abb bags public schools & fails everywhere else
Demographics
- Gender: Male
- Race/Ethnicity: Asian
- Residence: Midwest U.S.
- Income Bracket: Upper middle class
- Type of School: Public school
- Hooks (Recruited Athlete, URM, First-Gen, Geographic, Legacy, etc.): None
Intended Major(s): Business Administration, Economics, & Finance
Academics
- GPA (UW/W): 4.0 UW & 4.5 W
- Rank (or percentile): 1/511 UW & 15/511 W
- # of Honors/AP/IB/Dual Enrollment/etc.: 10
- Senior Year Course Load: AP Lit, AP Stats, IB Phil, IB TOK
Standardized Testing
- ACT: 35
- AP/IB: All 5's
Extracurriculars/Activities
- Cross Country (T10 in state; team captain; varsity)
- Track (no honors; varsity)
- Policy Debate (T20 in nation; TOC qualifier; VP; won ivy league/national tournaments)
- Student Government (nothing here; normal leadership)
- Intern (finance internship @ Fortune 500 company)
- Volunteering (tutored elementary schoolers & volunteered at food bank)
Awards/Honors
- AP Scholar
- IB Certificate
- NMF
- Local Scholarship
- State Governor Award/Scholarship
- State Regents Award/Scholarship
Letters of Recommendation
Cross country/track coach:
6/10. He knew me for 4 years, but probably saw me as irresponsible.
English teacher:
5/10. He taught me in 9th and 10th grade, calling me the 'best writer he had ever seen', but he did pull me aside in class and yell at me.
Interviews
None
Essays
Common App:
My essay focused on cultural identity, the experience of immigration, & how I reclaimed my voice through debate.
UC App:
My PIQ's had no mention of my background or story & literally just described my extracurriculars.
Decisions
Acceptances:
- UC Berkeley
- UC Davis
- UC Irvine
- UC Los Angeles
- UC San Diego
- UC Santa Barbara
Waitlists:
- None
Rejections:
- Columbia
- Harvard
- NYU
- Northwestern
- Princeton
- Rice
- Stanford
- UT Austin
- University of Chicago
- University of Michigan
- University of Pennsylvania
- University of Southern California
Additional Information:
As stated, I had no direction in life and did whatever I wanted in high school, never considering my future or repercussions. I chose business last minute because it sounded cool. Furthermore, I had no clue how admissions worked & applied randomly. I did not know about EA/ED, so I applied RD to every school.