#positives: i like going to school every day bc of my comp sci class

[cowboylikemeg]

goodnight

[promethes]

how an idiot like me got into good schools

A quick run-through of my academic history and how I got into good colleges will be below the cut! I’m also including a list of some of the schools I got into for reference. I apologize in advance for how messy this is, but my memory is shitty and I remember random things that I keep throwing in lol. (and for people congratulating me, thank you very much, but I got into all these schools last year lol! so keep in mind I graduated high school in 2019)

If all you came for are the basic stats and you don't want my rambling: I went to a public school GPA: around 4.4 on 4.0 scale (3.9 unweighted) SAT: 1520/1600 APs: 10 (4 3s, 2 4s, 4 5s) Extracurricular: mainly NHS (around 300 volunteering hours), StuCo, Varsity Golf, and Quiz Bowl

EDIT: comments made by the readers who reviewed my application are available here!

First off, I am not an einstein! I am blessed that I pick up on stuff easily and gifted in academics, but I’m nowhere near a genius. For a little backstory, I went to a public school in Michigan for the entirety of my pre-k - 12 education. When I was in the third grade, the district introduced an accelerated program. We took a quasi IQ test and if we tested high enough (I think the threshold was 80%? If I remember correctly I got a 97) we were put in a class that was 2 years ahead in English and Math. We stayed grouped together for the rest of our public schooling, basically a core group of around 20 people. Since we were the first year of the program and our grade was exceptionally gifted for some weird reason, it was a very high achieving group of students, so I’m going to include their stats along with mine for comparison because colleges also factor in your peers when they look at your stats.

I’ll start off with basic stats:

I got a 1520 on the SAT. My grade had around 5 - 10 people achieve over 1500. Some of them had been studying for years, while others (me) did not know that the SAT existed until that year and couldn’t afford any private tutoring and had no patience for the study books from the library. I’m lucky to have an aptitude for the skills they were testing. I did not take any SAT subject tests.

For GPA, I think I ended up with around a 4.4 on a 4.0 scale. I was around 15/350 when it came to class standing, so I was far from the valedictorian. I think our valedictorians got around a 4.6 or 4.7.

I took 10 AP tests. I got a 3 in APUSH, World History, Language and Comp (I fell asleep lol), and Chem (I will get into this class a little later). I got a 4 in Literature (I fell asleep. Again.) and in Psychology. I got a 5 in Calc AB & BC, Comp Sci Principles, and Environmental Science.

AP classes were really pushed in my high school, especially onto my grade, and I don’t like being told what to do lol so I pushed back and took fewer AP classes than most of my peers (valedictorians ended up with maybe 15? It’s crazy) and basically only took classes I was interested in or that I had to take because I had exhausted the rest of the curriculum.

I also dual-enrolled in 2 classes at the local community college since I’d exhausted the curriculum at my high school for things I wanted to do (english and comp sci). I want to make it clear that I never sat down and planned how I was going to maximize my schedule or how I’d take the most advanced classes, I just fell into it since we had already essentially skipped two grades. Most people didn’t dual enroll since they wanted the AP GPA boost.

For extracurriculars, I mainly focused on Quiz Bowl, Golf, NHS (volunteered around 350 hours in 3 years I think) and Student Government. I never had any leadership positions and just kind of fucked around most of the time. Most of my peers held several leadership positions throughout the years and did like a bazillion things. 5 of them even traveled to Europe for some science research thing where they presented their research. I was not that big of a nerd.

In junior year, I stumbled on something called Questbridge and decided to apply because I wanted the money for the scholarship. I became a Questbridge college prep scholar, which then led me to apply for the National College Match. I didn’t rank any binding schools so I didn’t match, but I did apply to several schools with their application. If you are a low-income high achieving student, I highly recommend looking them up. I was the first person in my school to do this program and encouraged my peers to do it too. I think 4 of us were Questbridge scholars.

As you can see, I had good numbers, which probably got me past the first wave of application look throughs. However, I’m fairly confident that what made me stand out was my essays. I always stress this to whoever asks me for advice: do not write a perfect essay, write YOUR essay. I can only imagine how bored those poor people are of reading about someone winning a soccer game or a spelling bee. Add some pizzazz in there. Talk about your flaws and your mistakes and your unique life experiences! 

