Hello,
I’m a senior in high school and I want some feedback on my chances at schools, along with some suggestions for schools that may be a good fit for me.
Classes/Load:
I did class accelerations since 7th grade, leaving me to be ahead in my classes, and further allowing me to take classes at my local university (I live in Iowa) on top of numerous AP’s since my sophomore year.
Here is a list of the classes that seem to be more impressive/essentially none of my peers have taken a lot of the university classes (I have the hardest classload in comparison to anyone in my school, even the seniors, when counting AP’s + UNI courses in a given semester):
– AP’s –
AP Chemistry (sophomore year, A- both semesters, got a 4 on the AP exam)
AP Calculus BC (sophomore year, A both semesters, got a 4 on the AP exam)
AP Human Geography (sophomore year, A first semester, ended up dropping the class semester and did it independently to get a 3 on the AP exam at the end of the year)
AP Psychology (junior year, A first semester, B+ second semester, 5 on the AP exam)
AP Biology (junior year, A both semesters, 4 on the AP exam)
AP English Language & Composition (A for the semester, 4 on the AP exam)
AP Microeconomics (A for the semester, 4 on the AP exam)
here’s what I plan to take during my senior year for AP’s:
I’m not taking any AP’s this semester because my college schedule didn’t work with the times the AP’s are offered. However, I plan to take AP Physics C - Electricity second semester using an online school, along with (possibly) AP Physics C - Mechanics.
– University Classes –
I’m interested in going into Computer Science, Math, and (possibly) Physics as my majors, so I did one computer science core class per semester of sophomore year at my local Iowa university:
Introduction to Computing (first computer science core class, got a high A)
Discrete Structures (based on more mathematical side of computer science, things like probabilities, etc.; got an A - highest overall grade and score on the final in the entire class)
For my junior year, I had more space in my schedule, so I ended up taking 3 university classes per semester: 2 computer science classes and 1 math class (since I finished AP Calculus BC the first semester)
First Semester:
Computer Organization (got the highest class average in the class; got an A)
Data Structures (got an A; second highest score on the final in the class)
Linear Algebra (got an A in the class)
Second Semester:
Intermediate Computing (got an A in the class)
Theory of Computation (got an A in the class - it had a pre-req of junior standing and I had to get the department head’s approval to take it)
Calculus III (got an A-)
– Senior Year, First Semester –
Project Management (one credit class, required for major, junior standing)
Advanced Calculus I (equivalent to an analysis course in calculus, like Calc IV, using discrete mathematics to prove certain concepts in Calc I & II, junior standing/department approval)
Design/Analysis of Algorithms (an “algorithms” class in the CS major, junior standing pre-req)
Translating Programming Languages (a semester project-based course, junior standing, department approval, etc. The course involves writing a compiler to be around 15,000 lines - I’m the team captain for my group of seniors in their last semester before graduation as well.)
Studies in Search Techniques (a one-credit research course with a professor in the CS department, similar to undergrad research, department approval required/usually only seniors do research credits at the university – my project involves artificial intelligence, specifically about search techniques tying to a RUBIKS cube.)
– What I plan to Take –
For my second semester, I plan to take 3-4 more UNI classes - 1 or 2 in the math department, the rest in the computer science department.
I also plan to take AP Physics, as mentioned above.
If you have any tips with what I should take next semester, let me know as well!
– OVERALL CLASSES/GPA –
I’ve gotten all A’s in my classes except for the two semesters of AP Chemistry in which I got A- both semesters (I don’t plan to be a chemistry major, and AP Chemistry is known to be the hardest class at my school by far), Calculus III in which I got an A- (the final killed me and I was at an A the whole semester), and one semester of AP Psychology, where I got a B+.
WEIGHTED GPA (at the end of junior year semester 1): 4.20
UNWEIGHTED GPA (at the end of junior year semester 1): 3.97
– SCORES/STANDARDIZED TESTING –
PSAT (sophomore year): 1330
PSAT (junior year): 1430 (I should have studied other than the night before)
ACT (junior year, February): 32
(I took it again this September, but I’m not sure how I did yet.)
– EXTRACURRICULARS –
At the beginning of last summer, I got a job at my local McDonald’s; At the beginning of junior year, I got a job at my local Target. I still work at Target, and I worked almost 40 hours during last summer, and still work about 20 hours/week during the school year.
I played Piano and I did a local contest yearly (I’ve gotten the highest rating 9 years in a row and have trophies for it as well) - I stopped lessons at the end of this summer because I kind of reached the end of my teacher’s program, and it doesn’t work well in my schedule during this school year.
I plan to possibly start a club for computer science at my high school this semester (I know, kinda late…) as we don’t have one yet… any tips for starting a club? I’m not sure exactly how to do it. I might want to try to teach younger junior high students about computer science, or maybe just one for my peers in high school.
That’s all I can think of right now. I’ll edit as needed, but feel free to ask me any questions you have! I appreciate any advice anyone can provide!