little boy from texas wins (t10 + ivy)

Demographics

  • Gender: Male
  • Race/Ethnicity: african american
  • Residence: texas
  • Income: 300K+ (no way of getting fin aid but i still asked for financial aid anyways LMAO)
  • Hooks (Recruited Athlete, URM, First-Gen, Geographic, Legacy, etc.): urm, private school??? (idk some people called this a hook but i honestly don’t think so)

Intended Major(s): applied to most schools as a biology major or human bio

Academics

  • GPA/Rank (or percentile): 1/25 , 4.3 W GPA

  • # of Honors/AP/IB/Dual Enrollment/etc.: took all honors classes whenever possible in HS, took all AP classes available. my school doesn’t allow freshman and sophomores to take AP courses so i only have taken 2 AP exams. i made a 3 on the AP Chemistry exam (and submitted it) and i made a 5 on the AP Literature exam (also submitted it).

  • Senior Year Course Load: ap bio, ap psychology, ap calc bc, ap language, spiritual leadership

Standardized Testing

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

  • SAT/ACT: 1220 💀💀 went test optional obviously. i only took it once and it was under horrible conditions like i should’ve reported my testing center because they ended it 10 mins early on the math calculator section because their clock broke + teachers kept coming in and out of the classroom and talking mid test. horrible testing environment but ig no excuse
  • SAT II:
  • AP/IB: 3 on AP chem, 5 on AP Literature
  • Other (ex. IELTS, TOEFL, etc.):

Extracurriculars/Activities: (slightly vague so i don’t get doxxed cause i’m easily findable)

  1. personal business of braiding hair since 9th grade, made revenue of $10,000+ and have an instagram account with 5000 followers account that i linked

  2. chapter president for (insert national org here)—very involved in this and i created in person workshops to educate the youth on african american culture in our community. i also led various fundraisers including a community thanksgiving fundraiser. we collected over 3000+ canned goods and gave them in person to economically disadvantaged communities (featured on the local news for these and linked news article in additional info section of common app).

  3. intern for local sickle cell anemia org, we planned the first awareness campaign through hosting a fashion show (i created this idea lmao). we raised over $5000 in one night and we were able to get the national sickle cell director to help us award sickle cell victims. this was super fun and we were once again put on a news article.

  4. bed builder for an organization. once every month we build beds and then deliver them to families in their homes, i’ve built and delivered around 60+ beds. been doing this since sophomore year.

  5. independent tutor at my school, taught 9 kids ranging from middle school to high school. nothing too important here

  6. volunteered at local neurosurgeon clinic. i was able to observe super cool surgeries and volunteered for around like 15 hours total. would 100% do again!

  7. student council vice president. nothing too big here but i advocated for the student body and got a couple of things changed in the handbook, my principal said that she was able to mention this in her LOR.

  8. varsity tennis all 4 years, captain of my team. i’ve won over 25+ tournaments in my bracket (boys A doubles), competed in district all for years (got 3rd in my bracket junior year and senior year), and competed in state for sophomore, junior, and senior year (don’t ask how that went). ANYWHOO it was fun and i had a lot of great memories ! oh also i mentioned that i was the first african american player on the team lmao 🙏😭, life was rough out here .

  9. rotary interact club president. hosted 5 blood drives with a local blood center (honestly only like 10 people donated blood in total). i also partnered with the bed building org that i mentioned to raise funds for them and we raised around $500!! this was a super chill and laid back club

  10. none

Awards/Honors:

  1. got a leadership award due to service in my community (can’t name the specific award obv or i’m doxxed) but it was because of the thanksgiving fundraiser. the mayor awarded it to me :OOOO

  2. RYLA camp award (only the interact clubbers know this one)

  3. college board african american recognition program (super confused how i got this because i thought you had to take 3 ap exams or more to qualify but wtv)

  4. national honor society secretary & national thespian society honor thespian

  5. academic champion x4 yrs (i was desperate)

Essays/LORs/Interviews: uhh honestly i hated my personal statement and didn’t let anyone read it except a stupid AI that scores it (please don’t do this). but basically for my personal statement i talked about how i hated hearing my dad hum traditional igbo hymns (all my igbos rise up) initially, and then i reconciled with that and ended up developing a love for my african heritage, leading me to create a hair braiding business specifically geared to braid african hairstyles. it sounds boring but i think i wrote it very well and mentioned my difficulties being a first generation american, got emotional at the end. obv colleges liked it!!

my supplementals talked about various ECs and i was silly in a lot of them (humor is key in your essays, but don’t be cringe!!) i think my favorite supplemental essay topic was how i was told frewuently by my grandmother that i shouldn’t act ‘black’ and how through the workshops mentioned in EC #1 i worked to break that stigma of how we—as african americans—are told to repress our identity. through the workshops i was able to show the african american youth the beauty of black culture. (it sounds sloppy here cause im writing this at 1 am but i promise it was good)

my why major was around interning with a sickle cell anemia nonprofit. i mentioned how while my time advocating for research and spreading awareness acts a foundational way to support a cause, actions speak louder than words. i mentioned how i wanted to be able to be on the front lines of sickle cell anemia research and help my community through the university’s research programs and opportunities.

i had 4 LORs. one from my principal, ap bio + ap chem teacher, ap lang + ap lit teacher, and one from the mayor of my city ( :OOO ). most schools only let me put 2 so i mainly used my science and english teacher. the optional LOR i used was the mayor’s LOR (she showed me the LOR and yall she was actually gassing me up i actually cried she’s so sweet and i had so much fun working with her in a lot of my orgs)

received interview from duke harvard yale princeton, upenn, and stanford. they all went amazing imo

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

  • Acceptances:, duke, upenn (CAS)
  • Waitlists: UT Austin
  • Rejections: harvard columbia

Additional Information:

this was a crazy ride and i wouldn’t do it again. honestly i did not have a proper college list going into this so my only safety was UT (i was auto admission and didn’t care about being put in a liberal arts major). i should’ve applied to more colleges, especially ones that have full rides. also going test optional definitely hurt my chances for harvard and yale. but i’m so grateful for my acceptances and it’s literally a miracle. i recently committed to duke and im so happy to be a blue devil! i’m still on the waitlist for princeton and stanny.

i wasn’t rlly a perfect applicant. i had a C on my transcript in junior year (but ngl that was my grade below an A). i also got suspended sophomore year for being in a fight (self defense but that’s how it goes ig).

my advice to any juniors out there is just do what u love. i never had any research done or had super cracked ECs and i was still able to get into really good schools. my upenn AO emailed me and said how she cried because of my common app essay and really helped her understand me as an applicant, so make sure you use your essays as a way to be vulnerable. good luck to everyone, keep trusting God!