<p>It’s mainly this second semester that’s going to kill me. I’m trying to be done with the SAT and my Subject Tests and I really need to do well on my AP tests. After June 2nd, I’m pretty much free. I’m taking advantage of summer and am just relaxing. Senior year will be tough with 5 APs, but I don’t think college apps will be that stressful. I may just end up applying to UCs and CSUs, so that’s only two applications for me, and the CSUs don’t even require an essay.</p>
<p>Studious, if you don’t mind me asking, what school are you planning to apply SCEA to? </p>
<p>2nd semester is going to be rough. Very rough. Rough as in I hate my life rough. Hopefully it’ll all end 1 year from now and I can never return again to CC ( though I probably will).</p>
<p>January - SAT
February - ACT
March - potentially SAT again
April - studying for APs
May - APs, SATIIs
June - Finals
July - Visits, lots of essay writing
August - XC preseason
September - Apps
October - Apps
November - APPS
December - sweet relief or incredible depression</p>
<p>Yeah, the next 12 months, probably save spring break and a few weeks in the summer, are going to suck. Gotta step up my game.</p>
<p>I forgot about visits, welp, there goes July (my only free month).</p>
<p>We are actually limiting visits. We are going to DC over spring break, so that I can see Georgetown and Philly in June so that I can interview at Swarthmore/see some museums I have been wanting to see for a while and a few schools in Ohio. Other then that we are not visiting anywhere unless I get rejected ED and then get into several schools RD that I can’t pick between.</p>
<p>@TinnyT What schools are you visiting?</p>
<p>Visits are a fun thing, though…? I’ll probably visit the California schools I’m interested in this summer. That’s one thing I’m actually looking forward to.</p>
<p>I don’t know if visits will be fun. I’ll be walking around with a notebook thinking, “What am I seeing here that I can write about in the essay to make it look like I give a damn?”</p>
<p>^If you don’t give a damn, why are you applying?</p>
<p>@halcyonheather tours don’t provide much information that cannot easily be found on the college’s website and websites like College Board and CC. The tours should be telling you if you connect with a campus and the student body. As for the essays it will probably be rather obvious that you are just including easily found information.</p>
<p>@halcyon LMAOO me too tho </p>
<p>@Artsy I’m in the Midwest so I’ll visit UIUC, UW-Madison, UMich, Purdue, Ohio State, and hopefully I can convince my parents to take me to Pennsylvania so I can see Penn State and Carnegie. I would visit UChicago and Northwestern but I’ve lived on both campuses for a combined 5 weeks so it wouldn’t be necessary. Not to mention I live like 10 minutes from UChicago lol</p>
<p>@TinnyT I have visited both Penn State and CMU, if you end up not being able to make it let me know if you have any questions (also it might help in convincing them, by pointing out there are four other schools you could visit in Pittsburgh alone). So jealous of being so close to UChicago, it seems like an amazing place.</p>
<p>Because in the end most of the colleges I visit will reject me anyway and it will all have been for nothing. And even if they all accept me I’ll only end up at one of them, so it will still have been for nothing.
And if I want to go to a college it’s because the academics are good, not because they have a cute fountain in the courtyard or a nearby McDonald’s or something. I mean, what can you say in those essays that isn’t contrived/stupid-sounding?</p>
<p>@Artsy Alright cool! And UChicago has a beautiful campus especially at night. I love it. If you are interested in it, you can ask me as well.</p>
<p>@halcyonheather, here I will give you an example with my Swarthmore supplement (I am so in love with the school that I already started). Something that stood out to me was the students creativity and desire to incorporate both their academic and more “fun” passions together, an example of this is that their sports teams names for one sport is anagrams of Swarthmore. I am making the tile of my essay an anagram of “why Swarthmore” (the name of their supplement). You could love students passion, a particular class/professor you spoke with, a quirk that makes the school unique and so on. I have found that these things are often little but say a lot about the student body and/or school.</p>
<p>^^ Swarthmore sounds really cool. I’m worried about the “why ______?” essays because it just seems too broad. </p>
<p>here is how my year looks (although I don’t think it’s that bad):
January: Finish summer program apps, SAT Subject Tests, TSA competition
February: Possible ACT, USABO, SciOly, CleanTech submission
March: Regional science fair, SAT retake from October, Siemens We Can Change the World submission, Chemistry Olympiad
April: Study for APs, probably stress out really bad over grades
May: APs (w00t since 5 out of 7 of my classes will be weighted, AP classes, I have no finals. I can actually go and see my senior friends graduate! :))
June/July: hopefully summer program
August: Start writing college essays
September: Siemens and Intel submissions
October: ED/EA apps (?)
November: UC apps
December: Finals for the last time ever! (since next year I’m taking all APs) </p>
<p>And during this time, I’m also submitting to SIBA. Possibly some artsy competitions, but I haven’t really decided which ones. 
