Decision: Accepted
Gender: Male
Race/Ethnicity: Black/Kenyan. 1st Gen-- Lower-class.
State: Tennessee
Current College: University of Tennessee, Knoxville (Chancellor’s Honors College)
Credits: 65
Major: Mechanical Engineering / Minor in Mathematics
HS GPA: 3.5 Unweighted
ACT/SAT: 31
College GPA: 3.96
EC: (In order of importance to me)
Undergraduate Research – 3 Semesters. 10 hours/wk
Habitat for Humanities / Food Recovery Network – 2 semesters
Two Summer Jobs – 1 summer / 50-60 hours a week.
Space Technology Association – 3 semesters
Tutoring/Mentoring (unofficial) – 4 semesters
App Development (“Tappers” by King’s Foundation if you’re actually interested).
LOR and Essays: I think the content of my essay was great, but the style was just alright. I made it very clear exactly what I wanted from transferring and how it would affect my career if I get in. I also got to talk about myself and my path to engineering (I enjoyed natural science + I truly enjoyed helping others).
I got along very well with my two professors that wrote my recommendation letters. I did not see the letters.
The first application decision for Vanderbilt transfer this year was April 18, my decision came in the 2nd wave.
Other Applications:
Northwestern (Pending)
Cornell (Pending)
Washington University in St. Louis (Pending)
I was rejected when I applied to Vanderbilt in high school.
I think what got me in was a few things:
- My GPA comes from taking the most rigorous courses (and maxing out on credit hours in one semester) my school had to offer.
- While I don’t have many EC, those that I am in are the few I’m heavily involved in. Especially research–which I talked extensively about in my essay and have mentioned how I’ve given presentations on my projects at meetings and at annual conferences hosted at my university.
- I did have leadership position in my engineering class, where my team won 1st place twice out of 100+ engineering teams (300+ students)
What I did not mention in any part of my application was how I came from a low-performance high school. How I’ve had mental problems that interfered with my academics (Including missing 10+ days my junior year, inability to complete ACT exam my junior year, and missing 25+ days my senior year). I wanted to showcase my success more than the barriers I’ve had to overcome.
Vanderbilt is such a great fit for me. I am so relieved that I got accepted.