<p>I am a freshman in a public high school with 2200~2300 students in southern California.
Here are the classes I am taking and planning ot take:</p>
<p>9th grade:
French 1-2
Alg 2 Hon (include Trig)
Beg Modern Dance
Adv. Eng 9
Health(1st sem.)and Guidance(2nd)both are mandatory
Biology (no hon. or adv. in my school)</p>
<p>Summer(planned): Chemistry</p>
<p>10th(planned):
French 3-4
Math Analysis a.k.a. Pre Cal
10th grade Hon. Eng.
Intermdeiate Modern Dance or maybe Tennis (which one is better?)
AP Chem
AP Euro His</p>
<p>I am planning to take Physics B and C in junior and senior year.
I have straight A's for 9th grade first semester and probably and hopefully will get straight A's this semester too since everything was a breeze(except maybe English, it's my fifth year in the US). I am in anime club(my friends are in it, I am not that interested in it) and French Honor Society. I am planning to join CSF this semester (not allowed to join in first semseter freshman)if I hear any news about it.</p>
<p>Students in my school are not that interested and devoted in academic clubs and there are even some clubs that have names and advisors but never meet! My school does not have many clubs that are academic related, and debate club always has to end its meeting because there are not enough people. In addition, my school does not have outside academic competitions for students (except for band, choir, or sports, and I can't read musical notes and have no previous experience so I can't join those and I am not very athletic either ). I don't take any outside school extracurricular classes because I can't afford them.</p>
<p>I will be taking the National French Exam in a few months. I volunteer at a local hospital every week and am planning to do so next year as well. I have heard that joining summer programs or internships can help on a college application, but I don't know any in California that is free and competitive. I took a mock PSAT exam from Princeton Review during 8th grade summer and got 1930, and I will take the real PSAT next year.</p>
<p>I plan to major in biomedical engineering or other science-related field.
I know that with my current extracurriculars, I probably will not stand a chance in getting into those top-notch colleges such as the Ivies, so I want to know what I should do. What are some competitions I can enter (science and/or math related)? Are there any competitive and free summer program in California? What else can and should I do to help me get into a prestigious college? Any valuable advice is welcomed.</p>
<p>Academics: Keep challenging yourself with tougher courses. The AP’s look good. Unless you plan on concentrating in some type of sport, I’d try to get that extra elective next year to be more academic-like. Your last two years should really be focused on hardcore classes. </p>
<p>EC’s: The simple answer is to make clubs. Leadership or membership isn’t the only thing that appeals to college admissions. Getting a school teacher to sponsor a new club that you have initiated and let you have meetings in the classroom after school is a huge sign of dedication and motivation. Surely, there should be at least one teacher who’s willing to let you do this. I’d suggest getting a small group of science-related students together and making a team for the Lemelson-MIT Program, Exploravision or Science Olympiad. Great way to get some recognition in something you enjoy and don’t need much money for.</p>
<p>I have heard of Science Olympiad, but what is it exactly? What do you do? Is there age/grade limit? Also, what does Math Olympiad do (since I like math ) ? Is there an age/grade limit? How to start a club? I am sorry, but I really don’t know anything about starting a club. Who should I talk to? I went on the website of Science Olympiad but still did not understand what it is.</p>
<p>Talk to your GC as to the number of schools to apply to – My D had an initial list of 20 (sort of thinking along the same lines that floridadad mentioned) and the college advisor at her HS told her she was crazy.</p>
<p>IF your goal is to get into a top ranked school, regardless of other characteristics, then a really long list may be the right answer. However – Consider the following Dartmouth vs. Michigan. Both are top schools, however they are completely different in feel. </p>
<p>So, the first step, I think is to decide what kind of school you want – large, small, urban, suburban, rural. Once you do that, you’ll probably find that a list of 10 or so will cover reaches, targets and safeties adequately.</p>
Take all the english classes you can, from the teachers at your school that have the reputation for being tough graders. I saw in your post you’ve only been in the country 5 years, and your level of writing is admirable taking that into account. But it still needs improvement. Your sentences have a bit of an awkward air, you miss some pluralization, you use words in sentences that native speakers would not (eg “Any valuable advice is welcomed” – the word valuable does not belong in the sentence). I don’t say this as criticism, I say it to point out that you have room for improvement and if you aim for a top college, one that will expect not just wonderful essays to get in but wonderful essays once you’re a student, then now is the time to continue working to improve your skills. Taking more english & literature classes is the ticket.</p>
