Award Application: Fill & Download for Free

I’ve been reading these types of answers for the past year and I’m excited to finally be able to share my own results.I applied to 27 schools (of the 27, 6 are UCs). (I just counted them now. I didn’t even know I applied to this many geez…) I go to a pretty competitive school in NJ which is known to have grade deflation.Most of us at my school shotgun (applying to many top schools hoping to get into at least one) and I guess I just followed what everyone else was doing. My list started out with around 14 schools, but my mom is an ambitious lady and loves taking risks so she had me apply to a lot more reaches (plus my dad wanted me to apply to a lot of California schools).STATSGPA: 3.85 weighted (yeah it’s pretty bad compared to a lot of people here) My school doesn’t rank.ACT: 35 highest one sitting, 36 Superscored, 10/12 on writingSAT: 1460 highest one sitting, 1510 superscoredSATII: 710 Math I, 700 Bio, 720 Math II (sad scores, don’t do what i did which was to not study for them)AP Scores: AP Euro (4), AP Art History (4), AP Stat (3) but I didn’t send this scoreECs: I highlighted my piano playing, environmental advocacy, and community service.Won numerous regional, national, and international piano competitionsPlayed in Carnegie Hall 5xOrganized benefit concert that raised funds ($2,500+) for American Cancer Society in honor of a fellow classmate and pianist got cancerInvited to and participated in an international classical music camp with scholarshipVolunteer at my local arboretum for two years teaching kids (K-5) about the environmentConducted and prepared my own research with permission for use of lab at Rutgers UniversityResearch focused on climate changeCreated a book drive for my the school in my family’s hometown in the PhilippinesSent over 1,000 children's and YA books to encourage reading and educationI listed a lot more ECs (dance, other instruments, sports, languages, other community service activities, etc.), but I don’t want to bore you. I think one of my mistakes was listing all of my ECs. I think it was too confusing and messy. I would say to let go of one or two ECs and make your application have a strong spike instead of putting everything under the sun. Give the AO a way to remember you or describe you in few words (For me: loves music, passionate about environment, connected to her Filipino culture).Awards:US Congressional Gold Medal and STEM StarThis was definitely my biggest achievement and highlighted this the most.Award requires 400+ hrs of public service, 200+ personal development, 200+ physical fitness, 5 days+nights of a self-planned exploration/excursionMy town’s film fest4th place overall, Fan FavoriteDocumentary about my experience going to the Philippines and meeting two girls exactly my age but worked in other people’s homes as house helpers in order to earn enough for their educations.School essay contestNational Greek Mythology Exam Gold MedalI described how I took this exam year after year only getting a silver and working until I achieved a gold medalI didn’t have too many awards to list :/ eh what can you do…Essays: Wrote about skateboarding (falling and getting back up again). This essay could’ve been seen as super cheesy or light-hearted. I tried to show how I am resilient, am communicative, and think interdisciplinarily (this is not a word but just roll with it lol) through my story to learning how to ollie. I didn’t want to write a sob story or be fake deep (like a lot of examples I read) since I had no reason to so I just kept it light and simple. Depends on how the AO read it.All of my supps were reviewed by my mom who harshly critiqued them so I know they were good.Letter of Recs: Good recs. I think my best was from my Art History teacher who is really kind and loved me. My two others were from my Post-Colonial English teacher and my AP Enviro teacher. I don’t think they were amazing, but they’re nice and I never gave them trouble so I’m sure they wrote nice recs.Now onto the never-ending list….SAFETIESThe College of New Jersey (biology) - rejected from 7 year med program, accepted to the school itselfPenn State (enviro sci) - acceptedRutgers (enviro sci)- acceptedAteneo de Manila University (in the Philippines) (health sciences) - accepted. This was where my mother studied.Seton Hall University (biomed eng 3+2 masters program)- acceptedStevens Inst. of Tech. (biomed eng) - acceptedU. of Maryland (enviro sci)- acceptedTARGETSCase Western (enviro sci) - waitlistedVillanova (bio) - waitlistedBoston U (enviro sci) - accepted but under CGS (apparently for applicants who didn’t really make it) which I felt was kind of weird because I thought my stats aligned with theirs and I knew others in my school who were accepted who didn’t have as good statsNortheastern (enviro sci) - accepted but under the NUin program (similar reputation as BU CGS) so…. not going thereDuke Kunshan University (natural sciences)- acceptedREACHJHU (enviro sci) - rejected. This one didn’t suck too bad since it was my first rejection and I was expecting bad news but it was my top choice since the 5th grade :/Georgetown (global health, School of Nursing and Health Studies) - EA deferred, RD rejected. This one sucked because this was my 2nd favorite school.Duke (enviro