Hi I’m currently a junior in high school with the following stats:
-GPA
102.5. 99.3 unweighted (potential to be 1/300 or 2/300)
Only taken honors and AP classes aside from mandatory electives and orchestra
SAT Subject Tests:
800 - Chem
800- Math I
800 - Math II
800 - Spanish
SAT/ACT
36 - ACT
Possible National Merit finalist (scores come out nest month)
AP Exams
AP World - 3 (My teacher was horrible,I don’t plant to submit it)
AP Psych - 5
APUSH - Taking this year
APLANG - Taking this year
APES - Taking this year
AP Chem - Taking next year
AP Lit - Taking next year
AP Gov - Taking next year
AP Physics C - Taking next year
AP Calc BC - Taking next year
My goal is to be an AP Scholar with distinction by senior year
Income: Roughly 150k for a family of 7 in a middle class area
Race: South Asian
Hooks: Immigrant parents
ECs
Founder/President of Science Olympiad program - Went to states and nationals
Started a chapter of an NGO to provide education for girls in third world countries, Raised 10,000 in a regional effort, worked with many outside female empowerment organizations
Teaches classes, advocates for female education
Writer of female empowerment/global issues blog
Writer for UNICEF blog
Global Education Leader - Only 500 in the world
Winner at various state science fairs for water purification technology
Patented scientific research
Went to worlds for robotics (Treasurer of this)
National winner for various science and engineering comps
Founded STEM enrichment program at elementary schools
President of S.A.D.D. club
President of National Honor Society
President of Tri- M Honor Society
All - State 100
President of Orchestra Board
President of String Ensemble
Part of orchestra for school musicals
USABO finalist
1st chair in orchestra
Concert master of regional youth orchestra
Composes music that inspires female education
Will enter more prestigious science comps senior year
So far you are doing everything right. You have the GPA, curricular rigor and test scores. Good job getting the latter wrapped up at an early date. Your ECs show some high achievement and enough distinctiveness to differentiate you from other qualified applicants. Think about what your focus is, and how you will present yourself to colleges in a year. What is your “narrative”? Who are you, and what are you about in the world? You need to create a clear and coherent story. There is never any certainty with the schools you are targeting, but so far you are in great shape.
@renaissancedad Thanks so much! I’m planning to really push the girls in STEM idea, which relates to my double major in engineering and gender studies. My writing skills are solid so I’m hoping for the best.
Double majors aren’t possible at Harvard, and that combo will be difficult (but certainly not impossible) at Columbia. Neither is particularly strong in engineering, either. Keep an open mind.
Your combination of STEM achievement and gender-related activities is strong and distinctive. I’d emphasize those two as much possible.
I’d take a hard look at Stanford and Duke, given your interests. People like @TopTier, @Jwest22, @sgopal2 and @NerdyChica are more knowledgeable than I am, but I think you are potentially A.B. Duke material.
@IvyLeaguer225, private colleges do not generally use AP scores as a basis for admissions; they are mainly used for advanced placement and credit purposes upon matriculation. With an ACT of 36 and 4 SAT II scores of 800, the OP is in great shape in terms of her standardized tests.
Definitely apply to programs such as RSI and Simons this summer. They’re highly competitive but I think you have a decent shot at getting into at least one of them. Overall, you’re looking pretty good.
@stem1202, what have you done during your summers, and what are you thinking about for next summer? As @Falcon1 notes, next summer is definitely an opportunity to help solidify your impressive credentials. As he suggests, one option would be to do one of the competitive, funded STEM programs that generally make a strong impression on colleges. Another option might be to build on your gender studies and social change interests and do something internationally. You should be selective in terms of what you choose to do - your credentials should allow you to find some very appealing opportunities.
That’s very ambitious! It would be highly distinctive, but I’m not sure how you would be able to create such an opportunity. I’d keep a range of options open.
^ I’m certainly no expert, but I don’t believe so. They allow a concentration and a minor. They do allow something called “joint concentrations” in some cases, but those involve related majors:
It’s hard to imagine engineering and gender studies being integrated as one joint field of study, so one would have to be a “secondary field”, or minor.
lots of kids do joint concentrations. They actually publish the numbers on it for each concentration. How about writing a senior thesis on ways to increase the number of women in engineering. That is really a hot and very relevant topic
^ Obviously, one wouldn’t expect something like gender studies + engineering to be nearly as common as applied math and econ.
When I applied to colleges decades ago, I turned down Harvard in part because the interdisciplinary options were limited. I did a double major in mathematical sciences and comparative literature at Stanford, and did a simultaneous co-terminal master’s in linguistics. That wouldn’t have been possible at Harvard. My brother and cousin went to Harvard, and both did single majors; I don’t recall joint concentrations being an option at all at the time. I went to Harvard for medical school, and I felt that there were significant barriers to interdisciplinary study compared to what I experienced at Stanford, or to what I later experienced at UChicago. If joint studies are becoming commonplace, and if programs encompassing areas as diverse as gender studies + engineering are possible, then I would say Harvard has made substantial progress in terms of opening up interdisciplinary opportunities since I knew it.
Stanford is actively encouraging students with CS and engineering interests to pursue interdisciplinary studies in the humanities. For example, the “CS+X” joint major program allows students to create a joint major between computer science and numerous departments in the humanities and social sciences:
My impression is that schools like Stanford, Duke, Penn and a few others are still somewhat more progressive than HYP in terms of encouraging interdisciplinary studies. But given what you describe, it sounds like the gap may be narrowing.