I’m a student here (Wharton), and a good chunk of this info comes from people I know personally. Most applied ED, followed by RD and a few transfers. 19 Wharton students. 21 College. 8 Engineering. 2 Nursing. 2 Dual-Degree (M&T + LSM). I grouped their responses into 3 key takeaways (which I find very crucial), and also will share some particular answers to survey questions that will hopefully be of value.

1) Build one story, out of things you already do

Everyone could name the story their application told, and the essay, activities, and Why Penn all supported it. I think it's CRUCIAL applicants work the admissions process backwards. Be introspective and think about how you want to frame yourself as an applicant. How do you want the admissions team to view you when they read your app? Then, honestly tie together the experiences you've had + things you've pursued, and why you did them, to support his frame. This narrative should be so obvious on the personal statement, and it should also shine through on your supplementals + activities list. Also, about 15 people built that story around something they almost didn’t list: a job, caring for a family member, the weekend farmers market, the family business. So don't try to speed-run this process. Be thoughtful, be intentional, and be honest!

2. Small and specific beats big and impressive

This came up in almost every section of the survey responses. People wrote essays about one scene instead of their whole life. They named actual professors and labs in the Why Penn supplemental. They used real numbers in their activities - even when they look "small." And the most common thing people stressed about that they now believe didn’t matter at all was whether or not some of their extracurriculars were "impressive enough." For example, one of my classmates described her honey business and said "It made $900. It was fine. What mattered was that it was real, and I seriously enjoyed it." So keep it authentic, and make it specific. The authenticity shows you are being honest, and the specificity shows you are intentional and actually care about it. I would make sure to apply this thought process to every single written component of the application.

3. Your voice and your context are the advantage

I get the worry of "How am I going to stand out?" when you’re brainstorming a narrative and drafting essays. It feels super tricky.

Hear this.. 8 rural, international, or working-class students said that trying to look like a "typical" applicant would have been their biggest mistake. One almost padded his list with online clubs to look "normal" before realizing that coming from a rural place Penn rarely hears from was the strongest thing he had. Admissions sees your school profile, so don't forget that you’re judged on what was available to you. The schools reviewing you essentially do the context side for you - but you can lean into where you come from on the written components of your app to really make your essays you.

Also, your voice is something nobody else can copy. One student had to rewrite a polished counselor draft so it sounded like "a 17-year-old who’s annoyed about the current state of political discourse, which I am." Another wrote about her dad pricking his finger at the dinner table and joking about it: "a little funny and a little sad." This isn’t an anti-counselor take. Sometimes it’s about finding the right counselor, one who guides you without replacing your voice.

And here's some of those questions/answers I mentioned earlier:

What made your essay work?

"Small, specific moments read as true."

"Make sure the family member is the setting, not the main character. You’re the main character."

"Engineering essays are better when they show iteration, not just a happy ending."

How did you choose and order your activities? **Common theme of ordering by your story, not by prestige.

"I ordered by relevance to my story rather than by impressiveness."

"For a working student, the time is the point." (List hours first + avoid generic jargon like "guaranteed customer satisfaction")

"Six strong ones beat ten filler activities"

What would you tell your high school self?

"The thing you already do every day might be the most meaningful thing on the whole app."

"Stop apologizing for not having a passion project. Working counts. Side hobbies can count"

"Ask someone outside of your typical life to read your essays. All my hometown friends thought my story was normal. Looking back, I think Penn found it extraordinary."

"You belong in these applications. I almost didn’t send it."

And that's it! Let me know if you have any questions. My dms are open. I've been helping students write their essays + strategically structure their applications for the past few cycles, and this is the first time I've compiled a larger resource at scale from the other past applicants around me. Happy to help anyone one on one ahead of the ED deadline!

academics:

a- average, all 4/5 on ap tests, taken 11 ap/dual enrollment (ap calc ab, ap stats, ap calc bc, ap bio, apush, ap chem, ap lang, ap spanish, ap gov, calc 3, diff eqs) and 2 honors classes (honors history, honors english. got 3 b’s sophmore year, 2 junior year, 1 senior year. rest were all a’s (ignoring the +/-).

1580 sat, top 5% of class.

ec’s:

stanford research with first person published and co authored work, related to intended major. varsity sport and team captain with two regional first place titles. on a world medalist/ranked team for stem discipline related to my intended major. local volunteer work related to my intended major. got into and completed selective summer program for physics (4% acceptance rate). there are others, but those are the main ones. on the side built my own car, built my own pet robot (both just for funsies)

hellooo pls chance me or give some recs for schools i should apply to cuz my list is pretty small thanks!!!!!

