goboolaboola
goboolaboola,
Yale
B.A., Environmental Studies
proud tree-hugging artistic scientist :)
Features Included
25
Essays
12
Schools
1
Scores
13
Advice
7
ECs
0
Sports

Background

Hometown New York City, New York
GenderFemale
EthnicityAsian
Class of2024
First Gen College StudentNo

Results, Essays, and Advice

Accepted
Waitlisted or Withdrew
Denied
  • Yale University (New Haven, CT)
  • Columbia University (New York, NY)
  • Brown University (Providence, RI)
  • University of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, PA)
  • Harvard University (Cambridge, MA)
  • Georgetown University (Washington, DC)
  • Hamilton College (Clinton, NY)
  • Northeastern University (Boston, MA)
  • Stony Brook University - SUNY (Stony Brook, NY)
  • Binghamton University - SUNY (Binghamton, NY)
  • University at Albany - SUNY (Albany, NY)
  • Loyola Marymount University (Los Angeles, CA)
Tap/click a school logo above to view essays and advice specific to that school.

Yale University (New Haven, CT)

Applied for a B.A. in Environmental Studies

Accepted and Enrolled Legacy: No

School Specific Essays

Some students have a background, identity, interest, or talent that is so meaningful they believe their application would be incomplete without it. If this sounds like you, then please share your story.
“An arm bends inwards” -Korean proverb Bones lay sprawled over my diagrams until my table is as much lab bench as it is artist desk. I raise a replica of a beaver pelvic girdle to the light and run a finger over the minute dips. With my drawing tablet, my other hand recreates the form as a 3D-model in Blender, a modeling software. I swipe over the tessellation of polygons with a “crease” brush until dimples form along the structure....
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Supplemental Essay: “Why us” school essay
127 Words
Why Yale?
To be honest, I dream of being a Yalie—I see myself delving into the residential-college system, bringing art and science into conversations/debates and leaving with new insights. I see myself at Divest Yale protests’ frontlines, environmental-green warpaint on my face, fueled by Bulldog-blue in my heart and mind. I see myself conducting research with Gerald Torres by day and sharing Buttery quesadillas with strangers by night. I see myself painting with Prussian-blue under the fume-hood and sky-writing for...
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Supplemental Essay: Intellectual interest
264 Words
During an Activism in Art club meeting, I noticed a fourth-grade girl, Anna, with her head down. Concerned, I approached Anna and her mother, Debbie. I listened to Debbie’s stories as a single mother, her struggles with her mother’s medical bills, and her worries about water-treatment costs because of Exeter’s carcinogenic trihalomethanes. I’d found my family’s story echoed among suburban ones. Inspired, I sought to create an affordable water filter to remove trihalomethanes using solar...
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Supplemental Essay: Other
36 Words
What inspires you?
Be it laughter or shock, I aim to impact. In art shows, I sneak behind my pieces to catch double takes and musings--signs of successful stories. Knowing my work can sway others, I’m always improving.
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Supplemental Essay: Other
30 Words
Yale’s residential colleges regularly host conversations with guests representing a wide range of experiences and accomplishments. What person, past or present, would you invite to speak? What question would you ask?
For architect Sou Fujimoto: “Primitive Future” emphasizes architecture must be found before it can be “created.” How could this philosophy apply to urban planning, where nature and space is scarce?
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Supplemental Essay: Extracurricular activity
259 Words
I walked into every teacher’s nightmare. During the first meeting of my Activism in Art club, elementary-school students huddled with parents while high-school friends glanced warily at loud middle-school students. Presentations and questions were met with silence. So, the next meeting, I twirled in wearing a (painful) dress I’d made from goldfish-cracker bags. Through the shock, giggles erupted, shoulders relaxed, and smiles were exchanged across the table to strangers. Growing up, amid family fights, my fingers skimmed over...
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Supplemental Essay: Other
24 Words
3. You are teaching a Yale course. What is it called?
Reverse Photogrammetry in Blender: Unearth Truths & Convert Idealistic Models into Reality. Seminar 1: Modeling Louisiana’s Cancer Alley to Isolate Industrial Plants & Design Implementable Solutions.
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Supplemental Essay: Other
38 Words
4. Most first-year Yale students live in suites of four to six people. What do you hope to add to your suitemates' experience? What do you hope they will add to yours?
I’m the DIY-er who bakes (read: burns) cookies for my suitemates, gives inspiration wall art, and 3D prints them in funny poses to hide in the suite. I only hope my suitemates share my wacky humor!
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Supplemental Essay: “Why us” school essay
312 Words
Why Columbia
One of the assembly speakers addressing my school last year was Jason Kang, a Columbia alumnus whose stories of his university permeated through every step of his innovation. Kang told stories of how Columbia organized the Columbia Ebola Design Challenge and how it provided publicity, seed money, and funds for his West Africa trip to interview victims and families. As an aspiring scientist and designer, I was impressed by Columbia’s encouragement of independent projects and trust in their students...
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Supplemental Essay: Other
152 Words
In 150 words or fewer, please list a few words or phrases that describe your ideal college community.
My ideal college community is the soil imbued with notes of down-to-earth-richness: the odor of labor, the reminder that everyone enters the world in the same way. It’s moist with laughter and exams and good fortune, which envelopes my toes in blackness and drags me down, down---But before I sink too deep into the bubble where it’s too dark to see the real world, the New York climate hardens the ground ‘til rife with drought and poverty. I...
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Supplemental Essay: Other
317 Words
If you are applying to Columbia College, tell us what from your current and past experiences (either academic or personal) attracts you specifically to the field or fields of study that you noted in the Member Questions section. If you are currently undecided, please write about any field or fields in which you may have an interest at this time. (300 words)
After an Activism in Art club meeting last year, I was chatting with parents when I met Debbie. I listened to her stories as a single mother, her struggles with her mother’s medical bills, and her worries about water-treatment costs. I’d found my family’s story echoed among suburban ones. When another teacher mentioned the same issue, I was inspired and sought to create a water filter to remove trihalomethanes using solar energy to fuel oxidation processes. I...
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Supplemental Essay: Other
70 Words
The titles of the films, concerts, shows, exhibits, lectures and other entertainments you enjoyed most in the past year
Movies: Clueless (my model of unapologetic femininity); Parasite (a dark comedy shedding light on Korea’s dangerous socio-economic immobility) Shows: FRIENDS (the NYC dream--being surrounded by friends and family so disparate that they’re happier because of it); Grey’s Anatomy Videos: CG Cookie (my artistic happy place. Chock-full of 3D-modeling lessons); Richard Sapolsky’s Stanford and Ted talks on Human Behavioral Biology and Psychology on Youtube
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Supplemental Essay: Other
22 Words
The titles of the required readings from courses during the school year or summer that you enjoyed most in the past year
The Great Gatsby, A Good Family by Seo Hajin, Sula, The God of Small Things, The Interpreter of Maladies, Middlemarch, Henry V
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Supplemental Essay: Other
72 Words
The titles of books read for pleasure that you enjoyed most in the past year
How to Walk On Water and Climb Up Walls by David Hu (THE biomimicry book for benefiting humankind. Forever changed how I see shampoo); The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen; 1Q84 by Murakami Haruki; Norweigian Wood by Murakami Haruki; Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst by Robert Sapolsky (This book is my go-to for late-night readings, because why not wind down with some existential-neuroscientific interpretation of human vices?)
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Supplemental Essay: “Why us” school essay
732 Words
