PLEASE CHANCE ME
Objective:
SAT N/A
SAT II: Math 2:800, bio: 730
ACT (breakdown):33 and 34 superscored (35E, 33M, 34R, 33S)
unweighted GPA (out of 100%) Grade 9: 84% || Grade 10: 90% || Grade 11: 92.6% || Grade 12 first term: 95.3%
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): top 5% out 200
AP (place score in parenthesis): Can only take three AP’s which must be done in senior year. I am taking all the AP’s
Senior Year Course Load: heavy-ish. I had to have a spare because my school couldnt let me do any other subjects because my course load was too rigourous and they were was only one slot for each one that no other course lined up.
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.):
1st Place, Ontario & National Destination Imagination - Engineering Category (National and Regional)
1st Place, Many Faces of Markham Art Competition- Regional
1st Place, St. Michaels Battle of the Bards Poetry Contest (School)
Basilian Book Award (for average > 90%)(School)
Dr. Stephen Lazarovits Poetry Award (student with greatest contribution to poetry) (School)
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis):
Activities
Internship
Medical Intern, Einstein Hospital, Philadelphia
Sole applicant selected to attend JKCP at UPenn; observed transplants, amputations etc; learned suturing techniques from surgeons.
Environmental
Co-President, SMCS Green Initiative
Raised $8K+ to install 8 efficient water fountains; saved 10K+ plastic bottles from being recycled; reconstituted official school recycling policy.
Student Govt./Politics
Senior Prefect, St. Michaels College School
1 of 8 Senior Prefects out of 200+ students; manage schl events, open houses, homecoming; spearheaded school food bank;provided tours to 50+ families.
Career Oriented
Surgical Volunteer, Markham Stouffville Hospital
Selected from 100+ volunteers to work in Surgical Admin; assisted approx. 250+ patients; work directly with nurses to understand post-surgical care.
Other Club/Activity
Founder, JJC University Prep
Provide stand. test prep to underprivileged kids; recruited 7 tutors, currently 30 students; delivered 5 info forums for parents in region.
Work (Paid)
Counsellor, York District School Board
Worked with a child with severe disabilities;enhanced motor skills via lego based act.,and mobility via a walker;integrated her into camp social life.
Student Govt./Politics
Student Participant, Ontario Legislative Assembly
One of 45 selected from 1000+ students across Canada; collaborated with MPs to draft mock bills; represented my region in workshops and debates.
Other Club/Activity
York Youth Leadership Development Council
Launched 7 events for youth (STEM & Mental Health Conferences);recruited 10 members for council; worked with youth to develop leadership skills.
Internship
Architect Intern, NORR
Compiled research on local spaces for architecture projects; assisted in the design of patient care tower, including internal amenities (library)
Science/Math
Co-President, SMCS Destination Imagination
First place in Ontario, Engineering Division (2018); lead meetings, progress checks and competition drills.
Essays (rating 1-10, details): Common App (9/10).
Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):
Teacher Rec #1: (10/10) - I read it and he says I was his best students even after teaching uni
Teacher Rec #2: (10/10) - Its my math teacher and he showed me. It says I was the best student in his 15 years of teaching.
Counselor Rec: (10/10) - she is nervous for my result and we know each other really well.
Interview: went well… said I was the most impressive candidate in his 10yrs of interviewing
Other
Applied for Financial Aid?: No
Intended Major and College: CAS and Biology
State (if domestic applicant): Canada
School Type: Public
Ethnicity: Sri Lankan
Gender: Male
Income Bracket: 100K for 5 people
Hooks: I am conducting research with a university professor at UofT and that is something no other person in Toronto can do because professors here don’t allow high school students in the labs, but I guess I slipped through. I will basically be a coder like the other graduate students.
Supplement essay (I’m not a fan of it, but my teachers say its good):
Arts and Sciences Response
Houses came and went. It became second nature to keep my clothes in a box, rather than displaying them in my closet. My dad needed to support our family and if that entailed not having a constant, then so be it. But this instability forced me to search for stability beyond my circumstances, and I found it in biology.
As we traveled, I always stopped at the nearest bookstore and sat there with my mother. I would skip past the Judy Bloom books and jaunt towards the “Life Sciences” section. Reading about mitosis enthralled me as an 11-year-old. Although I couldn’t fully grasp the nuances in all of the processes I was reading about, my mother would catch me glancing down at my hands marveling at all the cells that were dividing at that moment.
Now reading about cell division or neuroglia and Schwann cells is like breathing, vital and instinctive. I love biology for the frameworks it has provided me to view my life through. No longer do I just look at the outward appearance of a matter, but the mechanisms that must go into each reaction, motion, and sensory that we experience; a common cold is no longer a sore throat, but a war waged between leukocytes and foreign antibodies. However, as I progressed throughout high school, I realized that my academic desires extended beyond concrete sciences.
In a world where babies can be genetically engineered, I’ve come to understand that there must be ethical limitations to certain biological processes, and as such, I have become engrossed in philosophy. I believe that by studying it, I may begin to help provide answers to the questions left behind by our biological advances.
For me, the study of one necessitates the study of the other, and it is the search for a balance between both disciplines that pushes me to continually delve beyond a textbook.
However, these subjects alone will not suffice. As a sentient being, I am constantly growing and wanting to explore. While my internship at Einstein Hospital opened me up to the medical and bioethics field, it was just a taste. I aspire to deepen my intellectual prowess, and my education at Cornell’s College of Arts and Sciences would allow me to do so.
The more reading, researching, and talking I’ve done about Cornell, the more I feel like it is a school ideally built to influence students towards more interdisciplinary and multifaceted academic points of view. While I will be majoring in biological sciences and striving to gain a coveted spot in the Biology Scholars Program, the broad liberal arts education – provided to every Cornellian- will allow me to take advantage of many other departments. I’d be able to attend some classes that speak to my passion for art, diverge from my primary interest in biology, and learn from different and well-respected faculties, such as Stan Taft -whose artwork has inspired my own unique palette knife based style. I could pursue my affinity for languages by taking Japanese literature, or enhance my means for helping this earth by diving into my Environmental and Sustainability Sciences course. My intellectual desires are not bound, and I plan on using this depth, breath, and flexibility present on Cornell’s campus to become well versed in a plethora of disciplines, as opposed to adhering to a typical STEM course load.
Ultimately, Cornell’s College of Arts and Sciences is where I crave to establish myself in because there is no academic chain linking every student together, and it is this intellectual liberty that will allow me to grow in and beyond the biological field.