Sophomore Year Introspection / How am I doing so far?

Hey guys, here’s a quick rundown of my high school plan, as well as what colleges I’m interested in applying to in the future. Are there any areas I should focus on or reconsider? Thanks!

Objective

State: CO
Income: Minimal financial aid

Intended Major: Computer Science

Stats

Current GPA: 4.0UW, 4.9/5.0W

Test Scores:
[SAT II] Math Level 2 (TBD, June 2nd, 2018), US History (TBD, June 2nd, 2018), Physics (TBD, 2019)

[ACT]: Not taking

Subjective

Extracurriculars:

  • VEX Robotics* (9th, 10th, Planned 11th, 12th)
  • {Technology Student Association} (9th, 10th, Planned 11th, 12th)
  • {Future Business Leaders of America} (10th, Planned 11th, 12th)
  • MESA (Planned 11th, 12th)
  • {[Cyberpatriots*]} (Planned 11th, 12th)
  • Computer science volunteer activity*
  • = leadership, [] = founder, {} = state/national awards received

Work Experience:

  • Computer science startup, registered as LLC (Half of 10th, Planned 11th, 12th)
  • Tech internship (10th confirmed)
  • Cybersecurity summer camp (10th confirmed)

- Paid web design consulting (10th, summer of 10th, Planned 11th, 12th)

Coursework

  • # of AP Tests: 12 (planned)
  • Honors Classes: 12 (planned)
  • Focus Areas: High level math, 4 yrs. of computer science (planned)

Colleges of Interest

Instate:

  • U of Colorado Boulder (84% acceptance), CO School of Mines (40% acceptance), & U of Colorado CO Springs (93% acceptance)

OOS:

  • Public: Georgia Tech, UIUC
  • Private/Reach: Cornell, Penn, Duke, Dartmouth, Vanderbilt, Brown, MIT

Well good job to your future self for winning a state/national cyberpariots award lol

@snowfairy137

Lol, fair point.

If I HAD to predict my final ‘portfolio’ as an applicant, I would imagine it’s more likely than not that I would be able to gain some recognition on the district-state level. Honestly though, the more I think about it the more uncertain it is. I thought the same about my robotics team, but somehow we’ve managed to rank close to last at all 3 of our competitions during frosh and sophomore year… so there’s that. But yeah I do realize how I could have come across wrong with that part.

Aw! I was hoping you’d invented time travel! Anyway, the only thing I would caution against is starting too many new things your junior year at the expense of things you did all 4 years bc you really only have a year before you have to start writing applications to accomplish stuff in those areas and it might look like you’re trying to pad your resume. However, you already have some strong activities and are in a good position for college admissions.

I would make sure you also actually like your saftey and match schools and if you don’t, research and vist more because college admissions is so competive chances are you’ll end up at one of those. Good luck!

@snowfairy137

With reference to being able to juggle the onset of so many new activities, I don’t think that will be as much of a challenge, when considering that CyberPatriots would likely require the only substantial time commitment; the other two would be more manageable from what I can tell at this point in time. And while I hear what you’re saying about avoiding “pad[ing] my resume,” to that end I don’t seem to have many options. I’d rather “pad” while I still have time left to do so rather than stick it out with too few activities.

I’ve been speaking to a school advisor about potentially chartering an ‘InvenTeams’ chapter through the Lelmson-MIT program. That’s another possibility floating around at the moment, but it’s still unclear as to how far I’ll be able to take that opportunity.

If I’m being honest with you, I sure hope I can get into at least one of the reaches listed. And from that vantage, I figure I do need to work on being able to accept rejection when the time comes around.

I’m vaguely aware of the influence of EA in admissions, but in terms of figuring out to which college I should invest that leverage towards, I’m not sure. I guess I’m considering Brown or Dartmouth for ED, though it’s not like I’m “obsessed” by any means with the label of “ivy league” and would be happy with more modest college accomodations. In fact, I’d be fine with CU Boulder or Mines, which I can (probably) get into. I’ll add a few more safeties, since through University of Colorado it only takes a few hours per application.

I’m not sure how heavily the demographics of my school influence admission, but I do want to concede that it’s been a bit of a struggle to get ECs going which match my interests. Robotics was hosted the first year I came to the school and TSA was also in its infancy. As for the other clubs, I (tried) to participate in MESA last year, and felt quite underwhelmed by the time the whole year had passed with only 2 meetings. All current members, of which there are 3-5, are seniors, presenting the opportunity for me to come in next year and mix things up. The culture of competitiveness, so-to-speak, is lacking in my very large, public hs usually with no top 30 admits on a yearly basis

Thanks for the feedback