Demographics:

• Gender: female
• race/ethnicity: asian, chinese
• state: bay area CA
• type of school: private
• no hooks

Intended Major(s): accounting or business admin

SAT: 1540 (780 math, 760 english)

GPA:

• UW: 3.97 (ONE B+ IN AP CHEM AGHHHHHHHHH)
• Weighted: 4.33

Coursework: only aps

• 10th: ap chinese (5), precalc (5), apwh (5)
• 11th: chem (4), apush (4), calc bc (4)
• 12th: psych, stats, macro, us gov, lang, physics 1

Awards:

• congressional award gold medal (12)
• mandarin award at school (10)
• (nonprofit i volunteer at) award (12)
• presidential service award - gold (10)
• mtac piano level advanced (9)

Extracurriculars: i dont really have an order yet but yea

• _________________ (nonprofit i volunteer at which basically like we have small groups and we each create service opportunities and free events in our community based on different topics, for me it was civic engagement (10), and early childhood (11-12))
  • 10th grade: voter guides for local elections distributed for like 3 cities, youth digital forum where we had the mayor for a city and other ppl working in gov share their experiences and talk with students
  • 11th: off-screen initiative/event for kids and parents where we had a bunch of games and activities and 300+ ppl attended
  • 12th: were planning something about increasing literacy for elementary schoolers (so like targeting art, reading, writing)
• for the same org above ^ im apart of their youth advisory council (12) and was a mentor for 6 new students who each created their own events (11)
  • right now i'm working on a grant with the director for the nonprofit for $400k+ funding from california gov
• paid intern at small local bilingual (cn/eng) daycare (summer before 12th and continuing)
  • basically helped them build their entire digital presence with a bilingual website and designed a new registration system where 1 family has already registered
  • also helped them run the center over the summer, working with the kids and teaching
• National Chinese Honor Society President (11-12):
  • $1000+ funds managed/raised, 50+ members, started partnerships with multiple senior centers, organizations, and school clubs for events, host 11+ service activities and cultural exchange events every yr
• started a snack store at our school in one of my classes that has like really few students (12)
  • made 1000+ in sales our first 7 days
  • i did marketing for it and planned promos and stuff like that working shifts etc
  • but this is unpaid but its completely students running everything for store
• art club treasurer (11-12)
  • raise/manage $400+ funds in first year
  • biggest club at school with jh and hs students
  • work with hospitals and other clubs and helped design stuff for our official school art show
  • we're technically a chapter for an art nonprofit so yea and we hosted an art and entrepreneurship free summer camp for elementary schoolers over summer and we had like 35+ kids where they split into groups to design their own product and pitch it to their parents at the end of the week
• investment competition club leader
  • did the competition all 4 years of hs (but didnt place in any lol)
  • shared comp info with other hs students and basically helped guide them thru it
  • helped find multiple teams in our school (5+)
• associate editor and financial/business column founder for a student magazine (11-12)
  • worked on 4+ issues as an editor and writer, found other students to write for us
  • covered topics ranging from politics and business stories to digital fraud prevention
• attended a free youth global exchange in china (summer before 10th)
  • participated in cultural events and also stayed and interacted with students at multiple chinese universities
  • there were ppl from 20+ diff countries but ya it was really fun and i was able to use my chinese to interact with locals and help some ppl who didn't know any chinese
• employee at school store (paid, separate from the snack one) (9-11)

Essays/LORs/Other:

• LOR 1: mandarin teacher: should be pretty good since ive worked with her every year in hs for different classes and nchs and as a teacher assistant so she has a lot to write
• LOR 2: calc bc teacher: prolly not as good as the other one since hes writing a lot of ppls but i think we have a good relationship but ya idk
• essay: i like my topic but i think i just need to work on it some more. like if i can get it to work it will be good

Schools:

• ed: USC
• ea: santa clara
• other: ucs (everything except merced, riverside, sb), cal poly slo, and genuinely like nothing else 😬
  • PLEASE recommend some schools in and out of state

thanks friends! good luck to those applying to college WE GOT THIS AHHHHHH

demographic: asian, male, southern state, mid-high income (200k)

stats: gpa UW/W - 3.94/4.6, competitive public magnet hs program, but overall hs is uncompetitive, top 3% of class tho

All IB(IB diploma) since 9th, some APs taken (highest course rigor out of school, and IB program)

SAT: 1560(ss), 1520

major: engineering(aero/mech)

Ec's (gonna be a bit vague, not in order)

9-12, lead of school robotics club - taught CAD to members, qualified for tri-states, 85th percentile nat'lly. went from losing at regional quals in first rounds in 9th to getting to top 20s at tri-states.

11, competitive state engineering summer program(~15%) - did research on aerospace communications, wrote proposals, and presented to officials

9-12, paid tutor for english/essays/math for local center- taught lesson plans, made lessons, graded essays

9-12, camp counselor for local arts nonprofit - taught art to children

12, hardware project with another person for social impact - received mentorship and $500 in funding from local university, currently developing for some comps

11-12, instructional lead for this club, visited middle schools to teach 3D printing, hosted competitions, about 70+ students impacted

orchestra, sat tutoring, some independent research (no independent publications)

honors/awards:

regional TSA award, summer program acceptance, some hardware hackathon stuff

rec letters:

11, math teacher, taught me two classes that year, knows me pretty well (9/10)

9, robotics teacher, taught me in 9, saw me mentor others and bring the team to a much better level through the 4 yrs ive been on it (7/10).

commonapp essay kind of describes how taking risks and dreaming big has developed my interest in building things, as well as teaching others how to do so(not cliche in the way i wrote it, i promise)

supplementals are overall good, talked about my interest with assisstive-robotics and my hardware proj., interest with CAD, human-centered products, relevant courses/labs obv

any specific schools ive listed here, im out of state for, US citizen

guaranteed admission to some state schools
safeties: some state schools (>40% acc. rate)
target: purdue, uiuc
reach: gt (oos), UT, stanford, some ivies, cmu, umich

