- Nora Sun
Tags: UC Berkeley
Institution: University of California Berkeley
Study: Major in mechanical engineering
High School Experience
I personally think high school has given me the best 4 years of my life. In 8th grade I moved from Santa Clarita, CA to Atlanta, GA, which was a very drastic change. The first few weeks of freshman year were definitely rough, but they also taught me how to love myself and be fun by myself and that definitely shifted my outlook on life. I was able to meet some truly amazing people that taught me new perspectives and that's what I've gone through high school doing, experiencing new perspectives and attempting to become a better person everyday. After freshman year, I was able to move back to CA, and these 3 years have been like a movie. Each new individual I meet has taught me new lessons and that's what I love about high school, the diversity and endless lessons that a large cluster of people just like me has to offer.
Course choices
I was always a fan of innovation and creation, I was more of a visual learner. I love concepts, how the world works and why it does. These passions were exponentially increased by taking physics, definitely my all time favorite subject. The way it allows me to understand the infinitely complex world makes me excited in so many ways.
AP/IBs
I took 6 AP courses/tests: AP Spanish Lit, AP Spanish Culture, AP Econ, AP Psych, AP Calc, and AP Physics. I was able to get above a 4 on all of them.
GPA
4.8 weighted
Standardized Testing
SAT: 1400, 760 math, 640 english
SAT Math: 720
SAT physics: 720
Extracurriculars
My extracurriculars included a large variety of community service/church group, varsity athletics, internships, and building projects.
Recommendations
My teachers that wrote my letters of recommendations were literally my best friends, they were not just an authoritarian figure but someone I could consistently rely on for life advice. They know me as a person in and outside of school, and i knew that they were the best to recommend me to schools since they knew me best.
Essays
My essays were about finding creativity in everyday life, like nature, TG shows and having fun with it most of all. I don’t think it worked that well because I got rejected by most private schools. I did well on my UC essays though and for the 4 short essays I just showed a different aspect of myself.
Strengths
Advice
Circumstances
Why?
It was the place that could give the most room for me to grow as a person. It's prime location for engineering opportunities and its collection of hard driven individuals made me really like Berkeley's culture.