I hate to do this... but please chance me.

econometrician
Sun, 16 Dec 2018 23:56:30 +0000

School: Selective NY public school.
Demographics: Asian male. No hooks.

Objective:
GPA: 95.5/99 UW (Not very strong overall, but strong upward trend in 10th and 11th grades.)
SAT: 1570 (770 Eng/800 Math)
SAT II: Physics, USH, Math II, World History (All 800)
AP: Macro, Micro, BC Calc, Stats, USH (All 5s, all taken in 11th grade)

Course load: Hardest possible: College classes in multivariable calculus, development economics, French history, econometrics. In-school classes: AP Physics, AP CS, honors English, International Relations (has a reputation as a hard elective).

Awards:
National Economics Challenge: Led team to finals (Top 4 teams nationally) for the last 2 years.
Quiz Bowl, US Geography Olympiad, History Bowl: Top 20 in all of them nationally.

Summer Activities:
Paid Museum Internship (Also work here during school year): Original research/curation + guided tours for history museum.
Research Internship 1 (12th grade summer): Worked w/ Ivy League professor on education economics & signalling using discrete choice regression.
Research internship 2 (11th grade summer): Worked w/ large state school professor on stochastic processes & use in optimization problems.

Other ECs:
Columbia Science Honors Program (Saturday classes at Columbia University on graph theory, data science, probability)
Editor at in-school opinions magazine (Minor essay competition awards, but nothing notable)
Intern for NYC Mayor’s Office (Working in Data Analytics. Aligns well w/ my interests, but only started this year, so not sure how much it counts.)
Volunteering at local library, helped pioneer tutoring and financial literacy program there.

Essays:
Common App: 7/10. Wrote about museums, talked about how my curiosity corresponds with teaching others, and wove in stuff about my ambitions in terms of international development, but nothing unique.
Why Duke: 10/10. Love it, unique format, got great feedback, very specific.
Community/Identity Supp: 7.5/10. Wrote about being an atheist and how that motivates me to have an impact.

Recs:
Counselor Rec: 7.5/10 Decently close with him, nothing fabulous.
Teacher Rec 1: Economics teacher. 10/10. I was one of only 2 students to receive an A+ last year.
Teacher Rec 2: Math teacher. 7/10. She liked me but I didn’t know her that well.
Supplemental Rec: 8/10. From supervisor at the museum. Brought out more of my personality & how I work with others.

Intended Major: Economics or Public Policy

Strengths:
Competitive public school + heavy course load
Academic awards.

Weaknesses/worries:
Demographics.
ECs/profile in general may come off as too nerdy or academic for Duke community (No sports, not a lot of community service)

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