White male, High income, Long Island private school

Not applying for aid

Intended major: Philosophy

GPA: 93.3/100

ACT: 34 (35 English 35 Reading 31 Math)

APs: 12 (9 before senior year, 5,5,5,5,5,4,4,4,4)

Awards:

1. NSDA Semifinalist in Extemporaneous Debate, Medalist in World-Schools, NCFL Octafinalist in LD, PF
2. NSDA Rankings: #53 U.S., #2 N.Y., #1 N.Y.C. District
3. NSDA All-State, All-American, Premier Distinction
4. National Merit Commendation
5. A.P. Scholar with Distinction, Capstone Diploma

Activities:

Captain of debate team

Co-Founder of philosophy and literature club that hosts weekly seminars

Defense advocate for peer diversion court, advocating for real youth offenders to get records sealed and sentences reduced.

Presenter in latin club, 1 of 4 students selected to head latin teaching corps (grading tests and giving lectures)

Coached sports, assisted in enrichment activities, and led fundraisers for neurodivergent parish members

Additional Info:

Sophomore year GPA dragged down by 83 in honors precalc, roughly 95 excluding precalc. Diagnosed with ADHD 2nd trimester of junior year, medication I was placed on made me extremely lethargic, making it difficult to complete assignments and therefore creating a drastic drop in T2 GPA from high T1 that was immediately recovered in T3.

Repost :)

Stats:

White/middle eastern
High income (full pay)
Medium public school, not very competitive
Usually about 2-4 kids from my school get in
Intended major: biochem or IR i literally don’t know yet im so fuckinf scared

GPA: 4.699/4.0, unweighted 3.83/4.00 no class rank but top 10% I think top 20ish based on an award I got
5s on physics 1, lang, apush, bio, precalc, 4 on euro
SAT: 1470 (760e710m)😬 still deciding ab if I should submit (advice?)
Classes this year: AP chem, AP lit, AP calc AB, AP french, AP latin

Ecs:
Research at state flagship, coauthored late breaking abstract presented at national conference, over the course of a year (vague for privacy)
Deca vp 1 year fundraising coordinator 2 years, raised 3000 for club, attended states not icdc
Part time job 10 hours a week after school at local library
Advisor to underclassmen, big sibling ambassador to incoming frosh
Volunteering at day camp near me
Volunteering for special needs students at day camp
Jv volleyball, piano no awards
Unicef/key club 100+ volunteer hours

I know these ECs are nothing crazy and lack direction

Awards:
ap scholar with distinction, national merit commended
Nle gold x3, grand concours silver x2, latin state exam cum laude x2 (language awards)
Faculty scholar (top 10%)
Endicott college book award
Honor societies (bruh)

Thanks for help!
Looking at school data, I am in the range of people who have been accepted, no one in my range has been rejected (yet) but there’s a first time for everything :((

Asian male, first generation low income
3.8/4.33 UW, 4.0/4.33 W 1410 SAT (prolly going test optional)
APS: HUG 4, WH 4, PSYCH 4, APUSH 3 LANG 4 STATS 4
Intended major: accounting and finance

Current classes: AP US GOV, AP LIT, AP CALC AB, AP BIO, AP ECON MICRO/MACRO

AP scholar and AP scholar with distinction

Activities:
Facebook marketplace reselling - 10k revenue
Monthly science magazine editor
summer program at Princeton
Georgetown summer program
Cultural center volunteer
Work over summer at medical clinic
Translator for family business

Other schools:
NYU, BU, Emory, UVA, USC, a bunch of safeties

my application as a whole feels so bad in comparison to this sub and my cousins (who go to jhu, vanderbilt, stuy, etc etc. the avg sat in my family is a 1500) but i just want to see my chances 🥺

demographics:
race/ethnicity: chinese
state: md, fredrick county if that matters
type of school: suburban, public, decentish with large selection of aps and stuff
hooks: first gen, low-income (~35k a year/-1500 sai on fafsa)

intended major: accounting and maybe finance as minor

sat: 1510 (730 rw/780 math)

4.0 uw, 4.64 w, class rank is around 120/520

aps: (ik it’s not the best, i didn’t know i should be taking any)
junior year: ap world (4), ap psych (4)
senior year: ap calc bc, apes, ap micro, ap macro, english 101

no awards that are worth mentioning/basically none

ecs (simplified to barest bones):
art comms
tutoring
manager of online study group
wrote short anthologies
working at family restaurant during summer
self studied chinese to hsk 4 (unofficial)

lor: idk hopefully it’s decent it’s my english teacher so

safeties
jmu
umbc

targets
penn state (ea) - seems okay
virginia tech

reaches
umd (ea) - want to get into the most 🤞🤞
uva (ea) - prob unrealistic
william and mary - seems nice
uni of richmond - idk if i would even want to go there either
willanova (ea) - kinda wanna get in
nyu - for funsies since i have fee waiver

Hi I was just wondering if I have a good chance to get into NU for ED, Im an unhooked applicant.

