The PERFECT applicant; what you should look like if you want to get in anywhere.

As most of you know, users on College Confidential often times engage in Results pages for the colleges they applied to where they post their stats and whether they were accepted, waitlisted, or rejected. Here is a sample profile of what yours should look like if you want to get into all of your dream colleges. Notice how, including the jokes, this applicant is able to spread himself wide yet be just as deep. He is a jack of all trades, master of all.

Decision: Accepted Everywhere

Objective:

• SAT I (breakdown): 2400 (…first try of course)
• ACT: 36
• SAT II: 800 Math II, 800 Biology, 800 Chemistry, 790 Physics, 800 Literature, 800 World History, 800 French w/ List, 800 Japanese w/ List.
• Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.0
• Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 1/666
• AP (place score in parenthesis): 5s on 12/12 tests
• IB (place score in parenthesis): NA
• Senior Year Course Load: AP Macro/Micro, 2D Art, Orchestra, Environmental Science, Intro to Biomedical Engineering (at local college), AP Computer Science, Cooking, Film Studies (had no difficult classes left by senior year…oops!)
• Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): USAMO finalist, Intel National First Place winner, Siemens National First Place winner, World Piano Competition Level 12 winner, National High School Cheerleading Championships winner.

Subjective:

• Extracurriculars (place leadership in
  parenthesis): Basketball (team captain), Golf (team MVP), Cheerleading (team captain), High School Musical / Drama Club (pretty much Troy Bolton), Dance Marathon (choreographer), HELP-Helping Elderly Learn Polish (service group leader), TEACH-Teaching Elderly And Children Hopscotch (founder and CEO), Aeolian Harp player (10 years + soloist), Organist (horror movie soundtrack recorder)
• Job/Work Experience: bookstore merchant, student journalist for Puffington Host, internship at The Onion, lifeguard, McDonald’s hashbrown fryer.
• Volunteer/Community service: teaching elderly how to do various things (as noted above), petting dogs at the pound, 400+ hours volunteering at local hospital, school service organizations, putting on musicals for homeless people.
• Summer Activities: Noodling, storm chasing, counting down to Shark Week, inventing a kitchen utensil, creating Android apps, helping the elderly play bridge at local hospital.
• Essays: About my trip to Namibia where I met an Egyptian who showed me a rare chemical derivative from the yew tree that could potentially cure cancer, which I eventually wrote a book about that became an international best-seller. And how this changed my life and way I look at the world.
• Teacher Recommendation: Absolutely astounding! Read them all.
• Counselor Rec: Talked about my charm and good looks and how it affects my extreme affability.
• Additional Rec: From Obama.
• Interview: Took her for some afternoon tea.
• Supplementary Material(if any): My published best-seller, a soundtrack of my organ playing, a video of my harp solos, my research project abstract on curing cancer with paclitaxel, another rec letter from Hilary Clinton.

Other

• State (if domestic applicant): New York
• Country (if international applicant): US
• School Type: Private
• Ethnicity: Hispanic
• Gender: Male
• Income Bracket: Millions +
• Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): see above

Reflection

• Strengths: My application.
• Weaknesses: My lack of weaknesses.
• Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: probably luck.
• Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected: Accepted: you name it.

General Comments: It’s a blessing to have been so fortunate to have been accepted by the entire Ivy League and more! Whichever college’s campus I grace in the coming year will be as lucky to have me as I it. Oh the joy!

Why I took so many AP tests

I took over ten AP tests in high school, many in subjects for which I hadn’t even taken the class. Here’s why:

Like you mentioned in your last post, AP tests are a way to get a head start in college academics. I knew that AP courses and tests would not only prepare me for the rigor of college academics, but also grant me credits or help me test out of introductory classes.

Because of all the AP tests I took in high school, I enter IU with around 42 credits. Students at IU are required to have a minumum of 120 credits to graduate. Depending on how my AP credits apply to my various requirements, it is very feasible for me to graduate in two, or maybe even three, semesters early.

Although I don’t plan on graduating early at the moment, the extra semesters of flexibility give me a whole slew of options.  I can double or even triple major. I can study abroad without having to worry about taking classes for credit. I can take a semester off to pursue travel or an internship while still graduating on time. I can take fun electives or classes outside my major while still satisfying my requirements. I am very excitedly considering all these options.

AP credits were one of the tipping factors that made me decide to attend a state school over a private school. Most highly selective private schools grant little to no credit for AP exams. If they give anything at all, it’s only if the score received was a 5 (or in rare cases, a 4). In contrast, most state schools are required to give credit for AP exams. Indiana law, for example, dictates that all scores of a 3 or above must be given some kind of credit. At IU, a score of a 3 usually gets one unit of general undistributed credit, while a 4 or 5 gets up to 6 units of credit that can actually be applied towards a major.

Here’s IU’s breakdown of how AP scores are applied towards credit:

http://admit.indiana.edu/apply/freshmen/standards/ap-exams.shtml

In my next post, I will discuss how exactly to go about taking a double digit number of AP tests while still having a life.