- Duke University
- Carnegie Mellon University
- UCLA
Duke, Carnegie Mellon and UCLA — Computer Science
An AP student, USACO Platinum, founder of a quantum-education organisation and ambassador for the Chinese whisked-tea heritage society, who fused CS, East Asian studies and philosophy into one interdisciplinary profile.
- Major
- Computer Science, East Asian Studies, Philosophy
- Round
- Fall 2024
- Curriculum
- AP (Calculus BC, Computer Science A, World History, English Language and Composition, U.S. History and Biology all scored 5)
- GPA
- Top 10% of the class
- TOEFL
- 110+
- SAT
- 1500+
Main activities
- CS research: built a deep-learning model to detect and grade skin burns from images; the paper was presented at an international conference on computing and data science.
- UCSB STEM research: quantum computing, preparing many-body quantum states with variational methods.
- App development: gamified the I Ching with AI and web technology into an app with about 3,000 users.
- Academic research: under a Stanford professor, wrote an analysis of the history and development of atomism in 16th–17th-century Europe.
- Founder of an education organisation: founded the China chapter of the Qubit group, partnering with 15 schools to design quantum-education courses for over 2,000 high-school students and hosting more than 10 seminars.
- Club leadership: president of the high-school Chinese speech and debate club, organising over 60 lectures, games and workshops on debate and critical thinking.
- Club co-founder: co-founded the Scine science club to raise scientific literacy among secondary students, designing 90 lab projects, workshops and field trips.
- Synthetic-biology research: two years of research on eco-friendly industrial production, leading the team’s molecular-biology lab work, wiki building and protein modelling.
- Cultural outreach: ambassador of the Chinese whisked-tea (diancha) heritage society; gave 10 lectures and interactive demonstrations in Beijing to over 500 people, leading more than 230 to learn diancha and Chinese culture.
- Street photographer capturing Beijing’s urban life and humanity.
Awards
- USA Computing Olympiad, Platinum Division
- British Biology Olympiad, global gold
- John Locke Essay Competition, commendation (psychology)
- 2023 Harvard International Review academic writing contest, silver
- 2022 World Secondary School Chinese Debate Championship, led the team as captain to 6th place of 398 teams
Supplemental essays
- Why Duke: highlighted Duke’s interdepartmental major (IDM) and the wish to combine computer science, East Asian studies and philosophy into a new major.
- A memorable academic experience: the STEM research at UCSB.
- A unique experience: serving as ambassador of the Chinese whisked-tea heritage society.
Other materials
Submitted a photography portfolio.