Why Georgetown
During an Activism in Art club meeting last year, I caught glimpses of a fourth-grader, Anna, with her head down. Concerned, I approached Anna and her mother, Debbie. I listened to Debbie’s stories as a single mother, her struggles with her mother’s medical bills, and her worries about water-treatment costs because of Exeter’s high levels of carcinogenic trihalomethanes. I’d found my family’s story echoed among suburban ones. It was this sense of belonging within the...
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Supplemental Essay: Other
309 Words
Please indicate any special talents or skills you possess (250 words)
I walked into every teacher’s nightmare. During the first meeting of my Activism in Art club, elementary-school students huddled with parents while my high-school friends glanced warily at the loud middle-school students. Presentations and questions were met with silence. There was only one thing I could do: the next meeting, I twirled in wearing a dress I’d made out of goldfish-cracker bags. Through the shock, giggles bounced around the room, shoulders relaxed, and smiles were exchanged across the...
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Supplemental Essay: Other
267 Words
Briefly discuss the significance to you of the school or summer activity in which you have been most involved. (1/2 page, single-spaced, or approximately 300-400 words depending on font size)
Most of my scientific exploration doesn’t occur in a physical laboratory, it happens through my computer: While my mother took on a third job, I learned as much as possible about starting a blog in high school. Writing had been the gas to the flames of ambition for my family, and I wondered how high it could go. I started a website, www.thatbeesknees.com, the name a homage to the first English phrase I taught my mother. Joy...
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Supplemental Essay: “Why us” school essay
264 Words
Brown’s Open Curriculum allows students to explore broadly while also diving deeply into their academic pursuits. Tell us about an academic interest (or interests) that excites you, and how you might use the Open Curriculum to pursue it. (250 words)
Brown’s dedication to developing the individual rather than the profession immediately attracted me because it mirrors my own. There’s as much creativity and hands-on manipulation under the fume hood and at the podium as there’s a rational progression in art. As a Kodiak Bear, I can pursue all my interests and discover new ones, extending the tendrils of my intellectual experience. “Chemistry of the Environment” courses reveal the technical and alternatives behind every wisp of carbon-soot-laden gas....
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Supplemental Essay: “Why us” school essay
275 Words
At Brown, you will learn as much from your peers outside the classroom as in academic spaces. How will you contribute to the Brown community? (250 words)
As the tour-guide chats about dining-halls, I linger by the electric-blue Fischer teddy-bear. I follow its gaze across Simmons Green. I can… feel a connection. A sensation pierces through my body. The blue bear slumps, its light-bulb dark. BEEP! I blindly scramble to turn off my alarm. It’s the weekend, so I know my day will be busy. The bear looks deceptively cuddly. Donned in Brown sweatpants, I may look cozy. But when I arrive at the Better World...
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Supplemental Essay: Other
262 Words
Tell us about a place or community you call home. How has it shaped your perspective? (250 words)
I walked into every teacher’s nightmare. The first meeting of my Activism in Art club, my soon-to-be-home, elementary-school students huddled with parents while high-schoolers glanced warily at loud middle-school students. Presentations and questions were met with silence. So, the next meeting, I twirled in wearing a (painful) dress I’d made from goldfish-cracker bags. Through the shock, giggles erupted, shoulders relaxed, and smiles were exchanged across the table to strangers. Growing up, amid family fights, my fingers skimmed over...
Read more...
Supplemental Essay: Extracurricular activity
161 Words
Appointed by the Select Board as the first student-representative in town government, I walked into town hall seriously questioning their decision. I helped establish the Sustainability Committee by speaking at public meetings and organized a youth-representative system that welcomed young voices. But I couldn’t help but wonder how, amongst professionals, I’d reflect the citizens’ interests as an underage, non-voting student from New York. Now, my voice pierces through meeting rooms and local television waves as I take the...
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Supplemental Essay: “Why us” school essay
417 Words
How did you discover your intellectual and academic interests, and how will you explore them at the University of Pennsylvania? Please respond considering the specific undergraduate school you have selected. For students applying to the coordinated dual-degree and specialized programs, please answer these questions in regard to your single-degree school choice; your interest in the coordinated dual-degree or specialized program may be addressed through the program-specific essay. (300-450 words)
I have found my purpose; environmental science has allowed me to focus on science’s applications to our surroundings and, in turn, the people living in these spaces. I’m most content when learning about new carbon-capture technology and discussing the social effects of green spaces with friends. Studying Environmental Studies at Penn, I wouldn’t be limited to occasional research projects, I’d be constantly exploring across disciplines to further understand the human-environment connection alongside innovative peers and faculty...
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Supplemental Essay: “Why us” school essay
208 Words
At Penn, learning and growth happen outside of the classrooms, too. How will you explore the community at Penn? Consider how this community will help shape your perspective and identity, and how your identity and perspective will help shape this community. (150-200 words)
Penn is a global community that turns interdisciplinary theories into practical applications. My experiences in STEM, art, and environmentalism significantly impacted me as a student, so I have created and led workshops, community-forums, and clubs promoting outreach for environmental justice and political awareness. Penn’s Urban Arts, Culture, & Humanities Partnership Program (UACHP) would allow me to continue using my experiences to inspire youth. Outside of class, I’m ready to launch collections of biodegradable-clothing and create a Sustainable Artists club...
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Supplemental Essay: “Why us” school essay
266 Words
While the primary criteria for admission to Hamilton are academic achievement, intellectual promise and community engagement, Hamilton also seeks to admit candidates who are a good fit with the programs and experiences offered by the College. Please take this opportunity to tell us about your interest in Hamilton and, particularly, why you believe it is a place where you can thrive. Be open. Be honest. Be brief. (250 word maximum)
Hamilton College’s dedication to developing the individual rather than the profession immediately attracted me because it mirrors my own. Donned in Hamilton-blue, I seek to extend the tendrils of my intellectual experience and use them as forces for change. Hamilton’s pass/fail option would allow me to take “Science, Technology, and Society” to explore human-centric design processes for scientific applications, “Protest and Public Opinion” to explore the nature of the brain and communication, and “Art and Social Change”...
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Supplemental Essay: Extracurricular activity
157 Words
Your intellectual life may extend beyond the academic requirements of your particular school. Please use the space below to list additional intellectual activities that you have not mentioned or detailed elsewhere in your application. These could include, but are not limited to, supervised or self-directed projects not done as school work, training experiences, online courses not run by your school, or summer academic or research programs not described elsewhere. (150 words)
Appointed by the Select Board as the first student-representative in town government, I walked into town hall seriously questioning their decision. I helped establish the Sustainability Committee by speaking at public meetings and organized a youth-representative system that welcomed student voices. But, as I stared at my giant burgundy chair, I wondered how, amongst professionals, I’d reflect the citizens’ interests as an underage, non-voting student from New York. As the televised meeting progressed, I suggested incorporating green HVAC and...
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School Specific Advice

