Hello! I’ve been procrastinating on researching schools by scrolling thru reddit instead, and I keep trying to resist the urge to post one of these, but…
Demographics:
- HS Junior
- Female
- Chinese-American
- Massachusetts (why r the kids here so sweaty)
- School: Competitive Private
- No hooks (unless if having a violin teacher w/ connections to ivies counts, but there’s no recruiting for musicians
)
Cost Restraints: none
Intended Major(s): Finance/Econ & Stats (Quant. Econ if they offer), potential music minor (but Im not cracked in music so…)
ACT/SAT/SAT II: 1540 (790 M, 750 RW) - I need to retake for an 800 in Math bruh…
UW/W GPA and Rank: 4.0 UW (school doesn’t do weighted or rank, although I was 1/100 in sophomore yr)
Coursework: AP/IB/Dual Enrollment classes, AP/IB scores, etc
Soph. yr: AP Music Theory (5), AP Calc BC (5) - man i’m so glad i didn’t take world
Junior yr: AP Stats, AP CS A, APUSH (the bane of my existence), AP Physics C Mech (lmao), AP Chinese (ABC vibes), AP Lang
Awards (struggling…): 2x 1st Prize at International Music Comp., NMSF, Gold PVSA, Highest GPA in school award, School Music Award (lmao)
Im gonna earn more awards this yr tho, I hope….
Extracurriculars: Include leadership & summer activities
- Violin (10 yrs) - 3x All-States, CM of Districts Orch, CM school orch (all 3 yrs), played solo Carnegie Hall; current rep. is Paganini Violin Concerto 1 (submitting as portfolio), current teach. helps mult. students get into t20s & has connections (i lowk should do more comps :/)
- Orchestra (9-12) - pt of orch w/ college students from juilliard & NEC and high school students, rlly competitive & prestigious, will prob get doxxed, playing w/ Berlin Phil (
) - Internship at Market Research Firm (11) - writes financial research on stock market analysis, earns moneyy
- Co-founder and CEO of Nonprofit 501c3 (11) - spreading awareness of birth defects (esp Neural Tube Defects!!), raised $10k for hospitals, reached 2.5k ppl through community presentations & fundraisers, coverage in news, conferences w/ other orgs, freq. contact w/ CDC professionals (THIS THING DRAINS SO MUCH OF MY TIME AGHHHHH… but i love the amazing ppl i’ve known through this org… i could continue on abt our projects and stuff but it would be longggg), i mainly lead finance, fundraisers, event logistics & marketing, and HR, hosting 5k
- Founder of Classical Music Club (10-11) - raised $2k for music orgs, ~30 members (small school so pretty decent), host concert trips to Symphony Hall, NEC, etc (loads of fun)
- Founder of music class - 7-week course for ~15 students (small school), bonded w/ 200 ppl thru senior center & hospital trips to perform mini concerts; many AMAZING jazz, pop, & classical musicians; hosted all-school music fest that raised $500 for music orgs w/ 250+ attendees and 20+ performers
- Co-founder of Busking Initiative (11) - playing around town to raise money for local music orgs, managing team of 10 student musicians; playing pop, jazz, & classical music
- Leadership Fellowship (～11% acceptance rate) - learning abt civic issues & participating in solvathon
- CAD Dev on Robotics (10-11) - 1.5 hrs daily, designed robot intake w/ CAD software, 3D printing master
- School newspaper news editor (10-11) - write articles monthly, oversees 8 articles per month for submission
- Leader of Volunteer Club (10-11) - clothing drives, card drives, etc. (i’m getting lazy)
- Sports: Varsity Crew (coxswain
cuz i’m short as f*), JV Soccer
Last Summer:
- KWK Data Science Scholar
- Small math camp
- Orch tour
Upcoming summer:
- Research w/ econ prof or intern w/ data scientist
- Might do BofA Student Leaders but 99% chance may not get in
My ecs are sorta scattered so I would also appreciate tips to strengthen my ecs! I also feel like there isn’t rlly a clear theme except music & volunteering/service so I want to try doing more competitions in econ to help explore my interests in the field. (i spent a lot of time on violin so :/)
Schools: List of colleges, ED/EA/RD, etc
This list is not final bc of my superficial knowledge tainted w/ Reddit, college reaction vids, 30 min of college counseling, & kdramas. I will do my research but I would also appreciate some recommendations 
Safety/Likely: UMass Amherst (more recs plz)
Target: Wake Forest (?), Mt Holyoke, Providence College, Babson, Hobart & William Smith
Reach: Boston College, USC, Rice
High Reach: Northwestern (?), NYU Stern, UMich Ross, Uni Chicago, Some Ivies (maybe Columbia, but i don’t want to apply to all the ivies)
Ultimate dream : UPenn Wharton (ED)
In terms of what I want in a college:
-
Research opps for undergrads; PLENTIFUL intern opps and alumni connections
-
Music program
-
Generally flexible curriculum
-
Suburban town life! (Williams College is not it i’m sorry)
-
Econ/finance as a top major
-
Food hopefully good?