Class of 2017 Decisions Thread (RD)

LemonDragon
Fri, 14 Jun 2013 11:27:50 +0000

Here’s a late one for ya. I promised myself I’d make one of these.

Decision: Accepted

Objective:[ul]
[] SAT I (breakdown): 2280, 770 Math, 720 Reading, 790 Writing
[] ACT: 34
[] SAT II: Math 2 (780), Physics (800)
[] Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.0
[] Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 3/280
[] AP (place score in parenthesis): Calc BC (5), Calc AB subscore (5), World History (5), APUSH (5), Physics C: Mechanics (5), English Comp (5)
[] IB (place score in parenthesis):
[] Senior Year Course Load: AP Lit, AP Chemistry, Anatomy and Physiology, online course: EPGY M52B (multivariable integral calculus), gov and econ
[] Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): National Merit Winner (for apps I just put semifinalist at the time), Eagle scout?, 1st in state FBLA Business Math, 4th in state FBLA personal finance. Those FBLA ones aren’t really major, but they’re what I put under awards on common app. I also put Governor’s school for the sciences[/ul]
Subjective:[ul]
[] Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): 4 yrs varsity soccer, BSA (Senior patrol leader), community service, FBLA, Mock Trial, National Honors society, National english honors society, National Beta Society, science club. The first 5 were by far the most important/time consuming, and that’s reflected on my common app.
[] Job/Work Experience: none
[] Volunteer/Community service: I forget the details, but I think it’s something like 250+ (mostly through BSA)
[] Summer Activities:
2011: NYLF on Medicine, FBLA national Conference
2012: Gov school for the sciences (very competitive- 10% acceptance)
[] Essays: They were pretty decent, although my best essay was for harvard (rejected). I wrote about community service/BSA in one essay and about tutoring+my love of math in another. I also posted one about my family and upbringing (very diverse) and all the counterbalancing influences on my life (liberal household living in conservative state etc.) and how it lead me to have a balanced mindset on most things in life. I’d rate them 8/10. I didn’t spend too much time on them (I did them last second), but I’ll talk down there of something good that I realized in hindsight.
[] Recommendations (rating 1-10, details): I didn’t read the recs but I hear they were pretty good. I got a math and a physics one, they were probably 9/10 recs though because both teachers thought I was like the greatest or one of the greatest students they had ever had.[list]
[li] Counselor Rec: I honestly have no idea. It was probably decent but not the best, like a 6 or a 7. I didn’t really know my counselor that well, but I guess I knew her better than most.[/li][] Additional Rec: none[/ul]
[li] Interview: none[/list] [/li]
Other[ul]
[] State (if domestic applicant): TN
[] School Type:Public
[] Ethnicity:north African/middle eastern
[] Gender:M
[] Income Bracket:200,000+
[] Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.):no hooks[/ul]

Reflection[ul]
[] Strengths:essays were pretty good as I said. They didn’t seem like my best essays ever though, which if you are going to write college essays they might as well be your best ever. Start early on them and take your time to revisit them. Don’t view writing them as a chore but rather as something that you really want to do. In hindsight I realized that I had written about my academic passions: about how I love the elegance of mathematics and how I had a fascination with understanding the core principles of the universe, and since I’m majoring in physics that was good for me to do. make sure that in at least one of your essays you talk about your academic passions in some way. Also, being in a public school in TN helped probably a ton. I took advantage of nearly every academic opportunity- taking all the ap classes offered except ap studio art, and I pushed myself to go forward in math beyond everyone else in those public schools- I was never afraid and took calc bc as a sophmore. Only 1 other kid in that public school made 5s on all his aps. I recommend that you too get mostly 5s and 4s on aps otherwise maybe applying to stanford isn’t the best idea, as ap classes are probably the best indicator of collegiate success. My test scores (sats/act) were good enough. once you’re above 2150/33 It really doesn’t matter what you get. I knew this so I wasn’t worried about my standardized test scores. On your sat 2s though make sure you do really good. the 780 on math 2 was disappointing but that’s because I procrastinated till the last second before studying- so don’t do that. By contrast I literally learned about 60% of the physics SAT 2 content in the month prior- studying for a month- and completely knocked that test out of the park. I just used a princeton review book to teach me the material and a lot of paper/pens. good ecs are very important- pick a few and go all the way with them. I did boy scouts, varsity soccer (huge time, physical,mental commitment. 15 hours a week of solid practice/training for 10 months out of the year- by far the hardest thing about highschool for me), FBLA, and Mock Trial were my main ones, although we didn’t go far in mock trial and I never won anything national with FBLA.
[] Weaknesses: counselor rec? Essays could have been better, but maybe a more natural/less edited approach ended up better? I’m honestly not sure- just write about a passion of yours somewhere in your apps. 780 on Math 2 is pretty bad (I think over 10% make an 800 in case you didn’t know- it isn’t as hard as the normal SAT math section to make an 800). only 7 aps, but then again that’s all that was offered (except for studio art)
[] Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: Essays and luck. Even though I know my essays could have been better- they really do make all the difference- also the short answers on the supplement app were very important- just like the essays.
[] Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected: Accepted: UCLA, UCSB, UC berkeley Rejected: Harvard, MIT[/ul]

**General Comments: I got in to my #1 choice, so that’s awesome. Initially it was MIT, but honestly I wasn’t even sad or surprised I didn’t get in. Over time I grew to love stanford even more- you too should be willing to change your own perceptions. Be a little bit realistic with your aps and realize that applying to stanford is a total crapshoot even with perfect applications. Just take it easy with your apps and apply early. Make sure you get your safety schools in. Also about 3 of my colleges did not get a complete app due to counseling mistakes- so make sure that doesn’t happen to you. You’re primary academic focus should be on AP/IB classes and 2-3 really good ECs+community service.

MOST OF ALL HAVE FUN and realize that worrying constantly over your apps will only make you feel bad and will actually probably make your apps worse. Just take it lightly and with an open mind ready and willing for failure!!! I honestly was fully prepared to not get accepted to my reach schools and that is perfectly ok. Just get up and make a first draft of an essay. **