Princeton Regular Decision 2020 Results Thread

Colleges & Universities Princeton University
21

Decision: Accepted!

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 2340 (800CR, 740M, 800W), took only once
ACT (breakdown): Didn’t take
SAT II (place score in parentheses): 800 Math, 780 Lit, 770 Spanish reading, 760 US Hist, 760 World Hist, 720 Physics, 710 Chem
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.98
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): officially N/A (school doesn’t rank), unofficially top 10%
AP (place score in parentheses): Calc AB (5), English Lit (5), APUSH (5), Spanish Lang (5), World History (5), Psych (self-studied, 5)
IB (place score in parentheses): N/A
Senior Year Course Load: AP Econ (combined Micro/Macro), AP American Gov, AP Physics C, AP English Lang, AP Calc BC, Leadership
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): Top-ranked in USA for debate, several debate tournament awards, national scholarship winner for debate, AP Scholar with Distinction

Subjective
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parentheses): Debate captain, ASB position in Leadership, CyberPatriot founder/captain, varsity volleyball, math tutor
Job/Work Experience: Internship at national laboratory as software programmer and TA for cybersecurity classes
Volunteer/Community Service: On planning committee for large American Cancer Society fundraiser for the past 2 years
Summer Activities: Study abroad after sophomore year
Essays (rating 1-10, details):: Personal statement was decent, probably a 7.
Teacher Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):: Probably 8’s or 9’s. My AP Calc AB teacher and APUSH teacher, both like me and I did well in their classes, but I know my APUSH teacher wrote hers last minute so idk how strong it was
Counselor Rec (rating 1-10, details):: 8, my counselor likes me but I go to a large public school and she writes hundreds of recs, so probably not too original
Additional Rec (rating 1-10, details):: 9, internship mentor, very professional, talked about work I did for the lab
Interview: Over Skype, only 4 questions, short but pretty decent. My Internet crashed during the interview.

Other
Applied for Financial Aid? No
State (if domestic applicant): California
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: Large, public, competitive atmosphere
Ethnicity: White
Gender: Female
Income Bracket: 200k+
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): Girl in STEM

Reflection
Strengths: Essays, grades, debate accomplishments
Weaknesses: Not many STEM accomplishments, no outstanding community service
Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected: Definitely my essays, which I thought were pretty unique and creative, and very interesting to read.
Where else you are applying or have already applied: Penn M&T (accepted), Yale (accepted), Harvard (rejected), Brown (accepted), NYU (accepted), UCLA (accepted), Carnegie Mellon (accepted), Columbia (likely —> accepted, C.P. Davis Scholar), UC Berkeley (accepted, Regent’s), Michigan (accepted), MIT (waitlisted), USC (Accepted, Trustee Scholar & Viterbi Fellow) Caltech (rejected), Stanford (rejected), UChicago (accepted, Dean’s Scholar), UVA (accepted, Honors), Maryland (accepted, ACES, Honors), Duke (rejected)
General Comments/Advice/Hindsight: I can’t believe I got in…Just be really genuinely yourself. I believe that my essays were successful because I wrote about what I WANTED to write about, and in doing so I let them see my adventurous and goofy side. Every effort to change who you are makes your essay weaker and more basic. Just capture a raw, original slice of yourself and be unique.

22

**Decision: Rejected **

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown):
ACT: 35 Composite, 36 Math, 36 Science, 34 English, 34 Reading
(36 Superscore)
SAT II: 800 Math II , 740 Chem
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.6
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable):
AP (place score in parenthesis): Human Geo 5, World History 5, Chemistry 4, Calc BC 5, Bio 4, Physics 1 4 (self “study”), English Lang & Comp 5, US History 4
IB (place score in parenthesis):
Senior Year Course Load: AP CS, AP Lit, AP Econ, AP Physics C, AP Seminar, Honors Adv Math II, Academic Decathlon, WOOT
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): National and state medals for academic decathlon, but really nothing, probs why I got rejected, National merit scholar, National ap scholar, city and state medals for math team, invite to nationals for science bowl

Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis):
Math Team 9-12
Physics Olympiad, 10-12, Captain
Science Bowl 11-12, Co-Captain
Table Tennis 9-12, Co-Captain
Academic Decathlon 11-12
Piano, 1-12

Job/Work Experience:

Volunteer/Community service: 100+ service hours

Summer Activities:
Math camp at UChicago after 7th, 8th, 9th
Particle Physics Research at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory after 10th
Summer Math Program at MIT after 11th
Astrophysics Research at UChicago after 11th

Essays (rating 1-10, details): Common App 7/10, I thought my roommate essay was funny and showed my personality. I tried to show how much I liked Stanford in my essays and thought they were good. 8/10 for short essays.
Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):
Teacher Rec #1: idk
Teacher Rec #2: idk
Counselor Rec: idk
Additional Rec: none
Interview: none

Other
State (if domestic applicant):
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: Public Magnet
Race: Black
Gender: Male
Income Bracket: 120k
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.):none

Reflection
Strengths: none
Weaknesses: GPA, lack of significant awards. Tried to do stuff like math and physics olympiads but never got to the point I should’ve for the amount of work I put in. I sacrificed my grades to try to become good at them in the same way an athlete or musician might, but ultimately it didn’t pay off. no regrets though, still learned a lot. Now that all of my decisions are out, I’m guessing it was also my essays.

Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: ^

Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected:
Rejected Caltech, WashU, Northwestern, UChicago, Stanford, Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Columbia, Brown, UPenn
Waitlisted MIT, University of Michigan
Accepted Carnegie Mellon, University of Illinois

23

Decision: Accepted

Objective:
• SAT I (breakdown): 2370 (CR: 780; M: 790; W: 800)
• SAT I superscore (breakdown): took once
• ACT (breakdown): N/A
• ACT superscore (breakdown): N/A
• SAT II: M2: 800; Bio: 800; Chemistry: 800
• Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.0
• Weighted GPA: 4.38
• Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 2/360
• AP (place score in parentheses): Bio (5), European History (5), Calc B/C (5), English(5), Chem(5), French(5), US Hist(4)
• IB (place score in parentheses): N/A
• Senior Year Course Load: AP Lit, AP Comp Sci, AP Macro/Micro, AP Physics, AP Stats
• Number of other RD applicants in your school: 10
• Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): National Merit Finalist, Rensselaer Medal, AP Scholar with Distinction, National French Contest.
Subjective:
• Extracurriculars (place leadership in parentheses): Varsity Tennis(4 years), Varsity Swimming(4 years), Math Team (captain senior year), USY Chapter and Regional President, Concert Jazz Band (trombone – many years)
• Job/Work Experience: n/a
• Volunteer/Community service: volunteer at local hospital

Writing (Write a brief description and Rate Quality on 1-10 Scale; 10 as Best):
• Essays (Include Subjects):
o Common App Main: 10, Personal
o Princeton Supplement: 10, Culture
• Teacher Recommendation #1: very good
• Teacher Recommendation #2: very good
• Counselor Rec: probably very good
• Additional Rec: band director, very good
• Interview: Great
• Art Supplement: music supplement

Other
• State (if domestic applicant): CT
• Country (if international applicant):
• School Type: Public
• Ethnicity: White
• Gender: Male
• Income Bracket: 100-200K
• Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): none
Reflection
• Strengths: scores, grades, recs.
• Weaknesses: white male from a middle class family?
• Where else you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: Accepted: Princeton, Johns Hopkins, Cornell, UPenn, UConn, RPI, Brandeis. Waitlisted: Colulmbia, UChicago, WashU; Rejected: MIT, Yale, Harvard.

