<p>i just love reading " thank you lebronjames" lol</p>
<p>@dreamhigh…I know, I know, I consistently see people with better stats than me but I have taken full advantage of everything that is offered to me as well as making my own opportunities. I’m not blaming it on my school because that’s not right, but I don’t have as much offered to me as at many other schools and I have done my best. If there’s anything specific that you think I could improve upon, I’d love to hear it 
</p>
<p>@ chemwz, although your advice wasn’t exactly positive, thank you :)!! I’m hoping that over the next year I will become “ivy material”, and I know that my SAT will give a better indication of that. Also, thanks for the info on NIH. I am planning on applying to HSHSP as well. And your info on the school activities is interesting also, and true. Non-school related…hmmm…I’m trying to think of what else I could do…I was thinking about going down to the elementary school and doing monthly classes for the gifted program, but that’s still kind of school related…do you have any suggestions of other ECs for the medical field? I’m just not sure how I could connect with that.
Also, what are you doing in the medical field? Research? I’m not sure what I want to do exactly anymore. After starting candystriping, I am pretty sure that I don’t want to work in a hospital though… This is going to sound extremely insensitive but life at the hospital seems very dull because it is mainly elderly people and I can see it being very repetitive. I wasn’t sure how to word that… But it is a county hospital. Are others different? </p>
<p>@kash money, some one asked me where lebronjames was from and I knew because of CC (some one referenced Cleveland in regards to lebronjames in another thread )…I thought that was pretty awesome</p>
<p>Alright…I think that I am only going to self-study Pysch, Environ Sci, and English Language (maybe) next year. I emailed the Princeton Admissions office about whether or not self-studying APs makes a difference in college admissions and here’s what I got:</p>
<p>Thank you for your interest in Princeton. AP scores can be helpful at Princeton for advanced placement in certain departments, but self studying and taking additional tests demonstrates proficiency in a subject area, not necessarily extra rigor. We will consider your academic performance in light of your particular academic environment, and evaluate whether or not you are fully challenging yourself, as well as your performance in your classes. If you feel like you are not being fully challenged by courses available to you at school, and self studying for APs is your only enrichment option, I would certainly not discourage you from taking on that extra challenge. In general, though, additional AP scores will not have a major effect on your academic evaluation. I hope this is helpful.</p>
<p>Best,</p>
<p>Katherine Stellato
Admission Officer
Princeton University</p>
<p>Hope that helps anyone who was considering self-studying!!! Looks like I’m DEFINITELY doing USABO because I was wavering between focusing on that and doing all of the AP s-s.</p>
<p>^ Thoughts on the email?? Anyone???</p>
<p>@YellowDaisies: You really just need to find anything that ISN’T in school. I would recommend anything related to nutrition, especially youth nutrition, any governmental or city council positions related to health, or any research opportunities. I have become a member of even executive boards of certain organizations like these, helping to plan annual meetings that often have over 200 attendees. I also have done summer research for the past two years. I have done other medical volunteering in places outside hospitals.</p>
<p>This will probably raise debate, but in my opinion, any type of hospital volunteering pretty much doesn’t matter. At my school, almost every single kid volunteers at a hospital if they want to do premed. Colleges often see hospital volunteering AND shadowing as, get this: negatives! Why? Because they are so overdone that it gets to be sickening to see another hospital volunteer.</p>
<p>I’m sorry I didn’t really go into the specifics of what I’ve done…I just don’t like publicly posting my EC’s. All I can say is that you should try to cover ALL facets of a medical background: research of some type, some type of “bedside manner” experience, etc. Those two are the most important. Most always, someone can find research, and that’s great. But rarely can one find bonafide beside manner experience, which often can make kids stand out.</p>
<p>My school does not turn out kids to ivies left and right. We pride ourselves as being the best in the state as per official rankings, but in the past five years, not a single kid has been accepted to Harvard or MIT. I see it happen year after year: the kid who thinks they’re “all that” because they have done hospital volunteering, orchestra, and student council, or perhaps speech and debate. One girl this year thought she was going to get into “at least” Brown, as she said, and guess what? She’s going to our state school that requires like a 21 ACT to get into. There you have it. It doesn’t matter how many school things you do, the MORE OVERDONE they are, the less unique you are, and it reflects poorly upon yourself.</p>
