Latino gets deported back to Regular Decision in 3/4 EAs

Demographics

  • Gender: Male
  • Race/Ethnicity: Latino
  • Residence: Northeast - New England
  • Income Bracket: High income
  • Type of School: Public Semi-Competitive
  • Hooks: N/A

Intended Major(s):

Business / Political Science / Computer Science / Economics / International Affairs

Academics

  • GPA: 4.47/5 (W), 3.988/4 (UW)
  • Rank: Top 20%
  • # of Honors/AP/IB/Dual Enrollment Courses: 3
  • Senior Year Course Load:
    • AP French V
    • AP Calculus AB
    • AP Psychology
    • Honors Physics
    • Normal English and History

Standardized Testing

  • SAT I: 1540 (790M, 750EBRW)
  • ACT: N/A
  • SAT II: N/A
  • AP/IB: All APs taken senior year
  • Other: N/A

Extracurriculars/Activities

  1. Varsity Rowing – Competed in six regattas across the U.S.; contributed to team’s 1v4+ qualification for the 2023 Youth Nationals.
  2. Varsity Debate – Competed in over 12 tournaments; contributed to team’s victory in a State Championship.
  3. Foreign Exchange (Youth Ambassador, Rotary Youth Exchange) – Awarded a $25,000 scholarship by Rotary to study abroad in Switzerland during my exchange year.
  4. English Tutor – Tutored 50 students in English, improving language skills and cultural understanding through interactive media-based lessons.
  5. Lobbying for Foreign Exchange in U.S. High Schools – Advocated for school district to accept Rotary exchange students; persuaded 50+ students to seek more information about studying abroad.
  6. Rotary Volunteer Mentor – Guided 207 exchange students in matching preferences to host countries; persuaded 40 students to choose the U.S.
  7. Wikipedia Editor (Wikimedia Foundation Volunteer) – Enhanced the quality and accuracy of over 2,500 Wikipedia articles.
  8. Basketball Player during exchange – Competed in a regional Swiss tournament, securing a 4th-place finish.

Awards/Honors

  1. Rotary World Peace Award (1 of 50 worldwide awardees)
  2. Presidential Award for Community Service
  3. 6x Dean’s High Honor Roll

Letters of Recommendation

  1. Guidance Counselor - Copies all recs from brag sheet. (5/10)
  2. USI Teacher – Fairly close, enjoyed his course. Not a lot of rec letters written by him, so he might’ve put more effort into mine. (7/10)
  3. Algebra II Teacher – Close, loved her class. Stellar student but her recs aren't very unique. (6/10)
  4. Exchange Mentor – Extremely close. Though I didn’t see her letter, she told me she tried her best to make me look as good as possible. (11/10)

Interviews

  • Georgetown: OK; I did prepare but the interviewer took creative liberties with her questions (as she should have lol), but overall positive. I asked a lot about campus culture, and we discussed it for about 30 minutes.

Essays

For my personal statement I wrote about how my curiosity evolved from a self-serving habit into a way to understand and address social issues. It focused a lot on the tension between my forward thinking mentality and stubbornness. I tried to show how questioning the world around me led to personal growth. My supplements highlighted my interests in business, international affairs, and social impact.

Decisions

Acceptances:

  • University of Pittsburgh (Rolling, $15K/year merit)
  • UMass Amherst (EA)

Waitlists/Deferrals:

  • Georgetown University (rEA, Deferred)
  • University of Richmond (EA, Deferred)
  • Babson College (EA, Deferred)

Rejections:

  • UT Austin (RD, OOS)

Waiting:

  • Columbia
  • Boston College
  • Boston University
  • University of Michigan
  • Harvard
  • Bentley
  • Indiana University Bloomington
  • NYU
  • Northwestern
  • Vanderbilt

Additional Information

My course rigor at the beginning of high school was way lighter than it is now, but not the lightest available at my school.