hey guys it's gary and welcome to my channel [Music] today i am going to be sharing my stats my extracurriculars my comment of essay and other things that helped get me into um a few of the ivs harvard upenn and stanford and usc and a couple of other colleges before we get into the video i just want to preface by saying that you shouldn't let your stats or anything else on paper define who you are as a student as a person applying to any of these colleges what really matters is that you're doing something that
you love and that you're being able to express yourself and um yeah i don't think you should let a college acceptance or rejection define who you are um but with that said let's get into the video okay so let's start off with stats my unweighted gpa was a 4.0 my weighted gpa was a 5.3208 out of a 5.0 um and the only reason that we had weighted gpa so is because we had like traditional classes dual credit classes like college courses and all and then we had aps you could take aps and then we had
ib classes or the international baccalaureate program and so i was in the ib program which gave me the highest gpa boost so i was able to get a really high gpa thanks to that my rank um so i applied as number four out of 457 because transcript we finalized transcripts at the end of my junior year and so i set that rank in um but by the end of my senior year i uh dropped to six but that's okay because rank isn't everything so if you end up dropping a little like a few spots or
like a lot like that's fine like i put way too much pressure on myself like trying to be in the top two percent of my class and then in the end you kind of realize like it's not worth it um so yeah don't don't stress too much about rank it i think what really matters the most when you're applying to colleges is like that you're doing something and you're investing your time in something that's important to you and i'll get a little more into that later on um and then my sat was a 1560. i
got a perfect score on the math and then i made a 760 on the english and writing section um my advice for sats or acts is start studying as soon as you can and the thing about sats and acts is that a lot of the materials stuff that we already know so it's stuff that we learned in you know middle school and high school and the only hard part about it to me was like trying to remember everything that we learned and um i think the best advice that i could give to you is like
practicing as much as you can because at some point you'll learn the tests and you'll kind of start to put yourself in the minds of the people that make the test and um that's kind of how i was able to get my score up that high um it took me two i took the test two times um and it's okay to take it as many times as you need um i only said that once for it so i did i was able to take a few ap tests um i only got one five but that's
okay so in 10th grade i took computer science principles and i got a five on that and then i took world history not my strongest class i actually hated that class and i got a three so uh and i got lucky with um i actually got lucky passing the world history exam because it was during like the covet year so we took everything like online at home and everything was like a shortened test um and then in 11th grade i took calculus a b and i got a four on that which not too bad and
then literature and composition i got a three uh that wasn't good and then um in my 11th and 12th grade year i took ib classes because the ib program is a two year so i took ib spanish bsl only in my junior year because i was a year ahead so i took my ib test in that last year and i got a six out of seven um so not too bad and then this year i took my tests for mathematics analysis and approaches sl thank god psychology hl language a literature hl history of the americas
hl chemistry sl and then i had a tok class or a theory of knowledge class which every ib student takes but there's no tests on that thank god but yeah if you do have the ib program in your school i would definitely recommend trying to get into it because it i know it is a lot of work and um it leads to a lot of late nights and a lot of stress but i think it's ultimately worth it because of how the structure or the learning structure is formed and i found it completely different than
what i what i experienced in ap classes or in my ninth and tenth grade year and i think it really helps you prepare for college because you end up writing a lot of essays and even though you might not like it it is going to be really helpful for what lies ahead so if you can definitely get into the ib program so extracurriculars so i'll start with the one that i think was the most valuable all my common apps and my applications so i was in or i am involved with an organization called the technology
student association and it is a national stem and business education dedicated to providing opportunities and competition service and leadership and so i joined this organization when i was in the seventh grade and then up in yeah so seventh grade and i competed in a lot of events i placed nationally and then in high school i decided to venture and venture into the leadership side of tsa technology student association and i served as a state officer of texas my 10th grade year and then 11th grade i served as the national tsa treasurer and now finishing out
my tsa journey i am now the national tsa president of over 250 000 members nationwide so i definitely think that this extracurricular had the most weight in my application or the most value in my application because it showed that i was consistently involved with something throughout my high school career and that i was trying to make an impact i think that's what colleges really want to see that you are kind of taking charge of something that you want to be a leader or you want to make change in some type of area and so this
area for me was technology career and technical education and um and i think that if you end up choosing or if you end up being involved in something that you're naturally passionate about it will not feel like work to you at all it'll be something that is a great journey for you to venture on you can because from tsa i was able to you know develop my public speaking skills i found my passion for advocacy and for law um ironic though it is technology student association but it's fine uh but just like end up just
try choosing something that you just naturally have um a love for and so besides the the tsa um or besides the technology student association i also founded a mental health club at my school because i'm also a pastor passionate about mental health advocacy and so i had that my junior and senior year and that's another thing that i believe stood out in my essay because you know it was something i was really passionate about it still is and it shows consistency um in my high school career and it shows that i identified a problem in
my school that we didn't have any mental health resources and it's just that i wanted to be part of the change and so i think um just definitely like let that passion inside of you whether that's like doing something in the law field or in the medical field or helping children overall just let that passion guide you and you'll find the activities and the clubs that are meant for you or where you belong besides that i was a four-year member of the varsity tennis team at my school once again shows consistency in my application um
in my senior year i was able to be the co-captain along with my fellow seniors on the tennis team i also founded an educational non-profit that provided backpacks and school supplies to students in need in my community and in some parts of guatemala and then the last two i was like a youth advisory board member for hope for the day which is a chicago-based mental health nonprofit and so that kind of ties in with my mental health advocacy and the mental health club that i founded so that's kind of showing once again consistency in my