24

Decision: Accepted

Objective:
• SAT I (breakdown): 2370 (CR: 780; M: 790; W: 800)
• SAT I superscore (breakdown): took once
• ACT (breakdown): N/A
• ACT superscore (breakdown): N/A
• SAT II: M2: 800; Bio: 800; Chemistry: 800
• Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.0
• Weighted GPA: 4.38
• Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 2/360
• AP (place score in parentheses): Bio (5), European History (5), Calc B/C (5), English(5), Chem(5), French(5), US Hist(4)
• IB (place score in parentheses): N/A
• Senior Year Course Load: AP Lit, AP Comp Sci, AP Macro/Micro, AP Physics, AP Stats
• Number of other RD applicants in your school: 10
• Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): National Merit Finalist, Rensselaer Medal, AP Scholar with Distinction, National French Contest.
Subjective:
• Extracurriculars (place leadership in parentheses): Varsity Tennis(4 years), Varsity Swimming(4 years), Math Team (captain senior year), USY Chapter and Regional President, Concert Jazz Band (trombone – many years)
• Job/Work Experience: n/a
• Volunteer/Community service: volunteer at local hospital

Writing (Write a brief description and Rate Quality on 1-10 Scale; 10 as Best):
• Essays (Include Subjects):
o Common App Main: 10, Personal
o Princeton Supplement: 10, Culture
• Teacher Recommendation #1: very good
• Teacher Recommendation #2: very good
• Counselor Rec: probably very good
• Additional Rec: band director, very good
• Interview: Great
• Art Supplement: music supplement

Other
• State (if domestic applicant): CT
• Country (if international applicant):
• School Type: Public
• Ethnicity: White
• Gender: Male
• Income Bracket: 100-200K
• Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): none
Reflection
• Strengths: scores, grades, recs.
• Weaknesses: white male from a middle class family?
• Where else you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: Accepted: Princeton, Johns Hopkins, Cornell, UPenn, UConn, RPI, Brandeis. Waitlisted: Colulmbia, UChicago, WashU; Rejected: MIT, Yale, Harvard.

25

I think this is my last CC post, so adieu!

Decision: Rejected

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): CR/M/WR 800/770/760 (once)
ACT (breakdown): 35 E/R/M/S; W 36/35/35/35; 32 (once)
SAT II: Math II (800), Chemistry (800), Spanish w/o Listening (770) (once)
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.0
Weighted GPA: 4.445
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): none
AP (place score in parenthesis): All 5s: US History, World History, English Language, English Literature, Spanish Language, Microeconomics, Macroeconomics, Chemistry, Calculus BC, European History, US Government
Planning to take AP Bio
IB (place score in parenthesis): none yet; taking all exams this year
Senior Year Course Load: IB Bio HL/AP Bio, IB Chem HL, IB English Lit HL, IB Spanish B HL, IB Math HL, IB History SL, IB Computer Science SL
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): AIME Qualifier last year, US Senate Youth Program Alternate this year, National AP Scholar, National Merit Finalist (semifinalist on application)

Subjective:

Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis):
Boy Scouts (Eagle Scout), Chess Club (President two years), Math Club (President), Key Club (President), XC (Captain), Spanish Club (Treasurer), Robotics Club (Secretary two years), Student Council, NHS, Linguistics Club
Job/Work Experience: two summers (2014 and 2015) working in an industrial QA lab
Volunteer/Community service: Nothing huge: summers volunteering at a local recycling center, local restorative justice program for teens, etc.
Summer Activities: summer work, recycling center, a couple of summer programs
Essays (rating 1-10, details):
Personal Essay: 9/10, I described a unique (and rather entertaining) tale of an ancestor’s exploits and how all the men in my family, myself included, seem to exhibit that ancestor’s audacity
Supplement: 5/10, I wrote about loving to read… you all know why I was rejected now lol
Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):

Teacher Rec #1: Honors Physics and AP/IB Chemistry teacher: 10/10, I didn’t read it but he’s an expert at recommendations!
Teacher Rec #2: History teacher; 8/10, possibly generic but I think more likely 10/10; we talk about politics and history a lot lol
Counselor Rec: 10/10 new counselor but very supportive
Additional Rec: 8/10 likely good; well acquainted with Stanford and fleshed out one of my ECs very well
Interview: 8/10 I probably sounded hare-brained, but the poor guy managed to keep up with my motor mouth taking notes and was quite fun to talk to

Other

Applied for Financial Aid?: Nope
Intended Major: Chemistry
State (if domestic applicant): the Mother of Vice Presidents (Schuyler Colfax, anyone?)
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: relatively competitive public charter
Ethnicity: White bread
Gender: XY
Income Bracket: See FA
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): nada

