chance at Princeton ED

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>hi,
I am currently a Junior in High School</p>

<p>my GPA is 4.6
my rank is the top decile (my school doesnt rank)</p>

<p>**courses taken<a href="these%20are%20the%20most%20advanced%20courses%20available%20at%20my%20school">/b</a>
frosh
H world civ A
french II A-
H LA A
H bio A
H geometry A+
compter applications A
home ec A+</p>

<p>soph
french III A-
APUS I A-
H algII/trig A
H LA II B+
com sci A+
H chem A (grr that was a 98. so close)</p>

<p>junior<a href="projected">/u</a>
APUS II A
H french IV A-
H LA III A
H precalc A+
H physics A+
AP chem A</p>

<p>senior<a href="i%20will%20have%20taken%20every%20ap%20class%20offered%20at%20my%20school%20after%20this%20year">/u</a>
AP french
AP bio
AP physics AB
AP calc AB
AP com sci A
AP english lit</p>

<p>SAT I: not taken yet
please tell me what you think of my chances if my scores are:
700 CR 800 M and 750 wr (i hope this is the lowest possible)
PSAT
71 CR 77 m 80 wr</p>

<p>*SAT II: *
chem 780
math IIC 740
physics 680
(i plan to retake all of these)</p>

<p>**my extracurriculars:<a href="hours%20per%20week/%20weeks%20per%20year">/b</a>___________</p>

<p>(25 hours/44 week)Debate- (9), secretary (10), Society President (11)
(2 hour/44 week)Chess club - founder and president (10, 11)
(3 hours/44 week) Lakeland Youth Symphony - concertmaster (9,10,11)
(9 hours/4 week) Region/All state Orchestra (9,10,11)
(4 hours/52 weeks) Tae-Kwon Do - (9,10,), blackbelt/instructor (11)
(3 hours/52 weeks) volunteer at hospital (10,11)
(7 hours/ 52 weeks) practice violin (9,10,11) <------should i list this?<a href="3%20hours/10%20weeks">/i</a> academic team (9,10,11) *<------should i list this?<a href="4%20hours/8%20weeks">/i</a>pit band (11) *<------should i list this?
Etcetera (literary magazine) - (9,10,11) <------should i list this?
Junior Statesman of America - (9,10), secretary (11)
Futer Business Leaders of America (9,10,11)</p>

<p>(10 hours/12 weeks) cross country (11) *<------should i list this?<a href="10%20hours/12%20weeks">/i</a> winter track (10) *<------should i list this?<a href="10%20hours/12%20weeks">/i</a> spring track (9, 10, 11)</p>

<p>awards
-numerous debate awards, ranging from 1st through 6th place in both public forum and lincoln douglas debate (9,10,11)
-sino-american biligual essay contest finalist</p>

<p>should i list these?
-Distinguished Academic Award (school) (9,10,11)
-Academic Excellence Award (school) (9,10,11)
-ranked top 150 in the world for solving the Rubik's Cube</p>

<p>summers
frosh
-2 weeks sleepaway volunteer service at Snug Harbor Cultural Center</p>

<p>soph
-8 weeks taking courses at local community college
(took physics and philosophy)</p>

<p>areas of improvement?
- would it look better if I improved my world cubing rank from top 150 to top 30?
-would it look good at all if I went to China to learn Shaolin Wushu for 8 weeks during my Junior year summer? (its reeeaaally intense, and the living conditions are poverish) check out the training
<a href="http://www.shaolin-wushu.de/en/main_fr.htm?home_fr0.htm%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.shaolin-wushu.de/en/main_fr.htm?home_fr0.htm&lt;/a>
-would it look good if I built a robot that can solve the Rubik's Cube by itself?</p>

<p>-would it look good if i go to a new school for my senior year (which may happen since my parents are going through a divorce) I had the following schedule (take into account my current "comparatively easy" schedule)
AP physics AB
AP physics BC
AP calc BC
AP com sci AB
AP english lit
AP eco
AP world/european history</p>

<p>-how bad does it look that the new school refuses to give me a ranking? (they won't even give me a decile ranking, whether they recalculate my gpa or not)</p>

<p>thanks in advance for everyone's time!</p>

2

<p>EDIT
i forgot to mention that i have a small job
(4 hours/52 weeks) Kumon Teacher Assistant (11)</p>

3

<p>I just have to say that Rubik's Cube thing is pretty cool.</p>

<p>Kinda early to tell chances (no SAT score etc.), but you seem to be on the right track.</p>

4

<p>pretty cliche ec's and an okay sat....you need to stand out more for princeton of all places</p>

5

<p>Looks pretty good...Rubik's Cube thing is unique and could help.</p>

6

<p>i think we have officially gone insane over colleges</p>

<p>i'd say a person who does insane things just to "look good" or for some flashy award is very transparent</p>