How to increase chances at my school
51 Words
Yale and Columbia are schools that are especially centered around community involvement and activism. They...
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How to increase chances at my school
77 Words
In your "Why Georgetown" essay, make sure to talk about the Jesuit religion involved in campus life and activities! It's such a major...
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How to increase chances at my school
54 Words
Definitely show lots of interest. Sign up for the interview (even if you can't make it,...
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Additional material sent in after waitlisted or deferred
321 Words
Wasn't waitlisted or deferred, but I did send an update around February talking about my most recent activities and accomplishments. Here it is: Dear ___ Admissions Office, I appreciate you considering my application to ___. I know that it has been a number of months since I applied for admission, so I feel compelled to share with you awards and projects I am newly involved with and of which I am very proud. First, I received a Scholastic Silver Key for my Art portfolio pieces, “Bones,” and my work was displayed in the Pinkerton Gallery as well as in Gaia: The Independent...
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5 adjectives that describe a typical student at my school (Feel free to elaborate!)
5 Words
Collaborative, Friendly,...
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Why I ultimately chose my school
276 Words
Yale is one of the leading research universities in the world, and still have an amazing focus on undergrads. The instructional spending per student is the highest of any school in the US by FAR (150k) and twice what it is at Harvard and Princeton for example. All our professors teach undergrads, so no matter how much of a star they are, you will be able to take a class with every professor at Yale, from Nobels to Pulitzer prize winners. This...
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List of schools I interviewed with and my interview experience
140 Words
The most important question to prepare for in college interviews is ...Ready for it? "Tell me about yourself" Literally the only question asked in all my interviews. Prepare a 30-second pitch that leads naturally to your EC...
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How I chose schools to apply to
111 Words
Actually, I wasn't going to apply to Yale and Columbia. Columbia was too close to home, and Yale seemed to be weak in STEM. However, my mom convinced me to give them a...
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More Essays