<p>zephyr15: Thanks for your advice! I have an older sister who is a high school senior, and I have read some of her books about choosing colleges. All of those books said that ten is about the average number of colleges we should apply to. Of course applying to 20 would give me a higher chance, but it is simply to many! You are right, I think I should start doing some college research now.</p>
<p>mikemac: Wow! You are even better than my current English teacher. She never tell us where we should improve. Thanks a lot! I know you pointed out that I should take tough English classes and I would try my best to do so; however, it is not entirely up to my choice for choosing the tougher teachers (this is not an excuse). </p>
<p>What are some ways to self-improve? I have heard about reading classics, but I always get bored with them. How to make myself more interested into those books?</p>
Then don’t read them. Find categories that do interest you and read those books. The important thing is to get exposure, as much as you can, to the language so you can absorb the rhythms and patterns. A book a week would be a good starting point, more is better. And you can tie books together with what you’re studying to make your studies more interesting. For Bio, for instance, you can read books about the scientists that decoded the genome, the promise of biotechnology, books about medicine, etc. Biographies, books about discoveries in the field, you name it – whatever draws your interest. You can do the same to find books about Chemistry, about European history, etc. Another way to read more is to read magazines from your school or public library. The “New Yorker” and “The Atlantic” are 2 magazines that cover a broad range of topics, with a more elevated style of writing than say Sports Illustrated. BTW you don’t need to read “cover to cover”; if an article bores you, skip it. Its all a matter of finding a quantity of material to read that interests you.</p>
<p>Second, as to your papers, ask your teachers in all your classes to circle every misspelling or awkward sentence; you want papers to come back loaded in red because you only get better with feedback on what you’re doing wrong. Google “deliberate practice” for more info. And just getting the papers back corrected is not enough; you need to commit to rewriting them cover-to-cover to fix the errors. Not from scratch; the same sentences and paragraphs, just fixed versions. This will cement the corrections in your mind; also it will show your teachers that you appreciate their effort. This is the stuff the best students do, the ones that get wonderful recs, but that’s not why you’re doing it. You’re doing it to improve. This all takes time, so it isn’t a matter of whether it will work to improve your skills but whether you want it badly enough. Many teachers, like perhaps your present english teacher, give few corrections on papers because they’re burned out by students that complain and argue rather than trying to improve; don’t be that person.</p>
<p>Lastly, if english is a newer language to you then you need to work on improving your vocabulary. And reading will help you do this. I used to keep a dictionary by me when I read to look up words, and I’m a native speaker. These days you can look words up online. Then, as now, looking them up is not enough because they make sense but then you forget them in 5 minutes. It helps to write out in longhand the word (which forces you to learn the spelling since you do this by spelling from memory, not copying letter for letter) and the definition. While it takes time, it captures your attention and so you will remember. These days there are programs like Anki that I highly recommend, based on the concept of “spaced repetition” (google this) which is proven to improve memory. Before computers & devices became so common it was difficult to actually implement such a system but now it is easy.</p>
<p>Sounds like you’re on the right track for getting into top schools. </p>
<p>At the minimum, you should be at least in the top 10%, taken the majority of your school’s AP exams, and score >2200 on the SAT (or >1500 if college only looks at CR/M) or 33 on the ACT. That will already give you a decent chance. </p>
<p>The vast majority of applicants don’t have hooks such as a major award, but you should try some academic competitions. I see that you are taking AP Chemistry in 10th grade. If you do very well, then you should try taking the first round test of the USNCO, the United States National Chemistry Olympiad. Simply making it past the first test is a good accomplishment- it is very competitive. If you are good at math (and I mean really good), then try the AMC, the American Mathematics Competitions or ARML (American Regional Mathematics League). Stanford also hosts a math competition for high school students.</p>
<p>If you’re really good at writing, there are a handful of writing competitions you can enter, most notably the Scholastic Art and Writing Competition.</p>
<p>You’re only a freshman, don’t worry too much about college now. A lot can change in four years.</p>
