Need your help parents

<p>i'm a high school junior with not much of a knowledge on colleges and admission.
could anyone give me advices and tell me schools i should consider.
I'll be happy to send it to you the short overview of me.</p>

<p>fl02 - You will get the most help if you post a short summary of [ul][<em>]what you are looking for in a school - everything from size, location, "style", academic interests[</em>]what your high school record has been - type of courses taken, GPA... [*]what your outside interests and activities are - EC's, jobs, etc....[/ul] You may already have that in your "overview." Post it here and many parents will give you ideas and advice.</p>

<p>ty...</p>

<p>schools in addition to princeton, duke where i most want to go.
size- any
location- northeast preferred. but others are fine
academic interests- very good in everything orgreat in physics,math,or med
others- need blind schools, schools with good reputation</p>

<p>high school</p>

<p>9~10 attended school in a foreign country
9th= all As in normal courses (geometry <- only significant)
10th= all As in normal courses (math anal, bio, chem) - hardest course compared to class but not to people in states</p>

<p>11- States
11th= all As so far with AP chem and AP Calc AB. most likely all As end of year (if very unlucky maybe 1 B+). </p>

<p>12th= planned courses- Multivariable, AP BIo, AP Phys, AP Gov, AP Stat or Eco or Environ, english, spanish 4</p>

<p>ECs.... not much... my weakness.. schools did not offer clubs</p>

<p>9th- not much since i skipped 8th grade. almost no club
- JV volley, V. Tennis, Math Tutor, NHS
Summer- language course for 160 hours (not a typical lang)
traveling other countries</p>

<p>10th
- V. Tennis, Assistant teacher for some mid school club, Math Tutor, X-country, academic team, NHS
Summer- again traveling -_-</p>

<p>11th- new school no leadership
- math team, red cross club, math tutor, NHS, national science honor society, one other random club so far
summer- more traveling then moved here where i did all the works to do in a new home</p>

<p>interest- math/science</p>

<p>talent- math, didn't win any competitions or took higher classes because they weren't offered.
-expect a solid score in AMC
- if lucky and preparation maybe maybe qualify for USAMO
- maybe not junior year but im sure ill qualify for USAMO my senior year (would it be any help since results come out at march...)
- going to start on courses in CC, learn higher math, start on research in math after the science one</p>

<p>good things- lived in 4 countries</p>

<p>bad things- not much of a social life here untill now -_-
- teachers dont know me well</p>

<p>You have a strong profile, it looks like to me. My advice would be to focus, at this moment, not on particular schools, but on making the most of the rest of this term and your next term (Jr. year spring). </p>

<p>Get to know a teacher or two well. This will really help when it's time for recommendations. This can be through class participation, talking after class and/or joining an activity where the teacher is involved as director or mentor. Or, starting to talk to one of your math/science teachers about your college future -what schools do they think might be good for you? do they have any thought on how best to pursue your math/science interests?</p>

<p>You actually do have a large number of activities. I personally think some kids on cc overemphasize the need for "leadership." What you want to be able to show a college on your application is what interests you, what you have pursued consistently and, perhaps, with passion. It looks like Math might be something which stands out as an interest of yours - highlighting your math tutoring, math team, math competitions, math research in the EC section of your application will "cover" you on EC's. Or if math is not the passion, then the next 6 months can be the time where you really demonstrate what interests you by increasing the depth of your involvement in an extra-curricular or non-school outside activity.</p>

<p>And, of course, keep up your great academic work.</p>

<p>Others will have suggestions of specific schools, perhaps. But you can focus on that a few months from now.</p>

<p>Have you taken the SAT? SATII? ACT?</p>

<p>Math S has friends at Princeton and Duke and they are very happy there. These are great choices for prospective math majors. Other good math schools to consider: MIT, Chicago, Harvard, Stanford, Cornell, Columbia, Yale, Michigan, Wisconsin, Berkeley; Wesleyan, Brandeis. Rice.
Among LACs: Williams, Swarthmore. Harvey Mudd is not a real LAC since it focus on math and science; it has a top rate math program.</p>

<p>You seem to have a strong profile and lots of ECs (they do not have to be school-based to count as ECs), so I would not worry about doing more; just be consistent in those that you do. Most colleges prefer that the teachers who will write recs for you be your junior and senior years teachers, so you have plenty of time to get the teachers to know you.</p>

<p>This year, make use of your breaks to visit a few schools to get a feel for them. Also try to get your standardized tests done by the end of the year. It will make for a less stressful senior year. You most likely should take the SAT plus at least the SATII-Math 2c and SATII-Chemistry, plus one more SAT-II.</p>

<p>You could check out Johns Hopkins University. They have both math and applied math, all the sciences, and premed of course.</p>

<p>My S maxed out the math at his school after Junior year. What he did was email the chairs of the math departments at the colleges he was interested in, and ask them what to do for senior year. There were 2 things they all had in common: 1) tutor calculus and 2) do not take community college courses. So he is tutoring calculus, and he is taking Linear Algebra following the online MIT course with his math teacher as mentor.</p>

<p>One thing that struck me (I assume your in Florida, FL?) have you thought about tutoring math to younger kids in Spanish?</p>

<p>Thank you jmmom, marite, wyogal.
lately i was much too worried after seeing What Are My Chances threads.</p>

<p>untill now i don't have any test scores. except the 2050 on PSAT last year without any preparation. this year i expect 2200+ after checking answers from the PSAT thread.</p>

<p>marite. ill definitely check those schools out. thanks
wyogal. i'm not so great in spanish nor i live florida. but i still teach math to student in different language.
i hope i become fluent in spanish along with another language i plan to continue.</p>

<p>I don't think ill have a constant ECs on things like sports.
tennis is too competitive in here, so i guess i wouldn't be able to become Varsity.
I think ill start another sport in this school which i found very interesting and new.</p>

<p>Is leadership that important. would a president or two only in senior year be enough?
thank you for your advice. i guess i have a lot to do this year.</p>

<p>fl02 - First rule of the Parent Forum ;): Avoid the What Are My Chances Thread :D (Bad for the digestion and everything else).</p>

<p>As I said, I don't think you need to worry about leadership. If you become President of an organization, that is wonderful. But it is NOT necessary. Also don't worry about consistent sports EC's. Many kids do not focus on sports and that is not a problem. If there is a sport which intrigues you, which you'd like to try, go for it. Don't worry about Varsity. Do it for the joy of trying a new sport</p>

<p>Don't spread yourself too thin trying to do all the things you read other kids are doing on the Chances boards.</p>

<p>What is important is for you to concentrate on what interests you; keep up your top-notch academic work; get to know teachers well enough to feel comfortable asking for recommendations next fall and knowing they will be able to do a good job for you.</p>

<p>If you do these things - concentrating on who YOU are and what YOU LIKE to do - we here on the Parent Forum can help you next year when it's time to make your application shine. It will happen.</p>

<p>I agree with Jmmom. My S had few ECs (no time) and was not captain or president of anything. But it was clear he did them because he liked them. Do what you like to do, don't do things to build up a resume.<br>
And don't read the Chances board!</p>

<p>You should buy the "Insiders Guide To Colleges". For the most part, it lists most of the major schools by state, with an eye-opening dissertation on what campus life is like. You can probably go to Amazon.com and buy a used book, as they really don't change much from year to year. My 2003 or 04 book was my bible when researching colleges for first child. It got caught in the rain (convertible top left open), and is almost completely destroyed, but I still use it religiously in research for my other teens.</p>