<p>Hello, College Confidential. I'm a sophomore new to the board, having recently discovered it and finding out the extent of extracurriculars that are expected. I have high aspirations, but reading CC has kind of crushed these aspirations. Could someone chance me for these schools, and help advise me what to do regarding ECs (and anything else)? </p>
<p>After some weird switching in freshman (meaning I had virtually no ECs), I entered sophomore with 3 sciences and kinda overwhelmed myself to the point of no free time to pursue interests or ECs. Being close to the end of my 2nd school year, I'm worried that this is going to bite my in the rump very soon, and that since junior year is already on the horizon any attempts to begin showing interest may seem more as padding.</p>
<h2>Sophomore in the Northwest, attending a pretty good IB high school. Generally, a few people head to Ivies a year.</h2>
<p>Male, East Asian descent. Extremely low income family (Less than 15000$/year)
Interested in Computer Science, Math, or Sciences in general (currently interested in physics or chemistry)</p>
<p>Chance for:
-Pretty High reach: CalTech, MIT, Princeton, Stanford, Harvard
-Reed College, UCs, Cornell College, </p>
<p>9th grade: (of note)
4.00 both semesters. No real advanced classes, due to low start.
Of note for later: Advanced Algebra 2, First year Chemistry</p>
<p>Over summer: took precalc because of the school's slowness in beginning math </p>
<p>10th grade: (of note)
4.00 first semester, worried for second that I might have a B already.
IB Chem 3-4 (Second year IB chem, skipped straight into it from chem due to teacher recommendation)
IB SL Bio 1-2, IB Physics 1-2
IB Spanish 7-8 (4th year spanish), IB Math SL 3-4 (Took precalc over summer because Adv Alg and PreCalc here is pretty slow)
Accelerated American LitComp (English) (basically honors)</p>
<p>Projected:
11th:
IB Computer Science, IB Physics 3-4 and IB Bio 3-4, IB Spanish 9-10 (5th year), IB Math HL (Calc 2), IB American History, IB English 5-6, random necessary IB "theory" class.</p>
<p>So for in testing:
PSAT: 210. I am going to study over the summer and try to get this above 230.
SAT subject: Not yet</p>
<p>ECs:
My weakest point:
*Chess for 3 years before, and Chess club for freshman-(projected)senior
*Vietnamese School (Language/Culture) for 11 years
*Volunteer: Vietnamese School Assistant Instructor/Teacher (sophomore-senior[projected])
*MUN (sophomore-senior) (seeking to become co-president/club leader)
*Minds Matter (Low-income student directional program)
*Cornell Summer Computer Science Institute (3 weeks next summer)
*John Hopkins Center for Talented Youth (Online Java program)</p>
<p>And... nothing else yet. I'm not too worried about academics, but I'm failing in terms of ECs. I'm seeking to join Key club, Red Cross Club, math club, programming club, and our ASE internships for science and computer science at nearby universities, volunteering at the library throughout the school year, going for Questbridge program, resuming Jazz band (again, I dropped it in 10th grade but did it 9th), National Honors Society, resuming Debate Club (which I really liked, but... yep, dropped it too)</p>
<p>However, I'm feeling that this might not be nearly enough for anything, or it might seem like padding...
Is it too late to start working on extracurricular?</p>
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