sci) - rejected obvi lolBoston College (enviro sci) - rejected. I was really bummed out over this one because I was super confident in my application. I thought my supps were really good and I emphasized my Catholic ECs in my Common App (which I stupidly thought would give me an edge).Cornell (enviro sci) - rejected. Wanted to try for an ivy league.Emory (enviro sci) - rejectedUCs (my dad lives in Cali so he wanted me to try for all the Cali schools)Berkeley - rejectedIrvine - waitlistedDavis - rejectedSanta Barbara - rejectedUCLA - rejectedSan Diego - waitlistedU. of Notre Dame (enviro sci) - rejected. Again, bummed out because my mom really wanted me to go there bc it’s Catholic and a good school.U. of Southern California (global health) - rejected. Applied because my dad told me to.and finally… just found out today…New York University (global health) - acceptedNYU came out last (March 30th) and before this decision I was really sad and sulking a lot because of the barrage of rejections I received in the last week and a half. I opened it thinking it was going to be another rejection, but I was surprised. I sat there in disbelief and made sure that is was my name on the acceptance letter. I cried and told my parents the news. They cried with me because they knew how much the rejections from my favorite schools hurt. They knew how much time and effort I put into my ECs and applications. I feel so relieved. I can finally breathe.I’m still looking at all my acceptances and options. Right now, I’ve narrowed it down to Stevens Inst. of Tech (Biomedical Engineering, the most scholarship, great reputation, high on the ROI list), Seton Hall (3+2 Masters Program Biomedical Engineering and the cheapest option), Duke Kunshan (Environmental Science or Global Health, coming from China so good edge/reason for when I apply as a transfer to other schools), or NYU (Global Health and the most expensive… like really expensive). Please let me know which one I should go to and your reasons! I need help deciding.Thank you if you read all this! Good luck to future students.

I was called for the PI (Personal Interview) and WAT (Written Ability Test) on 19th of June, 2018.It was in Kenilworth Hotel, Kolkata. I was called for the morning session. There were 2 panels and I was allotted the second panel.3 panelists were there. I will be hereby referring to them as R for the panelist on the right, L for the panelist on the left, and C for the panelist in the centre. C looked like the most senior person among the three.The text in italics will be some extra notes between the lines.This is going to be quite long, as I will be giving an almost verbatim account.As I entered the room, I wished Good Morning to all of them. C gestures me to sit. They then pass on a paper and ask me to sign it.L - So, Sidhant, tell us about yourself.Me - A long answer which was prepared beforehand about where I am from, my achievements, hobbies etc.All this while, C was going through my marksheets, R was doing something on his smartphone, and L was listening to me intently.C, suddenly - You state your CGPA in 10th. Then you tell us about your percentage in 12th. Why the difference?Me - In my time, CBSE board only awarded CGPA to students in 10th grade. But, they award percentages in 12th grade. That's why the difference. Although -C, interrupting - I don't want to hear all that. We cannot judge like this. Just tell us - what was your percentage in 10th?I notice that R has put his phone down. I get the feeling that C was being purposely aggressive, to see how I reacted to the situation.Me - I'm sorry Sir, I don't know -C, giving an incredulous look- You don't know?M - Yes sir, as I said, CBSE didn't reveal any marks in 2016, which was when I got my results.C - Then why have you written 95% in all the subjects here?Me - In the application form, I was instructed to convert CGPA to Percentage and then fill it in. So, I did a bit of research and all I found was that 10 CGPA equated to 95.C - You're telling me that you got exactly 95 in all the subjects.Me - No sir, but I did get a grade point of 10 in all the subjects which equated to 95 or above.C - Well, there is quite a difference between a 100 and a 95.Me, giving a sheepish smile- Yes Sir, that is true.There is a 5 second silence.L - What is fake news?Me - I beg your pardon?Fake news? What?R repeats the question.Me- Fake news basically refers to false information spread by various people to mislead people. This can be done for false propaganda -L, interrupting - Why do you think this is happening? Why has this increased in recent years?Me - I don’t know the answer for sure, but I guess it’s because of an influx of internet users in India, to the point that India has one of the largest, if not the largest usage of internet in the world. I think the reason for that would be because of Jio providing internet access at cheap rates. With so many new people exposed to the internet, some tended to spread their beliefs and demeaning those who didn’t agree, by using fake news.C - Why do you think there has been an increase in users?Me- It’s based on my observations. Almost everyone around me has a Jio subscription -Oops. Big mistake.C - No. I don’t have a Jio subscription.Me - Um, yes Sir, of course. It is after all, a matter of