Decision: Deferred
OBJECTIVE:
SAT I (breakdown): 1540 Composite, highest categories are 790 CR+W on one test and 800 M on another test (submitted two tests with highest categories and composite)
ACT (breakdown): 36C - 36E/35M/36R/36S (submitted)
SAT II: 800 Math II, 710 Physics
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.8/4 (oof)
Weighted GPA: 4.47/4
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): Top 5%
AP (place score in parenthesis):
Freshman - Environmental Science (self-study, 4), Psychology (self-study, 5), Human Geography (self-study, 5)
Sophomore - Comparative Government (self-study, 5), Macroeconomics (self-study, 4), Microeconomics (self-study, 4), Computer Science A (5), European History (4)
Junior - Physics 1 (4), Physics C Mech (self-study, 4), French (self-study, 3), Calculus BC (4 with AB subscore of 4), Statistics (5), US History (4), English Language (4)
Senior Year Course Load:
Major Awards (intl/major natl e.g. Olympiad, ISEF): highly ranked international mock trial awards as a lawyer (GLADIATOR 1-on-1 World Championship and Empire World Championship), national mock trial awards as witness
Minor Awards (state/minor natl e.g. NHS, Natl Merit, AP Scholar): Natl Merit commended scholar, Natl AP Scholar
SUBJECTIVE:
Extracurriculars:
- CS Internship at million-dollar international nonprofit that hosts mock trial competitions for high schools and elite colleges like some of the T20s (10, 11, 12)
- Head of Product Development in educational technology startup (11, 12)
- Developing an LGBT positive high-fantasy game, hoping to finish and release in late 2019 (11, 12, I only do the programming, the actual design is by another high schooler)
- Two year captain and four year varsity member of one of the world’s best high school mock trial teams, consecutive top 5s at the world championships, placed top 30 at the individual world championship, qualified for national championship twice (9, 10, 11, 12)
- Make and edit videos for two card game YouTube channels that have gained over 100,000 total views combined (10, 11, 12)
- One year Executive Board Member of Computer Science Club, developing technology to improve school resources and providing weekly STEM discussions (10, 11, 12)
- Model United Nations member, participate in the nation’s second largest Model UN sim every year (10, 11, 12)
- Cast as principal role in school musical, which had local media coverage (11)
- 100+ hours volunteering at local Indian cultural center (9, 10)
- IT internship at local law firm (10, 11, 12)
Essays (rating 1-10, details):
CommonApp - 6.5 - wrote about a card game and how it impacted my viewpoint of school, nothing really standout or good here
Roommate Supplement - 2 or 9 - this was a REALLY risky essay due to the intro and tone that I went with. This essay is either a solid 9 or 10, or a solid 1 or 2
Recommendations (Rating: Outstanding = “best of my career / in many years”; Good = “best of this cohort”; Average; Below-average; Verification: verified = I have seen the rec; somewhat verified = s/he told me this is what s/he wrote, or his/her past rec got me into some internships; unverified = my hunch)
Teacher Rec #1 (rating, verification, details):
Average, verified, Science teacher and mock trial coach, he didn’t write any real superlatives and just did a lot of talk about character traits in and out of the classroom
Teacher Rec #2 (rating, verification, details):
Good, unverified, English teacher, he wrote a rec for a super competitive research opportunity at a T5 and I got into the final round, but he wrote it at the last minute
Counselor Rec (rating, verification, details):
Average, unverified, assistant principal, she also wrote it at the last minute and she usually doesn’t write rec letters, but we have a good relationship
Additional Rec (if any) (rating, verification, details):
Outstanding, verified, president & founder of the nonprofit I work at, REALLY professional, great anecdotal evidence, lots of superlatives
Interview (if any) (rating 1-10, details):
6 - had one pretty rough answer, otherwise good presentation on my end. Guy asked super generic questions and randomly asked me about the classes and professors I planned to learn from. I had good answers for them, but it clearly seemed like he didn’t care about the interview
HARVARD-SPECIFIC QUESTIONS:
On a scale of 1 (absolutely certain) to 5 (very likely to change),
how definite do you consider your academic plans to be?: 3
how definite do you consider your vocational plans to be?: 3
how definite are your extracurricular and/or athletic interests?: 1
Short Question (Elaboration of extracurriculars or work exp): 5, wrote about a murder case I worked on. Was super mediocre
Short Question (Intellectual life): 6, Talked about the AP exams I’ve self-studied and the CS50 MOOC I was taking
Long Question (Unusual circumstances / Travel, living or working exp / Roommate / Intellectual exp / Use of college edu / Books read / Honor Code / Contribution to lives of classmates / Gap year / Diversity: distinctive backgrd or personal dev): Roommate supplement, refer to the “essays” section for my score about it
OTHER:
Applied for Financial Aid?: Y
Intended Major: Computer Science
State (if domestic) / Country (if intl): IL
School Type: Public (avg act right around 24)
Ethnicity: Indian (oof)
Gender: Male (oooof)
Income Bracket: >200k (oooooof)
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): recruitable for mock trial i guess? Otherwise nothing
RELECTIONS
Strengths: Mock trial EC, strong ACT/SAT I score, strong W gpa
Weaknesses: Physics SAT II score, low UW gpa, super risky roommate essay, demographic, likely weak letters of rec
Why you think you were deferred: the GPA was probably the killer of my application since most of my Bs were from STEM classes. That, or the joke I made as my introduction did not make the AOs laugh
Where else do you intend to apply: a bunch of other Ivies/T20s and a few publics that are good for CS. Harvard is still my #1 choice though.
General Comments (if any): Don’t get cocky. Remember that ANYONE can get deferred, including you.