<p>Hi everyone. I'm a High School Junior and resident of lower eastern shore MD (AKA Courage-the-cowardly-dog-esque middle of Nowhere) and looking to apply to Stanford and some ivies. I plan to apply ED to Stanford.</p>
<p>I guess off to the template credentials then.</p>
<p>-Unweighted GPA of 4.0.
-SAT (Taking tomorrow!) estimated around 2000~ score. (190 PSAT).
-Homeschooled prior to Junior year with classes that <em>have no reported GPA/grades</em> only credits.
-Class Rank of 1, but this is an interesting rank. I've lost and regained it several times throughout the course of this year. Me and a good friend of mine are currently in strong competition for Valedictorian, and while I'm currently in the lead (by not much) I don't know if I'll keep that spot.
-Some honors classes throughout the years, one medical class that is equivalent to the difficulty of AP, and two planned AP courses for senior year.
-Have taken and are taking supplemental online honors classes.
-Treasurer of student government.
-President of local SkillsUSA branch, nominee for State VP (defeated in election), nominee for National Voting Delegate (election yet to take place). If you are not familiar with SkillsUSA I can pass a link.
-SkillsUSA statesman and advanced statesman award.
-Over 300 hours of combined volunteer work in both a hospital cancer wing and a summer camp for the developmentally disabled. (Time well spent at the latter - I absolutely fell in love with the kids there.)
-National Honors Society member (planning to become local officer.)
-A in a Chinese 101 course during the summer at a local university.
-Recurring talent show participant, blues guitarist. (I always lose but I feel awesome doing it.)
-Two years of guitar lessons and continuing.</p>
<p>That's all stuff, but I also want to give a bit of background info. As a novelist and a person who's utterly addicted to public speaking (hearing the sound of my own voice) I've taken quite a place in local politics, specifically ones that involve public education. </p>
<p>Earlier this year in March, my school's principal was attacked by and called into question by two members of our board of education. They broke protocol and spread hateful rumors to the press without investigation, defaming our principal and school. The school I go to was marked as unruly, unfitting and poorly lead. To add to this, a fellow student had died around this time, leaving spirits broken.</p>
<p>Fed up, I attended a board meeting in early April where I signed up to speak. With nothing prepared, I rose to the podium and criticized the school board (and the opposing half of the community) for their slurs, false claims, and ignorance to the true probleman inability to engage students in classroom instruction and "make them <em>want</em> to learn". In this speech I talked about what would later become the roots to an instructional reform bill I'm working to pass in Maryland with the help of local college presidents, principals, and hopefully even Gov. O'Malley in the near future.</p>
<p>It also lead to the creation of my private organization which works to speak at local schools (in large seminars I host) about how to improve the effectiveness of your classroom and how to create a positive learning environment. I'm not going to run down my long list of propaganda, but the whole idea is basically about evolving from the current "lecture then work" methods to open peer and teacher discussion, engaging and social learning activities, and improvising to relate to and teach every individual student.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, despite being a now recognized figure in my community, that didn't come without controversy. When I spoke at the board, I was well-received by most audience members, board members, and the superintendant of schools; however, there were a few board members and extra-conservative community members who did not like what I had to say at all because I challenged their actions and way of thinking.</p>
<p>Well, every year, our superintendant county principals pick Student of the Year awards. I was recently informed that this year I had won both the superintendant's and my principal's, which somewhat surprised me. This lead to some of the community (and a conservative newspaper) to raise the questions on whether or not their decisions were biased. They both chose not to respond to the claims, and I have yet to respond to any of the press' questions.</p>
<p>So what does the above have to do with my Stanford chances? I don't know, and I don't really think much. But I wanted you guys to know a bit more about me before you started smashing on your keyboards.</p>
<p>If it's relevant, I intend on continuing on to Law School after undergrad. My ideal major would be (you won't see this coming) Astronomy or Astrophysics. I have every intention of becoming very active in national politics.</p>
<p>So, chances? Will offer free internet cookies to those who reply!</p>