For me, 1st semester was always a lot more busy than 2nd semester. </p>
<p>Also, I’m not sure whether I will do college visits until after I actually get accepted. To my parents, it’s kind of a waste to visit a college beforehand if you are going to get rejected. Which, with my stats, I’m thinking is pretty likely. Especially if I apply to HYPS and Ivies, since I’m Asian. </p>
<p>The colleges I have visited are only because they’re close. I’ve visited UC Berkeley and Stanford, but I don’t think I’ll apply to them. First of all, because they’re probably the best known schools on my lists, which makes it likely I will be forced to go there without really analyzing the fit. Second, because they’re too close to home. </p>
<p>I kind of want to visit some schools in the midwest-ish area, i.e. U Chicago, Lake Forest, Wash U in St. Louis, Case Western, and Macalester, as I’ve never been anywhere close to those places. I’ve only been in California, Maryland, Virginia, and Pennsylvania within the US.</p>
<p>@ecouter: I’ll most likely be applying to Harvard SCEA.</p>
<p>I’m so glad I have my SAT and two Subject Tests over with. It’s going to make my second semester a bit easier. However; I still have to do midterms, summer program apps, AMC 12 + USABO + USNCO tests, debate competitions, quiz bowl competitions, five AP tests, and two more Subject Tests (chem and USH). Luckily, I really enjoy my ECs, so they’re not chores to me, but balancing my time will certainly be a challenge.</p>
<p>I do remember freshman year…good times, good times.</p>
<p>Anyways, I haven’t done any college visits yet, and I’ll take the SAT for the first time in March. I will definitely not apply to the Ivy Leagues, as I’m Asian and don’t have/will probably not get a 2400 SAT score, legacy, or amazing athletic abilities. </p>
<p>The colleges I’m considering are:</p>
<p>UF
New College of Florida
USF
FSU
Duke
Vanderbilt
UC Berkeley
UMichigan
Emory
UChicago</p>
<p>I have so much catching up to do and i’ve been working my tail off haha. I’ve got my SAT I and Bio SAT over with, and I’ll probably taking math ii sat and 8 AP tests by the end of the year. Plus a cluster of elections for the clubs I’m in. Other than that, I finished most of my contests already and I’m super motivated to bump my grades up to the highest average I’ve had for a school year so far :)</p>
<p>Picking a potential major has been bothering me a bit too. I’m really passionate about a lot of things, some of them more lucrative career choices than others x_x</p>
<p>@ Studious- SCEA at Harvard seems like a good choice for you. I’m not sure whether to go SCEA at one of the uber selectives or try EA-ing at multiple selective schools that have it. The latter allows you to have more chances to get an early acceptance but on the other hand, rates are higher for SCEA. I know a few people that did EA to MIT, Caltech and UMich and it worked out well for them- all are at top tiers. I guess we’ll see…</p>
<p>What kind of scares and encourages me at the same time about our admissions cycle is that continual decline in admissions rates. In one way- it is unfortunate because a) we can’t really predict who will get in or not and b) chances go one. From a different perspective- at least the rates will be higher for us than for the Class of 2015/2019! :D</p>
<p>QuidditchCat, I kind of agree with you about visits. Granted, I live very far away from most of my top choices but I don’t see the point in going to a school for say- 8 hours maximum and then using such a small ‘sample size’ to decide whether you like a school or not. I remember reading on some thread here that people declined schools because of the weather or because the tour guide was lame or whatever. Why not apply lots of places and then spend March/April visiting? Some kids from my old school did that- they just went to all the accepted student days and stayed even longer, in some instances and then made decisions. Admittedly, if you care a lot about not missing school, this method probably won’t work out well for you. </p>
<p>I haven’t decided whether I’ll be applying to summer programs or not. I’m already quite restricted with regards to the ones I can apply to anyways, as a result of my place of residence and I’m not really sure if its worth it. </p>
<p>Second Semester is going to be very interesting. I’ve been semi blowing off Debate because it takes up so much time (literally, all of Saturday and multiple practices) for some of my other ECs. I really do enjoy debate but it’s highly subjective and often times, parent or other amateur judges are used in competitions. While I have no doubt that they’re excellent people, they tend to make variable and opaque decisions that often leave me frustrated. Maybe it’s stylistic or whatever, but it makes me want to focus on more objective things.</p>
<p>@Artsygirl, whoa- that’s dedication right there. I’ve thought about my essays but haven’t actually tried writing anything yet.</p>
<p>I don’t even what to say what my second semester involves. It’s just too depressing. I know one thing for sure, though- as soon as I finish my exams in June, I plan on sleeping for 2 days straight.</p>
<p>@ecouter: I’ve considered going the EA path. I’d probably go for MIT, Chicago, UVA, and Mich. However, with Harvard SCEA, I can still apply to UVA and Mich (still deciding on this one) early because they’re public institutions. So I’m pretty set on Harvard. Also, I’ve experienced the same frustrations with debate as you have; my advice is to become so good that there is no doubt when you win a round. ;)</p>