I incorporate all of your suggestions into my application and don’t really add much els-e other than the activities I’ve already listed on this thread, what do you think are my chances of getting the interview, and then getting accepted? (The reason I ask is because I have a really busy schedule right now, and I know MIT Launch is really competitive, so if my chances are < 40% it might not be worth my time to apply. I’m going for regular round)
@potatoz Last year the “finalists” were the ones who interviewed - so being interviewed meant that you were pretty close to admission. It might be different this year. Yes the interviewer knew just about every little detail about my application and asked specific questions. The interviewer also asked some other generic interview questions. As for length, I can’t really remember, but it was definitely less than an hour (so shorter than my interviews that I’ve been having for college). As for your chances, I honestly have no idea, I would say maybe 50/50 because they really do love coders. That being said, this year’s applicant pool is supposed to be tougher than last year’s. Either way, I would give it a shot. I was in a similar situation last year - I applied to three summer programs that were tough to get into. I wasn’t sure that I would get into any of them, but I still applied and ended up getting accepted to all three (too bad it isn’t working that way so far with colleges haha).
And don’t worry about asking too many questions, I’d be happy to answer them!
@FigLeaves Thanks! Last year, how long after the application deadline did you get your notification about an interview? Also, for those who aren’t chosen for the interview, are they given an outright rejection email at the time others get interview emails, or will they just not hear any updates until the day they’re supposed to release final results?
@potatoz Was notified for the interview March 7th, and accepted about a week later. I believe rejections are sent out later (the day when they are supposed to release the final results).
