🎓 REAL ADMISSIONS STORY #5

🇷🇺 Student Profile

Who: Female
Country: Russian
High School / Grade: Top Public High School
Intended Major: Linguistics, Foreign Languages, and Government

📊 Academic Profile

🌱GPA: 4.89/5.0
🌱Other Exams: 140/160 on DET
🌱Class Rank: School doesn’t rank

🏆 Awards & Achievements

🌱3rd place winner at the National Essay Championship "X" organized by X University.
🌱Red School Diploma for excellent final grades and high exam scores—top 5% of the 9th graders.
🌱Finalist of the English Olympiad organized by National X University - top 10%.
🌱2nd place winner of the Debate City Championship organized by X city administration.
🌱Recipient of the principal's award for academic achievements given to 20 out of 270 students.


💼 Extracurricular Activities

1. English-Russian translator on an Instagram project (celebrity fan page) with an audience of 50k+.
2. Student English Language Mentor at one of the best and most well-known national EdTech companies (exam- and olympiad-prep online school).
3. Fanfiction translator and author on the X website with more than 20k views.
4. English private tutor for beginners.
5. Russian-English translator as a freelancer for an Instagram blogger.
6. Volunteer at the X national event, accompanied VIP guests and provided translation assistance.
7. Text writer and reporter at The City's Press Center of the National Youth Movement (write English learning tips&events digest columns)
8. School Debate Club founder and Team Captain
9. Postcrossing as a long-time hobby.
10. Practice yoga at a local yoga community.


📚 Additional Information Section:

“I explained our national curriculum and how I tried to take the most out of it, explained my #2 award (Red School Diploma in the 9th grade). Told about the reasons why I couldn’t take SAT or ACT. Added more information about my volunteering experience and listed other events in which I’ve taken part as a volunteer. Added one more award because I couldn’t fit it in the Honors sections as it was difficult to explain.”

📇 Letters of Recommendation

🌱Math teacher: She explained my slight drop in grades and told about my personal characteristics that helped me in my academics. 9/10.

🌱English Language teacher: She also commented on my personal traits and added more information about my passion for foreign languages. 9/10.

🌱School counselor: She knows me very well, so I think she managed to show me more as a person than as a student compared to other recs. 9/10

📋Essays

🌱Personal Statement: I really enjoyed writing it; it was about postcrossing as one of my hobbies and how it reflects my personality. I think it’s 9,5/10

🌱Smith College supplement: I wrote about growing up in a small Siberian village and how moving to a big city made me realize the importance of a community.

💬 Comment:

“I’m a gap-year student who got rejected from 15 colleges during last year’s application cycle. However, I didn’t want to give up, so I made the decision to take a gap year (which isn’t really supported in my country) and tried again. I really hope that other international students from low-income countries will not just give up on their dreams, goals, and ambitions. Fight till the end; everything’s possible!”

#SA_Кейсы