Journalism hook to UNC Chapel Hill, Yale, Duke, Davidson

Chance Me / Match Me
1

Name: Arijit Douglas Sen

Race: Biracial, Caucasian-Asian (India)

Prospective Schools: UNC-Chapel Hill (EA, in-state), Yale (SCEA), Brown, Duke, Davidson, Northwestern, Columbia, UVA (EA)

Prospective Major: Journalism/Political Science, Minor in Computer Science?

UW GPA: 3.9 (currently should go up to about 3.95)
W GPA: 4.6250 (should go up to about 4.8)

ACT: 29 Composite (Hoping to improve to 32)
32 English
28 Math
32 Reading
25 Science
8/12 Essay

Class Rank: 20/291 (Should go up to 15 by end of senior year)

Class Rigor: 6 AP’s, 16 Honors Classes

EC’s and Awards:

Staff member for the highly award winning newspaper the Wingspan from 2012-2016. Web Editor-in-Chief for junior and senior year. Completely redesigned Wingspan Online. Under my supervision Wingspan Online received a Columbia Scholastic Press Association Silver Crown, two North Carolina Scholastic Media Association Tar Heel Awards and a Southern Interscholastic Press Association All-Southern Award.

Winner of a North Carolina Scholastic Media Association first place sports writing award.

Quill and Scroll National Journalism Honor Society, 2015-2016.

National Journalism Honor Roll 2015 & 2016.

Semi-Finalist in the Southern Interscholastic Press Association Quiz Bowl 2012

Quarter Finalist at National Scholastic Press Association Quiz Bowl 2014

Attended North Carolina Scholastic Media Institute at UNC Chapel Hill 2014 and 2015.

Staff member on NCSMA The Rush newspaper in 2015. Published five articles in two days and also did photography.

Proficient in Wordpress, HTML 5, Twitter, Facebook, Youtube, InDesign, Photoshop and Instagram

One of the founding members of the Henderson County Young Democrats.

Life Scout Troop 613 Etowah N.C. (Will be Eagle by October)

National Honor Society member, 2015-2016.

Member of the Mock Trial Team. Selected as Best Attorney 2015.

Second Chair clarinetist for the West Henderson High School Concert Band. Earned four consecutive superior ratings from 2013-2016 from the Western District Bandmasters Association performing in Grades V and VI while I was in the band.

Received three Excellent ratings for Solo and Ensemble Performance.

Member of the Henderson County Honor Band from 2012-2014.

Member of the West Henderson High School Marching Band from 2012-2015. Received numerous awards while a member of the band including multiple superior ratings.

First chair clarinetist of the Mills River United Methodist Church Youth Orchestra.

Member of the Mills River United Methodist Church Youth Council

Cast member of the 2015 and 2016 West Henderson Musicals.

Member of the West Henderson High School Swim team from 2012-2016 (100y Backstroke 1:24.51, 50y Freestyle 32:91, 200y Freestyle 2:55)

North Carolina Academic Scholar from 2012-2015 for swimming.

Worked at Ingles grocery store as a bagger for minimum wage from September- November 2014.

Worked on the Los Trigos Ranch in Roe, New Mexico last summer doing trail maintenance for $13 an hour.

Service and Volunteer Work

Various activities sponsored by S.U.R.G.E the Mills River United Methodist Church Youth Group. Included monthly service activities and sponsored missions trips to places like Coastal N.C., New Orleans and Honduras.

Volunteer for the Henderson County Young Democrats.

Involved in various volunteer activities with Boy Scout Troop 613 including an ongoing eagle project collecting old computers for recycle and donation.

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Not sure about the others, but you will be very hard pressed to get into Yale with a 29 ACT, especially relative to other Asian male applicants. The journalism bona fides are a nice feature, but are not a per se hook.

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@as9934 Do you want to pursue Journalism? If so your list should reflect that.

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The Journalism really isn’t that much of a hook. Agree with @boolaHI that you need to retake the ACT for a chance at getting in.

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List of ECs too long and convoluted. Pick 3-4 which really summarize you the best.

Scores too low. Need to get ACT in 34 range to be a serious candidate as an Asian.

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"List of ECs too long and convoluted. Pick 3-4 which really summarize you the best.