7

<p>well i need to weigh certain decisions
like whether to do shaolin over the summer, or go to a research camp</p>

<p>or whether putting time into solving the Rubik's Cube actually matters. I would consider cubing a hobby, but if it helps for college, why not pursue that even more? Right now, i don't spend much time cubing because I have so much other work, but maybe I am pursuing the wrong strategy?</p>

8

<p>i agree with bendrumfront. do you want to go to China because you REALLY want to learn Wushu... or simply because you think it'll look impressive on your application?</p>

9

<p>Woah, a robot that solves a rubiks cube? Cool! About what everyone is saying about you "looking good" for colleges: Most of these kids who just do things because they think the colleges will like these activities do not get into the top schools. It's too contrived, and colleges can see through it. Do what you want to do. Don't base your life on getting into college...your interests and activites should not be defined by what looks good on a piece of paper. That said, go to the shaolin camp if you really enjoy it. Focus on what you love and what makes you stand out and you should be fine. Good luck.</p>

10

<p>I believe that there already exists a rubik's cube solving robot. I also believe (but I am not sure) that the program used to have the robot solve the rubiks cube can be found online. If this is the case, that would not look impressive, because they would assume you just used the existing program. Otherwise, it would be impressive.</p>

11

<p>thanks for the replies!</p>

<p>@jjjjj
thanks for the criticism,
I was just wondering if Shaolin Kungfu would be something "outstanding" to colleges? In China, a martial arts education from Shaolin Temple is worth more than a college degree. Of course, they train there for 8 years, and I will be there for only 2 months...</p>

<p>@ultimateslacker
i really do want to learn WuShu. the problem is, I don't know if going there THIS summer is worth it. I will not be able to do anything academic, since training Shaolin is 8 hours/day 6 days/week, for 2 months straight. Junior year summer is really critical...so I think taking the time to learn Shaolin WuShu is only worth the loss of academic studying if it means colleges view it positively (enough to balance out lower test scores, etc) Whether I do it this summer or not, I will DEFINATELY do it my senior year summer.</p>

<p>@tchaikovsky
thanks for the advice! I find that I start doing a lot of things "for college," but I end up falling in love with them. I think it may be because subconsciously, I won't suddenly start doing something "for college" if I dislike it in the first place. For example, acting would probably look like a really good addition to my EC.....but I have never started acting just for college. I actually find that I enjoy everything that I originally started doing "just for college"</p>

<p>@chocolateluvr88
It's true the code can be found online, but this doesn't mean anybody can just go out and build a Rubik's Cube Solving Robot. The code works for a specific set of peripherals. In order to rip the code, the same EXACT material must be used (motors, cube, frame, etc). For example, only certain cubes work in certain robots, because the friction between the sliding sides is different for each cube. This requires a different torque setting for each motor, and different code to compensate for this. Also, algorithms can't be copy and pasted and expected to actually work properly in solving the cube. </p>

<p>thanks for all the responses everyone!
does anybody have opinions on my school transfer?</p>

12

<p>bump bump bump</p>

13

<p>I don't know what you guys are saying. I personally am impressed by the Rubiks cubes thing and the rest of his ECs.</p>

<p>I'd say Princeton is a MATCH!!!!!!!</p>

<p>That's right, NOT A REACH!
A MATCH!</p>

<p>Although it's more like a Slight Reach/Match ;P</p>

14

<p>bumping it up =]</p>

15

<p>flippy is wrong. it is not a match.</p>

<p>i think the rubix cube thing is pretty silly. they wont care.....try doing something weird like starting a strange club or do something wild! cure a cancer!</p>

16

<p>thanks for being frank jjjjj, i appreciate the criticism.
of course, i appreciate the vote of confidence too, flippy</p>

<p>well actually, i guess i just wanted to tell everyone to just post and forget about how i feel about it. haha</p>

<p>sooooo.....does anybody think anything about my school transfer, and the fact that im skipping like levels in almost every subject to take such a difficult schedule in my new school? (since my old school doesnt offer these courses....)</p>

17

<p>I don't see what else Princeton could want out of a high school student besides curing cancer/global warming.</p>

18

<p>Well here's the thing, if you REALLY do want to do WuShu, then I suggest that you go. Being a junior myself, I understand that the summer of junior year is important and many people devote their time to academic studying/research etc. HOWEVER, I think that if you go to this program, you'll have something unique and makes you stand out. You already show commitment to martial arts by doing Tae-Kwon Do for 3 years. If you go to China, it's a chance to prove to adcoms your passion for martial arts as well (especially if you want to write an essay on it). But then again all of this depends on whether or not you want to make martial arts one of your hooks.</p>

19

<p>Wow. Thats the longest resume i've ever seen on CC.</p>

20

<p>"In China, a martial arts education from Shaolin Temple is worth more than a college degree" Where the heck do you get this idea? I'm not joking, I've never heard of anything like this.</p>