Biomedical Engineering Major

1520 SAT - 790 Math, 3.96 Unweighted, Took most rigor at my state good mix 4's and 5's, no class rank

High Income Asian Male No financial Aid

Go to private school one of best in my state

Honors top 3:

Best Presentation Award (co-first) at ICABB '25, ACM peer-reviewed in Bioinformatics Conf.

Sigma Xi Research Award (1 of 4), U-M Ann Arbor; 1 of 48 finalists, Michigan Science & Eng. Fair

Gold Medal & Summa Cum Laude, Advanced Latin Prose, National Latin Exam

Activities and experiences top 5

Research

Eastern Michigan Univ. - Dr. Bai, Cancer Genomics; Amer. Assoc. for Cancer Research (AACR), Co-First Author & Presenting Author

Analyzed 330+ tumors across 12 cancers via Python/TCGA; co-first-authored ACM paper accepted for ICABB ’25 presentation; 2 AACR posters

Univ. of Michigan - (with a professor there), Biomedical Imaging & Biomechanics Lab; Biomedical Engineering Society, Summer Researcher & First Author

Wrote MATLAB co-registering awake mouse brain across MRI, ultrasound & photoacoustic imaging; first author, poster at BMES Annual Meeting '26

Metro Detroit Regional Science & Engineering Fair / Michigan Science & Engineering Fair, Researcher & Presenter

Mapped 238 miRNA-gene pairs across 8 cancers via TCGA & cBioPortal; invited to present to U-M faculty & researchers at Sigma Xi annual meeting

IceSafe Hockey - Youth Hockey Injury Prevention, Founder & Lead Instructor

Coded and launched injury-prevention platform after own hockey injuries; translated 10+ medical studies into protocols; trained ~500 youth athletes

Thanks so much for the feedback!!!

Demographics: Half african half white, straight male, socal, middle class, sister who graduated from johns hopkins

Intended Major(s): Computer Science

Sat: superscore 1490 but gonna try n push for 1500 in november

UW/W GPA and Rank: 3.8/4.8

Coursework:AP calc ab, ap chem, apush, ap world, ap comp sci p, ap comp sci a, ap seminar, ap pre calc.

scores: 3 fives, 4 fours, 1 three

currently taking: ap gov, ap calc bc, ap lit

Awards: ap scholar with distinction and that’s it

Extracurriculars:
Black Student Union President

Made a website that is used by multiple clubs across campus to organize their meetings and events. Started off in my club. Developed during junior year, used by clubs in senior year.

Basketball 4 years, 2 years varsity

Varsity volleyball 2 years

Created a mac and cheese recipe and revised it during junior year, sold it and made my own business out of it heading into senior year making hundreds of dollars and over one hundred sales.

I volunteered pretty much every sunday as a basketball coach and ran multiple summer camps for a local aau team.

One of five students selected to present my school to parents and middle schoolers touring, after presenting infront of 50+ people I toured a small group around school.

recognized as 817th regionally in a video game brawlhalla with over 80,000,000 users.

pls lmk if i’m cooked, here’s my college list.

Stanford
Carnegie Mellon
UC Berkeley
MIT
Georgia Tech
UIUC
UC San Diego
UCLA
Johns Hopkins
USC
University of Maryland
UC Irvine
UC Davis
UC Santa Barbara
Cal Poly SLO
San Jose State
CSUN
University of Maryland College Park

Reverse chanceme

I’m interested in pursuing a healthcare-related major and potentially going into medicine. I wanted to get some feedback on my current stats and extracurriculars and see how competitive I might be for UW–Madison.
**Stats:**
GPA: 3.9 UW / 4.10 W
SAT: 1550
Class rank: Unknown
Awards: None currently
**Extracurriculars:**
**President of my school’s Diabetes Club** — Lead a student organization focused on diabetes awareness and education. Help organize club activities and work on initiatives to educate students about diabetes and its impact on individuals and communities.
**Science Fair Project on Diabetes** — Conducting a science fair project related to diabetes to explore the science behind the condition and develop a deeper understanding of its effects and potential approaches to addressing it.
**Biotechnology Internship at School** — Participating in a school-based biotechnology internship to gain exposure to biotechnology, scientific research, and practical applications of science.
**Nursing Home Job** — Work at a nursing home, gaining professional experience in a healthcare-related environment and exposure to working with older adults.
**Volunteering** — Approximately 100 hours of community service.
**Taekwondo** — Participate in taekwondo as an extracurricular activity, developing discipline and consistency.
**Musical Instrument** — Play a musical instrument as an extracurricular activity.
**Awards/Honors:**
None so far.

I’m planning to continue developing my extracurriculars and get involved in more opportunities throughout junior and senior year.