<p>I disagree with floridadad. You do not want to apply to 20 schools. First off because of money (some application fees are $90 and then you have to add test scores and other fees to that). Secondly, because of time. Supplements and essays are a good deal of work. And third, because there’s no need. </p>
<p>I recommend 6-8 schools. A few safeties, a few mid range, and a few reaches. My college list had 19 schools on it. I only applied to one because I got in early to my top school, but the people I know who had 14+ were incredibly stressed out. It’s not worth it at all. There’s no way you could possibly want to go to all 20 schools equally.</p>
<p>This is a flawed belief. Since those 20 schools are pretty comparable in terms of selectivity, applying to more of them will not increase your chances of getting into one of them because your chances of getting into that particular school are not higher by doing so and you can be easily rejected from all 20 of those schools.</p>
<p>^^^ cortana431 is right; look up “Ecological fallacy” to understand why (the phrase is about statistics, not ecology, BTW). Simply put, statistics that apply to a group do not necessarily apply to each member of a group. For the most obvious example, suppose 30% of your HS graduating class will be pregnant at least once within a decade of graduating HS; even if this if true, your odds of becoming pregnant are not 30% if you are male.</p>
<p>Mikemac: Lol, a funny and understandable example. I love how you actually teach me how to study and improve, instead of just saying generalizations. However, about the burn out part about teachers, I don’t think that applies to my teacher since she told us in the beginning of the year that she doesn’t like to mark on our papers, because when she was small she did not like it when teachers mark on her paper. Weird, right?
Cortana431: can I join those competitions that you mentioned individually or do I have to join through my school? My school does not offer or mention those competitions. I remember that when I was in middle school there used to be a math contest every year but then the district terminated it due to budget cut.</p>
<p>For the chemistry competition, the country is divided into “chapters” which are usually contain all the high schools in the county. Contact your local chapter about taking the exam.</p>
<p>for the AMC, i take it at my school, but you can sign up to take it at other schools but you will miss school because it is administered Wednesday morning. Same for physics.</p>
<p>Well, one of the first steps is talk to your parents to see how much they can pay for your college. If you’re from a low income family you can count on financial aid, especially from some of the best known schools in the country. If you’re from a wealthy family, your parents will pay for it. If your family falls into the middle, that could be tough – probably state schools is financially more affordable.</p>
<p>cortana431: When do you take the AMC? What is the difference between AMC 10 and 12? When and where can I sign up? In what grade do people usually take the AMC? Thanks for your info about the chemistry competition. Did you study for it?</p>
<p>I didn’t take it, I’m more of a physics guy.</p>
<p>The AMC is administered in february every year on two dates, an “A” date and a “B” date. The AMC 10 is strictly for 10th and 9th graders and below, although they are allowed to take the AMC 12 (Some students take the AMC 10 on the A date and the AMC 12 on the B date and vice versa). The AMC 12 is for anyone wishing to take it, although 11th and 12th grades must take it, they are not allowed to take the AMC 12. The top students in each grade usually take the AMC. You sign up with your math department chair, if offered at your school. If not, you contact another school that offers the AMC about taking it there.</p>
<p>cortana431: Thanks about AMC. I found the website and it said that for students whose schools do not offer the test, they will be able to take it in a college or university near them that offer the test.
Since you said you like physics, I will assume that you took AP Physics in high school. Was it hard? Students in my high school often rank AP Physics BC as the hardest class out of all other AP science classes, and the number of students in that class is always the lowest as well.</p>
<p>I think you might like this summer program for science-and-engineering-oriented CA HS students that is relatively inexpensive (and there’s financial aid available if you qualify as low-income): [COSMOS[/url</a>]</p>
<p>Another thing that colleges really like to see is students that do paid work part-time during the school year or and/or get summer jobs. It doesn’t have to be anything fancy – they just like the see the commitment and dedication that’s required to do a good job, even if it’s working retail or flipping burgers. Think of it as an EC that brings in money. :)</p>
I have an older sister who is a high school senior, and I have read some of her books about choosing colleges. All of those books said that ten is about the average number of colleges we should apply to. Of course applying to 20 would give me a higher chance, but it is simply to many! You are right, I think I should start doing some college research now.</p>