<p>Well, I did get into Stanford... but I've always felt insecure about my ECs:
-I've never won any contest... though I've advanced to the semifinalist stage in both of the only two I have entered, the Young Playwrights Festival 2006 National Playwriting Competition and National Merit Scholarship.
-I can boast no athletic talent or accomplishment, besides being one of the founding members of a now-dissolved community fencing club. Unless being the worst varsity XC runner in Western Washington counts for anything... which it doesn't.
-I'm not, nor have I have been, an elected officer or founder of any school organization. I've never run for office--ASB is a joke at my school. I am Drama Club Treasurer, but that's only because the Drama Club Dictator (the adviser) has mandated that everybody in the club is either treasurer or secretary. :p
-Drama is among my top 3 ECs (along with foreign languages and creative writing), but even there I've only acted in one play and was a volunteer stagehand in a second. After I submitted my Stanford EA application I became the head audio technician for another play and secured the lead role in yet another, but Stanford never knew about those.
-I haven't done a significant amount of community service at all, though I do enjoy volunteering a great deal. Me enjoying it doesn't matter though; actions are what count.</p>
<p>...So I said I'd change my ECs. Not that I guess I needed to. :) :p</p>
<p>I would have never taken honors and ap english...what a waste...most schools don;t even accept ap credits for english and taking these courses basically ruined my gpa =/</p>
<p>MY SAT score is pretty cool, but my SAT II scores suck because I took them months after I'd taken the courses (because no one thought to tell me that they were required, and I didn't find out until the summer before senior year... hurrah having parents who didn't go to college).</p>
<p>Anyway, my SAT IIs could've been a lot higher if I'd taken them right after my AP exams, that's my biggest regret.</p>
<p>Luckily, I'm a sophmore, so I have time to find some more I'm interested. Right now I do Sports through the year (XC, Indoor Track, Outdoor Track) and FIRST Robotics, but that is it. Hopefully I'll find two or three more to round out my application.</p>
<p>Definitely my SAT scores. Even though I haven't gone through the entire process yet, I think my SAT is pulling me down, but I'm content with my GPA. And I think I can do better for the EC but I think it's too late now..</p>
<p>I would DEFINITELY have improved my GPA. I didn't put any effort into high school, and apparently, I haven't learned from this now that I am in college, because my GPA is even worse.</p>
<p>Also, I would have applied to more colleges. I applied to more than a lot of people at my hs, but I still don't feel I applied to enough. I keep finding schools I should have applied to the first time around.</p>