These essays haven't been tagged by school. Click school logos above to see tagged essays.

General Admissions Advice

How I made up for low grades in high school
152 Words
Honestly, I was super worried about my grades going into the application process. I have mostly As and A-s, but I have a handful of B+s and even 2 Bs. I thought I was doomed. I kept comparing myself to people online who got into super...
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How I narrowed down my essay topics
144 Words
Literally just write! Write them all down. I know that it seems tedious, but I promise you, you will go through at least 3 drafts before you reach your final one. I thought I would only write one or two, since I don't typically...
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Recommended summer activities during high school and college
108 Words
This advice is especially applicable now, given the COVID-19 quarantine circumstances: Don't underestimate the power of independent activities!! I had some structured plans, like going to Iceland to study environmental science with...
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My advice about getting recommenders
161 Words
Recommendations are super important!!! My Yale admissions officer told me that it was one of the reasons I got in--that I chose really good teachers. Don't be afraid of choosing recommenders in similar fields. I did mostly STEM activities, and my two teacher recommenders were from my...
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What I’d change about my application process
88 Words
Definitely don't apply to your first-choice REA. Most likely, your first essays will be the worst. If you're like me, you are going to extensively revise...
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High School Performance

Unweighted GPA
3.77
 
Rank
Top 25%
 
College Classes In High School
Academic Performance in High School Steady

Test Scores

Highest ACT
35
 
ACT Score Details
 
Other ACT Scores
ACT Prep

AP / IB Classes and Scores

Sports

Extracurriculars

ActivitiesStudent Council / Government, Art, Conservancy Volunteer, Social Justice, Research, Dance, Environmental
Elaborate on Extracurriculars or Work

Experience & Awards

Volunteer Experiences
Awards Received
Application Additional Materials

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