application and then i was on the student board of directors for a local bank they were they only selected about 60 students in my area to participate in a financial literacy program um i think that was probably the most i guess like irrelevant part of my application because i feel like everything else and my apple and my extracurriculars had some type of deeper meaning or it was not it naturally made sense to who i was presenting as myself like in the application i don't know if that made sense but it's okay okay so now we'll
get into honors and awards so first i was a member of the national honor society uh i got inducted into it into the tenth grade and it's a fairly easy process so if you're a ninth grader or a tenth grader i would maybe ask your guidance counselor more information about it if you want to be part of that and then i also had the rotary rotary youth leadership award which is given by your local rotary club and you kind of once you're awarded that you like participate in some like type of leadership camp and mine
was virtual um since because of covenant and um i would recommend asking your guidance counselor about that too and then i was a national american commended on the psat i was an ap scholar with distinct distinction and then i like i mentioned before i was the varsity tennis team co-captain so that's it for all of my honors and awards and everything um i guess yeah everything on my application that i submitted main advice is to get involved or participate in something that you're truly passionate about um because that's going to truly shine on in your
application and colleges are really going to get to know the real you and that's what they really want out of this whole application process they want to see if you're the right fit for their college and of course you're going to be the right fit for their college all you need to do is just let your personality shine through all of your essays and applications and speaking of essays i'd say that's also a major part of the application process you could have you know average statistics and average extracurriculars and if you let your essays or
if you really spend a lot of time on your essays that's going to be a big part of your application that colleges college admission officers will remember because this is one of the few opportunities that you can kind of connect with the admissions officer one-on-one and you kind of show them who you are um so i will share my comment up essay with you guys um don't make fun of it because i've seen like a lot i've seen like amazing common apps like on youtube like i'm and like i'm blown away by how amazing people
write and mine is um subpar um but i did write it about tsa since that was such a big part of my middle school and high school career let's get right into my commonapp essay so the prompt was discuss an accomplishment event or realization that sparked a period of personal growth and a new understanding of yourself or others so here i go running for the office of texas tsa treasurer gary rayne gale as fellow candidates wish me luck on my campaign speech i it onto stage with the bottomless pit of anxiety in my stomach the
stage lights immediately blinded my vision while the vast audience horrified me but there is no way out now hearing the faint cheers my friends from the crowd i gathered every last bit of my composure and silenced the doubtful voices in my head inhale exhale begin my tsa journey doesn't reside in the long lines of airport security checks instead my tsa is a technology student association a national sum organization dedicated to competition service and leadership running for a state office as a wide-eyed freshman catalyzed my transition into a confident graceful leader tsa isn't my only passion
tennis gives me the strength to overcome overcome challenges both on and off the court my mental health club serves as a beacon of hope in my school and writing is the perfect remedy to all of my worries still tsa is the most meaningful aspect of my high school experience when it was announced that i had won my race for state treasurer i was awestruck unable to believe that the 40 000 members of texas tsa elected me as their representative reality eventually set in and next stop on my journey was a fall leadership conference in the
december of my sophomore year the state officers and i conducted leadership training leadership training sessions and hosted several lively events such as the regatta boat race where students students daringly sail on their handcrafted cardboard cardboard boats around across a frigid pool i was most proud of our big bingo knight fundraiser as we raised two thousand dollars for our national service project the american cancer society though the pandemic suspended our upcoming plans i was determined to further my commitment to tsa and run for national tsa treasurer since campaigning was strictly virtual i harnessed the networking and
aesthetic power of social media and produced a compelling platform for my audience once campaigning concluded once campaigning concluded my family and i watched the live stream of the election results fingers crossed and eyes closed closed i took a deep breath inhale exhale suddenly a voice broke the silence calling my name for the position of national treasure a wave of relief and pride washed over me as i erupted out of my seat in joy whether my junior year was in person or virtual i was ready to help lead our membership through any adversity as expected every
tsa event was held virtually for health concerns and the national officers and i saw our unprecedented situation as an opportunity to write history bridging the miles between us we came together and successfully hosted the first ever ever virtual national tsa conference in the summer at the same time i set my sights on concluding my tsa journey as a national president leading as a national president would be the greatest server service i could give leading as the national trust oh my gosh i can't speak today leading as the national president would be the greatest service i
could return to tsa for all that for all that it had given me my closest friends and it an innovative mind and a profound passion to make a purposeful impact on the world after four nerve-wracking days of constant campaigning the moment had finally arrived to see if my fervid efforts were enough instead of my instead of letting my nerves overwhelm me i embraced them your 2021-22 national tsa president is inhale exhale gauri rain gill tears flooded my vision while my family exclaimed in delight was this really happening 250 000 members all over the country and
they elected me to be their voice remember this moment the gleam in your parents eyes the roar of cheers from your brothers and the hope that you feel this is just the beginning gary for most people tsa is simply an airport obligation but those three words will always remind me of the true power of my voice so that was my common app essay that's it for this video my stats my extracurriculars my honors and awards my comment up essay and if you have any questions about the application process or just anything in general just leave
them in the comment below and in the comments below and i will respond yeah i'll respond um and for the last video i posted about my college decisions thank you so much for the support i really loved like reading all of your comments and some of you guys reached out to me on instagram which is so nice of you um like i i i i didn't realize like i don't know i think it just made me really happy inside so i definitely will keep making videos regardless of how many people view it because if it
helps at least one person then it means the world to me so thank you for watching this video i'll be back next friday i don't know if i'll do a college video i i was thinking of you know making it a different type of video you'll see um i look a little crazy right now but um yeah thank you and i'll see you next week bye [Music]
