Demographics: Junior, Female, Chinese
Chance me for: UVA (in-state), William & Mary, UcChicago, Duke, UPenn, Dartmouth, Columbia, Yale, Berkeley, Brown, Georgetown, Cornell, NYU?
I will probably be applying for either English or Econ depending on the specific school.
My school is notorious for being good at STEM, but also for grade deflation. There are about 1200 students, and there are no class rankings. That being said, my GPA is not very strong and I’m probably top 20%.
GPA: 3.6/4.1 at the moment. I’m getting mostly As, probably B+ in physics, for my classes this year, so hopefully will rise to around ~4.4-4.5 area, but still not the best. I got a C+ last year for my first semester math class, and B- for second semester math class. Got a B- in summer chemistry (took it so I could skip taking Chemistry honors sophomore year), and had consistent Bs and a few As/A-s freshmen year. Had mostly A-/A grades sophomore year except for math.
ACT: 36
SAT: 1600. Full score on essay in all areas.
PSAT: 1510
SAT Subject Test Math II: 800 (I will be taking the Biology Subject Test in May)
AP Scores: CompSci (5), Psych (5), Bio (4, retaking), Environmental Science (4)
Junior Year Course-load: AP Macro/Micro, AP Chinese, AP Calculus BC, APUSH, English Honors 11, Physics Honors, DNA Science (both semesters)
AP’s Taking this year: BC Calc, APUSH, Chinese, Macro, Micro, Physics C Mechanics (self-study), Chemistry (self-study), Biology (self-study)
Senior Course-load: post-calc semester math courses, AP Lang, AP Lit, AP Gov, AP Chem, research lab, and environmental science (mandatory class for all seniors).
Extracurriculars:
-Associate Editor (basically VP) of school science research journal- all the seniors have to do research projects & in general students do a lot of independent research, so we publish their papers. The journal has won awards in the past. I’m going to be Editor-in-Chief of the journal next year. I created and am leading a new team of staff-writers who writes articles and editorials for the journal website weekly (3 years)
-Captain of Mock Trial Club (3 years)
-Member of Science Olympiad (1 year)
-Member (and will be captain next year) of History Quiz Bowl team (2 years)
-Tour guide/docent at a Smithsonian museum (100+ volunteer hours there)
-Was a fellow at the Folger Shakespeare Company last year
-I wrote a historical fiction legal drama, and am working with an agent to get it published. Not sure if it will be through by this fall.
Work:
-I work at Lotte (asian supermarket) over the weekends
-Tutor kids in English, Math, and Biology
Volunteering:
-DC LGBT homeless shelter
-Local equestrian therapy program for mentally disabled people
-Local hospital
-Tour guide for museum
I play the piano (will be submitting supplemental video), volunteer (200+ hours), and will either be researching Chronic Wasting Disease over the summer, or working with a professor at Wharton (family friend). I also run an art-history podcast with my friends that has about 5,000 subscribers at the moment.
Honors:
-Placed high in the Toronto Biology Exam
-Finalist in USABO last year
-A few writing awards & publishing in journals
My hooks are firmly humanities oriented (science writing niche), and I’m having issues finding a junior year STEM teacher to write me a rec (my AP Bio teacher loved me though, but I had her last year).
My Macro/Micro teacher really likes me and we often debate outside of class about econ, and he’s a Harvard Business & Stanford Alum. I’ll probably be asking him for a recommendation letter.
I’ve had my English teacher for both sophomore and junior year, and she likes me a lot. Word has it that she’s a god at writing business letters, so hopefully the letter will be strong?
I participate a lot in my APUSH class (like to the point that my teacher bans me from answering questions sometimes because he doesn’t want everyone else to just sit there), and he really likes my essays and discussions, and we often talk a lot outside class. I’m not sure if I should ask him for a rec? I know it would be good, but I’m also not submitting three rec letters.
I’m pretty close with my counselor. We have lunch every week, and she know that I’ve struggled with moderate mental health issues (adhd & depression) and family issues, and is very supportive. Will hopefully have a good rec.
Recs will probably be one of the stronger aspects of my application.
I already have ideas for my essays that I think (?) are unique? One of them is def going to be about working at Lotte & my experiences with my coworkers there (they’re the actual best <3 i play mahjong & go for tea with some of them when I have time, and I’m being taught Korean and Tamil). hopefully essays will be very strong. I’m not writing anything about struggles with mental health because it feels very cliche and might make me look worse to the admission officers.
My dream school is upenn, chicago, duke, or columbia, but I know that it’s very, very hard to guesstimate. I’m hoping to at least get into UVA, because when I was born, my parents bought a finance package for 20k (at the time) which paid for all four years at UVA. My lack of awards and my low-ish GPA, as well as some of my ECs not being focused, is definitely dragging the rest of my app down, but fingers crossed! i’d really appreciate any feedback (and also maybe reverse-chance? any suggestions for colleges?). If you would like me to chance you, just tell me!
Thank you so much again for the honest critique!