personal preference, ultimately.C - No. It is all your assumption.Me - …A few seconds of silence.C - What is the average internet consumption of an Indian?Me - I don’t know Sir, but I’m willing to guess around 3000 Terra -This was actually bordering on a calculated, but more on the side of a wild guess, based on some reports I had read a long time back. [1]I meant to say 3000 Petabytes.C, looking at R with a look like “Can you believe this guy?” - Terrabytes! Hah!Me - I’m sorry sir, I meant Petabytes. (I was kicking myself here)L - What percentage of people have access to internet in India?Me - I would approximate around 300 to 400 million out of 1.5 Billion peo -C - He said percentage! Don’t you know what percentage is? Didn’t you opt for Mathematics?Me - Yes sir, I was coming to that. So as I was saying, that would be approximately between 20–25% of India’s population.This was completely a wild guess based on a whim, but surprisingly I was close![2]C - See, you keep changing your answers all the time!Me, giving an apologetic smile - I’m sorry sir.C - What is America’s population?Me - I don’t know sir. (I figured I had done a lot of guesswork already, and didn’t want to risk it.)C - Well, you mentioned the world, so I assumed you’d know. Okay. (Glances at my sheet.) You opted for IT in 12th?Me - No sir, IP. Informatics Practices.C - What is that?Me - It is a course on JAVA, HTML, basics of SQL, XML, Networking -C - Networking eh? What is the full form of Wi-Fi?Me - Wireless Fidelity.C - Hmm. What is the difference between Wi-Fi and Bluetooth?Me - States differences in number of connections, connectivity range etc.C - What is the full form of WiMAX?Dammit.Me - I don’t know Sir.C then nods toward L. I suddenly realize that R had been silent throughout the interview. I glance at him, and he’s watching me intently. I looked away, toward L.L - Can you plot the graph of [math]y = x^3?[/math]Easy. I did it.L - Do you find something happening at [math]x = 0[/math]?Me - Yes Sir, that is the point of inflection.L - All right, so how will you explain that Mathematically?Me - Proceeds to explain how to check the various differentials etc.L - What about the case when it’s [math]y = x^5[/math]?Me - Proceeds to explain.L - All right, so let’s say you have [math]x^n [/math]and [math]n^x[/math]. In which of these cases will the [math]y[/math] increase faster?Me - Well, we can just take [math]n = 2[/math] and plug in values and -L - No, you cannot plug in values.Me - All right, May I have a minute?He nods, and I start to plot the graphs of the functions.L, peering at the paper- Why don’t you try differentiating the functions?Me - Yes Sir. (That was so obvious, GOSH)After Differentiating I come to the conclusion that [math]n^x[/math] increased faster than [math]x^n[/math] for positive n. L nods.L - Okay, are you comfortable with Physics and Chemistry?Nope. Not Chemistry. Please.Me - Yes sir.L then proceeds to draw a figure, kind of like this.L - Can you show all the forces acting on the block?I proceed to draw it all. I begin to give the paper back, when L asks if I’m sure. I check again and I notice that I had forgotten to show the Normal force. I quickly added it and nodded in confirmation.L looked satisfied. He turns toward C and nods. C then looks at R(He hadn’t said anything throughout), and R nods too.C - Thank you Sidhant. That will be all.I thank them all and I get up to leave when C suddenly says, “Are you taking that pen too?”I noticed that I was taking their pen along with me. I apologized and they smiled at me.Overall I wasn’t very optimistic about being selected. R did not say a word throughout. C was being very aggressive throughout. Only L seemed satisfied with my answers, although I wasn’t with some of them.My interview lasted for 12–13 minutes. The average was around 11 minutes. Some of the students were interviewed for almost 20 minutes too! At that time, I thought that the longer the interview, the better.Surprisingly, I was proved wrong as I was selected for the 2018–23 batch! :-)If anybody has any queries regarding IPM, feel free to comment or message me. I’ll try my best to help you out.Cheers :-D**note — Since the time I wrote this answer (in 2018), a lot has changed in India and the numbers I mentioned in the interview is far from accurate today. It was accurate at the time but not anymore as can be seen from the second link in the footnotes.Footnotes[1] Average mobile data usage at 11GB a month: Nokia[2] Topic: Internet usage in India