For example, my personal essay wasn’t even in essay format! I wrote it like journal entries, focusing on my sophomore year when my life was Extra Tumultuous and I was going through homelessness. I did not say I was homeless once in the essay. I just did day by day entries of what my life was like during that time and through that the readers were able to see that I loved to read, that I am fiercely protective of my single-parent family, and they saw how I handled adversity. I want to stress that I’m not encouraging poverty porn at all. I did not write it to make the reader feel bad. I simply relayed what I thought about in a day, focusing on both big and small.

I also wrote about funny things related to academics, partly to explain my transcript and partly to be funny. This is the AP Chem thing. I actually dropped out of it after one term (so about a third of the way through) so I could dual enroll in a class I was interested in instead. My chem teacher HATED that since I was good at chemistry (hate it. Hate that subject so much) and tried to convince me to stay. One of the things he said was “You’ll never be ready for college if you don’t take this class! You wouldn’t even be able to pass the AP test!” so I said bet. dropped the class and signed up for the AP test that same day and showed up almost every day for the rest of the year and dicked around the entire class, taking naps in the back of the lab, sitting on his desk, cracking jokes about whatever he was teaching. I got a 3 on that exam purely out of spite with only half the information I needed. So write about stuff like that. It’s fun.

The fact that I had no guidance in writing the essays was actually really good for me since I just kind of let loose. My UChicago essay read like I was on crack, and they loved it so much that they literally mentioned it during the welcome speech for their little college visit in April.

And don’t sweat over the small stuff! The short answers don’t have to be perfect and mind-blowing, just answer honestly. For the “why Yale” supplemental essay I just ranted about how beautiful their library is for a good 300 words (at some point I said I needed my inhaler because it was that breathtaking. I made a Yale admissions officer read that.) I ranted about Howl’s Moving Castle to Columbia. I told them my favorite magazine was the American Girl ones for their arts and crafts! I have a friend at Columbia who literally sent them a picture of her in a duck costume as a supplement. They loved it. So don’t lose your mind trying to sound worldly and educated. You’re like. 17. Just answer honestly and don’t think too hard about it.

I was also extremely lucky to have a dedicated counselor who sat down for hours with each individual student to write fantastic letters of recommendation. She really made it clear what I had achieved and what challenges I’d faced.

So. tl;dr: I got lucky. Unless your parents donated a couple billion to the school, there are no guarantees. Sometimes you can have the stats and perfect essays and amazing extracurriculars and you can still get rejected because they don’t think you’re a good fit with the school compared to the rest of the applicants. There’s limited space in the student body. I got into schools my valedictorians didn’t get into even though I was academically less than them in every possible way. So let yourself shine through your essays and know you’ll end up in an environment that values the person they saw in those essays.

I got into a lot of schools, and don’t really have a record of all of them, but here are some of the top ones I can remember off the top of my head:

Yale, Columbia, University of Chicago (likely letter), Northwestern, University of Michigan, Northeastern, CWRU, UNC Chapel Hill, and a couple other schools here and there that slip my mind at the moment.

[goldenscript]

basketball player!jungkook

author’s note: this is part of a sports series with my girl @wangpuppo (: and a request from one of my cute anonies that i miss. also, the bit with meeting a cute boy in philosophy happened irl and inspired this so heh enjoy!

meet jeon jungkook, power forward of seoul university and computer science major extraordinaire

you would think from the size of his thighs and his arms that he was a hockey player but he assures anyone that it’s really just a hobby for him and that basketball actually has his heart

his mom is actually the reason how he got acquainted with the sport bc a little before he was born, she was actually a college player with a semi-pro spot ready for her until she met his dad who was actually the waterboy

they shyly flirted with one another until some of her teammates locked them in a supply room closet together bc it was so unbearable for everyone else to deal with their feelings (lol) so by the time they were out of the closet they were together and happily so

however, come around their final year in college when things go kinda wrong and she ends up pregnant with baby jeon and of course they’re ecstatic but holy shit they haven’t even graduated yet and they’re gonna have a baby and well…. she didn’t go onto the semi-pro team and jeon’s dad did his best to work hard for them while she finished getting her degree WHILE nursing jungkook for 9 months

