u/qlskdj

pls dont dox.

Demographics

• Gender: female
• Race/Ethnicity: asian
• Residence: south
• Income Bracket: low income
• Type of School: competitive public school
• Hooks: FGLI

Intended Major(s): political science

Academics

• GPA (UW/W): 3.88/4.4
• Rank (or percentile): 36/604
• # of Honors/AP/IB/Dual Enrollment/etc.: 11 APs
• Senior Year Course Load: AP Calc AB, AP Lit, AP Comp Gov, AP Research, AP Latin, AP Chem, study hall

Standardized Testing

• ACT: 36
• SAT: 1560
• AP: 5555553455 (cancelled one of my scores because I know I failed...)

Extracurriculars/Activities

1. theater: acted in plays and musicals, wrote and directed my own play senior year, raised a ton of money
2. intern for local politician: basically just helped with campaign
3. senior center volunteer: did a TON of volunteering whenev i was free
4. member of a local organization: helped distribute resources and worked to amend a bill in my state
5. literary magazine writer and editor
6. youth congressional cabinet member
7. IYWS and adroit
8. social media creator for a local organization
9. cybersecurity club president: planned logistics and traveling for several competitions and won a few awards
10. barista at a local cafe

Awards/Honors

List all awards and honors submitted on your application.

1. youth city service award
2. national merit semifinalist
3. state level theater scholarship
4. statewide public speaking contest winner
5. library volunteer award

Letters of Recommendation

AP Lang teacher: 10/10

AP Physics teacher: 6/10 idk

Interviews

Harvard: it was ok. I didnt prepare because I didn't think I was gonna get in and wasn't planning on attending but we got along well

Essays

10/10 and meant every word I wrote! Personal statement was about how talking to my elders made be a better person and caused me to start placing my value into my own personal feelings and values instead of external rewards

Decisions (indicate ED/EA/REA/SCEA/RD) - I only applied RD

Rejections:

• USC (this actually made me upset because I was also rejected from USC Bovard as junior lmaoo)
• Duke
• UChicago
• Dartmouth

Waitlists:

• Northwestern
• Georgetown

Acceptances:

• Amherst!!! (committed)
• Pomona
• Harvard (??????? didn't expect because I was only applying to see if I would get in)
• Brown (I only applied because my friend was applying so this was surprising)
• UC Berkeley
• Rice

Lowk after spending DAYS contemplating Amherst vs Harvard I now realize I should've applied to more LACs because they fit me more so my #1 advice for juniors is to really research colleges and think about what spending 4 years at an institution would be like WITHOUT the "prestige" aspect. also I don't recommend applying to schools just for fun because there's no point lmao

I was extremely lucky to get in but don't get too confident because ANYONE can get rejected/accepted. I think there is a very high possibility that I could have gotten rejected from every school I applied to and then I would've been cooked 😭 so PLEASE apply to safeties because college apps is a gamble

I used to be in yalls position so READ THIS IF YOU'RE A FRESHMAN OR SOPHOMORE!!

i see WAYY too many of ppl on this subreddit stressing out about how "cooked" yall are. and let me tell you it is NOT that deep and you all are just stressing out too much and comparing yourselves to juniors and seniors on here who have much more experience and growth than you do

As a freshman you do NOT need to be stressing out about programs, internships etc. find out what you're truly passionate in and it genuinely does not matter until 2nd semester junior year.

my freshman year, i joined basically every club i could possibly join and was exposed to so many new things. as i progressed in each of these clubs, i found what i enjoyed and didn't enjoy and even found talents and skills that I didnt even know I had. did absolutely nothing summer after freshman year besides relax btw.

then at the end of sophomore year I finally realized what generic direction i wanted to go into post high school, quit 3 clubs and stuck with 2 (this was really surprising to me because all my life i thought i wanted to work in CS, but i realized that i was actually really passionate in creative writing, which i would never have found out if i forced myself into only working on CS and forcing myself into a category). still did zero summer programs or internships sophomore year, and volunteered at 2 local summer camps and and other places in my community (foodbank, library etc)

beginning of junior year i still didn't even know which actual major i wanted to do, but i got a job at a local cafe and maintained good grades. not many people talk about this, but pay attention in your classes!!! taking AP lang and AP gov is what made me finalize my decision to focus on literature + poli sci. managed to get leadership in the 2 clubs i stuck with (one was related to my major, the other one was a CS club i joined freshman year -- i realized CS was more of a side hobby than something I wanted to do in college, but I still stuck with it just because I liked the activity)

Early 2nd semester of junior year, I applied to USC bovard and got rejected. That was the first summer program I ever applied to. Then I applied to IYWS and adroit (+ some local programs) and got accepted. note that I did NOT have any major awards or ECs until junior year, but I was still able to get into all these programs + start winning awards my first time trying just because i spent my previous years reflecting on what i truly wanted to do instead of boxing myself into all these titles early on.

senior year, i just continued what I started junior year and ended up getting into harvard, brown, pomona, ucb, rice and amherst and am now commited to amherst!!! most importantly, i discovered an activity and major i was truly passionate in - if i had pushed myself to apply to so many CS programs and not branch out and reflect on my experiences my first few years, i definitely would have not found all these new hobbies and I don't think i would be as excited for my future as i am now - so this is your reminder to not stress out and stop obsessing over prestige, prioritize YOURSELF first, and the rest will follow!

feel free to ask questions!

EDIT: ok yall I appreciate the DMs but the whole point of this post was to emphasize focusing on learning learning about what YOU want to do, not doing what other people do just to get into an ivy or trying to get prestigious accolades 😭 obv i'll still answer EC related questions but i personally would not advise getting all your ECs from or comparing your stats against some random person on reddit - my personal belief is that you should always reflect on your OWN experiences, and if you ever feel lost, try something new that is COMPLETELY unrelated to your current goals (this is literally how i ended up where i am today) -- like def dm me if you just need general suggestions about how to deepen or frame your current activities, inspiration, life/college app advice but i just personally feel like asking "what was your SAT?" kiiiinda defeats the point