BE BRUTAL PLS PLS PLS ANSWER

Demographics

Gender: Female
Ethnicity/Background: Arab-American, first-generation American, Muslim
State: Upstate New York
School: Private, all-girls Catholic high school
Grade: Senior, Class of 2027
Financial Aid: High income but applying for financial aid
Intended Major: Environmental Science / Environmental Studies, potentially double majoring or minoring in Political Science, Public Policy, or Environmental Policy

Academics

GPA: 3.9 unweighted
SAT: 1480 (730 R, 750 M) I can’t super-score for better bc I flopped on my past 2 exams
AP Exams:
AP Euro: 5
AP Lang: 5
AP Pre Calc: 5
AP Environmental: 5
AP Art: idk yet
AP Bio: idk yet
AP Gov: idk yet
AP Lit: idk yet
^ I took regular history last year and I’m taking regular math this year. Sorry don’t kill me

Class Rank: Not provided by school bc class size is too small

Letter of rec:
Environmental teacher 10/10
Regular junior year History teacher 8/10
Normal counselor 8/10
Plus additional letter from Youth Court Director 9/10

Major extracurriculars

Youth Court Leadership (8–12) — Executive board member and top senior leadership position in a youth-led legal diversion program. Involved in real trials, recruitment, training, and administrative responsibilities.
Beekeeping hobby (6-12) — Help care for approximately 10 honeybee hives across two locations with my family. Involved in hive maintenance, honey harvesting, and selling honey and honeycomb. Family tradition passed down through generations. I spend at least 2 hours a week w/ this
Arab Cultural Organization Co-Founder & Co-President (10–12) — Co-founded and lead one of my school’s largest cultural organizations, with 40+ members.
Yearbook Chief of Staff (9–12) — Lead creative design, layouts, and visual direction for the school yearbook.
Varsity Tennis (9–12) — Four years of involvement, senior-year leadership position, and team social media manager.
Student Government (9–12) — Elected representative for multiple years, involved in planning school events and student initiatives.
Judicial Internship (11) — Interned in a court, assisting with administrative work and observing legal proceedings.
Student-Athlete Leadership Organization (11- 12) — Help organize community service initiatives and support student-athletes.
Religious and Cultural Club Leadership (11–12) — Leadership position in a student organization promoting religious understanding and cultural awareness.

My personal statement is about the graveyard in my family’s village in the Middle East and my connection to it through the trail leading up the mountain and the names of generations of my family engraved into the trees. One day, I too will be buried there, alongside the generations who came before me. I’m not going to disclose the hook, but I think it’s pretty good, and I swear the essay isn’t nearly as grim as this summary makes it sound! It’s a passionate and optimistic reflection on heritage and belonging.

^ I don’t have many extracurriculars geared toward environmental studies other than my beekeeping hobby so I’m afraid I’m not fully reflecting my devotion for sustainability + love for the land! I think my essay may get my passion across?

School List
Cornell
Davidson
Holy Cross
Bryn Mawr
Mount Holyoke
Lehigh - legacy
Bucknell
Fordham
GW - legacy
plus 3 local college safeties

^ I’m in contact with my admissions officers and have asked them questions here and there.

Reddit rays of sunshine, where am I getting in?

Hi guys! I’m applying to Georgetown with an IR degree (wanna get into the Walsh school of foreign service) these are my stats!

GPA: 3.86 UW (my school doesn’t do weighted GPAs)

APs:
AP human geo: 5
AP psychology: 5
AP euro: 4
APUSH: 5
AP environmental: 5
AP lang: 5
AP physics 1: pending (self study)
AP physics C E&M: not taking AP test
AP gov: pending
AP comparative politics: pending
AP literature: pending
AP art history: pending
AP 3D Art and design: pending
AP Macro: pending (self study)

Honors:
Honors LA 9
Honors LA 10
Honors Biology
Honors Chemistry

SAT:
1300 (740 RW, 560 Math)
(Retaking Dec 5th)

Extracurriculars:
Model UN (3 years): VP for two years, Head of Research for one year
Pottery club (2 years): Secretary and social media manager.
- led outreach to middle school program, teaching students to create and sell pottery for charity
Wrote my own poetry collection: currently working to get it published
Wrote a research paper on human trafficking: in the process of getting it submitted to the Princeton Journal of Pre-Collegiate Research (three year long research project)
Studio Art: Created 3D Art series in my free time about the dehumanization of women worldwide
- work is getting shown at an exhibition this summer

Awards:
AP scholar with distinction
College board rural recognition award
WA state seal of biliteracy (French)
Best delegate (model un award, state level)
Outstanding delegate (model un award, state level)
Honorable mention (model un, regional level)
Scholastic gold key: critical essay on human trafficking (regional level)
Scholastic gold key: poem on environmental degradation
NYT open letter contest semifinalist: wrote on UN complicity in human trafficking (international level)

Demographics:
White, female, first gen immigrant, English second language, upper middle class
Large public school in rural area

Asian female, california, medium size public school, parents emigrated from Philippines, first gen student, applying as civil engineering major

4.25W, 4.0UW, no class rank, school doesn't offer many APs till junior year

35 ACT

10 APS:

AP Physics 1, AP Physics C Mechanics/E&M, AP Lang, AP Lit, AP Chinese, AP Calc AB, AP Calc BC, AP 3D Art, APUSH, AP Gov

Honors:

National Merit Semifinalist (winners not announced until May)

AP Scholar with Distinction

Certificate of Merit Piano Advanced with State Honors

ECS:

1. Track Varsity Girls Team Captain

Outdoor Track, 4-year varsity distance runner; captain; competed in 800m-3200m; helped motivate athletes during training, created team logo used in merchandise

