Decision: Accepted
Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 1440 (690 Math, 750 English)
ACT (breakdown): 33 composite (36 Reading, 36 English, 27 Math, 31 Science)
SAT II: 770 Lit, 740 US History
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.11 (I think my school does UW out of 4.3? I’m not sure, but I’ve never gotten a B so close to perfect.) W: 4.69
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 2/134
AP (place score in parenthesis): Environmental (3), World History (3), Bio (3), Lang & Comp (5), US Hist (5)
IB (place score in parenthesis): N/A
Senior Year Course Load: AP Stats, AP Chem, Dual Enrollment Spanish, Dual Enrollment Modern Classics (English), AP Psych, AP Gov
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): Nothing crazy, AP Scholar w/ Distinction, NHS
Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Debate Club (Founder & President), Editor of School newspaper, Varsity softball grades 9-12.
Job/Work Experience: I have two internships, one with the Mayor of my town for about a year, and one with a non-profit in town that I have been doing for about 6 months.
Volunteer/Community service: NHS (we do tutoring at the elementary school),
Summer Activities: Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation Leadership Academy (10th grade, we raise $10,000 for pediatric cancer research), NJ Girls State fairly competitive, had to be recommended & have an interview (summer before 12th grade), JSA Institute on NJ Gov & Politics (also had to apply, summer before 12th grade)
Essays (rating 1-10, details): My common app essay was good, very unique to me about why I love history & english and don’t like math (also helps explain my test scores, lol) I’d say about a 9.
For the “work of art” essay I wrote about my favorite band and how their newest album taught me about growing up and still loving the same music, kind of cheesy, but. 8/10
For the quirky essay I wrote about making slime with friends. 8/10 writing quality but 10/10 for originality lol
Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):
Teacher Rec #1: 9/10 my AP US History and AP Gov teacher, he likes me and I was always the top of the class.
Teacher Rec #2:10/10, my AP Comp teacher, she taught me in 7th, 10th, and 11th grade and knows me very well. I was in her first year of teaching the AP class and the only one to get a 5.
Counselor Rec: 9/10, we are very close with the benefit of having a small class size.
Additional Rec: 10/10, from the Mayor of my town who I have worked very closely with at my internship. Demonstrated my citizenship, love for government, etc. etc.
Interview: N/A
Other
Applied for Financial Aid?: Yes
Intended Major: Political Policy, Philosophy & Law
State (if domestic applicant): NJ
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: small, public, not very good (my SAT is the highest in my class)
Ethnicity: white
Gender: female
Income Bracket: <80,000
Hooks (URM, first generation college, legacy etc.):
None really- lower income bracket.
Strengths: Founding a club, being heavily involved in a few meaningful EC’s, essays, letters of rec.
Weaknesses: test scores
Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: I mostly just worked really hard to develop my spike to demonstrate my strength in history & government. Everything–my test scores, my heavy involvement in a few meaningful EC’s shows this
Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected: Deferred at Harvard SCEA
Reflection
I’m happy! UVA is my #4 choice behind Harvard (got deferred SCEA, fingers crossed for RD), Georgetown, and AU. Definitely a relief to be in somewhere that I would be happy at. I hope my results are a beacon of hope for others that you don’t need perfect test scores and a million clubs on your resume: just find what you love and pursue it relentlessly (I think that was on a pamphlet that UVA sent me, actually)