Aight so basically I’m a senior rn with a 3.97uw, 4.27w (only B was second semester spanish II). No rank but class of 220 and I’d guess I’m in top 5-10. Not reporting any test scores cause no (good) ACT due to my family being paranoid about the rona. Plus it costs money to send scores so I probably wouldn’t have sent anyway.
Demographics: White, male, suburb public school (Ohio) ranked around 450 in the nation. My dad has an associates and my mom has no degree (homemaker) so I think I’m first gen? Family is lower middle class.
10 AP classes… AP comp sci (5) apush (4) chem (4) physics 1 (5) US gov (2 cause garbage online exam… not reporting). Taking stats, calc ab, physics 2, comp gov, and psych senior year. Plenty of honors classes as well… pretty much took hardest classes I could except in English.
Intended major: Physics/chemistry? Put down physics for MIT only and chem for all others… but I’m still not sure.
Awards: errr nothing spectacular. AP Scholar w/honors, Outstanding science student award from my school, and ofc honors roll (academic letter)
In terms of ECs… pretty not so good. I have orchestra (9th only), recreational biking (A LOT 9-12), Science Olympiad (11-12… we could have made state but got cancelled due to rona), NHS (my schools NHS actually does stuff… volunteered to clean up local parks and help w/local events), and I taught myself guitar after I quit orchestra (10-12). I also did quite a few science projects which my guidance counselor will probably allude to in her LOR… capturing images from NOAA satellites, built my own HV power supply, astrophotography, etc (wrote about some of these in my essays… not really an activity I could list). No jobs or anything. Since MIT limits to 4 activities I said biking, nhs, scioly, and guitar.
Common app essay: Wrote about tinkering with electronics including lego robotics kits to micro controllers and comp sci, then progressed into talking about my mom’s radioiodine treatment that got me interested in nuclear physics where I then talked about how I built a geiger counter and just knew that I wanted to do something involving nuclear science for a career. I thought the essay was a 9/10 and pretty unique… my English teacher liked it.
MIT Essays: wrote about being agnostic in a christian family for my culture essay… pretty common response to that essay I’d say so probably not the best.
Where you come from essay: I talked about asking lots of questions when I was young and my family would encourage my curiosity. Worst essay imo.
Why major in physics? I wrote about how physics is the root of all science and you kinda need to know physics to fully understand chemistry and other sciences… important to know for all sciences.
What you like to do for fun essay: talked about building electronic projects… oscilloscope from an old crt TV and how I’d make videos and upload them to youtube so that I could help others working on similar projects.
Community essay: Wrote about how I supported a friend while he was going through a dark time… I’m omitting details for privacy. Focused on how important friends are.
Something that didn’t go according to plan: I got home to see my mom on the phone crying, my uncle had a stroke. That day did not go according to plan… really drove home my humanity in that essay.
Additional information: Trimmed down common app with redundancy removed.
COVID essay: Wrote about how I applied for an internship (research and shadowing) at the Cleveland Clinic but it got cancelled due to covid. Was really upset about this ;(
LORs: No clue since I waived my right to see them. One from APUSH teacher I barely knew (my gov teacher is out due to covid and couldn’t write one ;( ) Another from Physics teacher… one of his best students. One from my comp sci/calc teacher who really likes me… didn’t submit this one to MIT though cause I’m a dummy. Guidance counselor one should be decent… met with her multiple times (more than my friends who applied to Harvard!)
Schools (EA/rolling): University of Akron (already accepted kekw), Kent State, Miami (Ohio), THE Ohio State University, Case Western, and MIT.
Schools (RD): Caltech (maybe? not sure if I should even apply) and UPenn (once again not sure if I’m even gonna apply to these schools)
I’m most concerned with getting into CWRU. I showed a ton of interest… interview, high school virtual visit, and attended quite a few webinars. I’m really hoping I get into Case (would’ve EDed if my family had that kind of financial security) and I’m pretty sure I have almost no chance at MIT based on my ECs (it seems everyone who gets in there has some really good EC with actual structure). Ya’ll probably think I’m dumb for even applying to MIT lmao. So chance me on my reaches and osu I guess. Any chances are appreciated, brutal as they will be. Interested to see what you guys think about CWRU! Should I bother with caltech or Upenn? Thanks <3