u/GiselleMonets

Hi. Feedback appreciated. Extenuating circumstances explained below

Demographics: Female; white/Hispanic (🇨🇺); FL

School information: public charter (IB); class of 80

Hooks: low income (50k, single parent, other parent incarcerated/house arrest)? I actually wouldn't consider that an advantage whatsoever LMFAO 💀

Intended major(s): Poli Sci/Government, minor in Spanish

Academics:

• ACT: N/A
• SAT: 1500 (760 RW/740 M) (retook it today...)
• Class rank: Top 10%, possibly top 5% (not published)
• UW/W GPA: 104.5 (school doesn't do UW)
• Coursework: Max course rigor. 11 APs taken. 7 5s, 2 4s (only reporting 5s) (school is very affluent but has limited APs because it's an IB school)
• Awards: Not stellar
  • Several school awards (inc. Spanish Student of the Year & Book Award for Civic Engagement)
  • V NSLI-Y '25

(a really cool language program via the Department of State)

• Personal Project Distinction (IB award for an academic project & research paper I did in the realm of women's history/sexual violence)

Extracurriculars:

• Employee of Planned Parenthood (3 years). Focused on community outreach and helping the underserved
• Prison outreach program. A unique opportunity to have conversations with the incarcerated population inside prisons. Hits home for me, which I've described in my personal statement
• Paid, self-taught Spanish tutor (4 years). Part-time, low-commitment, but a huge passion of mine
• Freelance journalism w/ local org. Contributing to public record, increasing access to information
• Legal internship (1 year). Involves research, digitization of media. At the firm of a state representative
• Estimator for local landscaping company (2 years)
• Restaurant work (6 months). 20 hrs summer, 12 hrs/wk now
• Ballotpedia Election Researcher. Worked with a national cohort to provide information on local elections. Very cool experience, and BP does very important work
• Citizen archivist (2 years). 300+ hours of research and archival work, both independent and with the Smithsonian. Focused on women's history
• Rape crisis advocacy (2 years). Work w/ local orgs. to create pre-forensic exam kits & distribute them to PDs. Very meaningful work to me
• Not an EC I explicitly listed, but I love and actively study language. I talked about this in an essay

Schools: Not a complete list... and it's very clear that I love the East Coast!

• State school (possibly auto admit)
• Yale (I look pretty good in blue.........)
• Princeton
• Harvard
• Columbia

• ⁠Brown

• Georgetown
• Vassar
• Stanford
• Brandeis
• Smith
• Bard (any other Steely Dan fans?)

Questions/Comments:

I mentioned it above briefly, but one of my parents went to prison a few years ago. Definitely an extenuating circumstance. My life changed in every single way, but I think it gave me a sense of direction

Thank you so much!

To preface: I have a pretty different background than most kids, and while that experience is absolutely part of my story, I've tried to create a narrative that is bigger than adversity alone. I'd appreciate any feedback

Demographics:

• American South
• Hispanic female
• Small, competitive charter school in a very wealthy area
• Low-income, single parent. Other parent is incarcerated
• Rising senior

Intended major: Political science (prelaw track) with a minor in linguistics or Spanish

Academic stats:

• 4.0/4.0 UW (school doesn't do weighted)
• 1470 SAT superscore (760 RW/710 M), but will definitely be retaking. Aiming for 1500 minimum. Also taking ACT
• Top 10% (school doesn't rank). Very possibly top 5%
• 10 AP courses taken. I go to an IB school, so very few people take many AP exams
• 5s: Human, World, Gov, Precal
• Waiting on: English Lang, Spanish Lang, Bio, APUSH, Macro, Micro

Current Awards:

Very short...

1. V NSLI-Y Arabic - Department of State national language program. 10 week-intensive. Would highly recommend the program!
2. Brandeis Book Award for Civic Engagement
3. Various school awards & honor societies
4. Seal of Biliteracy (Spanish)
5. Personal Project with Distinction - created a digital archive commemorative of wartime sexual violence. Part of the IB curriculum

ECs:

1. Employee of Planned Parenthood (3 years). Focused on community outreach and helping underserved communities.
2. Prison outreach program. A unique opportunity to have conversations with the incarcerated population.
3. Paid, self-taught Spanish tutor (3 years). Part-time, low-commitment, but a huge passion of mine.
4. Legal internship. Involves research, digitization of media.
5. Simultaneous interpreter for local landscaping company (2 years).
6. Ballotpedia Election Research Fellow. Worked with a national cohort to provide information on local elections. Very cool experience, and BP does very important work.
7. Citizen archivist (2 years). 100+ hours of research and archival work, both independent and with the Smithsonian. Focused on women's history.
8. Recreational runner (2 years). Became a huge part of my life, especially after my dad went to prison.
9. Local campaign work (2 years). Basic involvement in local elections. Phone banking, block walking, data entry. Will be doing voter registration drives ahead of midterms.
10. Halfway house project. Working to provide a small number of halfway houses in the area with basic amenities ahead of new arrivals. Sometimes people are released from prison with nothing but the clothes on their back, and not every halfway house is immediately prepared to meet their needs. This is very much a work in progress.

+ a part-time job and household responsibilities due to my unconventional family structure.

Aiming for:

• Princeton
• Yale
• Georgetown
• Vassar
• Harvard
• Barnard
• Smith
• Brandeis
• UT Austin