Reflection

Strengths: strong grades and test scores, unique essays
Weaknesses: no truly impressive extracurriculars
Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: I applied for Chem instead of ChemE explicitly so I could avoid writing another essay, so I likely didn’t take the application seriously enough. Moreover, Princeton just had applicants who fit in better—I was honestly turned off by the stress when I visited, so I’m not totally crushed that I wasn’t admitted. However, the biggest reason is that Princeton had much more qualified applicants; bravo!
Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected:
Accepted: Stanford REA, WUSTL, Notre Dame (w/likely), Cornell Engineering, Brown, safeties
Waitlisted: Case Western Reserve (LOL—safety gone wrong I guess!), University of Pennsylvania Wharton, Harvard (very lucky!)

General Comments: This was my only rejection, but I can’t blame Princeton; I’m not especially impressive, my 2330 SAT and 35 ACT (and especially 760 Physics Subject Test) clearly didn’t cut it, and my essays spoke to a personality very different than that of the typical Princetonian. I’ll be heading to Stanford, a state school, or Cornell in the fall, and I’m grateful to God for those options!

Admits: enjoy the gorgeous campus and the great education!

Waitlisted students: don’t give up hope, but be satisfied with where you have been admitted!

Rejects like me: don’t take it too personally, and enjoy the remainder of your senior year!

26

Decision: Rejected

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 2400 (first sitting)
ACT (breakdown): N/A
SAT II: Math 2 - 800, Physics - 800
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.96/4.0 (2 Bs in 6th grade french)
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): N/A
AP (place score in parenthesis): US Gov’t (5), Stat (5), US Hist (4), English Lit (5), BC Calc (5). Physics: Mechanics (5), Euro Hist (4)
IB (place score in parenthesis): SL French (6)
Senior Year Course Load: IB Global Politics, IB HL Math, IB SL Chemistry, IB Psychology, IB HL Physics, Linear Algebra, IB HL English
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): AIME qualifier, AP Scholar with Distinction, National Merit Finalist

Subjective:

Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Year-round club swimmer (22hrs/week, since 4th grade), Clarinetist (since 4th grade), Orchestras/Bands, Debate Team member (all of HS, County Playoffs 3rd-round contender), Writer for the school newspaper (all of HS)
Job/Work Experience: Assistant Coach for local summer swim team (30 hrs/week), Technical Intern at a small IT company the summer prior (30 hrs/week)
Volunteer/Community service: ~150 hours, National Honor Society, National Math Honor Society, etc.
Summer Activities: swimming, coaching, giving private swim lessons, working as a technical intern the summer prior
Essays (rating 1-10, details): 9-10, spent months on them, couldn’t find anything to improve upon. Had my great English teacher and several peers (college and high school) review them and they seemed good…

Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):

Teacher Rec #1: 9-10 (history teacher), really loved her class and we had a really nice relationship. We still always say hi when we pass each other in the halls.
Teacher Rec #2: 9-10 (physics teacher), really liked him and did excellent in his class. Our class was rather huge but I am quite sure that I stood out in his eyes.
Counselor Rec: 7+, Didn’t have that many interactions with my counselor, but all of my interactions were positive and I was really respectful.
Additional Rec: (Club Swim Coach) 7+ Been swimming with my club swim coach throughout high school and we have a very positive relationship. He mentioned that he was a bit crunched for time though (I officially requested 2 weeks prior to the deadline), so I dunno about the quality of the rec.
Interview: 7, Okay interview. I had done tons of interviews by now so I was very comfortable but my interview was over Skype so it didn’t feel very personal.

Other

Applied for Financial Aid?: No
State (if domestic applicant): Maryland
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: County Magnet Program (IB)
Ethnicity: Asian
Gender: Male
Income Bracket: 200,000+
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): First generation born in America

Reflection

Strengths: Great, dedicated swimmer, Accomplished student, Talented Musician, Caring Swim Coach, Enthusiastic Intern
Weaknesses: 3.96 GPA? Maybe teachers actually didn’t like me that much? No especially significant math/science awards. Unimpressive summer positions?
Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected: Maybe recs were worse than expected? Maybe 3.96 GPA is unacceptable? Who knows.

Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected:
Accepted: Carnegie Mellon (IS, MCS), University of Maryland (Banneker/key), University of Virginia, Georgia Tech
Waitlisted: Carnegie Mellon (CS), NYU Stern, Dartmouth
Rejected: Harvard, Princeton, Stanford, MIT, Northwestern, Cornell, Hopkins, Duke, UChicago, UPenn, Columbia

General Comments: Overall really disappointed with how my years of hard work turned out.

27

Decision: Rejected

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 2020 (sent an email explaining extenuating circumstances i.e. almost lost house and self taught)
ACT (breakdown): 29… I know…
SAT II: 770 Chem 760 BioM
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): School doesn’t do it but around 4
Weighted GPA: N/A
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable):
AP (place score in parenthesis):
IB (place score in parenthesis): 40 IB Diploma (5 Maths SL; 5 French SL; 6 English SL; 7 Chem HL; 7 Bio HL; 77 Philosophy HL + 3 core points
Senior Year Course Load:IB and SATs
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): Best drum kit score in the country (Exhibition Award)

Subjective:

Extracurriculars:
-Senior drummer for school’s marching and concert band, we have toured Belgium and Germany and annually perform for half time show in England’s first cricket game, also done half time for England rugby, Lord Mayors’ Show/St. Matthew’s Day
-Rugby captain for 4 years, our 7s team came top in county (Sussex), have played for school varsity and local club
-Play flute, drum kit and snare drum all grade 8 standard (distinctions in all, currently doing drum kit diploma)
-Self taught piano
-Sang in school’s choir, have recorded for BBC and released CDs etc
-Got a scholarship exchange to the Gilman school in Baltimore, fully funded, for 4 weeks. Took AP classes and basically just did cool stuff
-Host website with my brother, we publish any essays we write independently on there (he studies neuroscience, I’m more philosophy), URL = http://lucasfmkovacs.wix.com/kotchbrothers
-YouTube Channel, I write and arrange my own renditions of songs and perform it on the flute, also done drum covers on there, URL = https://www.youtube.com/user/rizzo742/videos
Job/Work Experience: Emplyed at LA Fitness and Darlings of Chelsea
Volunteer/Community service: Busked to raise money for RSPCA in Wales, did some volunteer hours at home and school
Summer Activities: Not much apart from work, study, music, gym etc
Essays (rating 1-10, details): CommonApp = 8/10 kinda generic but got the job done and well written
Supplement = 9.5/10 about my Dad who left home, quite sensitive, was told very good
Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):

Teacher Rec #1: 7/10 english, never saw just guessing
Teacher Rec #2: 7/10 "
Counselor Rec: Probably not the best, didn’t like me much
Additional Rec:
Interview: Fine

Other

Applied for Financial Aid?:Yes
Intended Major: Philosophy
State (if domestic applicant):
Country (if international applicant): UK
School Type: Boarding (Christ’s Hospital)
Ethnicity: White
Gender: M
Income Bracket: <£13,000
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): First Gen College Student
PFAA emails? How many? When?:

Reflection

Strengths:
Weaknesses:
Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected:
Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected: Rejected all Ivies + Duke + Stanford

General Comments: Worked so so hard

28

Decision: Accepted

Objective:

SAT I (breakdown): CR-730 M-800 W-800 (essay 12)

SAT II: Math II-800, USH - 800, Physics - 800
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.0
Weighted GPA: school doesn’t, but prob like 4.6 if u don’t count freshman year.
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): prob top 5% ish? school doesn’t rank the uc thing told me i was top 10% of class for sure tho
AP (place score in parenthesis): AP Chem (4), AP Physics Mech (5), APCS (5), AP Calc BC (5), APUSH (5)
IB (place score in parenthesis): N/A
Senior Year Course Load: AP Government, AP Statistics, AP Spanish, AP Biology

Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): one of the AP scholar ones (the 5 test one), Siemens Semifinalist, International qualifier for DECA, Qualified Nationally for two events debate, National Merit Semifinalist thing.