The European Union is known in the world as one of the biggest economies. Most people also recognize the EU as an initiative to unite European countries after the two major Global Wars. But apart from these, there are a lot of fun facts that you probably did not know about the European Union.Fact #1: 24 tongues of fireThere are 24 official languages used in the European Union. The most commonly used are English, French, and German. Other languages include Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Estonian, Finnish, Greek, Hungarian, Irish, Latvian, Lithuanian, Maltese, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Slovak, Slovenian, Spanish, and Swedish. If there are European parliament debates, sessions, and conferences, official transcripts and documents are translated into all these languages. Whew!Fact #2: The vultures are starvingThe European Union has a law on the proper disposal of dead animal farms. They should be taken for disposal to either knacker, maggot farms, incinerators, or renderers. However, in 2009, Madrid’s regional government appealed to the European Union to relax their law about the disposal of the dead livestock. Why? Because the vultures are hungry. You heard it right. According to Madrid’s environmentalists, the lack of rotting animals leaves vultures no adequate source of food.Fact #3: Norway awards EUIn 2012, the Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided unanimously to award the Nobel Peace Prize to the European Union. The committee recognized the over six-decade contribution of the EU in the development of peace, equality, reconciliation, and human rights in the continent. The twist is that Norway is not a member of the European Union. It’s not a big deal, anyway.Fact #4: EU as a huge frogs’ legs importerAccording to reports, eating frogs’ legs has been an English delicacy for many, many years. According to reports, this practice has been long existent in the UK between 7500 BC and 6250 BC, the earliest British settlement. But it was only in the 12th century when French formally listed frogs’ legs as one of European’s cuisine. Because of this increasing demand, there is a shortage of frog supply in the UK. So basically, they have to import. Today, the EU imports more than 10,000 tons of frogs’ legs from Asia every year.Fact #5: EU is still youngThe European Union that we know today is not as old as you think. Basically, it was officially created along the passage of the Maastricht Treaty or The Treaty of the European Union in 1992. That time, there were only 15 member countries. So basically, the EU just turned 26 years old this year. However, the union of the European countries started long ago. First, the European Economic Community was created in the 1950s, which was followed by European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC) and European Atomic Energy Community.Fact #6: France rejected UK’s EU application twiceThe United Kingdom was not one of the founding state members of the European Union. It was only in 1973 when it officially joined the union. Although it made efforts to be an EU member, France rejected its application, not just once, but twice. The United Kingdom applied to join the EU for the first time in 1961, under Conservative Prime Minister Harold Macmillan. However, French President Charles de Gaulle rejected and vetoed the British application in 1963. According to Gaulle, there are certain irregularities in UK’s economic policies which made them incompatible to become a member of the EU. In 1967, the UK tried again its luck to join the EU. Unfortunately, they were still rejected by Gaulle. In 1969, Gaulle finished his French presidency. In 1973, the United Kingdom under Conservative Prime Minister Edward Heath applied for the third time. Successfully, the UK became officially part of the European Economic Community (EEC).Fact #7: EU is not alone in EuropeThe European Union is not the only European Sovereignty in Europe. In fact, there is the Council of Europe. The Council of Europe (CoE) is the leading international organization that upholds human rights and democracy in Europe. They also promote the European culture. It was founded in 1949 and currently, it has 47 member states, including the UK. It also covers approximately 900 million people. Sometimes, it confused with the European Union. No country that joined the EU that has not yet joined the Council of Europe.Fact #8: More Europeans believe they are EU citizensThe European Union conducts their yearly poll. In 2012, they have found out that most people do not “love” EU that much. For them, EU is just a waste of money. In fact, most of the respondents knew less about the EU. But in the latest study, in lieu of UK’s Brexit referendum, more Europeans now are feeling like they are EU citizens. According to the regular Eurobarometer poll, 68% of the Europe population feel like that they are citizens of the EU. In fact, over half of the population trusted that EU’s economy will rise in the years to come.Fact #9: From Pigs to ScamsIn 2002, the European Union introduced the Euro currency. During that time, there are 12 EU member states. All of their initial letters spell out to “BAFFLING PIGS” ((Belgium, Austria, Finland, France, Luxembourg, Ireland, Netherlands, Germany, Portugal, Italy, Greece, and Spain). When five more countries joined, it turned to be “BEGS PIFFLING SCAMS”.Fact #10: Past Withdrawals from EHBefore, Algeria was a full-fledged part of France. In fact, it was called French Algeria. When it receives independence in 1962, it decided to leave the European Communities. Moreover, Greenland conducted a referendum in 1979. They decided to officially leave the European Economic Community in 1985 after fishing rights disputes. Last 2016, the United Kingdom hold a referendum widely known as “Brexit”. The resulting turnout was 71% in favor of leaving the European Union. Today, there has been an ongoing talks and negotiation on Brexit. It is expected that the UK will officially leave the EU in March 2019.Infographic by: praxinetwork.grABOUT THE AUTHORBrian