how is my resume looking at the end of junior year?

Applying to College
1

GPA: 3.98 unweighted, 4.4 weighted
ACT: 35 (35 E, 35 M, 36 R, 35 S, 9 on writing)
No SAT
AP scores: APUSH (5) and AP World History (5) are the only exams I’ve taken so far though in a few days I will be taking Psychology, Statistics, Language & Composition, and Biology (projected 5s on all)
Class rank: Top 5

Future senior schedule: AP Calculus BC, AP Chemistry, AP Government, AP Literature, AP Micro/Macro, Anatomy & Physiology (Honors), Lab aiding for chemistry teacher

Awards/EC’s:
Eagle Scout
Highest Academic Honors (4.0 weighted GPA or higher) every quarter of high school
Varsity Science Olympiad competitor, multi-time state medalist
National Honors Society
Head of School Improvement Committee
Principal’s Advisory Committee (met with principal on a monthly basis to discuss issues and changes throughout school)
Leadership Academy (taught practical leadership skills, sophomore year we planned a charity event to raise several thousand dollars for a local food bank)
Speech and Debate team (went to States for Congressional debate)
National History Day (regional and state competitor for Individual Exhibit)
Class Government officer (I have held the positions of Vice President, Treasurer, and Secretary)
Private trumpet lessons since 6th grade (I frequently volunteer at my church and play on Sunday services)
World Language Club
Member of Sonia Sotomayor Spanish Honors Society
Interact (service organization through the Rotary Club)
Student Council officer (Vice President): as a result of this position my fellow officers and I have held numerous charity and service events, planned and executed school spirit events, were finalists for a statewide award for school organizations that exemplify school spirit, were awarded the “Golden Cup” for our school (an award meant to recognize the group that best demonstrated the school values)
Working part-time at a local ice cream store
Upwards of 200 accumulated volunteer hours

Stuff I’ll do this summer:
Shadow different specialties at a local hospital, go to Philmont (2 week trek in New Mexico backcountry), work on starting a volunteer organization at my school with a local senior center

Recs: will start asking around in the next few weeks, will definitely ask my chem teacher/Science Olympiad coach/Assistant Scoutmaster (who knows me pretty personally), and maybe my APLAC teacher and my AP bio teacher

Demographics:
Sex: male
Race: White
Income: 115k+
State: Ohio (from a suburb of a mid-sized city, don’t wanna say where)

Hooks: I don’t know what I can put as a hook which is the scariest thing to me and what I feel weakens my application the most : (

Right now I’m looking to apply to: Stanford (dream school), UVa, UNC, Vanderbilt, Pitt, UGA, Wisconsin, tOSU (safety school), possibly Case, and possibly a local university as a another safety school.

I’m looking to major in biology or maybe psychology or anthropology, on a pre-med track. I’m just worried that my EC’s will appear weak and since I don’t have a strong hook, I’ll just fade into the crowd. All my English teachers have complimented me on my writing ability and I’m gonna pour my heart and soul into those, so hopefully that’s where I can try to set myself apart. Any help on what I could work on or how to improve myself is greatly appreciated!!

2

Excluding Stanford, it’s okay if you don’t have a very impressive wow factor. Admissions officers understand that you’re still a high school student, and as long as you take advantage of every resource available to you, you’re in good shape. As for GPA/Test score/course load you’re well in line with competitive students. Overall you have plenty of strong extracurriculars. When you apply my word of advice is to focus on the most impressive few that mean the most to you. You can only put 10 activities and 5 honors on the main part of Common App, so you can compile the rest in a resume format and stick it in the additional info section. Strategy is key. When I applied I completely filled every available space with my additional activities/awards with descriptions and made sure I got recommendations from teachers who are known to write well and did not just use a generic format. I’m going to Duke next year, and my stats are not as impressive as yours, so don’t worry or over stress about it. Apart from my personal statement, I feel my college supplemental essays ranged from average to good. I did spend a lot of time on them, and AOs generally can tell how much time you’ve dedicated to your application. There are plenty of other ways to stand out. The college admissions process is very subjective and hard to predict. One activity that seems very impressive may not catch the AOs attention at all, while some other minor detail can make all the difference. What I’ve noticed is that a lot of top 20 schools like to see students creating real change in the community and helping others. That being said, there is no guarantee that you will get into any of your reaches. Schools like UNC and UVA are easier to get into in state, but for OOS students they can be just as selective as Ivies. Good Luck!

3

I would try to fit a Physics class in there as you will need to take the class if you’re on a premed track.

Given that you have Vandy on your list, you might want to consider applying to some of its peer schools like Emory, Rice, and WashU.

Your ECs are perfectly fine. Not everybody will have supposedly eye catching ECs. It’s the dedication to them that counts.

I might try to use the Boy Scout experience as a college essay topic. Although it’s not on a par with some national level ECs or awards, Eagle Scout shows a level of dedication for a long period of time. My son wrote about his Scouting experiences (he’s an Eagle with Silver Palm/OA) and it worked for WashU.

I’m the former Eagle Advisor for my son’s Troop and your academics/ECs are on a par with a Scout I worked with who will be going to Johns Hopkins this year.

4

@peach0v0 thank you so much. you’re right, sometimes I get too caught up in feeling like I haven’t done a lot compared to other kids that I forget I’m only 17. and thank you for the advice with the common app. what made you pick Duke over other schools? I’m thinking about visiting there + WF when I visit UNC, but I’ve heard they’re stingy with money (idk for sure obviously.)

