<p>I am a rising senior and my goal is to attend either Princeton, Columbia, or Yale (one of which I will apply early, most likely Princeton). I was hoping someone might realistically chance me for these colleges given my grades, extracurriculars, and other hobbies.</p>
<p>First off, my grades. These have been strong throughout high school but have gotten slightly better throughout the years.</p>
<p>GPA: 4.0 (unweighted; my school does it out of 100 but I assume if I've never gotten below 93 in a class it's 4.0?) and 98.46 weighted at my school out of 99.8.
Class rank: 3 or 4 out of 350; my school is one of the best and most difficult in all of Connecticut.
I've taken 7 APs so far, all of which I've gotten 5s on (Chem, Calc BC which I took as a sophomore, Bio, APUSH, Computer Science A, English Language, and Stats.) I plan to take 4 more next year, which are Spanish, English Lit, Macroeconomics, and Physics C.</p>
<p>SAT: 2370 on second try (800 on reading, 790 on math, and 780 on writing)
Subject Tests: 790 on Chem and 800 on Math Level 2</p>
<p>My schedule for next year is as follows:
AP Spanish, AP Physics C, AP Macro, AP English Lit, Independent Study in Linear Algebra (The school ran out of math courses for me), Comprehensive Business Topics H, and Psychology (only non-honors course; just a useful class and it's not offered in any advanced level unfortunately). </p>
<p>Next, organized extracurriculars (with my planned senior year activities included). I acknowledge that these were fairly weak the first two years, but then I tried to get my stuff together and both narrow my interests and join more groups that corresponded to them.</p>
<p>4 years of swim team (varsity and all-academic Junior and Senior year)
3 or 4 years of cross country (junior varsity the first three years, I am on the fence about doing it next year as I recently broke my ankle and it's still giving me trouble which might make my season awful)
Model UN Junior and Senior year
Investment Club Junior and Senior year, Team Leader Junior year
President of Math Honors Society
Principal's Advisory Council Sophomore through Senior Year
National Honors Society
Spanish Honors Society
Four online programming-related courses with Johns Hopkins University, all of which I received an A (two of them during high school, these may be the only ones which count).
Moody's Mega Math Challenge Junior and Senior year</p>
<p>Volunteer work and job experience:
240 hours of volunteer work at Winding Trails summer camp
45 hours of tutoring at Burns Academy in Hartford (including projected senior year hours)
Just got accepted to the Anti-Defamation League's Teen Trainer program, which I will be involved in senior year and which involves speaking against anti-Semitism to large groups.
I spent 100+ hours making a film against anti-Semitism which has become fairly popular in my nearby community but hasn't spread far past that; I will go more into this in the next section but I'm not sure if this really counts as volunteer work.
Yom Hashoah Program Junior and Senior Year (we interview and write about a Holocaust survivor and attend a service with them). </p>
<p>Starting this summer, I began working at Ivy Bound Test Preparation services (thanks to my SAT score) making the practice ACT tests which they use to tutor clients. I also just got accepted to become an SAT tutor there as well, though I am yet to have my first client.</p>
<p>Hobbies and independent activities:
I make rap music (I know, weird) and independently promote and sell it on online markets like iTunes (I've made about $1200 doing this, might this be impressive to colleges?). As of late I've made my songs pretty positive and intelligent, so this may be a good thing to tell colleges, though I could use some advice on how to include it in my application as it is not with any group.
I also make film and made an activist film last summer against anti-Semitism which I spread around the local community. I got an article written about it and it led to my inclusion in the Teen Trainers program as I try to continue spreading its message. I'm trying to make a narrative film THIS summer and send it into a festival; it is in production right now.</p>
<p>Honors:
Best Delegation, Honorable Mention at the Model UN conference Junior Year
COLT Award for Spanish Sophomore Year
Brown Book Award Junior Year
Article in the Jewish Ledger about my film
Our swim team has won conferences multiple times</p>
<p>Other Info:
As far as my essay goes, I'm starting soon but I'm intent on writing about my film and how making it changed me from the bystander who took abuse like endless Holocaust jokes thrown in my face to the activist who told didn't tolerate discrimination. Good idea?
My recommendations should be fairly strong; though I was never the charismatic kid who made friends with all his teachers, my teachers have always liked me based on my academics and behavior and my history teacher loves my film.
As far as a major goes, I want to do one which encompasses both finance and math; this corresponds to Financial Engineering at Princeton or Columbia or Economics and Mathematics at Yale.
I do not plan to do any serious sports in college, though I'd certainly take advantage of an Intramural Swim team or club. </p>
<p>A good evaluation of my chances, as well as any advice for how to improve my resume or how to include my hobbies into my application would be hugely appreciated. Thank you!</p>