Demographics
- US domestic (Maryland)
- Public high school but in selective Humanities magnet program
- Upper middle class; white female
- Junior (class of 2025)
Intended Majors/Considering
Big focus on creative writing and political science/advocacy. Open to general English, Journalism, or Filmmaking as well.
GPA, Rank, & Test Scores
- 4.0 UW, 4.87 W (as of last year)
- No class rank available
- 1410 SAT (760 verbal, 650 math), but intending on retaking and hoping to break 1500
AP Coursework
- Many classes are taken up by my required magnet classes (examples include Film, Journalism, Research Methods, etc)
- Stopped Spanish after sophomore year because I was in a Spanish immersion program from K-5, which allowed me to take AP Spanish and get my Seal of Biliteracy in 10th grade
- School has an all-honors system, so all classes that are not APs are honors
- Sophomore year: AP Spanish Language (5 on exam) and AP Gov (5 on exam)
- Junior year: AP World History, AP Lang, AP Comp Sci, AP Bio
- Senior year (intended classes): AP Stat, AP Lit, AP Human Geo, AP Psych, either a community college course or another AP
Awards
Filmmaking
- C-SPAN StudentCam Competition (2nd and 3rd place in two respective years) - this is an international documentary competition, submitted two documentaries related to women’s rights advocacy
- Maryland National History Day Competition (1st place) - submitted in the documentary category and got to the national level, submitted documentary about intersection between abolitionists and suffragettes
- Official Selection for the All-American High School Film Festival (x2) - submitted the documentaries from C-SPAN
- Official Selection for the Boston International Kids Film Festival
Creative Writing
- Interlochen Arts Camp Fine Arts Award for Creative Writing
- Finalist for Interlochen Arts Camp Collage Presentation (big televised show attended by thousands)
- Honorable mention in Bluefire 1,000 Word Short Story Contest
- Local book festival high school poetry contest (2nd place)
- Entered a ton of other contests recently that I’m waiting to hear back from
Language
- Seal of Biliteracy (English & Spanish)
Extracurriculars
- Local government internship (1 semester) - interned in local government commission, gained lots of valuable experience in lobbying & advocacy, worked with Human Trafficking Committee specifically
- Interlochen Summer Camp for the Arts (1 summer) - did 4 week creative writing program, got awards and honors
- Literary magazine (4 years) - started out as an assistant, now the literary editor, will probably be the editor in chief next year
- Tutoring non-profit (2 years) - co-founded and co-lead organization that helps equalize magnet program admissions by tutoring ESOL & under-priveleged elementary school students
- Writing non-profit (2 years) - founded school branch and have international leadership role in non-profit that uses creative writing as a tool towards social justice
- Young Democrats (4 years) - became co-president in sophomore year, have been president in the past few years. Lots of advocacy and lobbying comes with that
- Musical theater (3 years) - lead roles in 3 years of musicals
- Going to do more internships/programs before application season: probably an international relations/political science research program at a university, another creative writing summer program, and some sort of other government internship during the summer
Cost Constraints/Budget
- Definitely not getting need-based financial aid, will try to get merit-based financial aid/outside scholarships
- Can probably pay for most colleges due to a wealthy relative, but nothing’s certain
College Likes
- New England/east coast preferred
- College town vibes (visited and loved the Brown/Providence area) w/ coffee shops, little bookstores, the works
- I also love the city (NYC, DC, etc) but I think it can be slightly overwhelming
- Small to mid-sized Liberal Arts Colleges preferred
- Women’s colleges are fine, but would prefer unisex
- Small class sizes/opportunities to get to know professors
- Open curriculum!!! (or flexible curriculum, not sure what other options are out there)
- Opportunities for advocacy/political internships
- Good writing classes
- Good school newspapers/lit mags
- Creative and liberal student body
College Dislikes
- Intense sports culture
- Intense drinking/partying culture
- Lots of Greek life
- Super outdoorsy
- Not diverse
- Elitist/uber-wealthy student body
Right now I’m very interested in Brown (planning on applying there ED). Also interested in Amherst, Kenyon, Hamilton, Bennington, and Emory. But obviously don’t want to put all my eggs in one basket, so I would love to hear other schools that people think could be a good fit for me! 