Ok, who is ready for an information dump.
First off, before I start with what will look like extreme bragging. I would like to say that my parents gave me control over my education more specifically highschool education. I have been homeschooled since 2 grade and have grown up in a, I guess you could say, different biome compared to other traditional highschool students. Homeschooling has given me the time to develop several deep “hooks.” What I’m looking for is advice on what I could improve on my application and get me admitted to Universities I will list below. So here we dive in.
ACT: 28 I know this is the weakest part of my application, and I am currently improving my score.
GPA: Weighted: 4.62/5 Unweighted: 3.86/4
AP: I haven’t taken any AP courses
Freshman: I was homeschooled through an online virtual school, nothing really notable except I took Algebra II.
Gap Year: Technically it really wasn’t a gap year. I lived in Quito, Ecuador with my adopted sister and her children. This wasn’t my first time living in Ecuador. While there, I studied at a regular Ecuadorian school there. The curriculum was taught fully in Spanish. The quality of education wasn’t bad, but I really didn’t learn anything new in the courses there. It did wonders for improving and maintaining my level of Spanish but not much else. I tried getting in a higher level class, but the education system there is completely different compared to the US. Instead of the students moving from class to class the teachers do. So if I wanted to take higher level math course, I would need to take higher level courses of everything.
Awards: I was given an award for having the highest highschool GPA for the school year.
Sophomore year: Returning to the US. I began taking classes at a community college as a duel enrolled homeschool student. I was a enrolled fulltime, and took classes on campus. Please keep in mind that Kansas has very lax rules for homeschooling. My parents can consider me graduated whenever they want. Till then I count as a DE Student. If I apply to my state school they will consider me as a incoming Freshman. I have confirmed this with them.
Fall Classes: Intermediate college Alg., Composition I, Keyboarding I
Spring Classes: College Alg., Composition II (Honors), Physiology (Honors), Keyboarding II, P.E. gym.
Summer Classes: Trigonometry
Junior year: Continued taking CC courses. This community college is the largest in the state with an average enrollment of 19,442 Credit students (2014) and 12,000 non-credit students.
Fall Classes: Elementary Chinese I, US History till 1877, Public Speaking
Spring Classes: Calculus I, Statistics, Introduction to Philosophy
Gap Year: My community college has an exchange program with a university in Xi’an, China to study Chinese for a semester. This is a competitive scholarship with limited spots each year. This is mainly because the program is fully funded by the Chinese government. The Chinese gov. provides tuition, dorm, stipend. Students only have to pay for the visa, plane ticket, and money for personal travel. This is where I’m currently at, I applied to scholarship for both Fall and Spring semester. I have 20 class hours a week of Chinese. It’s an amazing experience. During winter break (January and Febuary here in China), I backpacked throughout China. I can say it has been a life changing experience.
Senior Year: Because I didn’t apply to universities back home last fall, I will be doing so this Spring. I already have the Common app mostly filled out.
Here are the classes I’m signed up for this fall: Calculus II, Chemistry I, Engineering Physics I (calculus based).
Background: Filling in the blanks above. My mother has her masters in Spanish from Middlebury. While she isn’t a native speaker, I would consider myself as one. I grew up speaking both at home, and I sound like a native speaker in both Spanish and English. I have three older adopted sister from Ecuador. They were in their teens when I was a wee little lad. I come from a family of academics, both of my parents are university professors. I am very academic driven, I plan on at minimum getting a Masters. I live in a small town of 12,000. My parents and I commute up to the city for classes.
Now on to extracurricular activities.
EC: I’m going to list these off in the priority I give them on my Common app.
Peer Tutor: I’ve worked as a peer tutor hired by community college. I started my Sophomore year till I came to China. I tutored English, Spanish, and Mathematics. I tutored students with mental and physical disabilities, and occasionally have presentations over MLA and APA writing. And I’ll be returning to my job once I get back.
Boy Scouts: I’ll start off with, I earned my Eagle scout my freshman year. My Eagle scout project was a Public Service Announcement about the Emerald Ashe borer, where I informed my community through three media forms. I’m also part of Order of the Arrow, brotherhood member. Although I became a little bored with scouting after I earned Eagle, I’ve stayed active with my boy scout troop. Sophomore year, I found sub section withing scouting that I really feel passionate about.
Leave No Trace Outdoor ethics: LNT non-profit organization that seeks to research and educate people about low impact methods when camping in the outdoors. I am currently a Master Educator, and have given LNT presentations to scout troops throughout the Midwest. LNT works with Boy scouts to teach about leaving no trace. When I lost my way after I earned Eagle, I found out about LNT and have devoted my time to it since.
Family Responsabilities: My parents live in an old 1904 Victorian home. There is always something that needs to be renovated or fixed. I have worked with my father on the house. He taught me how to work with my hands, because of that I know how to do wood flooring, build walls with drywall, electrical work, painting, setting tile. My father showed me the value of working hard with my body.
Violin: I started learning the violin at 5 years old. I learned through the Suzuki method of listening. I’ve complete all the Suzuki books since Sophomore year. I’ve played with multiple orchestras. While I’m no concert soloist, I am good at chamber and orchestra music.
And now we are at the end.
I’m planning on majoring in Biomedical Engineering or Political Science.
I’m looking to apply to: Johns Hopkins, Wash. Univ, St. Louis, Middlebury, Georgia Tech, MIT, Harvard. These are my reach universities.
For my safeties: Kansas University, University of Missouri, Kansas State, S&T of Rolla Missouri.
I’m looking for advice in general, and good fit universities for me.
Thank you so much if you read everything. Looking back, I may have written too much. Anyway, thank you.