Chance a nervous kid from a hyper-competitive “ghetto” school
Context: My school has no connections, programs, or prestige. The kids here are just way too smart and it makes me look bad. Everything I have done is on my own merit, but idk if it’s enough compared to kids at my school.
Demographics: Male, Asian, Southern State, Public School, No Hooks
Intended Major(s): Biomedical Engineering, Electrical Engineering
SAT: 1560 (800M, 760R)
UW/W GPA and Rank: 3.96/4.51 (Top 6% out of 1000+ students)
Coursework: 10 APs & 4 IBs (all 5’s on APs and IB scores are yet to come)
Notable Courses: Calc III, AP Calc BC, AP Physics I & II, IB Biology, IB English (taking Linear Algebra and Discrete Math next year)
Awards:
- US Naval Award (Science)
- TSA Mathematical Modeling Nationals
- IEEE Prosthetics Research Paper
- IEEE Biosensing Research Paper
- Eagle Scout
Extracurriculars:
- Introduced science fair & research to district, growing participation by 200% and creating first district-wide symposium
- Worked with amputees at a large veteran’s clinic
- Helped medical nonprofits create cloud platforms as an intern @ Microsoft
- Built Brain Computer Interface training modules as an intern @ National Center for Adaptive Neurotechnologies
- Research Intern @ UTSW with upcoming research paper
- Built a platform to fix a major problem in my city (commended by mayor and platform is in use, I live in a small suburb)
- Taught communication at National Youth Leadership Training
- Built nonprofit teaching emotional intelligence and leadership through religious study and scaled to 9 cultural centers
- ASPL for Boy Scouts - Backpacked 200+ miles
- All Region Flute Player & Marching Band
Essays/LORs/Other:
- Really strong AP Calc BC rec about technical skills and intelligence
- Really strong IB Biology rec about character and leadership
Schools: UPenn ED, Princeton RD, Cornell, Gatech, UT EA, TAMU EA, idk what else to apply to
My application is really good in my opinion, but a lot of kids at my school are that much better. Our school doesn’t provide anything, so I’m not sure if I’m being compared to my peers or circumstances by colleges.