<p>My stats are as follows</p>
<p>GPA 3.88 weighted; 3.6 unweighted (School only gives 3 percentage points for aps and 2 for honors)
Class Rank: 6th of 339
my school's pretty competitve for public school</p>
<p>SAT: 730M and 730V</p>
<p>Physics:780, Writing:700, Math 2: 770</p>
<p>APs: Euro 5, Music Theory 5, Physics B 5, English Lang. 5
This year I'm taking English Lit, Physics C, Calc BC, French, and Economics (should all be 5s)
as well as a RIT course in the Principles of Engineering</p>
<p>My school offers way more APs than anyone human could take; I've taken them in every core subject except American History, I took regents instead. My schedule is still one of the most demanding at my school though.</p>
<p>ECs:
Private lessons in Guitar for 8 years, spent a week of summer at Ithaca College for Guitar Camp
Played French Horn for 8 years
Played club soccer forever; Jv 9&10th
10-12
Tri-M (music honors)- Web page editor
Student Council- member, leadership conference rep last year
Masterminds- league champs past two years
Ultimate Frisbee team- co-founder and co-captain
Pit Orchestra
Jazz Ensemble
Wind Ensemble
11-12
History Club- planned and ran a Renaissance Fair last year
12
Varsity Chorale
Jazz Choir Accompanist
Math League-member
NHS: President, opened a student-run tutoring and proof-reading center in our school</p>
<p>Awards:
Rensselaer Medal - most promising science student ($60.000 scholarship to RPI)
AIME participant
Bunch of outstanding academic acheivement crap for a high average from school
ACS Chemistry Acheivement
Judge's Choice at Berkelee Jazz Festival</p>
<p>I'm applying to
Safes: U of Rochester, RPI
Matches/Reaches: Cornell, WashU in St Louis, Carnegie Mellon and Brown (hopefully make it into one of these)</p>
<p>I'm applying places as possible physics major; or biomed E and physics double major</p>
<p>My essay is as follows, I'd really appreciate comments:
As Ive become increasingly involved with science in the last several years, Ive begun to see a problem with how much our society differentiates between science and art. Those who have fused the two by combining arts creativity with the scientific process have most greatly impacted our world. Why, then, do we segregate them so? Scientists are inaccurately perceived as number-crunching man-machines who must forfeit exploring their own humanity to focus on better understanding the most technical aspects of our world. This perception is lethal to the future minds of science. If there are any minds that should be encouraged to think openly and creatively, it should be those that belong to our future scientists. Consider the scientists who have filled the world with the most awe, someone like Einstein, a man who formulated the theory of relativity without any data. Its impossible to grasp the amount of creativity needed to originate such an idea.
One must realize science is little different than art at its most fundamental level. I define art as the exploration of a question through creative expression in a medium. Science explores questions about our universe by using accepted scientific methods to collect and interpret data: its medium. A future writer may attend school and master language just as a future scientist can attend school and master science; but, they must possess creativity to express and use that knowledge if they desire a self-directed career as I do.
Once I decided that I wanted pursue science and fully realized how vital creativity is to good science, I became instantly grateful for my situation. Ive spent the last three years in a high school that has allowed me to indulge my eagerness to learn and explore. Yes, Ive taken science courses every year, and yes, their content is and will continue to be crucial. More important though are those experiences Ive had and courses Ive taken that have exposed me to great art, music, and writing, nurturing my own creativity. While the former has taught me basic scientific content, the latter will guide my future once, as a scientist, I have reached the point where I discover new content beyond the realm of the concretely known.
At the same time, I recognize the necessary preparation for a career in a scientific field is highly technical and heavily focused compared to the preparation needed for a career in the arts. Learning physics is very different than learning how to play guitar. In physics creativity doesnt really apply until some level of mastery is achieved; whereas, creativity and mastery of guitar dont necessarily share a similar relationship. I realize that being creative will not serve as a substitute for rigorous technical work at college, but that it will compliment my goal to become a successful, innovative scientist. By striving to wed creativity with the scientific process, I hope that my career will be like one of a painter who discovers new colors with which to paint.</p>
<p>Thanks for any input.</p>