Advice for a sophomore to improve chances

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Hi!</p>

<p>Sorry for the length
So basically I would love it if some of you guys would give me some opinions about what would be the best course of action for me as I go into the second semester of my sophomore year. I just want to make sure that I am on the right track and continue to get some ideas about what would improve my application in the way of extracurriculars (when I do finally fill it out in a few years!). I go to a small private religious school with about 90 people per class, sent someone to rice a few years ago</p>

<p>Academic</p>

<p>98 unweighted average
Rank 1 right now
taking most demanding courses available at school</p>

<p>212 sophomore PSAT</p>

<p>(I'm not worried so much about academic stuff right now because i have it under control, so lets move on)</p>

<p>Subjective</p>

<p>Awards</p>

<p>Every teacher gave me an award except for one last year
Placed 2nd at a state academic meet in geometry and biology, and 1st in a Spanish reading contest (our school won the grand prize)
Excellent rating on a class 1 solo for a vocal contest
Academic letter as freshman (only one in school)
Circle of leaders award</p>

<p>Extracurriculars</p>

<p>Chess club
Young Republicans club
Sophomore class pres.
Choir (Not in the class, but there is a morning option)
FCA
Invisible Children Club
Planning on starting a spanish club this year
Some volunteering</p>

<p>Music
Singing (private lessons since 7th grade)
-Will audition for the all state choir next year
-will compete in vocal contest again
-Singing in the church praise band
-Singing for school functions including a dinner for over 400 people and an auction
-Preformed an original arrangement of the national anthem with another person at a football game
-Preformed the national anthem at a professional hockey game</p>

<p>Classical Guitar
-Played since 6th grade
-Studied under a professor at a local university
-Attended various master classes with visiting artists
-Will do a contest soon
-Guitar in the church band
Self teaching piano</p>

<p>Church
-Member of the youth group at my church
-Church camps
-asked to lead worship acoustically for the high school youth group (100+ people) for a month
-Helped to organize a large praise concert at my school
-Lead worship at a small group meeting for my church</p>

<p>Foreign Languages</p>

<p>-Reading novels in Spanish (Spanish is my second language)
-Going to take the national spanish exam this year (I was the one who had the idea for my school to offer the exam)
-Started learning arabic on my own this past summer </p>

<p>Hobbies
-Writing an original cookbook
-Gourmet cooking classes</p>

<p>Athletics
-Varsity soccer since freshman year</p>

<p>Summer
- Mission trip to Nicaragua, Port arthur, and Ruidoso
- International relations program at georgetown
-All state choir camp</p>

2

<p>keep doing what you’re doing, and find some original leadership-based projects you can start.</p>

3

<p>You seem to be in great shape; especially for a sophomore. However, make sure you do activities because you genuinely like them, not just for college.</p>

4

<p>I do… haha everyone seems to say that, but I do genuinely love everything i do… Thank you both for the advice!</p>

5

<p>Try participating in some academic competitions. Since you placed 2nd in a state academic meet (I don’t know how tough it is) in geometry and biology, I suggest you take the AMC 10 this year (as a sophomore you would take the 10), which is the first round test in the American Mathematics Competition and see how you do. Also take the USABO open exam, the United States of America Biology Olympiad, which is a series of tests to determine the U.S National Team for the International Biology Olympiad. For the AMC or USABO, making it to even just the next round will boost your application and will also prepare you for next year.</p>