Subjective:

Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): National Honor Society (VP), led a lot of service projects for this for tutoring and environmental issues, Speech and Debate (VP), lots of awards for this, Investment Club (President), had one award for stock investment, FBLA (Public Relations), team had a tech project that made it to nats, DECA (Vice-President), lots of awards for this. Basketball team, varsity for 2 years, jv for one, awards for athlete + grades performance

Created an app that allows users to have access to a feed for incubator entrepreneurship and creation, other projects also in terms of what I’ve coded and done. Tried to tie this into my ec’s, like the tech I created would be useful for the activities I was a part of.

Job/Work Experience: Paid to teach basketball

Volunteer/Community service: 70 hours for NHS, 250 hours at local middle school debate program

Summer Activities: Intern doing research at Stanford for 2 years, volunteered at forensics camp for both the years as well

Essays (rating 1-10, details): eh hard to judge if it was good or not, but it was pretty personal/showed who I am, even though the downside was that they weren’t all that specific to my major.

Recommendations (rating 1-10, details): 9 or 10.

Teacher Rec #1:My calc teacher wrote a great letter that I got to proof read, she really got to show what I did outside of class as well on the campus.
Teacher Rec #2: lit teacher talked about how hard I worked in class p much.
Counselor Rec: School guidance counselor, she usually writes a great one for everyone
Additional Rec: Professor who I interned with at stanford

Other

Applied for Financial Aid?: Yes
Intended Major: Computer Science
State (if domestic applicant): California
School Type: Public
Ethnicity: Asian
Gender: Male
Income Bracket: 90K
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): Aunt went here, so legacy kind of??? but it’s not like the full on one

Reflection

Strengths: ec’s i guess, i tried to be involved in a lot of activities and I guess interning at stanford also helps?
Weaknesses: i wasn’t the most amazing diverse kid and my ec’s weren’t too related to major
Why you think you were accepted: ec’s, i guess my “hook” might’ve tipped it over?
Where else were you accepted: So far accepted to- UPenn, Cornell, Cal, UCLA, UCSD, UCSB, SJSU,
General Comments: Do you guys think I’m qualified / deserve it?

29

Reminder: This is a results only thread. I deleted several posts commenting back to these posts.

30

Decision: Accepted

Objective:
ACT (breakdown): 34C (32M 34E 35S 33R)
SAT II: MBio 790, Math 1: 750
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.9
Weighted GPA: 4.1
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable):10/300
AP (place score in parenthesis): US, world, bio: 5, English language: 4
Senior Year Course Load: Band, Orchestra, AP: Lit, gov, physics, calc ab, chem

Subjective:

Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis):

All State Trombonist, 1st Principal Trombone
5 time All-County Trombonist (Principal in both band and orchestra twice)
Eagle Scout
NHS President
Tri-M HS President
Literary arts magazine, literary editor
Mathletes VP
Jazz Band, Marching Band, District Band (Principal 4x), Pit Orchestra
PA Announcement Club
Christian Club
Principal Trombone in a prestigious wind ensemble of multiple school districts

Job/Work Experience: Work as a dental assistant and freelance trombonist

Volunteer/Community service:Church Youth Group (100+ service hours and missions trips over summer to Las Vegas; Lima, Peru, Jamaica among other places)

Essays (rating 1-10, details): they were all good, but more importantly, they reflected me and my personality.

Interview: Amazing, I really vibed with her

Applied for Financial Aid?: yes, received 40k in grants!
Intended Major: Mol Bio
State (if domestic applicant): NY
School Type: Public
Ethnicity: White
Gender: Male
Income Bracket: ~150k
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): none
PFAA emails? How many? When?: Just one in early march b.c I hadn’t faxed my tax info (I didn’t even do it till after I was accepted)

Reflection: Can’t believe it tbh

Strengths: ECs, Essays, interview
Weaknesses: GPA, lack of major awards/ research experience
Where else were you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: Accepted at Johns Hopkins, Waitlisted at Cornell, Denied at Harvard

31

Hi,
Your CC post was so touching and inspiring.
Best of luck to you!