overachieving business/design major gets rejected from dream schools!

Demographics

• Gender: Male
• Race/Ethnicity: White/Central Asian
• Residence: New York
• Income Bracket: Upper middle class
• Type of School: Public, competitive
• Hooks (Recruited Athlete, URM, First-Gen, Geographic, Legacy, etc.): Double legacy at NYU, first-gen American (refugee parents), LGBTQ+ (ik it's not a hook)

Intended Major(s): Human-Computer Interaction / Business Admin / Interaction Design / Cognitive Science (depends on school but for most I just pitched a combined major of the above)

Academics

• GPA (UW/W): 95W cumulative, 99W junior year (my school doesn't report UW)
• Rank (or percentile): School doesn't rank
• # of Honors/AP/IB/Dual Enrollment/etc.: 11 APs: CSP (4), World (4), Seminar (4), CSA (1 - didn't report), APUSH (4), Lang (5), Bio (4), Macro (taking this yr), Spanish (taking this yr), US Gov (taking this yr), Stats (taking this yr). 8 Dual Enrollment: Law, Finance, Marketing, Accounting, English Lit, English Lang, Anatomy/Physiology, Psychology. Several honors courses as well.
• Senior Year Course Load: AP Macro, AP Stats, AP US Gov, AP Spanish, College Accounting, College Psych, College Anatomy/Physiology, College English Lit, College English Lang

Standardized Testing

List the highest scores earned and all scores that were reported.

• ACT: 33 (36E, 28M, 35R, 32S) - sent to all schools except Stanford
• AP/IB: 4s on all APs except a 5 on Lang and 1 on CSA. Sent all APs to every school (except CSA)

Extracurriculars/Activities

List all extracurricular involvements, including leadership roles, time commitments, major achievements, etc.

1. Founding team member/product & design lead at startup*.* Co-founding product/design lead for startup that raised $2M+ in venture funding, launched product with several brands.
2. Founder, creative director, and contractor at own design agency. Run software, web, and mobile design agency that has contracted for several top tech companies and returns six-figure revenues.
3. Paid research assistant at University of Pennsylvania. Paid researcher at Penn lab in major field. Spent summer before senior year leading formative work for a study.
4. Research assistant at Harvard. Research assistant at Harvard lab in major field. Spent summer before junior year contributing engineering/coding work for a project with MassGen hospital
5. DECA charter president + state champion. President of my school's DECA charter - placed 1st in NY state last year and 2nd in NY state the year before. Competed at the international competitions in Anaheim, CA, and Atlanta, GA.
6. Freelance photographer. Freelance photographer whose work has amassed 10M+ views & downloads and has been featured in Buzzfeed, Adobe, etc.
7. Design volunteer for student accelerator for POC. Designed pitch deck & marketing materials for student founders, helping 60+ startups raise $30M+.
8. Mock Trial team president/captain + lead attorney. President/captain of my school's mock trial team, lead attorney 3x, consistently top-ranked team in county.
9. Lead design mentor (volunteer) for non-profit. Lead design mentor for a non-profit mentorship platform for student interns. Wrote educational articles, held workshops and keynotes, led team of volunteers.
10. Independent singer-songwriter. Independent artist - performed at venues like The Bitter End & Carnegie Hall as vocalist and instrumentalist. Wrote & performed ten songs for an album.

Awards/Honors

List all awards and honors submitted on your application.

1. 1st Place, NY State DECA Competition (in an entrepreneurship category) - 2022
2. 2nd Place, NY State DECA Competition (in an entrepreneurship category) - 2021
3. NHS Member
4. NY Science Honors Society Member + Delegate
5. NYS Business + Marketing Honors Society Member + District Award Winner

Letters of Recommendation

1. AP Bio Teacher - 9/10, great relationship w/ her, had her for two years, I'm sure she wrote great things in the letter
2. College Marketing teacher / DECA advisor - 7/10, not too close with her but she told me she wrote highly of me
3. AP Seminar teacher - 10/10, had her for a few years, have an amazing relationship w her and she loves me
4. Boss from EC #1 - 1000/10, made my mom cry
5. Trustee on Brown Board of Entrepreneurship - 9/10 (only sent to Brown)

Interviews

I was only offered an interview for Penn & Stanford:

1. Penn - 1000/10, convo lasted over 2 hours, she said I was the most remarkable student she's ever met and she would write great things abt me
2. Stanford - 7/10, it was alright, a bit awkward but I think I still impressed him

Essays

(Briefly reflect on the quality of your writing, time spent, and topic of main personal statement.)

1. Personal statement was very good, made several people cry LMAO. It was about my struggles growing up queer in a conservative/orthodox Jewish community and how I aim to find coevality.
2. Additional info essay was good, elaborated on my entrepreneurial & design experiences over the past 7 or so years. Also mentioned my struggles with chronic illness and ADHD.
3. All my supplements were good as well, my Stanford, Penn, Brown, Tufts, and Northeastern ones were the best though!

Decisions (indicate ED/EA/REA/SCEA/RD)

Acceptances:

• Northeastern University Oakland - EA (accepted Oakland for first year and then transfer to Boston for the final 3)
• George Washington University - RD (accepted Corcoran Scholars w/ $20k/yr scholarship)
• Case Western Reserve University - Deferred EA, accepted RD
• Stevens Institute of Tech - RD (w/ $30k/yr scholarship)
• University of Maryland - EA
• Macaulay Honors College @ CUNY Baruch - RD (full ride to CUNY Baruch)

Waitlists:

• Wesleyan University
• American University

Rejections:

• Stanford University
• Tufts University
• Brown University (ED)
• University of Pennsylvania
• Cornell University
• Jewish Theological Seminary / Columbia University Dual-Degree
• NYU

Additional Information:

Also mentioned in my resume that I've completed certifications from Princeton, Yale, UVA, IDF, Scrum Organization, etc. For every school that allowed me to, I submitted a portfolio of design work + photography work. Also think that my junior year pre-calc average hurt me (my only C ever).

Overall I'm grateful to have gotten in to where I got in! I was hoping for better but it's completely fine :) I haven't committed yet but I'm deciding between Northeastern & GW atm (leaning towards NEU)!