1. Cross Country Team Captain

Cross-country, 4-year varsity runner; led teammates in workouts, competed in sectional championship races, designed team logo used in XC merchandise

1. Kindergarten Teacher (200+hrs)

Taught children life skills weekly, led children in activities, guided younger students in leading children

1. Schoolhouse, SAT/Calculus Tutor (50 hrs)

Provided calculus classes to help understand concepts, hosted multiple SAT bootcamps for different skill levels to help boost scores

1. Kumon, Kumon Tutor (150+hrs)

Graded assignments, assisted students with math/reading, helped younger kids learn how to do math and read

1. Church Camp Counselor(100+hrs)

Supervised children, facilitated activities, and created a welcoming environment while teaching teamwork, responsibility, and confidence

1. Crochet Fundraising (60hrs)

Crocheted different items during the holiday season to sell to people; proceeds were donated to the UNICEF fund

Schools:

UC Berkeley

Georgia Tech

UCSD

UCLA

Cornell

Cal Poly SLO

University of Michigan

University of Washington

UC Davis

USC

Virginia Tech

Purdue

UC Irvine

SJSU

UC Riverside

SDSU

Cal Poly Pomona

I’m applying as a first year to the BSPS program at the college of pharmacy (in state). my school was an early college program and allows a fifth year, so in 9th and 10th grade i took high school classes and in 11th grade,12th grade, and currently i’ve been taking full college classes. my GPA in my high school classes was a 3.51 uw(my school doesn’t weigh gpa), but my college GPA is a 3.97 with 55 credits as of now, and classes like calc, gen cem, stats, etc. i also have a letter of rec from my calc professor. by the time i am finished i will have an associates degree and a certificate in healthcare foundations.

I had two Cs in science classes and that’s one of my main concerns, but i’ve heard that admissions officers love an upwards trend. Im just not sure if C’s are too much of a dip. I have a 1400 sat, 660 math and 740 writing which also concerns me.

My ecs are decent i’d say, i have 2 leadership positions, work as a pharmacy tech, did the PC3 summer program at UM with encouragement from the dean of assisted programs to apply for BSPS, and a couple more. my honors are just nhs, top 10% SAT score in my school, and high honors in all the semesters i had college classes in.

I was debating on applying to LSA instead to a more general major because my chances of getting in would be higher but ultimately decided that my resume tailored better to the CoP and I have a lot more personal links to it. In my why umich supplemental my experience from the PC3 program was a good segue into why I chose the CoP.

i think my personal statement is pretty good, but i’ve asked multiple old english/comp profs look over it for me to see what I can improve.

I think the biggest thing for me is the uncertainty of it all. I know that the cohort for the BSPS program is notoriously tight knit, and they just recently started allowing first years to apply for it directly. But because of that there aren’t any general stats like acceptance rates for me to be able to realistically weigh my chances.

demographics: biracial: half-russian half-vietnamese male, upper middle class, bay area, academically competitive public high school (t150 in the nation)

intended major: CS/MECH-E

stats:

• sat: 1560 (800m, 760 rw)
• gpa: 4.0 UW, school doesn't do weighted
• school doesn't do individual rank but was informed as top 9% of class
• 10 APs, all 5s
• 3 dual enrollments at local cc

awards:

• first high school sole author to publish at international journal (Usually only PHD students and Professors publish)
• FRC Robotics Designed Subsystem that won us multiple engineering awards
• State Level Piano Award
• State Level Athletics award
• National-Merit Semi Finalist

ecs:

• independent research over 2 years in Mathematics/CS (related to first award). Published in international Journal; invited to give talk at large corporate research lab, a lot of validation from professors at t20s and UCs, calling my research masters if not PHD level.
• Mentored Research at UC Berkeley in Mathematics/CS, published in prestigious peer-reviewed Mathematics/CS research journal (I was second author)
• 3 years officer at FRC Robotics Club, top 15% team in CA, won many awards, won multiple regionals and qualified for State championships - I had high impact on our performance.
• club team sport player at highest national level all throughout high school - Team Captain, won league multiple years.
• 10+ years piano, performed weekly at elderly home for 50+ seniors, level 8 in Certificate of Merit. First chair percussionist in school concert band.
• varsity team sport 4 years
• Dementia Care Lead Volunteer/Service Group Founder - 300+ hrs supporting 100+ seniors with dementia 2x/wk; organized and led cognitive and physical activities; founded volunteer service group: 10+ members
• Part time job as math tutor; tutored 100+ kids in all levels up to Calculus
• President of School Engineering Club

Rec Letters: Good rec letters from Literature/Physics teacher (Lit teacher said I was one of the best students she has ever had); UC Berkeley Professor that I worked under

Other Colleges:

all ucs

California Institute of Technology

Carnegie Mellon University

Cornell University

Georgia Institute of Technology

Harvey Mudd College

Princeton University

Purdue University

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Rice University

Stanford University

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

University of Michigan

University of Pennsylvania

University of Washington

University of Wisconsin-Madison

MIT

Hey guys! I just recently submitted my application for Florida State Early Action and I was just wondering if I could get in with the stats I have.

