Good day,
I request assistance choosing which school to apply early to. My current candidates are:
Harvard
Stanford
MIT & CalTech & University of Chicago
An impromptu evaluation of my chances would also be nice, if you could spare the time.
Some brief information:
-Interested in a career in the physical sciences, perhaps research
-Enjoy social sciences a great deal, would like to pursue economics/history if possible
-Interested in applied mathematics
Some information on my qualifications (I’ll keep it relatively brief to avoid boring people)
GPA:
-4.94 Academic GPA, using only academic classes, weighted by increasing each grade point by one point if the class is AP or honors.
-3.93 All-Subject GPA (Unweighted)
Test Results:
-ACT 35, Writing 31/8 (Due to a mistake; the 8 should rise to a 10 on a retake)
-PSAT 231
-SAT II Scores, based on practice results:
800 US History, 800 Phyics, 800 Math IIc
(I have yet to take any SAT’s)
AP Results:
-European History: 5
-US History: 5
-Physics C (E & M):5
-BC Calc: 5
Essays:
Should be of reasonable quality. Will be overlength a bit, will have details, will be tailored to show fit at school, will show me as a person, not spectacularly innovative essays.
Recommendations:
-One from science teacher that has mentored and researched w/ me for 4 years, taken classes from for 2 – writes very good, personal recommendations.
-One from English teacher who was very impressed with extra work, intellectual curiosity, insight, etc Junior Year (And yet I can’t spell).
-One from MIT researcher testifying to solid quality of research and ability to learn fast and well
-For Harvard, MIT, and Stanford OR Caltech: CEE letter of recommendation (Good letter, hopefully)
-Option on rec’s from Oxford PPE professor who taught me over a summer
Summer Programs (Most recent to least recent, 1 line per year):
Research Science Institute (RSI)
ASA Oxford Experience
Summer School/CTD: Logic and Critical Thinking Honors
CTD: Topics in Biology Honors/[Small in-state science Program]
CTD: Topics in Physics Honors
Leadership:
-Sophomore Year: Secretary of Space Science/Research Club
-Junior Year: President of Space Science/Research Club (Only one other student got this as junior)
-Senior Year: President of Space Science/Research Club, Treasurer Spanish National Honor Society
Community Service:
-Member of advisory board to local library on teen issues
-Designed project at another local library to reduce referencing times for books by factor of 1/2
-Tutor in adult education and literacy program (Only high-schooler)
-Spanish tutor for a while
-Math tutor for a while
Significant Activities:
Space Science/Research Club
Math Team
Individual Events (IE) Team
Chess Club
Spanish National Honor Society
(National Honor Society)
Significant Awards:
-Numerous local IE accolades
-Numerous local, several state math accolades
-USAMTS Silver, AIME qual (AMC 132.5)
-7 research projects completed, 2-3 with final papers being prepared, at least 1, probably 2-3 more to be published
-Various national space research competitions
Thanks for taking the time to read this. I hope you have a good day and a sucessful college application process.