<p>Hey, I go to a large public school in an Illinois suburb about 45min from Chicago. I'm planning on EDing at Columbia, but if you guys think I'm not really Columbia material then I'll just skip that and ED at Northwestern. Besides that, I'm applying to University of Illinois-Champaign as my backup. Here goes:</p>
<p>Transcript</p>
<p>GPA: 4.618 weighted. (don't know about unweighted)</p>
<p>Class Rank: 7th out of 700-something.</p>
<p>Classes: Took the most difficult courseload, honors and AP classes galore.</p>
<p>Standardized Tests</p>
<p>ACT: 33</p>
<p>SAT: 750M, 730V, 700W</p>
<p>SAT IIs: Math IIc - 790, US History - 710, Literature - 690</p>
<p>APs: English Language - 4, US History - 4, Psychology (self-study) - 4, Euro History - 3, Statistics - 3</p>
<p>Activities</p>
<p>-Bartlett High School Academy of Science, Engineering, and High Technology (all 4 years)
--Fifty students selected from middle schools. Emphasis on rigorous math and science curricula, with an engineering focus.</p>
<p>-Academy Student Advisory Council (freshman and junior year)
--An elected position. Student council specifically for the academy.</p>
<p>-Scholastic Bowl (all four years)
--Team captain sophomore year (junior varsity) and senior year (varsity)</p>
<p>-WYSE (Worldwide Youth in Science and Engineering) (sophomore, junior, and senior year)
--Academic challenge. I competed in English and Computer Science, and last year won 3rd place for English at the Sectionals conference.</p>
<p>-Illinois' BEST Robotics Competition
--Sophomore year Academy project
--Had to work as a team to design and build a remote-controlled robot which can pick up balloons from one
container and put them in another. Our team got 7th place out of 25.</p>
<p>-High Mileage Vehicle Competition
--Sophomore year Academy project
--Had to build a motorized vehicle which can run laps around a track. Competed for vehicle with the best fuel efficiency. Our
team won three awards: Best Newcomer, Best Sportsmanship, and Best Project Design Notebook</p>
<p>-CTD Summer Program at Northwestern (Summer 2005)
--Took Honors Advanced Creative Writing and got two semesters of Honors A credit for it
--Also got a positive teacher evaluation which is on file at Northwestern Admissions office</p>
<p>(There are many other activities like Model United Nations and Spanish Club in which I participated in
but didn't pursue a leadership role in or anything. I probably won't list these on college apps.)</p>
<p>Community Service</p>
<p>-Bartlett Library, 20 hours</p>
<p>-Islamic Education Center (my mosque)
--I organized a youth group which is now very successful
--50 hours of volunteer work</p>
<p>-Peer Tutoring at my school
--about 135 hours, every day during study hall of sophomore year</p>
<p>-ACT Math tutoring
--Tutored my aunt's neighbor for free. She was unhappy with her ACT Math score.
--12 hours</p>
<p>Awards</p>
<p>-National Merit Commendation</p>
<p>-AP Scholar</p>
<p>-WYSE Academic Challenge 3rd Place in English at Sectionals conference</p>
<p>-High Honor Roll all through high school</p>
<p>SUSPENSIONS :-(</p>
<p>-Once got suspended for eating my teacher's doughnut. [I didn't know it was his] Three day suspension for "theft from a teacher"</p>
<p>-Got suspended for stealing a final exam from my teacher's cubicle, making copies, and circulating it amongst my friends. I got a zero on the final too.</p>
<p>I would like to discuss these suspensions with you guys in detail, but that would take too long. I think I know how to handle these though. I don't care about the first suspension much, because it was just silly--more of a funny story than anything. But the second suspension I really did learn a lot from. Just so you know, my motive for stealing that final was the desire to do something risky/adventurous, not to get an A, since I already had a strong A in that class, and English is my favorite class. Even after getting a zero on the final, I still got a B in the class--unlike everyone else who got zeroes along with me, they got Cs. I'm not shrugging off my punishment, I'm just saying that it proves that I had a solid A to begin with.</p>
<p>ONE FINAL NOTE - to give you an idea of what recommendations/essays may be like</p>
<p>Despite the fact that I've been in the Academy of Science and Engineering, I definitely intend to major in the humanities--English or philosophy. Life is my biggest interest--studying it, and living it. I'm big on literature and creative writing, and I'm also very much into global affairs--and current events in general. I'm a strong leftist, and am excited for Columbia because I hear it is one of the most politically active schools in the country. I'm specifically picking my AP English and AP US teachers from last year to write my recs because they know me very well as an intellectual. I want to convey this aspect of my personality in my essay as well, along with my creative writing skills.</p>
<p>That's just about everything--I apologize for the lengthiness.</p>
<p>So, Columbia ED--what do ya say?</p>