u/Intelligent-Two1369

Demographics

• Gender: Male
• Race/Ethnicity: African
• Residence: California
• Income Bracket: Middle Income
• Type of School: Large Public HS
• Hooks (Recruited Athlete, URM, First-Gen, Geographic, Legacy, etc.): URM

Intended Major(s): Economics, Linguistics, Cognitive Science

Academics

• GPA (UW/W): 3.98/4.47
• Rank (or percentile): N/A
• # of Honors/AP/IB/Dual Enrollment/etc: 16 APs throughout HS (3 self studied) and 5ish honors
• Senior Year Course Load: 5 APs, 1 Honors, and MultiVar Calculus

Standardized Testing

List the highest scores earned and all scores that were reported.

• SAT I: 1550 (770 R, 780 M)
• AP/IB: Fifteen 5s and One 4 (FML AP SPANISH)

Extracurriculars/Activities (being vague so i dont get doxxed)

List all extracurricular involvements, including leadership roles, time commitments, major achievements, etc.

1. Intern at UCSF for Autism Research
2. Intern at Carnegie Hall
3. 4 Years attending a selective private music school where I was first chair Violin and Viola
4. Did financial consulting for 5 small businesses in my area increasing revenue by $500K in a year and wrote a case study/research paper about my findings. Had to write code/my own models to make this happen.
5. Created my own orchestra which raised $60K for local charities/organizations
6. Taught music to kids from underprivileged neighborhoods
7. Taiwanese Student Association CoFounder + Treasurer (Im not Taiwanese but can speak Chinese fluently)
8. Did an exchange program in Taiwan where I learned Chinese fluently in a summer at a small University in Taipei (scored a 5 on the AP test without taking the class aferwards)
9. Econ/Finance Intern at a BioTech Startup
10. Econ Bowl Captain

Awards/Honors (This is my weak point lol)

List all awards and honors submitted on your application.

1. Research Award from music school
2. Award for a speech I made in Chinese
3. 3rd place in Cali for Econ Bowl
4. CMEA award for my orchestra
5. AP Scholar 3x

Letters of Recommendation

Honestly should have done this better ngl I think my teachers probably gave me an 8/10 and the ones from outside one was a 9/10 and one maybe a 6/10????

Interviews

Harvard, MIT, Princeton - Nothing really happened I just overshared and they liked that lol

Essays

Personal statements was about how each language I speak unlocks a different side of me (I speak 4) and my counselors/friends gave a LOT of glaze so I think it was a rly good description of who I am and what I believe in (9.5/10).

Supplementals alternated between descriptions of ECs and more personal stories like my experience growing up with a neurodivergent sibling etc

(willing to share more information about essays and ECs its just that I find that my experiences are really REALLY specific so its very easy to find who I am lol)

Decisions (indicate ED/EA/REA/SCEA/RD)

Acceptances:

• UC Merced
• UC Riverside
• UC Santa Cruz
• UC Santa Barbara
• UC Davis
• UC Irvine
• UC San Diego
• >!UMich (EA)!<
• >!Brown -> Commited!!<

Waitlists:

• >!UCLA -> Accepted!<
• >!UChicago -> Accepted!<
• >!Princeton -> Accepted!<

Rejections:

• Harvard (REA) (Deferred -> Rejected)
• Yale
• Columbia
• UPenn
• UC Berkeley
• Northwestern
• MIT lol

Additional Information:

My UC application was RUSHED AF and I think that showed through my acceptances.

In general I have a lot of interests in many different subjects so I found that my interviewers had a hard time understanding why I chose to apply under econ and also it was hard to convey my interests while at the same time sticking tru to the fact I applied under econ. I wish I had better spikes in my ECs but in the end I did all of these ECs because I love them and are passionate about those different fields (Econ, Cog Sci, Music, Linguistics/Anthropology). But if you want to sweep more schools than I did, I HIGHLY recommend making clear spikes and not having a very interesting yet kind of all over the place application like I did.

DM or comment for any questions or help!

I was super commited to Brown for their APMA/Econ program on a pre-PhD route for economics (for context I rejected UChicago for them despite UChicago being the place to be for econ). Just got off of the Princeton waitlist and ngl im still really in love with Brown, but I just wanted to hear other opinions. Price is negligible.

Brown (APMA/ECON + potential double in Cog Sci)

Pros:

• OPEN CURRICULUM (I love exploring different subjects like linguists/neuro/music etc)
• Campus culture/General Happiness (I LOVED ADOCH all the current/former students/profs were amazing people)
• PhD placements are literally the exact same as Princeton/UChicago/Harvard etc to top programs so im in a good position regardless.
• Seemed easier to have connections with professors (on average like 1/2 grad students per professor for my department)
• Stronger alumni network??? Tho this might be biased from my experience
• APMA/ECON at Brown is like the dream major for me so I can do math and economics at the same time
• EXTREMELY reputable APMA program
• Providence RI

Cons:

• Amenities (the dorms are meh and there are like no libraries)
• Brown has the smallest endowment in the ivies so it feels like they budget a lot and arent spending on their students as much as they should be for their status as an Ivy. So less funding for travel, research, you name it
• Worse placements if I decide that I dont want to go to grad school?
• Less reputable in econ/most other subjects?

