Low income (36k), Asian male, 1st-gen college student, Elite public NYC high school
Early school: Cornell ILR, Northeastern, SUNY Binghamton
Academics
GPA: 89.6 (93.5 in senior year thus far)
SAT: 1580, PSAT: 1500
AP Bio: 5, APUSH: 5 (self-studied)
Honors/Awards
National Merit Semifinalist (12th grade)
NYSSMA Level 6 Score: 99 (10th grade)
National Spanish Exam Level 3 Bronze Medal (10th grade)
Extracurriculars
Pub Sec of Ethics Bowl (2019 - Present)
- Discussed 15 hypothetical ethical cases weekly
- Took notes from various perspectives on cases and recruited new members
Founder/President of School’s Rubik’s Cube Club (2018 - Present)
- Can solve Rubik’s Cube in under 15 seconds
- Taught beginners how to solve the Rubik’s Cube, taught more advanced techniques to intermediate solvers, raised funds through school luncheons/petitioning the PTA, held school-wide competitions
Member of TASC (2018 - Present)
- A nonprofit charity organization that raises money using interesting community events
- Helped organize a 3v3 basketball tournament and art gallery, raised ~$500 in each
- Participated in beach cleanups and created online video lessons
Writer for The Point Magazine (2018-Present)
- Held weekly meetings, wrote pieces for magazine regarding sports/politics
Music Producing/Audio Engineering (2017-Present)
- Learned how to use music creation software, composition, music theory
- Posted instrumentals on Youtube/Soundcloud, music used on Youtube channel w/150k subs
Bassist For church Youth Group (2016-Present)
- Played bass for church youth group, learned using Youtube videos
Cello (2014- Present)
- Participated in school groups (Jr. Orchestra, Strings, Chamber)
- 1st stand 11-12th grade
- NYSSMA Level 6 Certification
Kendo (2017- 2018)
- 1st black belt, mentored younger students
Internships/Jobs
Tutoring Job (10th-grade summer)
- Tutored elementary school kid over the summer in English and math
- Selected books for her to read, taught her new vocabulary
Minkwon Center YEP (9th-grade summer)
- Minkwon Center: advocacy group for Asian Americans and immigrants.
- Learned about the history of Asian American immigrants, and advocated for/collected signatures for bills supporting immigrants i.e. Greenlight bill
Essays
-
Common App: About how I grew as a person while creating the Rubik’s Cube Club (8/10)
-
Cornell supp about how I want to become an NBA GM (9/10) (all these are my estimates so plz take with a grain of salt)
So yeah I can’t change anything now so let me know what you think I guess. Helps pass the time until decisions.
The GPA is the only thing a bit low, from what I understand but I’m not here to chance you because I truly have no idea. To me, you look fantastic. I’m just happy to see a speedcuber! My son is in the Netflix cubing movie a few times (just in passing) because we were at World’s when they were filming it. The hardest thing about cubing is finding other people who will do it with you - my kid (8th grade where cubing is def. not cool) is really suffering without comps to go to. You’re going to do amazing things, somewhere! (Also, I believe Stanford only looks at grades for 11 and 12, something to keep in mind if you don’t end up at Cornell.)
Before I chance you, Stuy or bronx sci?
Thanks for the kind words. I’m really flattered that you think I have a chance at Stanford. Yeah, the Rubik’s cube has been my biggest passion project throughout middle and high school. It’s been something I’ve genuinely enjoyed making a club for. I just hope I can get in ED so I can get this over with.
1 Like
Neither. Don’t wanna reveal my school explicitly and have other people recognize me, so let’s just say a pretty small school on the Upper East Side.
That is fine, but i hope you could understand that when somebody says elite nyc public they usually mean Brooklyn tech, stuy, or bronx sci.
The non-specialized one. I hope you understand which one that is.
I see what you mean. Obviously this year that kind of SAT will definitely help you(I also got a 1580 :p) Merit finalist is also great to have if you got that news in time to include in apps.
Your Gpa is a bit weak but is not horrific. It will definitely be at least in part compensated by the uptick in Senior year and your sat score.
Your main EC that has anything to do with your intended major(ILR since only one major in the ilr school) is clearly the ethics bowl. You are a new york state resident applying to ilr which will most certainly help you in admissions as well as give a reduced tuition price.
I think that if your recs and essays were strong then you would get in ed. Your extracurriculars could have been a bit more involved with your intended major but I dont think that will stop you from getting in. If anything it would be the grades but I still think you have a very good shot.
As long as you can really justify your reasons for why you want to go into ILR you may have a good shot. Cornell is need blind so they don’t know you need money so if you get in, make sure you’re prepared to pay if you don’t get enough financial aid.
If your essays only talked about “I want to go into ILR because I want a job in front offices in sports teams” or the employment opportunities, I would be really worried as well as because it is easy to maintain a good GPA there. Competition this year is really stiff and a great test score and low GPA may not be enough. First generation may be your best hook to getting in.
I applied as well but am out of state and applied for engineering. You can find my post about my stats elsewhere. Feel free to pm me for more info.