to say the least mama and papa jeon managed to get through the whole ordeal with degrees

by the time they graduated, baby jungkook was born and he became the light of their lives and despite their initial struggles they did their best to provide the family and make it as comfortable as they could for him because dammit they brought him into this world, they wanted to make him live well too

the comfort of their lives came the moment papa jeon scored a position as a nutritionist and mama jeon became a physical therapist so that’s how jungkook got acquainted with the world of fitness and finding interest in the way his parents could take care of people

however, the moment he fell in love with basketball was when he saw his mom’s basketball tapes. all the glorious videos of her scoring that winning shot and zooming around the court with such swiftness and agility he damn near got whiplash from trying to keep up

and from that moment on, he wanted to play too

of course, his parents were very ecstatic about that and enrolled him in a community team and he excelled so damn quickly

for the next nineteen years of his life, he played basketball and loved every damn second of it and along the way he found an interest in computers too. (let’s just say he read a few books that his high school computer teacher gave him and he was determined to take apart a computer and put it back together - he succeeded) and so that is why he has a full ride to SU with a basketball scholarship as a compsci major

 anywho, seeing jungkook on the court is honestly a sight because you would expect him to be stomping around, too slow for the muscle all over his body, but jfc no he is so goddamn quick and agile. he could be on one side of the court and somehow end up right in front of the opposing member to block for his teammate to make that shot

he’s a great team player really, not much for the glory and usually to himself, but on a handful of occasions he’ll surprise even his members with a half-court shot

he doesn’t care much for the glory of the winning shot, just the feeling that basketball gives him when he’s on the court, gaining callouses from the ball, and running around until he can’t seem to feel his calves and god the happiness on his parents’ face always gets to him

so yeah, that’s jungkook as a basketball player - a really sweet and hardworking boy who loves to make his parents happy and to make his teammates happy too

remember how i mentioned how he’s a compsci major?

well, you’re actually a compsci minor because you find computers really fascinating and cool and unfortunately quite a few others do too so it leaves you two at a disadvantage as first years compared to the upperclassmen so you’re both resorted to taking these random General Education (GE) classes i.e intro to philosophy

it’s hard not to notice jungkook that’s for sure, especially when he’s lugging around his sports bag and when he’s cute as all hell in your honest opinion

you once told this to your friends and they never let you down about it either. honestly they’d tell you when he’d walk in or try and get you to sit by him but the closest you’ve ever gotten was probably sitting one person away and that was on the final exam day

on a few occasions you two would actually inadvertently glance at one another during your discussion (dear god none of your friends let you live, best believe that) but you were always too shy to approach him and he was actually quite shy himself because let’s face it baby boy is a shy nugget who only knows basketball and comp sci and some philosophy (barely tho lol but it’s okay cuz you knew the bare minimum too)

anyway, that quarter you didn’t get to know him as you wished and both of you ended up regretting that because damn y’all thought each other was cute. for him it was especially seeing you laugh with your friends and for you it was that little perplexed expression on his face when the professor would mention soundness and the theories about the concepts and dshgjds yeah you really wished you had taken that chance to tell him he was cute on the last day like you initially planned but was too chicken to do

but guess what?

the next quarter you see him in your intro to computers class and somehow you two end up seated by one another and although there’s no seating chart, it just becomes a thing that this is that person’s seat the moment they sit there more than twice and so you both are seated not too far from one another

your hair is a slight mess and your eyes are puffy while you sip your coffee and he looks fairly content albeit sleepy with his hood drawn up and you both don’t even realize it’s each other until hour two of the lab goes by

you’re both starting to wake up and looking around at each other cuz people are shuffling around and some are moving closer toward one another and then it strikes you that the kid with slightly ruffled hair is very familiar and then it hits you and you’re just like “wow ok holy shit cute person from that philosophy class!!!!”

but this isn’t enough to get you two to start talking to each other

that self-established seating chart has already set in notion and so there’s no honest chance in getting to know him from that and so you kinda give up because you’re very sure he probably doesn’t remember you and dammit your TA is standing over your shoulder staring at your codes with narrowed eyes (rip you but he was just playin’ cuz he liked what you had)

this whole exchange isn’t to say you both never talk because on this chance encounter of finding out why he lugs that damn nike bag around all the time comes full circle

so you do work at the infirmary, usually filing papers and the like since it’s sort of the track for your major and on a particular day comes in jungkook!

