might be the worst results oat on this sub (domestic applicant, multiple international awards, rejected everywhere??)
Demographics
- Gender: Male
- Race/Ethnicity: Asian
- Residence: south
- Income Bracket: ~350k
- Type of School: Competitive Public High School
- Hooks: none
Intended Major(s) neuroscience
Academics
- GPA: 4.0 UW, 4.7 W; max course rigor possible; school doesn't rank
Standardized Testing
- SAT: 1580 (790 RW/790 M)
Extracurriculars (Not in order of "importance")
1. independent research project #1: did legit work BY MYSELF on a particular disease (let's call it disease xyz), isef qual + two major international organization presentation acceptance (major international research conferences)
2. independent research project #2: did more legit work BY MYSELF on disease xyz, isef grand, isef qual, some more bs
3. research internship #1: did work on disease xyz: took over upper-level research project (masters-phd level) after someone suddenly left lab; discovered some really novel stuff about xyz and first author pub coming (manuscript stages)
research internship #2: tbh wanted some wetlab experience with disease xyz, so did some more work on the disease here (i'm really passionate about treating it). not that impressive imo but i completely reworked the labs workflow to make it better
One of these (SSP, Simons SRP, Garcia): prestigious research summer camp; research accepted into top conference in field and was recognized on insane levels (imo this is > isef grand)
international nonprofit board member: high-impact; very selective position (national level selection process to identify candidates)
president of school club #1: did some community related stuff, p high-impact looking at 200+ member counts
president of school club #2: did some more community related stuff, boosted membership and volunteer engagement by like 300% in my first year of presidency
instrument -> district recognized musician (#1 in my region), couple of mid regional awards w this, tbh js do it for fun
varsity sport -> yes i am athletic as well
Awards/Honors
- isef 2nd place grand award in relevant category to applied major, 2x isef finalist
- isef special award (one of the more selective special awards)
- major international research org recognition (recognizable conference + only hs to receive invitation for participation EVER)
- three more international research org recognition all stuffed into one cat
- state award (not saying what basically won major research related competition: 1/550+ students)
Letters of Recommendation
- literature teacher: def one of my fav teachers and I was her fav student
- bio teacher: this guy glazes me too much; recommends that i drop out of hs to do my research stuff and make big things
- extra rec from PI
- counselor: she likes me (i think)
Interviews
I’m really personable so i’ve never had a bad interview - all of them went amazing
Essays
I didn’t think they were that bad lmfao but ig they were
Schools
Rejected hypsm, most ivies
wl @ columbia, duke, jhu, washu (rejected off washu and columbia)
going to state school ✌️
My Take
ngl i think my application was penalized for being too narrow and focused on a particular niche. they probably thought that i engineered my application. i'd recommend for other students to focus on 2-3 things and format their application this way.
tbh it just makes me angry bc i genuinely only did things i was passionate and really good at.
promise this is not bait and i have been struggling to come to terms w my current situation. i've moved on tho, i'm a pretty happy individual, but ig after grinding so hard for a dream i've had for a long time that this was p demotivating.
btw details are pretty obscure bc i'm google-able.