<p>Oh, my. Freshman year is the time to join three thousand clubs just because they sound fun or because your friends are in them. Come sophomore year, you can narrow down your interests to 1-3 areas, but these should be based on your personal strengths and interests, not on what you think will look best to colleges. This is necessary not only for your sanity, but because these sorts of narrow-minded, college-as-the-be-all-end-all tactics can come across as transparent to colleges. From the experience of my older peers, any strategy that is advertised as “looking good to colleges” is often the exact opposite. </p>
<p>This is something to keep in mind when looking at programs like <a href=“mailto:Summer@Brown”>Summer@Brown</a>. Though undoubtedly a great experience in its own right, these sorts of programs (Harvard SSP comes to mind as well) are often far more contingent on one’s ability to pay than any actual intellect. And schools usually have a disclaimer that these programs have no bearing on an applicant’s admission to that particular university. Usually, free programs like Governor’s Schools (especially NC’s and NJ’s), TASP, RSI (is this free? not sure), etc are much more impressive ways to spend the summer. A job or internship can also be phenomenal way to spend the summer, and much more impressive than I imagine you think. It shows initiative and hard work, which can demonstrate more about your personality than a summer program that only illustrates the depth of your parent’s pockets. Summer programs that aren’t selective but are related to a specific field of interest can also be good ideas–debate camps, writing camps, a local marine biology camp, that sort of thing. Though it doesn’t particularly expound on your intellectual capacities, it does help flesh out your personality. </p>
<p>This–fleshing out your personality–will be your biggest challenge throughout high school. You seem to be caught up in the minutest details of your next four years. The best thing you can do is give yourself room to breathe, room to stumble. When you set unrealistic expectations for yourself, you make it almost impossible to succeed by your own definitions. Focus on school: Keep your grades up, and choose the most difficult courses that you can handle. All AP classes with a smattering of B’s is less impressive than a healthy mix of APs and honors classes with all A’s. And no, you can’t do all APs and get straight A’s unless you go to a ridiculously easy high school. Focus on your grades, and allow yourself to find the ECs that match your personality. This is no formula to getting into selective schools, especially Brown, which prides itself on being liberal and individualistic. Be yourself–and that includes admitting your faults.</p>