First of all, I am begging you not to be like me and only apply last day; some programs have a better shot when you apply early and some are rolling basis
Background info: Black male, semi-competitive high school, rural area in missouri, low income, but not first gen
Stats: 3.92 UW 4.43 W, 1400 PSAT (700 math 700 ebrw), 3 APs and 4 +1 dual credit in progress as a junior (all 4s lmao)
ECs:
- Independent research where I made bioplastic and presented my poster (which i made with litterally print outs but they dont gotta know that) as science fair and got slimed out.
- Student council officer, got local/regional recognition and do cartwheels as the school mascot in pep rallies (go black bears!)
- Hosa officer, got 5th in regionals for a competition
- Debate officer (damn no presidencies), its our schools first year (which i explicitly clarified) but I've done efforst to prepare students for competitions since we havent competed yet
- Sci-Mi Asynchronous for chem, did a research project where i researched methods of recycling PET plastic waste
- Piano, a huge part of my identity; I composed songs, have a tiktok where i post sometimes, and ive played for like 8+ years.
- NHS but not officer
- Work with an online blog in 10th grade where i wrote a researhc article on artificial photosynthesis
Awards: (my awards are COOKED 💀)
- helped school got regional officer position (im not even the representative aka the person that speaks at the conventions or goes up to stage when name gets called)
- hosa 5th regional (damn ts chopped)
- school talent show where i played piano and won 3rd in 9th and 1st in 10th
Essays:
I talked alot about my passion for using chemistry to help the world, especially in the context of growing up low income (this essay i might refine for my personal statement). for some essays my writing style also gave off tiktoker tryna hook you into a video. for others, talked about learning to love myself again after i originally came out the closet (missouri is overly red state apparently). Whenever answering essays about my passion i used magic as a metaphor for chemistry and again talked about helping underserved communities, my science ecs also showed that imo. A lot of my research isnt "real" research so i js tried to show perseverance and passion through my essays and i thnk my rec letters also did that
Now the important part: RESULTS. (please dont procastinate like i did)
Thrive Scholars: >!Waitlist!<
Yale Young Global Scholars: >!Waitlist (was lwk bummed out since i thought i wrote well)!<
USC Bovard Scholars: >!Rejected!<
MITES: >!Rejected this one hurt!<
CMU SAMS: >!Accepted! This one caught me off guard so bad bro!<
Boston University RISE: >!Rejected!<
SUNY Simons Summer Research Program: >!Rejected lmao!<
George Mason ASSIP: >!Rejected!<
SSP: >!Accepted! and committed!<
SUNY Garcia Summer Program: >!Rejected but i submitted rec letters like 3 weeks late so idc and i think earier submissions have a better chance!<
Science Internship Program (SIP): >!Rejected but theyre unorganized (cope)!<
Simons -NYU SEP: >!Rejected, I thought this one wasnt mega comp so i was bummed out but it was also rolling and i submitted last day AND i realised i didnt copy properly and put SSP instead of SEP the one time i mentioned the program name!<
Questbridge Prep Scholars: >!Accepted! I was pretty confident i could get in tbh!<
Welch Summer Scholars Program: >!Rejected, this one hurt but i think its secretly super comp and that early submissions help chances!<
Project SEED: >!Accepted!!<