In-State
I applied for the CARE program (First Gen)
I’m eligible for the Pell Grant
28 ACT
12 APs
3 Dual Enrollment
4.2 GPA
2 years of HOSA Chapter President
1 Year varsity Track and Field
1000+ paid work hours
AP Capstone Diploma
Intended Major: Biological Sciences

Race: White, Sex: Male, State, Texas, Major: Mathematics

GPA: 4.0, Class Rank: 2/115

ACT: 36 Composite (35 Math, 36 Reading, 36 Writing, (Uncounted) 30 Science

4 AP tests by end of senior year (max offered, 5 on both taken)

~10 Dual credit classes by end of senior year.

Mathematics Focused Activity
9,10,11,12 Number Sense .5 hours/week, 18 weeks/year

• Practiced high speed mental math techniques (multidigit multiplication, estimation, unit conversion, etc…)
• Represented my school as 1 of a 2 member team in local 10-minute math exams

Clubs and Leadership
9,10,11,12 Theatre (treasurer, 12) 8 hours/week, 24 weeks/year

• Performed on stage as an actor
• Represented my school at state competition (2nd place)
• Managed company funds as treasurer

11,12 Band 16 hours/week, 36 weeks/year

• Competed in both marching and concert competitions as a percussionist
• Worked as a loading crew during marching season (12)
• Qualified for State Solo and Ensemble, performing “The March of the Dwarfs” on piano and “Catching Shadows” as Vibraphone II
• Performed as a pianist for jazz band (12)

9,10,11 AG 4 hours/week, 16 weeks/year

• Raised and cared for young goats. Showed goats in front of a licensed judge
• Competed showing goats in state competitions

12 (County) County Future Leader (12) 5.5 hours/week, 5 weeks/year

• Selected alongside 2 other candidates from my school to a group of 12
• Observed the workings of our country government

Employment
Summer before 12 IT Summer Help 27 hours/week, 11 weeks

• Assisted (School District) IT department
• Managed inventory
• Fixed IT complaints
• Dismantled computers (mostly Optiplex)
• Ran ethernet cables

Volunteering
12 Biology Teacher Aide 4 hours/week, 36 weeks

• Graded assignments
• Provided information to substitutes in absence of a teacher

Awards and Honors

• Beta Club (9,10,11,12), Executive Committee (11,12)
• College Board Rural and Small-Town Recognition Award (11)
• A Honor Roll (9,10,11,12)

I'm mostly worried that I don't have very much mathematical experience outside of academics. My other extracurriculars are alright, but nothing special.

hi i'm a junior planning to apply through questbridge, so i'm going to be submitting to CPS this march. i'd really like to know if i have a shot at both !! biggest scare is that my EC's aren't classics-related, so i hope they don't think i'm gonna bait-and-switch… highkey im broke / in the middle of the nowhere, and this is a sorta elitist major. feel like i'm a mix of journalism, law, writing, language…

Demographics:

• Gender: Female
• Race/Ethnicity: Middle Eastern (or white ig)
• School: Large public school, midwest, really competitive
• Hooks (idk the college lingo): Immigrant (naturalized so dw), low-income, midwest(?)

Major: Classics (poor for life 😄), might be pre-law, probably will study Arabic and Farsi along with Latin and Greek.

Stats:

• GPA: 4.21/4.00. 4.00/4.00.
  • No test scores yet. Taking SAT in Dec. School doesn't do ranking.
• AP's (rest of sched honors): APUSH, AP Seminar, AP Human (all 5's, freshman/soph year). Rn I'm in: AP Research, AP Gov, AP Pre Calc, AP Lang, AP Bio. Taking Latin college classes.

Awards:

• Scholastic national silver medal
• Semifinalist in a big-time literary magazine, submitted to by HYP undergrads.
• State-level journalism awards
• USSYP finalist (top 10) in my state
• Placed in those NYT comps they do
• State model un
• One of 10 selected for a national journalism program
  • Submitted to tons of awards this year so let's pray and hope… also, gonna try for NLE once my latin gets less chopped

ECs (only five cuz QB):

• 1. Writing a book. Not self-published. Agented for a novel that has much to do with Greek Mythology. Have literary representation. Don't think it'll be published before I'm outta high school. Three literary offers. Might combine this with my social media account advertising/promoting my book, 5k followers on insta + 200 subs on Substack (not much but idk what else to say in activity desc). i'll submit creative writing samples to the schools that allow you to.
• 2. Editor-in-chief of school newspaper, nationally awarded publication.
• 3. Created a non-profit (40+ members) that teaches languages at elementary schools. I'm the founder, co-prez. Ten events planned this year; will see over 500 elementary students in the community.
• 4. Prez of cultural Dance and Fashion show club. Can't specify too much without getting #doxxed. Hundreds of people see our show, about a hundred members.
• 5. Debate, Model UN, or student council. Captain of LD team, nsda quals. Model UN, I'm secretary, was treasurer, trying for VP next year. Student Gov, I'm secretary.
  • Extra EC (hasn't happened yet): I MAY be involved with some classics research stuff. Working on a research project. IDK yet. Going to submit an abstract to this one journal. I also think high school research is kinda fake most of the time sorry so idk if i'll be pursuing this.