5

@Hamurtle Unfortunately I’m unable to fit a physics class into my schedule, I’ve also only heard bad things about the AP physics teacher at my school (everyone fails his tests, he has a sub-3 AP score average, etc.), so I feel like whatever benefit having a physics class would give is negated by the potential for bad performance.

I visited Emory; it was a beautiful campus and an amazing school but it just wasn’t right for me. I prefer larger schools that have more of the traditional college experience than smaller liberal arts schools.

6

So Olympiad is your only math-sci EC?

I wouldn’t necessarily write about scouts, unless you get a solid read on what top colleges want to see in the essay. And then can convey those points.

Yes, other than school clubs, where vol work tends to be in and out in an hour or two, you can find something to personally commit to, where you make some difference. You don’t need to found a group to vol with seniors. But you could get some experience dealing with health care or related advocacy, real needs in your community. Shadowing isn’t an “it,” for undergrad admissions (it can be an expectation in college, one of many, for med school apps.)

It’s Stanford that will be your biggest challenge. You’d benefit from learning as much as you can about what they look for, not focusing on what attracts you. What they say and show, not others’ opinions.

7

@mayence33 it does not have to be an Honors/AP version of Physics. You will absolutely need the class as a potential premed. And college chemistry classes will emphasize the physics side of the subject.

Biology majors in college are required to take a Physics class to graduate as well. Your academic record is excellent but a lack of a Physics class might not be good for some of the reaches on your list like Stanford and Vandy.

See if you can DE in a Physics class at a local community college.

Also given your love of the subject and your performance on the AP test (plus your Chem teacher was also your ASM), I’m surprised that you aren’t considering a Chemistry major. If you’re considering that path then Northwestern might be a target.

8

The OSU, sounds like Monday night football, just kidding. OSU Wisc, Pitt , even CASE you should have no problem.

9

@Hamurtle good point, I guess that slipped from my mind that i could take physics elsewhere. And I like chemistry, but it isn’t my passion and that’s why I don’t think I’d want to major in it. Human biology/physiology is my true passion, so I will probably major in something that focuses on that. Northwestern was my original dream school when I was in like middle school, but right now I’m kind of indifferent to it (obviously it’s a very good school but I have no idea of what the fit for me would be like.) My good friend is attending there next year so I’ll have to ask him about it plus maybe visit. thank you so much for the suggestions and help!

10

@lemonlulu haha I had to distinguish it from oregon state and oklahoma state somehow

11

@mayence33 Duke actually gave me the biggest financial aid package ($50,000 worth of grants, excluding loans). UNC, on the other hand, didn’t give me anything besides loans, even though I’m an in-state NC student. This brings the cost between both colleges about the same to me, and I just liked the learning atmosphere at Duke better. When I visited Duke I felt that since there are less people, each student receives more attention from staff and professors. At Duke there are way more opportunities for undergrad research w/ professors since Duke has a bigger endowment than UNC. When I toured UNC, I found that you have to “fight” for some opportunities because of the sheer size of its students compared to Duke, and some current students told me that at UNC you’re kind of left to survive on your own. Both Duke and UNC’s pre-med track are very excellent (and can be a little cut-throat depending on who you ask). They both have countless students each year going to top med schools. I know that Duke has special pre-health advisors that help with med school applications and internships for undergrads at places like Duke’s medical hospital. Duke’s own med school also admits a lot of its own undergrads. I went to a pre health info session at Duke, and apparently a lot of their premed students take gap years to study abroad/volunteer in other countries, and Duke completely pays for/sponsors these trips. Since I’m OOS for UVA, they didn’t give me much aid either, and I didn’t expect much to begin with. I never applied to Wake Forest. In NC many people forget about WF and focus on the basketball rivalry between UNC and Duke. The other main schools I got into were UC Berkeley, UCLA, and NYU, which all have good premed programs, but UC Berkeley and UCLA’s competition are even more cut throat and “on your own” than UNC. I’ve heard pretty scary stories about how some premed students in Cal and LA purposefully give peers false information to lead them astray. NYU’s aid was around $20,000, but New York’s living expenses are high, and I didn’t want to go so far from home. Duke just made the most sense to me. By the way my major is environmental science, and I may or may not go premed. It all depends on personal preference, really. Your other choices like Vandy seem like good target/safety schools, but I would apply to more reach schools. Duke was a reach/dream school for me, and I think I wouldn’t have got in if I didn’t apply early.

12

“I might try to use the Boy Scout experience as a college essay topic. Although it’s not on a par with some national level ECs or awards, Eagle Scout shows a level of dedication for a long period of time. My son wrote about his Scouting experiences (he’s an Eagle with Silver Palm/OA) and it worked for WashU.”

My aunt used to work in admissions at a top 30 school she said they loved scouts. She said they also preferred to see a commitment to one thing rather than dabbling in 20 different ECs. So try to find a common thread that can connect a bunch of your ECs and then you could use that as a hook.

13

For the exception of OSU, all of these schools are either private or out-of-state. Unless your parents have $200k saved up, paying that kind of tuition is going to be a real stretch, unless the plan is to co-sign large amounts of private student loans over to you (very bad idea).

Before you even begin to apply to schools, find out first if you can afford it. The maximum federal loan you can take out for a bachelors degree is $27k. If that amount goes any higher, you can’t afford to go there.

What you need to do is find something affordable that works for you, rather than relying on “prestige.” I want to bust a few myths in the college selection process.

Selectivity means selective, and has nothing to do with educational quality. It’s a function of supply and demand, nothing more.

Prestige is a subjective term based entirely on emotion, not fact.

Rankings are based on perception and opinion, and have nothing to do with educational quality. They vary so widely, they are unreliable.

You cannot EVER rely on a private school to offer generous need-based financial aid.