<p>Hi to all,</p>
<p>I'm a junior at a top Illinois public school. I skipped the second and third grades but went back a grade for athletics when I transferred to a public middle school.
My mother's a second-generation Puerto Rican/Spaniard and my father's a complete mutt--Eastern European/Russian/Ashkenazi Jew, etc.
I've got ADHD and one other slightly distracting compulsion that I tend not to discuss in public, but I'll probably write an essay about it. The ADHD really affected my freshman and sophomore years as it went untreated, but with medication I've really been able to buckle down and get some really good work done.
My freshman year was completely mediocre--see above--with a 3.80/5.00 while in all honors classes. I think that was mostly due to the ADHD, an elongated acclimation period and my immaturity compared to my peers. My sophomore year was improved to a 4.05/5.00. This year, my first semester GPA was 4.80 and thus far in second semester I have a 5.00...let's just see how finals go haha.
Currently, I'm in AP English Lang. and APUSH. Next year, I'll be in AP English Lit., APUSG/Comp Gov't, AP Psych, AP Physics C, and AP Calculus BC.
My EC's are solid: class council member, baseball (frosh/soph/jun/assuredly sen) and swimming (frosh/hurt soph/jun/sen) (both highly competitive sports, and I have a chance to play div. I baseball), 1st chair saxophone in band all three years, production editor on the school newspaper and editor-in-chief next year, writer for two other news organizations (including the teen newspaper of the Chicago Tribune), member of Tri-M music honors society and Spanish club (yes, I know, Spanish club is quite easy to see through as a blow-off, but I'll be treasurer next year), as well as participating in Project Lead the Way pre-engineering courses frosh, soph, jun. Captain of scholastic bowl and top scorer for all three years as well. I serve as a liaison for the state scholastic bowl program, introducing the activity to matriculating high schoolers as well as schools that don't currently offer it as a club. I've volunteered for Habitat for two years and I have an internship at a major engineering company next year. I also distribute Communion to the sick at a local hospital, attend Saturday and summer courses at Northwestern University, and play in a highly competitive honors band in Chicago.
I just received my ACT scores two weeks ago and my SAT's a few days ago: 36 comp on my ACT (somehow!); 780 M, 800 CR, 800 W on the SAT. I might try for a perfect superscore but I think my 2380 was good enough for me hahah. Though I achieved a 236 on my PSAT, I don't think my frosh/soph grades will be good enough for anything past commended on National Merit. I haven't taken any SAT subject tests...should I?
Chance me for Northwestern, UNC-Chapel Hill, UT-Austin, Boston College, Vanderbilt, MIT, UIllinois, and UCLA? I'm looking mostly at the 20-50 range (besides MIT, of course) of the USNWR rankings because of my underclassman grades, but I think I could be successful anywhere. If you have any suggestions, they'd be much appreciated.</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>