Scores too low. Need to get ACT in 34 range to be a serious candidate as an Asian"

@sgopal2 Any tips on what to eliminate? I definitely can get rid of the work stuff because its pretty useless but all the journalism kind of goes together as a package. Journalism, band, swimming, mock trial, scouts, young dems and church are all important in my life.

Any tips to improve ACT to 34? I know I need to improve science score dramatically and math score quite a bit too. I was most surprised about my essay score because I did everything I was told to do by my various books (intro w/ thesis, 2 body paragraphs with specific anecdotes from my personal experience and pop cultural examples, address counterarguments, summarize and synthesize and restate thesis.) I have bad handwriting so this is the only thing I could think of that brought me down.

Anyone willing to give me any actual chances per specific school (ie. match, low reach, high reach etc.)? I realize at this point all the schools on the list are pretty high reaches especially with my ACT score except for perhaps UNC-CH.

“Do you want to pursue Journalism? If so your list should reflect that.”

@BatesParents2019
I don’t need to necessarily major in journalism, but it would be nice to have. At very least I need a good paper to write for and I feel that this list reflects that well.

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I’m a Duke alum and I do interviews so I’m fairly familiar with what works. Eliminate all the stuff that isn’t related to journalism. Keep the stuff about your job (this is important). Unless you have reached national prominence in the other activities I would just briefly mention them.

You run the risk of overwhelming the reader with a wall of facts. This is not an autobiography. You have to paint the picture and define yourself, not the other way around.

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"I’m a Duke alum and I do interviews so I’m fairly familiar with what works. Eliminate all the stuff that isn’t related to journalism. Keep the stuff about your job (this is important). Unless you have reached national prominence in the other activities I would just briefly mention them.

You run the risk of overwhelming the reader with a wall of facts. This is not an autobiography. You have to paint the picture and define yourself, not the other way around."

Thanks @sgopal2 !! Got rid of a lot of the band stuff that wasn’t necessary and some other stuff.

Do you guys think I will need a tutor to improve to a 32-34? My family is very strapped for cash, so we can’t really afford one. I bought two ACT books (Real ACT prep and Elite 36) and I have a ton of study materials on my google drive. Do you think this will be enough?

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Indeed, for the top tier schools listed, you would conservatively need a 32/33 to a more serious candidate. Hard to say about whether you have sufficient test supplements–for some, those could prove to more than adequate.

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@sgopal2 Also do you think I should just put caucasian on my college app? It’s not technically a lie since I’m white and have lived in this country all my life. I don’t want to give up that part of myself, but if it will give me a significant edge then I would consider it.

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I agree with the posts that are written above, if you want to be a serious candidate then have a focus and show dedication an commitment thorough your extracurricular. Have you looked at Georgetown, I think that might be a good fit for you.

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“I agree with the posts that are written above, if you want to be a serious candidate then have a focus and show dedication an commitment thorough your extracurricular. Have you looked at Georgetown, I think that might be a good fit for you.”

Yes it’s on the list, but I haven’t toured there yet. Hoping to early this fall.

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@as9934 Good Luck!! You will do great where ever you end up.

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You don’t have to check any ethnicity if you prefer not. Many people don’t.

1 Like
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“You don’t have to check any ethnicity if you prefer not. Many people don’t.”
Thanks @HRSMom! I didn’t realize that. Name is still a bit of a giveaway but it will give them something to think about.

Anyone willing to give me a chance with my scores as they are now and if they improve to 32+ ?

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Your ACT is low, without a jump in that it would be very tough.

For the act math, trust me on this: Don’t overthink it. Review BASIC CONCEPTS and only those. All questions only rely on the very foundational algebraic skills, and few equations are ever really needed. If anything should be studied in depth, make it trig and geometry. I would overthink math so much and I got two 27s. I met with a tutor who simplified my strategy and I went up to a 35. You need to just approach the questions with confidence, because every. single. concept. has been covered for you before, it’s just a matter of you being calm and confident enough to recall it and execute it well.

good luck!!

17

Be honest and check the box for mixed race. If you pick Caucasian they will wonder what you are trying to hide. Your parents names are required as part of the supplement so your mixed heritage will be obvious.

The last thing they want is someone who is ashamed or trying to hide from their ethnicity.