alegnaleon
alegnaleon,
MIT
B.S., Computer Science, , Economics, , Electrical and Communications Engineering, , Industrial and Product Design
I'm a rising sophomore and international student from Singapore. I thought I was going to major in Economics, but after a year of college, I've decided to major in either Mechanical Engineering or Electrical Engineering & Computer Science.
Features Included
9
Essays
11
Schools
8
Scores
5
Advice
8
ECs
0
Sports

Background

Hometown Singapore, Singapore
GenderFemale
EthnicityAsian
AdmissionRegular Decision
Class of2018
English First Language Yes
Other Language(s) Spoken Mandarin

Results, Essays, and Advice

Accepted
Waitlisted or Withdrew
Denied
  • Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Cambridge, MA)
  • University of California - Berkeley (Berkeley, CA)
  • Harvard University (Cambridge, MA)
  • Yale University (New Haven, CT)
  • Princeton University (Princeton, NJ)
  • Stanford University (Stanford, CA)
  • Cornell University (Ithaca, NY)
  • Columbia University (New York, NY)
  • Duke University (Durham, NC)
  • University of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, PA)
  • Yale-NUS College (Singapore)
Tap/click a school logo above to view essays and advice specific to that school.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Cambridge, MA)

Applied for a B.S. in Computer Science

Accepted and Enrolled Legacy: No

School Specific Essays

School Specific Advice

More Essays

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

My high school has its own dragon’s lair, if you subscribe to the notion that knowledge is worth its weight in gold. This lair is the Physics Demo Lab, where instead of piles of gold guarded by dragons, you’ll find near a hundred physics demonstration kits looked after by piglets—not the pink, squealing variety, but us, the members of the Physics Interest Group. It’s natural to feel contentment surrounded by the things you love. I could...
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Supplemental Essay “Why us” school essay
713 Words
Describe two or three of your current intellectual interests and why they are exciting to you. Why will Cornell's College of Arts and Sciences be the right environment in which to pursue your interests? (Please limit your response to 650 words.) Six years ago, I encountered a hawk and a dove skirmishing in my school newspaper. I didn’t understand then, but in 11th grade I came across the hawk-dove game again in Evolution class, and later alongside a slew of...
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Supplemental Essay Using a metaphor
526 Words
“Persevera y triunfaras” Halfway through my Spanish exercises on Duolingo.com, this message popped up, with the translation “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.” What? I grappled to connect those three words with that long sentence, to reconcile the latter with Google’s translation of “persevere and triumph”. In my heart, a niggling sense of inadequacy bloomed towards Google’s word-for-word translation, which encapsulated the Spanish proverb’s meaning but somehow neither the eloquence nor the ...
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Supplemental Essay Unique question posed by school
126 Words
What in particular about Yale has influenced your decision to apply? (Please answer in 100 words or less.) It’s the asterisks on Yale’s admissions website. My high school crest also has an asterisk, representing dynamism—to me Yale's defining quality: from the dynamism of Shopping Period, as new interests crystallize; to the dynamism of the Economics Department, progressive in adopting new paradigms and with such radical thinkers as Dr. Robert Shiller. Yale’s residential colleges are designed such that...
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Supplemental Essay Unique question posed by school
180 Words
Please tell us how you have spent the last two summers (or vacations between school years), including any jobs you have held. (About 150 words) In June 2012, I covered the Singapore International Mathematics Challenge as a journalist. For five days, I debated Mastermind and tessellations, and tracked both the excitement buzzing on the excursion buses and the stress building in the classrooms. I then turned to writing of a more literary sort at a residential creative arts camp, where I practiced...
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Supplemental Essay Unique question posed by school
296 Words
Stanford students possess an intellectual vitality. Reflect on an idea or experience that has been important to your intellectual development. (250 word limit.) “Persevera y triunfaras” It was an idea that coalesced as I compared Google’s literal translation—“persevere and triumph”—to the idiomatic translation “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.” Somehow, Google’s word-for-word translation felt inadequate; it encapsulated the Spanish proverb’s meaning but neither the eloquence nor the essence conveyed by the idiomatic...
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Supplemental Essay Unique question posed by school
304 Words
Virtually all of Stanford's undergraduates live on campus. Write a note to your future roommate that reveals something about you or that will help your roommate -- and us -- know you better. (250 word limit.) If you walk in on me talking to myself, know that I’m just thinking aloud, something I don’t normally do with other people around (the aloud part, I mean). If I’m head-banging and making dying-whale noises with my earphones plugged in, know...
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Supplemental Essay Unique question posed by school
276 Words
What matters to you, and why? (250 word limit.) My writings bear innumerable touches of serendipity: a plot idea conceived in a dream; an unintentional pun; my favorite band’s lyrics, inserted subconsciously. Once, I placed my pencil down halfway through a sketch and accidentally picked up a pen to continue. I thought my drawing was ruined; instead, I discovered a hybrid style that, to this day, remains my favorite technique. Serendipity matters to me, not least because of these moments...
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Supplemental Essay Using a metaphor
162 Words
The forest seemed to whisper its secrets to Mr. Subaraj. As we hiked, he knew precisely when the dominant tree species was succeeded by another species (“See, the leaves beneath our feet have changed.”), and he could trace every sound we heard to the exact species of bird, beast, or insect. No movement escaped his eyes: not the iridescent flash of a kingfisher’s wings, nor a tree skink shimmying up a trunk. The skink, impeccably camouflaged, was nigh impossible...
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General Admissions Advice

Whether I took out loans or applied for scholarships, and my advice
35 Words
I'm currently on almost 100% financial aid. Especially for international students, research...
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Most popular extracurricular activities at my college
91 Words
What I really like about MIT is the absence of a crazy worship of the sports. Football isn't glorified, and basketball players aren't the most fawned-over assets...
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My favorite course thus far, and why
48 Words
It's a toss-up between my introductory electrical engineering and computer science class (6.01), a radio...
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What I now know about my school that I never would have known prior to enrolling
61 Words
It's a true, unadulterated liberal arts education that I'm getting, despite MIT being a technical college! MIT not...
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My advice about getting recommenders
43 Words
Go with your gut. I had friends who expressed concern over my choice...
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High School Performance

Weighted GPA
4.50
 
Rank
Top 1%
 
High School TypePublic
College Classes In High School
Academic Performance in High School Steady
Explanation of Low Grades

Test Scores

Highest SAT
1560
on 1600 scale
Highest SAT
2300
 
SAT Score Details
 
Original SAT Score2300
Other SAT Scores
SAT Prep

AP / IB Classes and Scores

Details6 classes and scores

Sports

Extracurriculars

ActivitiesCommunity Cleanup / Service, School Jazz / Orchestra, School Jazz / Orchestra, Broadcast Journalism / Media / Television, Science Club/Team, Science Club/Team, Student Council / Government, Student Council / Government
Elaborate on Extracurriculars or Work

Experience & Awards

How Spent Summers
Volunteer Experiences
Awards Received
Application Additional Materials

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