he looks like he’s in a lot of pain clutching his shoulder and the nurse gets him to do the necessary papers and shovels him off to the doctor who tells him that he has a pretty bad fracture and he won’t be able to play for the rest of the season (at least that’s what they think)

reason: some asshole from one of the other teams hit him a little too hard after one too many unnecessary roughness calls and on this blow jungkook fell a little too hard and too awkward for it to just be another minor bruise and yeah :(

he’s pretty devastated about this and he has to go through a bunch of testing and whatnot and as an assistant you usually run around making copies until you have to hand off some paperwork for him to fill out

prior to this, you noticed how most of his appointments took up his time during the labs and the lectures so you nicely set a copy of your notes with his, adding in things you figured he might need to know from the lecture since he was unable to attend and the moment he receives the large stack his eyes grow wide

and you’re like “oh so i remember you from my comp sci class and i figured you might these notes… -oh and those are just basic info that the doctor wanted you to sign off on and the like”

he blinks at you, still pretty surprised at your kindness (and totally not freaking out that such a cute person is chatting from him aka the same one he’s wanted to talk to for a while) but he flashes you a small smile (and omg you love it so much) and thanks you

coincidentally most of your volunteer shifts are during his appointments and whatnot so you talk every now and then, usually about the notes and eventually about your majors

the doctors and the nurses think it’s absolutely adorable so sometimes they let you two chat a little longer than usual just for young love to bloom <3

this exchange goes on from some time until he finds the guts to ask for your number when you hand him the large stack of notes in this rushed blurting of words i.e. “soumiwaswonderingificould-maybe-getyournumber??”

you: “wait what”

he looks down, cheeks quite pink, “can i -um- get your number? since y’know we have comp sci together so it’d be easier to like study for exams and talk about it and stuff…. yeah….”

you grin and nod, scribbling it onto one of the notes and the two of you can’t deny the butterflies and erratically beating hearts y’all have going on

you both see each other during his check-ups but he’s healing quite quickly thanks to having such strong bones so he may not be out for the rest of the season like they thought thankfully and so when he’s fine and his check-ups are less and less

so along the way, you two end up talking day by day even sitting by one another in your comp lecture because you’re semi-friends now and it’s just nice to have someone you know in that class since none of your other friends were interested in comp sci like you so nowadays you’ll text one another about the class and how your days are and those little butterflies emerge whenever you wait for his text or receive a response and you’re just like “dsjghsdjgshdgs”

little do you know he’s honestly the same exact way and his roommates jimin and taehyung are always like “???? WHO DAT? :D” and jungkook’s like “lol gtfo bye”

anyway, one day you text him about the upcoming final bc you’ll be damned if you miss out on your chance to actually ask his kid out and studying together and he agrees but it’d have to be after his practice and you ask him about his shoulder and if he’ll be good to play at championships

and he’s like “oh yah!”

and you’re like “o: woah, can i come watch? i haven’t gone to a game and i wanna see you play. prolly treat ya out if you win”

and ok, at first he’s a lil’ shy but he says “ok sure, just say you’re with me at the door” and you do and jin (the RA)’s at the entrance like “O: WHAT MY FLOOR CHILD HAS A GIRLFRIEND, THAT PUNK KSJHFJS” but before he can say anything else one of jungkook’s buds urges you to sit by the front and you do until you see jungkook and he looks so nervous, glancing around until his eyes settle on you and he just flashes you a grin and wave which you return as well

the game is going by swimmingly and you can’t help but watch jungkook especially because even though he’s the power forward he’s also very conscious of his shoulder which you were extremely worried about until you feel like you can finally breathe when your school wins and you stand with the crowd cheering like crazy

out of everyone tho he actually approaches you first with a grin and you’re congratulating him and he feels so elated he really just wants to take you up in his arms and kiss you tbh but he has self control and mercy bc he’s sweating like crazy

ngl tho he looks crazy attractive in your opinion

anywayy, as you two are talking since you did tell him that you’d buy him food on his win, the rest of the team’s like “yooo kook! party at jackson’s!!!! you in??”

