Am I on the right track for admissions? [x-post from What Are My Chances?]

<p>Hey guys,</p>

<p>I decided to cross-post this here and in the HMC forums, as you guys are probably more knowledgeable on the admissions requirements.</p>

<p>I am a junior in high school, and I was wondering if I'm on the right track to get into a top school like Harvey Mudd or Pomona (probably my top choices). My brother goes to Pomona, and has gone a similar route as me (he had great test scores though, 2320 SAT and 2400 SAT II - Physics, Chem, Literature). I've been homeschooled since 2nd grade (for philosophical, not religious, reasons), and started taking classes at a local community college 8th grade. By second semester freshman year, I was taking classes full time. My intended major is Computer Science (this is an interest that is relatively new, since last summer). I'll give a list of my classes for each semester and the highlights of my extracurriculars. I would also greatly appreciate feedback on my future plans and where they'll place me.</p>

<p>Ethnicity/Gender: White/Male
SAT: Taking in March
SAT II: Math 2 (790 - freshman year)
AP Tests: Calc AB (4 - freshman year), Calc BC (4 - sophomore year) [note on these: I took calc BC my freshman year and shouldn've taken the BC test then]
GPA: ~3.8</p>

<p>Extracurriculars
Sports: Varsity letter for cross country and track since freshman year (at a local high school). I'm not doing track this year, and will be getting CrossFit certification instead.</p>

<p>Music: Played violin and taken lessons since I was 5. I was a member of the Phoenix Youth Symphony's Symphonette orchestra freshman and sophomore year. I'm currently a member of the Phoenix Youth Symphony (the highest group in the PYS organization).</p>

<p>Venture Crew/Boy Scouts: Tons of backpacking, whitewater kayaking, and some interesting end of year trips during summer (2 week backpack in Honduran rainforest, backpack through one of the Grand Canyon's toughest hikes, 100-mile backpack in the Gila Wilderness). I've been vice president twice and will be president senior year. In this area I will also be getting my Eagle Scout soon.</p>

<p>Gaming: Started and managed an international Real-Time Strategy gaming team my freshman year, which became the best team in the world for the game that we played. Due to this, I was invited to and flown out to a major and exclusive event in Cologne, Germany by Electronic Arts for a couple days. I also convinced EA to invite a fellow team member as well. After this event, the game we were playing became much less competitive and received much less tournament funding, so the team officially disbanded in the spring of my sophomore year. Also during that time I acquired some (remote) internship work regarding game design with S2 Games, a game developer in Michigan.</p>

<p>Programming: I am currently working on some of my own programming projects, one of which is an extension of a final project I did for my computer science class taken at Harvard, via their Extension School. I'm developing this project into a professional application which I will be marketing and selling to businesses in the future. I am also doing (much more) remote internship work for S2 Games, but I am programming for them instead (I had to reapply for the position due to the different skills required). I am (likely) to go live near their studio and do work for them in person over this coming summer.</p>

<p>Teaching: I applied to be a teaching fellow for the Harvard computer science course (in the fall). I interview with them next week, so hopefully I am able to do that.</p>

<p>Transcript
All grades are A's unless specified</p>

<p>Freshman Year
Fall: Calc I (AB), Second Year English Composition, Homeschooling work</p>

<p>Spring: Calc II (BC), Journalism (Feature Writing), Spanish 101</p>

<p>Sophomore Year
Fall: Calc III (multivariable calc) [note: got a B], Marketing 101 (intro to PR), History (Western Civ, Beginning - Middle Ages), Spanish 102</p>

<p>Spring: Macroeconomics, Classical Backgrounds in Literature, History (Western Civ, Middle Ages - 1789), University Physics I (calc-based, mechanics)</p>

<p>Junior Year
Fall: General Chemistry I [note: got a B], Chem Lab, Microeconomics, Spanish 201, Intensive Intro to Computer Science at Harvard (via their extension school) [note: got a B+]</p>

<p>Spring: Building Mobile Applications (Android, iOS at Harvard via the Extension School), University Physics II (calc-based, electricity and magnetism), Differential Equations</p>

<p>Future Plans</p>

<p>Tests
AP: Macro or microeconomics, Computer Science
SAT II: Literature, Physics
SAT I: March 12</p>

<hr>

<p>Thanks for taking the time to read through all of this. Any and all comments are appreciated!</p>

<p>Nobody can know, but I would guess so. Keep the gpa up and get involved in your ECs.</p>

<p>I think you should get a few more opinions on whether saying you spent so much time gaming that you became a professional is a good thing to put on your application. Maybe HMC would like it, but I’m not sure Pomona would. I could be wrong though. I just think if there’s no need for the risk, then don’t talk about it. I think if your test scores turn out good enough you’ll come across perfectly as a math/science nerd, so maybe the gaming thing would just enhance that image and you’ll be fine. I think the answer to your question is yes, you’re on the right track.</p>

<p>I should mention that I never played at a professional level. I was the founder/manager of the team. I negotiated sponsorships, handled tournament signups, did all the interviews and such. It was more of a business enterprise for me that anything else (though related to strategy gaming, which remains a passion for me).</p>

<p>My brother had a similar stance regarding gaming (though his test scores were phenomenal), though he was more of a community organizer in that arena. He hosted and managed many major tournaments from some major gaming websites and even some official ones from EA. He had great success in admissions (Columbia, Pomona, waitlisted Harvard and Princeton, etc).</p>

<p>Disregarding this, some feedback I’ve gotten from others has said that I need to emphasize gaming as my “thing,” to stand out to the admissions officers.</p>

<p>Fair enough. I think programming would be just as good a thing to emphasize, though.</p>