I got in for PLE III!
@joujube congrats!!! Mind sharing your demographic and aid?
I got differed 
Congrats to everyone who got in!!
Do you guys mind sharing your three extracurriculars that you put in the application and essay topics (if not too personal)?
@Jahin232 what was your decision?
@shaamilol I didn’t apply for aid and I’m a Chinese-Canadian girl from a Canadian public school.
@Jahin232 I’m fine with sharing. The extracurricular I talked the most about was competitive debate, but I also touched on mock trial, the Cappies critic program, and Chinese school. The long essay I think everyone wrote about mostly the same stuff (why they should go to YYGS, that sort of thing). For the question about what course I’d offer at my school, I talked about K-pop in the West and whether it was fetishization or representation. The one about who to have dinner with I chose a Canadian Prime Minister, Mackenzie King. And then for something that’s influenced me I wrote about a Pixar movie called Brave, haha. So I think for that one it shows that you can write about anything really as long as it’s honest?
I hope everyone that got deferred makes it in during regular decisions!
I applied early and got deferred 
I have lost all confidence in applying to ivy leagues next year.
@aminelach Hey, you don’t need to be discouraged! Deferred doesn’t mean you won’t get in, and it doesn’t mean you need to be less confident applying to Ivy Leagues. It just means they’re not sure about you yet!
I also got deferred! It be like that. My first choice was BBS
I got in for LPC I! I’m super stoked for summer, should be an awesome time.
Do you mind if you share your suplemental essays?
If you’re extremely pessimistic about it you could think about it as them looking for some one better before setting for you. (Sorry if this came off as mean/sad it’s just how I deal with defferals)
@Intlst1 I wrote about my all-gender dorm at my boarding school as the place that has shaped me, and I wrote a lot about Quiz Bowl and how that augmented my academic curiosity by showing me a myriad of interesting topics. I said I would have dinner with Dorothy Parker and the Algonquin Round Table, and the class I said I wanted to teach was about magical realism in literature. For the big essay, everyone did the same topic.
@Jahin232 Yas! I wouldn’t mind to share some of my infos. Defer is a good start, lots of my friends got deferred and ended up attending the program! Congrats to everyone who got in. If you are in PLE I, looking forward to meet you this summer.
I did apply for financial Aid, AND I got the full financial aid + Young Leaders (YL) Scholarship, which will cover my travel cost as well. I am beyond astonished!
Family: I am a political refugee coming from China. My household is in the income bracket of $5000 a year.
(I am literally looking at my application screenshots right now haha)
Info: I am a sophomore currently attending a competitive high school in Bay Area.
My GPA is kind of low… I got one semester B from Bio H my freshman year.
Awards: (some of the most basic awards out there…)
Activities: As a teenage refugee, I focused a lot on refugee resettlement. Basically all of my activities are centralize around this issue.
- founder of an NPO, providing 25 affordable housing units for nearly 500 Venezuelan refugees and offering legal representation as well.
- ASB: Sophomore class VP(I actually put the long description for this one since I talked about activity #1 in the essay). In here, I documented a process of me changing the school name with community support after realizing our school is named under an American Eugenists 100 years ago. Super controversial!!!
- Working under my county's immigrant-related office, manage programs for DACA recipients.
Essay: Be yourself!!! I think everyone talked about the same thing in the long essay. But I still manage to include my passion for protecting tangible cultural heritages despite my status as a political refugee. (The action of protecting and preserving 5 of the six hundreds years old buildings through community walk-out in East Asia) The second one I talked about my friendship with an undocumented immigrant during and after the deportation proceedings. I want to express that we are not differentiate by the wall, instead we are shaped by the ideas of creating the wall. This is super controversial again hahah!
Tips: Some tips for future applicants are please be yourself! You got this! I am a sophomore coming from competitive Bay Area. Trust yourself! future is there for you hahha. Also, I do think that they care about all the writing boxes even the one about session selection.
I got differed into regular action.
I wrote about a non profit which I started to provide educational opportunities to street children in Bangladesh and how we will be opening our own rehab center for drug affiliated child laborers in Bangladesh as well as a boat museum showcasing art by street children. I said that my organization helped me understand the impact of research to convene permanent solution for developing nations. I also talked about writing a research paper on child labor in Bangladesh which is to be published by a university. The last activity that I wrote about was studying musical theory, the influence of geography on South Asian music, and performing at international platforms (not very unique I guess).
For the something that influenced you essay I wrote about finding a spiritual connection to music after spending years focusing on only musical theory and the fundamental practical side of playing the guitar. I said I’d have dinner with Aung Suu Kyi. For a class that I would teach I wrote about a research class on the Interrelation of Offspring’s Diet and Income of Parents Employed at South Asian Garment Factories.
Honestly, I feel so bummed to get differed and feel like my ecs and essays were not good.
PLE 1 anyone? We should have a groupchat!
@Jahin232 Your extracurriculars and essays sound really interesting and unique, you don’t need to feel like they weren’t good! It does suck that you got deferred but you might still get in. Personally, I think that your extracurriculars are more interesting than mine, so don’t take it to heart. We just don’t know what exactly they want to hear or what they’re looking for. It’s all based on what the people reading your application think, right? Your work sounds really meaningful regardless of whether you were deferred or not.
I got in SGC 3, anyone was accepted there so that we make a group?
I’m PLE 3, so we’re not in the same lectures or anything, but we’ll still be there at the same time!
@geekysandwich Can you share your stats and essay? I’m applying regular decision, but I honestly don’t know how to structure the essay to answer the prompt:( PLEASE HELP ME