<p>I'm a rising Jr. at a super-competitive, rigorously grading, small top-5 newsweek HS. We attend class 7:30-4. Almost no on-campus ECs, no school athletics and few facilities. We have to take all AP classes - 7-8 full year academic classes ar required. Here are my current stats:
PSAT(sophomore): 205 ..I should be able to exceed the NMS cutoff in my state this year
SAT: around 2150 (practice) - I know I can get it to 2350+
(scored 1820 as an 8th grader)
GPA: By end jr. year will likely be unw 3.6 (All As with 2 Cs), weighted = 4.4
AP: 10th grade: AP Eng Lit - 5
AP Bio - 4
AP Macro - 4
AP Micro - 3
AP Calc AB - 3
AP Euro - 3
9th grade AP US Govt - 4
8th grade AP Comp Sci - 3
One of about 420 sophomores in US to get AP Scholar with Distinction
ECs:
Summers 2010/2011: Mayo Clinic HS Summer Volunteer Program - Nuclear Medicine
Summer 2011 Stanford Univ. Extended Program for Talented Youth - Artificial Intelligence
2009-present: Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth - JAVA Programming, Anatomy/Phys
2010-present: National Society of HS Scholars
2011: Founder/Pres. Computer Science Club
2011: Founder/Pres. Competitive Writing/Literature Club
2011: Founder/Pres. Key Club (service club related to Kiwanis)
2011: Founder of corp. that helps non-profits with computer/web applications
Martial Arts: Brown Belt
Competitive Weightlifting
Entering several essay competitions</p>
<p>11th Grade courses: AP Calc BC, AP Chem, AP USH, AP Eng. Comp, AP Comp/Sci, Hon. Phys., Spanish IV, Fine Art</p>
<p>Major area of interest: Comp Sci, Other Interests: Math/Accounting/Finance</p>
<p>What are my chances for admission and what should I do to increase them?</p>
<p>your course/hs rigor and ap scores are incongruent.
you don’t stand out in anyway. let your passion in an activity or two shine through next couple of years.</p>
<p>I agree with the above poster; your school seems really rigorous, yet your AP scores aren’t reflecting it. Too many 3’s and 4’s; you should be shooting for 5’s. Something is off…</p>
<p>However, having eight AP scores by the start of sophomore year is extremely impressive. Just make sure you score well on your junior exams.</p>
<p>Thx for the feedback. Everyone was congratulating me for getting AP Scholar with Distinction as a sophomore (which I was told was very rare, only 420 in the US), but the perceptions of both of you are that my 4/8 AP scores of 3s are poor performance no matter what age you got them (in my case 8th grade and 10th grade) and no matter how many classes I had on my plate at the same time (7). Other HS sophomores ususally take only 4-5 academic classes of which maybe 1-2 are AP, and maybe if I had, I would be showing you UW GPA of 3.95 and 5s on both my APs, but I have to deal. I am concerned that my school requiring all of us to take 6 AP exams, plus Honors Chem and foreign language in sophomore year, will actually hurt my prospects for MIT and other top schools. The incongruency that you point out results from being overloaded with too many classes coupled with some rookie teachers (but I also take responsibility for underestimating the effort). I know that in order to have a chance at MIT, I have to get straight As in my 7 courses this year, and all 5s on my five AP exams. If you have any suggestion on pursuing my passions, which are Comp. Sci, community service and writing, let me know.</p>
<p>One thing is you shouldn’t blame your “bad” (which aren’t really that bad) scores/gpa on workload. There are countless freshmen/sophomores enrolled in many [nontrivial] college courses and still excel despite the workload. Also, if I recall correctly, AP scores aren’t taken into account for admission (because reporting the scores are entirely optional and unofficial).</p>
<p>However, the academic rigor of your courses is impressive. I would, however, try and pursue a passion more deeply. You say you like Comp Sci/Math/Business. Even if your school doesn’t offer on-campus ECs, you can always go off-campus and pursue them in different ways. For example, you could try and qualify for the International Olympiad in Informatics (for CS) or the USAMO/MOP/IMO team for math or pursue internships with businesses (or join FBLA and try to do well). The point is, you aren’t limited by your school. People have done all these things even with a workload not unlike yours.</p>
<p>Lastly, I don’t think anyone here could accurately chance anyone for admission to any of these top schools (MAYBE a couple of exceptions). Just do what you like for your own sake and you will go far =p.</p>
<p>The bottom line is that you have overloaded yourself, and consequently, it looks like in some core science and math classes, you haven’t mastered the material. (Edit: ON further inspection, it looks like you haven’t finished calc so you took the AP calc exam unprepared. Some schools offer Calc AB and they mean calc I, but I think the AP calc AB exam is an easy versoin of the entire year-long sequence rather than covering only the 1st part.) There was an MIT blogger (and admit) who overloaded herself on AP’s and got nearly all B’s, and obviously she got in. However, I don’t think this is a good strategy for a scientific career or in general for college admissions. In general, colleges do not care if you overload yourself or not. Certainly, two C’s will hurt you more than having more AP’s will help. AP exam scores are self-reported and you are allowed to pick and choose what you report, so the exam scores in themselves will not hurt you. I don’t want to rain on your parade, but the top colleges won’t care much about the AP scholar award or that you did it as a sophomore–it’s not like you are in the top 400 of applicants in their eyes since there are only 400 who did it as a sophomore. Basically, you have one 5 on the AP test and a bunch of 3’s and 4’s, anyway, so it’s debatable how impressive that is. Interscholastic academic competitions (scholastic bowl, math/science olympiad exams, science olympiad (team competition,) and other competitions) are all viewed as a bigger deal. The sad fact is that even if you had gotten all 5’s and had gotten the corresponding award, the elite colleges would not respond how you think they would. I mean, they wouldn’t use it to separate the top-level candidates.</p>
<p>So, here is some advice:
For a career in science, devote enough time to your core classes (bio, math, etx.) such that you can get a 5 on the AP. If not, you will just have to take it again in college.
Drop the number of classes you are taking to get straight A’s junior and 1st semester senior year, have time to really ace a two to three classes so you can get outstanding recommendations, and have time to really shine in 1-2 extracurriculars. A laundry list of activities won’t impress them either.</p>
<p>Echoing “mitigated,” I agree that taking advanced classes at a young age does not excuse poor performance in them. Colleges don’t care what age you are, at least the top ones. If you’re in a class, they expect you to do well.</p>