Harvey Mudd/Pomona - Am I on the right track?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Hey guys,</p>

<p>I am a junior in high school, and I was wondering if I'm on the right track to get into a top school like Harvey Mudd or Pomona (probably my top choices). My brother goes to Pomona, and has gone a similar route as me (he had great test scores though, 2320 SAT and 2400 SAT II - Physics, Chem, Literature). I've been homeschooled since 2nd grade (for philosophical, not religious, reasons), and started taking classes at a local community college 8th grade. By second semester freshman year, I was taking classes full time. My intended major is Computer Science (this is an interest that is relatively new, since last summer). I'll give a list of my classes for each semester and the highlights of my extracurriculars. I would also greatly appreciate feedback on my future plans and where they'll place me.</p>

<p>Ethnicity/Gender: White/Male
SAT: Taking in March
SAT II: Math 2 (790 - freshman year)
AP Tests: Calc AB (4 - freshman year), Calc BC (4 - sophomore year) [note on these: I took calc BC my freshman year and shouldn've taken the BC test then]
GPA: ~3.8</p>

<p>Extracurriculars
Sports: Varsity letter for cross country and track since freshman year (at a local high school). I'm not doing track this year, and will be getting CrossFit certification instead.</p>

<p>Music: Played violin and taken lessons since I was 5. I was a member of the Phoenix Youth Symphony's Symphonette orchestra freshman and sophomore year. I'm currently a member of the Phoenix Youth Symphony (the highest group in the PYS organization).</p>

<p>Venture Crew/Boy Scouts: Tons of backpacking, whitewater kayaking, and some interesting end of year trips during summer (2 week backpack in Honduran rainforest, backpack through one of the Grand Canyon's toughest hikes, 100-mile backpack in the Gila Wilderness). I've been vice president twice and will be president senior year. In this area I will also be getting my Eagle Scout soon.</p>

<p>Gaming: Started and managed an international Real-Time Strategy gaming team my freshman year, which became the best team in the world for the game that we played. Due to this, I was invited to and flown out to a major and exclusive event in Cologne, Germany by Electronic Arts for a couple days. I also convinced EA to invite a fellow team member as well. After this event, the game we were playing became much less competitive and received much less tournament funding, so the team officially disbanded in the spring of my sophomore year. Also during that time I acquired some (remote) internship work regarding game design with S2 Games, a game developer in Michigan.</p>

<p>Programming: I am currently working on some of my own programming projects, one of which is an extension of a final project I did for my computer science class taken at Harvard, via their Extension School. I'm developing this project into a professional application which I will be marketing and selling to businesses in the future. I am also doing (much more) remote internship work for S2 Games, but I am programming for them instead (I had to reapply for the position due to the different skills required). I am (likely) to go live near their studio and do work for them in person over this coming summer.</p>

<p>Teaching: I applied to be a teaching fellow for the Harvard computer science course (in the fall). I interview with them next week, so hopefully I am able to do that.</p>

<p>Transcript
All grades are A's unless specified</p>

<p>Freshman Year
Fall: Calc I (AB), Second Year English Composition, Homeschooling work</p>

<p>Spring: Calc II (BC), Journalism (Feature Writing), Spanish 101</p>

<p>Sophomore Year
Fall: Calc III (multivariable calc) [note: got a B], Marketing 101 (intro to PR), History (Western Civ, Beginning - Middle Ages), Spanish 102</p>

<p>Spring: Macroeconomics, Classical Backgrounds in Literature, History (Western Civ, Middle Ages - 1789), University Physics I (calc-based, mechanics)</p>

<p>Junior Year
Fall: General Chemistry I [note: got a B], Chem Lab, Microeconomics, Spanish 201, Intensive Intro to Computer Science at Harvard (via their extension school) [note: got a B+]</p>

<p>Spring: Building Mobile Applications (Android, iOS at Harvard via the Extension School), University Physics II (calc-based, electricity and magnetism), Differential Equations</p>

<p>Future Plans</p>

<p>Tests
AP: Macro or microeconomics, Computer Science
SAT II: Literature, Physics
SAT I: March 12</p>

<hr>

<p>Thanks for taking the time to read through all of this. Any and all comments are appreciated!</p>

2

<p>I would say that both Pomona and Harvey Mudd are matches.
For example, this is my profile (I am looking into both of them as well)
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1087095-chances.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1087095-chances.html&lt;/a&gt;
I have to say that yours is stellar, and they will almost certainly accept you. I don’t know about financial aid or whatnot, but yeah, pretty much a shoein (however, top schools are sometimes finnicky, so you can never really predict it).</p>

3

<p>Thanks for the response. I will look at yours!</p>

4

<p>If it wasn’t that top schools are somewhat unpredictable, I would say Harvey Mudd and Pomona are safeties for you. You have a really impressive resume.</p>

5

<p>Anyone else have any feedback? Be as harsh as you like, I really do need outside opinions.</p>

6

<p>Not quite sure on the etiquette here, but I’ll bump this anyways :)</p>

7

<p>Computer science. =)</p>

<p>I think you’re a very strong applicant. Where you really shine is your extracurriculars, particularly your involvement in gaming. Most kids play video games, but you’ve managed to do a number of specific activities that you can cite on your application that will help qualify the level of your dedication to your interest in gaming.</p>

<p>Apologies for the awkward sentence structure, it’s been a long day.</p>

<p>When you apply, do all you can to craft your application as That Kid That’s Really Involved In Gaming, because this is an area where your skills and experiences surpass all other applicants (never mind that most kids don’t get seriously involved in gaming). Having a differentiating factor that makes you memorable and sets you apart from other applicants is pretty great.</p>

<p>So that’s the most impressive part of your application (not that your other accomplishments aren’t significant, because they are; they highlight your hard work and dedication in several areas), and what adcoms will remember you for. Emphasize this. It’s kind of your selling point as a future undergrad student.</p>

8

<p>Thanks for the thoughtful reply. That’s essentially how my brother framed his application, and he had great success at good schools (likely-lettered from Duke and Columbia, accepted at Pomona, etc). He did, however, have excellent test scores and his involvement with gaming was relatively different.</p>

<p>Does it make any difference that I didn’t play the games competitively? I played the games, but I managed and oversaw the team more as an organization than anything else. For example, I negotiated any potential sponsorships, etc. So while I am/was involved with gaming significantly, I wasn’t a highly competitive player (though that wasn’t my focus anyways).</p>

9

<p>Thought I’d bump this to see if I can get any more feedback :)</p>

10

<p>You’ve got a lot of nice ECs, I’m sure HMC prefers more science/technical ECs so the programming one is good. Based on your math/science scores, they don’t seem to be your forte, but then I don’t really know how your school grades. To be honest, 4s on AP Calc tests is kind of low. I think you’ll need excellent SAT and SAT II Physics scores to have a really good shot at Mudd. Pomona prefers more well rounded students so I think at this point you have a pretty good shot there. I don’t really know how they value classes taken at community college differently from high school classes though.</p>