<p>Decision: Accepted</p>
<p>Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 2180 (800 CR 680 M 700 W) (this is from two sittings)
ACT: 30 (Didn’t submit)
SAT II: 660 Math I, 700 US History (one sitting)
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.94
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 2/94 (weighted)
AP (place score in parenthesis): English Language (5), World History (3), US History (5)
IB (place score in parenthesis):
Senior Year Course Load: AP English Literature, AP Calculus AB, AP Human Geography, AP American Government, AP Macroeconomics, AP Environmental Science, Dual Credit Multimedia, Twp Internship Periods
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): AP Scholar, National Achievement Scholar Outstanding Participant, Telluride Association Summer Program (TASP), other small awards in school and in my region
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Mock Trial Team (Captain), Debate (NCX, VCX, mentor, judge), Executive Student Board, Townview Ambassadors, SBDM (secretary) (forgot to mention), one act play (lead male role and stage manager), youth advisory council for the volunteer center of north texas, national honor society (vice president), started this program to teach debate to elementary kids (forgot to mention this on application though)
Job/Work Experience: File clerk at a law firm for two year but started as an unpaid intern (somehow forgot to list this on my application)
Volunteer/Community service: through NHS, church, and random times when I just volunteered
Summer Activities: Napping, doing church stuff, volunteering, and TASP
Essays: commonapp- issue of importance. I pretty much just talked about the history of my education, how I was wrongly placed in special ed classes for three years (this was a flashback at the beginning), then how I have to suffer through classes with boring tests. then lead to how I think we should rethink our approach to education, starting with standardized tests. supplement- all in second person. talked about a friend, who I only referred to as her, and how she influenced your (my) life. pretty much just chronicled my life and our interactions up until this point. I liked both of them and people told me they were good, especially the supplement. Sorry I’m being so specific, but I think specificity will help future people most.
Teacher Recommendation: One from my law cluster teacher of two years/mock trial coach. It was really good. the other from my English teacher, which was just pretty much copy and paste from my resume (incorrectly, might I add) and a lot of smart-sounding adjectives.
Counselor Rec: Same as English teacher’s.
Additional Rec: NA
Interview: the first one was awful, too short and so uncomfortable. The second was about 30 mins but it was great.
Other
State (if domestic applicant): Texas
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: magnet, public, only 400. majority Hispanic and mostly low income students with average test scores
Ethnicity: Black
Gender: M
Income Bracket: about 10K, receiving a lot of public assistance, single, disabled parent
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): URM, first generation college, mega poor.
Reflection
Strengths: essays, hooks
Weaknesses: test scores and grades.
Why you think you were accepted: I think I was accepted because of my essays. In them, I made sure to accentuate some of this things I’ve been through that help to add to my knowledge and the unique perspective I can bring to the school. If it weren’t for that second interview though, I would’ve been deferred or rejected for sure.
General Comments: When acceptance rates get this low, who gets in is so arbitrary and it’s going to change from year to year and from school to school. That being said, I am so grateful that I got in. Of course, I know that literally hundreds of other people could have and should have taken my place, but I’m thankful nonetheless. I wish everyone the best of luck, regardless of his or her decision. I know everyone will do great wherever they end up.</p>