rigorous schedule over mediocre ecs?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>hi...</p>

<p>gpa-4.12 out of 4
ive taken weird science classes at school like
dna, quantum physics, bionanotechnology
and things like ap bio, ap calc bc, ap physics c, ap stat, apush, ap span lang, ap psych,
and gotten all 5s..
next year im taking multivar and linear algebra, ap chem, organic chem, computational physics, ap gov, ap eng
i think the schedule is my strong part</p>

<p>sat i-2290, reading-760, math-770, writing-760....i think i couldve done better so im retaking in oct
sat ii
bio-760
math 2-800
physics-800</p>

<p>taekwondo-7 years....3-degree black belt....and judging certificates.... as well as many hours helping my instructor teach others
also for taekwondo i got 3rd at internationals and 1st at nationals but that was in ms....will colleges consider this? </p>

<p>bio olympiad semifinalist for 2 years
ocean bowl, 2nd, 3rd place at chesapeake bowl
im doing an internship at gmu about genomics
future problem solving..2nd, 3rd place at states...9th at internationals
aime qualifier...like everyone else
i study independently a lot... ive taught myself multivar and stat
ohh and i taught myself to write in russian...ya im russian but i was terrrible at speaking/writing
and i taught myself to play the piano and i compose music for fun
anyway i think my extracurriculars are pretty weak....my only leader positions are at taekwondo</p>

<p>im thinking of applying to
caltech, princeton, mit, duke or cornell, harvey mudd, uchicago, uva, </p>

<p>i think i can get into uva- in-state, hmu, what about others?
....hoping for caltech? </p>

<p>can anyone recommend me some other schools....i mostly like math/physics/bio</p>

<p>thanks</p>

2

<p>I think you'll be fine at the schools you're applying to, especially a school like Caltech. At Chicago, academics are our strong point, too, and just as we don't pretend to be a well-balanced university (in terms of balancing academics with parties/ "the real world") I don't think we always admit well-balanced students. I don't know if the other schools on your list that are not Caltech, MIT, Chicago, or Mudd think the same way.</p>

<p>You also undersell yourself. Your self-studies ARE your extracurriculars. An EC is anything you do outside of what the school mandates that you do, and I think colleges want to see that you take initiative and do stuff more than they particularly care about your non-academic interests. You've invested a lot of time into your schoolwork, and it shows. That's cool. I have friends who were very much like you (in that they hardly lifted their heads from their books throughout high school) and both fared well in the college process.</p>

<p>Good luck with your college process!</p>

3

<p>you do not have mediocre ECs...those are solid to really good ECs!</p>