and although you’re disappointed you tell him you won’t mind if he goes but he turns to you and says with a grin “nah i got plans already” and jsdkghsjgh the team goes “oOOOOoooooOoooo” but y’all ignore them and he goes “i’ll be back ok? gonna get cleaned up and we can get food?”

so you’re content to wait by the locker room for him, grinning af bc holy shit the cute boy you really wanted to get to know last quarter is going to dinner with you!!!!!

meanwhile jungkook’s so nervous and stuff cuz he plans on confessing and stuff since it just seems right and his teammates clap him on the back like “yo you got this bro!!!!!!! goood luck tho jin definitely sent him some salty messages and warnings to be safe ahahaha

and ok so y’all go to dinner at this nice ramen shop and it’s really great! and you two are laughing your asses off about how this one time oneo f his roomates taehyung got stuck in between the washing machines because he was so certain he could fit and how they had to call the fire department to get the boy loose and yeah ahaha

and he’s just in awe with how damn beautiful you look when your laughing and he just blurts out “you have a really nice laugh” when you ask him why he’s staring and you’re like “o: oh thank you…. you do too”

and he says “i wanna hear you laugh more and be the reason why you do….” he lets out a deep sigh, appearing a lot more nervous than before, “i like you a lot. i think you’re incredibly cute and i love that you love compsci as much as i do and talking to you these past few weeks have made me happy and god i really wanted to kiss you after the game but i didn’t want to scare you and i feel like this is a lot less eloquent than in my head so i’m sorry”

and you’re just in awe because damn you really planned on confessing first but you can’t deny the smile spreading on your face and you tell him “kook, i like you too. and i’d really like it if you kissed me, by the way”

and he’s all wide eyed but he grins and after y’all eat and you’re strolling around the city with his arm draped over your shoulders, you guys stop at the top where it overlooks the city lights and on a particular moment when you both are still and quiet and glancing at one another you lean in and do it

and it leads to a shocked expression on his face but he lets go of your shoulders and puts his hands on either side of your face and kisses you again

and ahh it’s just so damn sweet and neither of you can stop grinning because damn it really worked out as you both hoped

dating jungkook entails a lot of visits to his practices after you’re done with volunteering where you’ll come by with ice packs and water and snacks and usually you’ll bring enough snacks for the others who absolutely adore you for that

you also have a tendency to fuss over him whenever he overexerts himself because he’s a very big overachiever in sports and academics and sometimes you gotta threaten to withdraw your kisses and affections just to get him to settle down honestly

his roommates were so happy to hear how things turned out for you two and they go out of their way to tease him whenever you’re around and dear god Jin

well when he found out you two got together, he saw y’all holding hands and he literally sat you both in the lounge, brought out some snacks and just chatted with you

to jungkook, this was horrendous but you loved chatting with jin because he’d lay out a bunch of things about kook like how he isn’t the cleanliest and you shouldn’t be surprised to find anything and everything under his bed and how there was one time when jungkook spent an hour googling how to work the washer and dryer were right by the bulletin board in the room and that’s when kook lost it and dragged you away

it was then decided that jin approved of you tho

bc after the season when everyone is still training after, jungkook’s shoulder was bothering him and he refused to admit that he might’ve overexerted it and you stormed over to the dorm and scolded him for not taking proper care of himself before running around just to grab some ice packs and just a mini kit of dealing with this brat and jin just knew that you’d take care of this kid so he leaves y’all be and even closes the door to the dorm tho you pay no attention as kook starts opening up to you

even on days when he feels his worst like he feels like everyone depends on him and he’s not sure if his abilities are good enough since his shoulder’s constantly bothering him and all you think to do is give him words of advice and kissing him to let him know that he isn’t alone

because although you count on him, you want to be there to support him and well…. jimin and taehyung aren’t in the room and with the ice pack on his shoulder, you climb atop the bed, sitting on his lap and kissing him with more and more fervor that he reciprocates

you convince him to let you take care of him and you do indeed~

the one day he actually loses a game (bc hey no ones perfect) and you’re there doing your best to comfort him he just tells you how much he loves you and is grateful for you being there

and holy shit this is the first he’s told you this, you tell him you love him too and god he looks significantly happier

on days when you’re at your worst, he tries his best to get your mind of it, taking you on walks to your favorite places and carrying you when you’re too tired

other days he’ll even forgo practice, finding the frog leaps on the stairs worth it, when he can pick you up after your volunteer shift just to surprise you with snacks and a semi-well made bento box and boba and it’s just so damn sweet ok

you and jungkook manage to complement one another in the best way possible and when you’re both overexerting yourselves you’re there for one another to tell each other to chill

to say the least, both of y’all have never been more grateful for a philosophy class even if you both suffered incessantly in that damn class

[zeeeeee-sh]

this month(s) in bullet points

MAJOR LIFE UPDATE, happy reading lol. I have not done one of these for a while....

