Chances (I know I have weak ECs)

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Hello everybody, </p>

<p>here's a bit of information about me to start off with:
Rising senior, Male, AZ, Indian
Aspirations: physicist. I've wanted to become a physicist since I was 3. I haven't decided on any specifics yet, but my mind has always been set on this general area of study.</p>

<p>Basic info
[ul]
[<em>]GPA: 3.867 unweighted, ~4.7 weighted
[</em>]Class rank: does not report, but in 97th or 98th percentile. I estimate 10-15 out of 561.
[/ul]</p>

<p>-My school offers IB, but I'm not in it. It was slowing me down; instead, I loaded up on the APs junior year and with no regrets. Getting out of IB also allowed me to skip 'honors' science classes and take the more stimulating AP ones.</p>

<p>Curriculum
[ul]
[<em>]All honors classes freshman and sophomore year.
[</em>]AP Chemistry sophomore year
[<em>]IB Biology 5-6, AP Physics, AP Calculus BC, AP US History, AP English Lang, AP Psychology junior year
[</em>]Taking AP Statistics, AP English Lit, AP Government, AP Macroeconomics, and IB ToK senior year.
[/ul]</p>

<p>Test scores
[ul]
[<em>]2 AP Biology (considering deleting this one)
[</em>]3 AP Chemistry
[<em>]5 AP Calc BC
[</em>]5 AP Physics C: Mech
[<em>]5 AP English Lang
[</em>]5 AP US History
[<em>]5 AP Psychology
[</em>]1420/2190 SAT (680CR, 740M, 770W), 12 on essay
[li]PSAT: 223. I think the NM cutoff is 211 or 214 for Arizona.[/li][/ul]</p>

<p>-Going into junior year I never would have imagined taking 6 APs, and esp. not english or US history, but I decided to do exactly that and the journey was unforgettable. English became my second-favorite subject outside of math and I left junior year with a renewed interest in literature.</p>

<p>ECs (weakest part of my app)
-I don't have many 'formal' extracurricular activities; I did ~100 hours of volunteer work from 8th to 10th grade, some of it related to the FIRST Robotics competition. But my main outside-of-school activities are informal; I spend hours solving math problems from my calc book; my teacher and I collaborated frequently throughout junior year. I recall spending an entire day going through the set of problems about how rainbows form. I see a potential essay topic here...but anyway, I also taught myself to play the piano. I'm not exactly a virtuoso, but it is an incredibly satisfying activity.
-I will be in YMCA youth in government this year.
-Physics club; chess club junior year, chess club president senior year.
-I also spend a large amount of my free time reading science magazines, journals, insider information that I am fortunate to have access to, and science-related books, which have inspired me for years.</p>

<p>Recommendations
[ul]
[<em>]Calc BC: my teacher will no doubt praise frequently collaborating with him on solving challenge problems in the book, being the first to demonstrate a new technique for solving certain problems, and being the only person to give correct answers on a daily basis.
[</em>]Psychology: my psychology teacher will mention my genuine interest in this subject -- I spent hours outside of class talking to her about the latest news from Scientific American. She also got to see my sense of humor on a daily basis, and I got along well with everybody in the class.
[/ul]</p>

<p>Interests
[ul]
[<em>]Web Design: I have a personal website that hosts all of my photos. Coded entirely by myself.
[</em>]Photography
[li]Racing: I watch every Formula 1 and American Le Mans series race. Becoming an aerodynamicist for a Formula 1 team would be a great career to pursue as it bridges two of my biggest interests: racing and physics.[/li][/ul]</p>

<p>And finally, I would thoroughly appreciate being chanced for these schools:
[ul]
[<em>]Stanford (1st choice)
[</em>]Caltech
[<em>]Brown
[</em>]USC
[<em>]UC Berkeley
[</em>]Rice
[<em>]Duke
[</em>]UC San Diego
[/ul]</p>

2

<p>I have something similar to you in ECs.
Though I have quite a few other activities, I'm don't have as good a list as many people here on CC, as I spend a lot of time solving calculus, algebra, mechanics, waves etc. problems (of high level)... so should that be put up, or should we strike that off the list?</p>

3

<p>FYI I don't think you can delete your AP score this late...especially considering you already know the score. I think the deadline was June 15th.</p>

<p>I guess you're right about the weak ECs part. The main problem here is that there is nothing substantive to demonstrate/validate your interests/skills. Everything you do is almost recreational. Is it because you can't "take it to the next level?" Or is it more not being aware of what you could be doing to further your interests? Because for example, if you like math, you could be doing one or more math competitions - even if you don't like the whole USAMO stuff, it seems you like solving problems for fun at home...and USAMTS I believe has a contest throughout the year for those (which incidentally can qualify you into the AMC/AIME/USAMO track). Your interest in physics could be furthered through some type of research outside of class or doing something like USPhO. The opportunities are there, its just that you haven't taken any of them.</p>

<p>Stanford will be hard. I wouldn't count you entirely out of it, but with no spectacular ECs and a below average SAT score for your application subgroup (unhooked ORM), your chances are very slim. The same goes for Caltech, which seems more stats-oriented than Stanford. I'm not too familiar with the UC system, but I'm worried that your college list doesn't have enough matches. It seems like you have about 5 reaches and then safeties.</p>

4

<p>Thanks for the feedback. I don't think I'm allowed to mention achievements before high school started, but I placed first in Arizona on the AMC8 in sixth grade. Since the beginning of this year, I have been looking at research opportunities at ASU, but with no luck. I'm told that as a senior, I will have much better chances of finding something I am interested in to research at ASU.</p>

<p>Of the colleges that I listed, which do you think are safeties?</p>

5

<p>bump...10chars</p>

6

<p>bump...anybody who is not currently a high school student care to elaborate?</p>

7

<p>Dude there is no way that you have wanted to be a physicist since you were 3. Either you're some uber genius, no offense but stats dont reflect that, or you are a very math/ science oriented person who now appreciates physics lol.</p>

<p>For your chances I think most ivy league, caltech and stanford are out of the picture. The fact of the matter is you EC's fail to demonstrate how much you are capable of outside of academia.</p>

8

<p>I’m still caught up in my elation about my acceptance to Brown University, but I thought it’d be a good idea to update this with my final stats. In the last nine months, I retook the SAT’s and got a perfect 2400, won a state-wide award for my work as a Senator in the Youth and Government program, and came across as (very surprisingly) a well-rounded person in my application. Things really do work out in the end!</p>