<p>My sister is one of the lucky ones. She got into Brown, because she actually did things outside school, actively seeking activities and planning them too. There’s a REASON EC’s are called what they are - EXTRA-curricular. Translation: outside of school! for some reason, people think that being part of orchestra, or the president of the school’s volunteering club is an EC. Think again.</p>
<p>I think of this not as a criticism, but just as a warning. If you wish to become “Ivy Material”, then you have to do stuff that Ivy League kids do. Things outside of school are essential, and they MUST, MUST, MUST be related to the field of your choice. Programs like NIH and HSHSP are good, but they are very difficult to get into. I’d recommend RSI as well. Avoid most anything that you get in the mail.</p>
<p>Did that help?</p>
<p>^ Mmm…your posts are the ones that scare me. I don’t mean that in a bad way because you are right. I just mean that scares me because I don’t know what I’m going to do. It makes me wish that there was a way for some one to say “Do this and you will get into Princeton” and I would do it. It’s when I don’t know what to do that scares me. I know that is what they’re looking for: someone who’ll be creative and find new ways to change their community, but, still, it scares me. </p>
<p>The part about the ECs having to be unique was especially worrisome because our school’s ECs are VERY generic, and I have attempted to create new groups but couldn’t gather enough interest. However, as you said, out-of-school, out-of-school</p>
<p>Well, I am working with patients at-risk for Delirium (bedside manner?) but it is at a hospital, so that is probably nothing special. Yes, I have heard of RSI…and its very low acceptance rate, but I am planning on applying. </p>
<p>What did you think of the email I just posted? </p>
<p>Oh and thank you for taking the time to help me out!!! I really appreciate it :)</p>
<p>P.S. What grade are you going into? I’m just curious not doubting your advice, I was jw if we were the same age</p>
<p>Haha, no problem. I really like giving out advice, it’s fun I just turned 16, going to be a senior (I skipped a grade).</p>
<p>I have always thought that APs are pretty worthless anyways. I think that yes, they’re great for getting college credit, but not helpful at all for getting into colleges. I’m in IB, so I sort of do the same thing but it’s more integrated with my whole high school experience.</p>
<p>My school also has very generic EC’s. We have about 2600 students, 600 in my class, but we don’t have any semblance of clubs worth joining outside of debate. That’s one of the reasons outside activities matter so much.</p>
<p>You are exactly right on what schools are looking for. And outside activities come into play right there: changing the environment around their college. Otherwise, how can colleges be certain you will continue them in college if they accept you? THEY CAN’T, because you clearly can’t participate in Science Club if you’re at Yale. Extra-curriculars are things that can be done at most all places over the country. They should be applicable to any major city, in general.</p>
<p>Example: you can continue a research project at most any large university around the country. You CANNOT continue Community Service Club.</p>
<p>Your best bet is to just search online. Like I’ve said before, if there’s nothing available in the community, create something! If there’s no youth medicine organization, work together with a nutritionist and make an organization. I also strongly believe that the worst things are things you have to pay for, and the best ones are the ones you GET paid for doing. That way, it shows ANYONE can do it, rich or poor. I noticed HSHSP costs well over 3000 dollars. That’s absurd. Do you think some inner city kid who doesn’t have the funds to pay 3000 dollars could afford that? Definitely not. But he/she definitely COULD start up a program with the help of a mentor or a doctor.</p>
<p>Research should be the easiest thing to find. There is research anywhere. A college literally cannot survive if they do not have an active research program. If you don’t have a college nearby, that’s different, but chances are, you can find something.</p>
<p>USABO is a very good thing to do, if you do well. If not, it probably just will seem like a waste of time and effort. Remember, most people get psyched out when they get a new volunteer position…you shouldn’t. Most volunteer positions will last for probably 1 hour a day, four days a week tops. The one exception is research. NO OTHER volunteer medical activity will have you there for more than probably four or five hours a week, unless it is something that you yourself founded and therefore have to be there everyday.</p>
<p>Standardized testing update:
Microeconomics - 5
Macro - 5
Human Geo - 5
US - 5</p>
<p>SAT USH - 790</p>