●  First, Eid Mubarak to you all! I hope you all had a wonderful and productive Ramadan, and a joyous Eid! 3 weeks of ramzan I was in school - 2 for classes, 1 for finals. but finals I didn't have to fast so it worked out fabulously. super thankful to have prayed taraweeh (almost) every night next to my mom and nani once again

● Quick spring quarter wrap up: all B's. about what I expected lol for what I put in. I AM DONE WITH THE STATS SERIES FOR MY MAJOR woo. I don't think I have to take any more math classes yesssssss. And also I finished a stupid comp sci requirement, that class was complete BS, i am not even kidding. the assignments were about google drive and microsoft, i was SO annoyed, how have you even made it this far in life or school without that knowledge. ANYWAYS, i am done and I passed and that is done. i hate useless bs class like that. useless major reqs. I wrote a paper on Islamophobia for my soc 3 social problems class...and for this useless comp sci class I wrote a research paper on cyberslacking....those were my main papers of the quarter. andddd..thats about it. My schedule for next quarter in the fall is M, T, Th. 3 days a week...the class i really wanted was full. i am so mad about that~i would have knocked out TWO reqs. writing and soc seminar. oh well...

● I am working my same job next year on campus!! aH. I applied for it once again, and i'm happy to say I will be continuing. ANNNND I applied to be a discussion leader (like a TA) for a summer class for incoming freshman. I got the position aH! This class will start Summer session 2, so I will be working starting early August. I am so excited, I have always wanted to be a TA/discussion leader and have a "class." Very excited and thankful for this. but in the meantime, I have nothing going on lol (which I am working on). So pretty much my july is free....

● I also applied for a summer internship program with a start up company, it was a consulting firm based near me. The founder/CEO is someone I really respected and admired, so I was happy to have gotten the position. I accepted, and worked one week, but then I resigned this past Friday, 2 days before Eid. I wasn't feeling it and the workload was not what I was expecting. And also i really felt overwhelmed, and usually I never do but it got to me. I mean I understood it was a lot of work, as is anything of course, but I didn't "feel" the position, you know? like my instict was I am not fit for here, so that's why I left. I felt thrown into a lot of things and I also didn't think was qualified. But my main reason was that I got really overwhelmed and felt I was being thrown into work. I probably chicken-ed out. I know I did. Like i was being CC’d in a million MSA west emails, like who am I to get involved now? if i wanted to work with msa west dont you think i would have accepted all those nominations the past yr? like i have no background with the org and you want me to do all this behind the scenes work, how would MSAW feel with this random girl coming in and doing stuff. i don't like jumping in mid way and all that, so yeah. But overall I know that I chickened out....i'll probably regret this lol but at least I know it and acknowledge the fact.

● We got a third cat; her name is Noor. My dad was driving us nuts to get a third one. We already have 2, is that not enough? he went on Saturday morning and got her from the pet store. she's cute no doubt, but like im really concerned about her getting along with the other 2...we shall see. its been 3-4 days now. he decided to name her noor, I liked it so we went with it!

● Hmmm...for IR, we had our grand iftar early June. and I had my toy drive the week before Eid. it was at my parents office and so my family came out and they were all there. it was a kid friendly and family event. we collected 155 toys. aH we didn't run out of material like paper tape etc. We have enough of everything...if only it was a little less hot...just bc of roza of course, i know people were thirsty. on a normal day it would have been perfectly fine. I did A-Z for this toy drive. we had banners, balloons, snacks for kids, water bottles promo items, certificate of appreciation, etc. we had everythingggg.

● I think that is all for now......Eid mubarak once again xx

'Til next time iA! -zs xx