<p>Materials science research since October 2007, hope to be a strong competitor for Intel/Siemens, etc.</p>
<p>Activities
· Physics Club: Team member in the robotics competition at UTA in 2007.
· NHS: I volunteered to tutor in the Coppell public library: total of 20 hours.
· Academic Decathlon: 2005 and 2006 fall semesters
· Octathlon: 2006 and 2007 spring semesters
· Business Professionals of America (BPA): 2006-2007
· School chess club captain: lead the team to tournaments
· Dallas Chess Club and US Chess Federation member since 2003
· Attended Awesome math camp in July 2007
.
Awards
· Robotics competition in 2007: Team placed 4th
· Qualified for AIME 2007
· Academic Decathlon 2005: Scored the highest for a freshman (but didnt make the team)
· Octathlon: Gold medal for the Math in 2006 and silver medal in 2007
· BPA 2007: Qualified for state and earned first place in accounting math in the state
· Represented the school for state UIL math and regional UIL Physics- 2006,2007
· School chess club: Won first place as a team and as an individual in 2006 DFW high school championship and 2007 region III scholastic chess championships for high school.
Won 6th place individual and 3rd place for the team in 2007 Texas high school championships.
Also won first place for the team in a few other tournaments around DFW.
· Won third place in 2005 Texas grade championship
· Won ninth place in 2006 US Junior Open</p>
<p>State champion of 11th grade chess championships in Nov 2007
Blitz (K-12) champion of Texas high school state championships (Mar 2007)
17th place in NAT nationals (math contest)
NATIONAL BLITZ CHAMPION IN CHESS FOR AMATEUR SECTION (JUNE 2005)
11TH PLACE OVERALL IN SAME TOURNAMENT
2ND PLACE IN U.S JUNIOR OPEN IN JULY 2004</p>
<p>Well you have a lot of them. Were you “nationally ranked” or the equivalent in chess? I don’t personally know but was told chess has some sort of national ranking. Looks like chess is you “passion” item. This may be the strongest for M of the above list. But if you have some sort of national ranking, that would help with the others, though for Harvard other than a really special talent or you are a recruited athlete it seems like one rolls the dice.</p>
<p>thanks for the encouraging replies, guys! Also, I took the AMC12 this year with a score of 102, and AIME II with a score of 152. I am looking
to make USAMO next year after my pathetic effort this year.</p>
<p>You need to find a passion/focus and show commitment to it. Your ECs, while strong, seem to be spread a bit thin (from chess to business, etc.). It’s great to be well-rounded, but you need to show commitment to something. If you have that, you don’t necessarily need “amazing” ECs for HYPSM.</p>
<p>Your research and a few of your ECs/awards show this. When you do your application, make sure to highlight that commitment.</p>
<p>Perhaps you should get some leadership positions and focus your ECs. And win some more awards. However, it’s a good start and you have a while to fix it up! PS. Ivies are allowed to recruit athletes but not give money to them for being athletes.</p>
<p>The Ivies are completely allowed to recruit athletes. They are not allowed to give athletic scholarships, which might have been what the earlier poster meant.</p>
<p>Your extracurriculars are strong in general, but I’m kind of surprised to see you citing awards from 2004 and 2005 summers. Wouldn’t that have been before your freshman year of high school?</p>
<p>You certainly have a good resume, but it may come across as a bit too “laundry list” if you know what I mean. Is there any way to condense this into a more cohesive format that gives the impression that you’ve been pursuing a couple core interests, rather than doing a lot of things here and there?</p>
<p>But at the very least, your ECs will not be your downfall. They won’t get you in, but they are definitely above-average and good enough to get in with a great academic profile and essays/recs.</p>
<p>You went to awsome math and got a 102? Sorry but i had the impression that most people who attend awsomemath get in the 120s-130s on AMC12. Not that you’re stupid or anything because clearly by your other ec’s your not, it’s just surprising. Good ec’s though, especially the research that will help loads with scholarships and admissions.</p>
<p>wats your USCF rating? I play but i have not been able to play for a while so mines only 1650.
u guys prolly won’t belive me, but chess is crazy time consuming. I think the chess think will play out for; hopefully it will for me.
You should coach kids at chess. Thats what i am doing right now.</p>
<p>yeah, im really hoping colleges like this whole chess thing, im a chess player too, also coachin little kids at my local YMCA, also nationally ranked… but then again im a girl and girl chess players are much rarer than guy ones.. hope it works out for you</p>