<p>I'm trying to figure out if I killed my chances of getting into a nice school. I'm a soph btw. (Class of 2009, rep!)</p>
<p>Stats and facts:</p>
<p>Female/Asian
GPA: 4.71/4.6 as of freshman year [UW: unavailable. Rank: unavailable]
AP Bio- 5
SAT Bio- 740
PSAT 192 (54CR/73M/65W)</p>
<p>Freshman: kinda slacked off. I could have worked a lot harder.
Sophomore: Worst than freshman year. (taking AP stat and chem right now.)
I'm going to be doing a junior year research project next year. (Not sure what topic, but something microrbs/medical related)
All the AP courses for the 4 years: bio, stat, chem, calc bc, physics, ush, lit, comp
(In addition, these tests: psych, micro/macro, enviro, and compsci ab)</p>
<p>Science league: 9th-present
TSA (founder and president and I work my butt off for this club, really): 10th-present
Science Olympiad: 10th-present (nothing special- School was 9th in regionals)
French Honor Society: 10th-present
Varsity tennis: 10th-present (varsity letter, first dubs)
Math league: 10th-present
Outside of school: dance (6 years! of the hip/hop variety =D), tennis (a little USTA), Columbia SHP
I think I'm going to be inducted into NHS next year. I don't foresee dropping any clubs next year.</p>
<p>Random stuff: took stat at community college, some online course during freshman year... I think I'm going to get a job as a barista at Starbucks [/random] or something at the mall. =D And I'll probably try working in a research lab for some help on my research project and I don't want to bum around over the summer.</p>
<p>I'm not really an interesting person. I suppose that's going to hurt me. (?) Btw, I would say my passions are dance, tennis, TSA, and art. Last time I went to a summer camp was 7th grade for CTY and tennis. [/more random facts]</p>
<p>Now, my questions...
-Do I need to put (significantly) more work into school or am I working hard enough? (I'm hoping that I work harder next year though. ;) )
-Um, I have no awards. (Or nothing significant that I can remember.) Any advice for this?
-Are volunteer hours important? If so, how important? Can helping out in a research lab cancel no volunteer hours?
-For recs, I can ask a UPenn department supervisor, my school's science department supervisor, a Columbia professor... So maybe that'll help me out?
-As of right now, I really want to go to Columbia U. :) And then after that, I guess UPenn, Cornell, CMU... is on the list. I kinda want to stay close to home.
-Does Princeton Review classes generally help boost scores? Do you recommend it or not?</p>
<p>I'm a newb, so enlighten me. =D
Thanks!</p>