Work/family:

• 1. Taking care of my mom / family. Dad is sorta a bum/unemployed. I teach my sisters. My sister went from straight C's to now straight A's after I started tutoring her, so maybe that's something. I cook, clean, help pay bills.
• 2. Paid intern for a campaign.
• 3. Hostess at Olive Garden 👀
• 4. Fast food cashier 👀👀

Ranking (plz be nice):

• Harvard
• Princeton (might be #1 bc senior thesis)
• UChicago (probs gonna be higher cuz of its arabic/farsi program)
• Brown
• Columbia
• Stanford
• Williams
• Swarthmore
• Amherst
  • Not off plain prestige. Just top classics programs.

Asian female, going in for MCB/biochem

Predicted A* for 5 a level subjects (bio, chem, physics, math, further maths) and 1 EPQ

Taking ACT this week; all mocks have been 35s but not rlly sure about this

All english test requirements met

GPA 3.7-4.0 unweighted (hasn't come out yet)

Intern at top research institution for 8 months, rec letter from professor

bio-related club for four semesters in school

volunteer rep at church for a year

school official (can't say specifics) for four years

student council for four semesters, including one semester as VP

lots and lots of STEM-related mentorship for four years

hospital volunteer (nothing much tho) 30 hrs

organised and led church volunteer

semi finalist of a v. small neuroscience comp (7%)

physics competition gold (8%)

bio comp silver (15%)

small national chem content contest (top 15) (but it's rlly non-prestigious)

I applied to Brown, Yale, and JHU (a few other safeties), but US isn't rlly my MAIN focus

pls give me all the advice u have thank u

hi team!

im currently a junior at a highly competitive high school and wanted to know how to improve my app to get into a T20 colleges :(

everyone at my school is doing SO MUCH stuff with a bunch of research and non profits and i dont have any of that and im so scared. my brother also goes to a REALLY good school and i dont wanna disappoint myself or my parents

Here are my ECs

Karate 10+ years

Indian Classical Dance 6+ years

Robotics Lead 2+ years

Link Crew Lead 2 years

Writing tutor 2 years

did COSMOS over the summer 10th grade

1500+ SAT score, 35 act score

finance internship freshman year summer

National Honors Society

probs like 200+ hours of volunteer hours currently

4.0 gpa uw and ill take 12 aps by the end of hs with all 4s and 5s

I wanna major in BME or just Bioengineering, im still honestly confused about what ill do later down the road, either med school or continue doing a biotech job.

please help me out team and if there are any admissions officers out there, your input would be much appreciated as well :(

i'm thinking of getting cna certified and working hours in a clinic, do yall have thoughts on this

stats:

male indian

4.4 gpa weighted, 3.91 uw, rank 3/400

1540 sat

ca resident

ecs:

- built astrophysics research platform, 30k+ visits, nasa personnel recognition, 50+ research interns, 1k+ research article subscribers

- research with phd professor, published to research archive, 20+ pages, built working regression model

- project assistant with phd professor and phd student, cosmology + prediction models

- huge city leadership position

- paid student intern for school district

- attended summer program at uc berkeley for astrophysics, 33% acceptance rate, worked with nobel prize laureates and professors

- co-founded an organization/company that built a context optimization layer (2000+ downloads) and a chrome extension for productivity

- founded city's first chess program, raised $1500 for students with special needs, used part of funds to purchase chess materials for city chess club that i founded

- varsity debater, state qualifier for LD, head coach for my debate team, NSDA degree of excellence

- volunteer english tutor for tutoring service for over 40000+ ukrainian refugees, 100+ volunteer hours for students online

awards:

- top 10 at international final round of an academic competition in individual debate, over 2000 competitors at the round

- national merit semifinalist

- accepted to niche international research competition (only 400 acceptances, potential to win an award for astronomy and physics)

- highest individual honors for caltech ewb physics and mathematics competition, honor medal

- winner of national civics engagement challenge, $500 scholarship, 10 winners out of 1200 nationally

im applying for astrophysics - do i have a chance?

nyc, competitive high school

1500 sat 3.9 gpa

psych or public health major depending on school

biggest ecs:

-Girl Scout gold award for founding community service club (95 members, biweekly meetings for 3 yrs)

-founded school's peer tutoring program

-basketball (noncompetitive team) captain

-boys volleyball manager

-summer accounting internship

-girl scouts

not full list but: umiami, hunter Macaulay honors, notre dame, emory, uva, Georgetown, vandy, duke, penn

Applied Early Decision

Chose fall term, but also checked a willingness to do summer term or the FSU Next pathway program

Major: Management

In-state resident

3.85 Weighted core recalculated GPA (only C’s were in freshman year. Consistent upward trend in grades and course rigor)

1410 SAT (710 R&W/700 Math)

2 AICE and 2 AP credits already achieved (straight A’s in all of them), talking 3 AP's and 1 AICE class senior year

Solid essay comparing a personal growth story to a metaphor about going from a map to a compass

Main extracurricular is a job at Publix since summer 2023, as well as a BBYO member. Not much else of note though

I understand fall term is an extreme reach, but hoping to at least get in through summer term or an alternative pathway. Thoughts?