Princeton (Econ with minor in APMA)

Pros:

• Prestige/Name Brand
• Marginally better music program (could minor easily)
• Research focused ethos
• Better study abroad/language learning institute

Cons:

• Cant double major (have to choose between math/econ)
• I dont mess with the "rumored" pre professional vibes (less finance bros the better). I want to go to a school where learning/following ur passion > future earnings
• Harder need to maintain a high GPA to pursue grad school (big reason why I rejected UChicago)
• Pure Math focus = poorer APMA program
• Idk if I would fit as well with the campus culture?!

In short: I feel I might be overly biased towards Brown so is it valid to choose Brown over Princeton

I was super commited to Brown for their APMA/Econ program on a pre-PhD route for economics (for context I rejected UChicago for them despite UChicago being the place to be for econ). Just got off of the Princeton waitlist and ngl im still really in love with Brown, but I just wanted to hear other opinions. Price is negligible.

Brown (APMA/ECON + potential double in Cog Sci)

Pros:

• OPEN CURRICULUM (I love exploring different subjects like linguists/neuro/music etc)
• Campus culture/General Happiness (I LOVED ADOCH all the current/former students/profs were amazing people)
• PhD placements are literally the exact same as Princeton/UChicago/Harvard etc to top programs so im in a good position regardless.
• Seemed easier to have connections with professors (on average like 1/2 grad students per professor for my department)
• Stronger alumni network??? Tho this might be biased from my experience
• APMA/ECON at Brown is like the dream major for me so I can do math and economics at the same time
• EXTREMELY reputable APMA program
• Providence RI

Cons:

• Amenities (the dorms are meh and there are like no libraries)
• Brown has the smallest endowment in the ivies so it feels like they budget a lot and arent spending on their students as much as they should be for their status as an Ivy. So less funding for travel, research, you name it
• Worse placements if I decide that I dont want to go to grad school?
• Less reputable in econ/most other subjects?

Princeton (Econ with minor in APMA)

Pros:

• Prestige/Name Brand
• Marginally better music program (could minor easily)
• Research focused ethos
• Better study abroad/language learning institute

Cons:

• Cant double major (have to choose between math/econ)
• I dont mess with the "rumored" pre professional vibes (less finance bros the better). I want to go to a school where learning/following ur passion > future earnings
• Harder need to maintain a high GPA to pursue grad school (big reason why I rejected UChicago)
• Pure Math focus = poorer APMA program
• Idk if I would fit as well with the campus culture?!

In short: I feel like a true brunonian but I might be overly biased towards Brown so is it valid to choose Brown over Princeton

I was super commited to Brown for their APMA/Econ program on a pre-PhD route for economics (for context I rejected UChicago for them despite UChicago being the place to be for econ). Just got off of the Princeton waitlist and ngl im still really in love with Brown, but I just wanted to hear other opinions. Price is negligible.

Brown (APMA/ECON + potential double in Cog Sci)

Pros:

• OPEN CURRICULUM (I love exploring different subjects like linguists/neuro/music etc)
• Campus culture/General Happiness
• PhD placements are literally the exact same as Princeton/UChicago/Harvard etc to top programs so im in a good position regardless.
• Seemed easier to have connections with professors (on average like 1/2 grad students per professor for my department)
• Stronger alumni network??? Tho this might be biased from my experience
• APMA/ECON at Brown is like the dream major for me so I can do math and economics at the same time
• EXTREMELY reputable APMA program

Cons:

• Campus is worse
• Amenities (the dorms are meh and there are like no libraries)
• Brown has the smallest endowment in the ivies so it feels like they budget a lot and arent spending on their students as much as they should be for their status as an Ivy. So less funding for travel, research, you name it
• Worse placements if I decide that I dont want to go to grad school?
• Anything else I missed?

Princeton (Econ with minor in APMA)

Pros:

• Prestige/Name Brand
• Marginally better music program (could minor easily)
• Research focused ethos
• Better study abroad/language learning institute
• Anything else I missed?

Cons:

• Cant double major (have to choose between math/econ)
• I dont mess with the "rumored" pre professional vibes (less finance bros the better). I want to go to a school where learning/following ur passion > future earnings
• Harder need to maintain a high GPA to pursue grad school (big reason why I rejected UChicago)

In short: I feel I might be overly biased towards Brown so is it valid to choose Brown over Princeton