<p>I'm a sophomore in high school in NJ and sort of new to all this college stuff so I'm just seeking some advice.</p>
<p>I have a few odd questions: when colleges take into account your ethnicity, do they go into exactly where you are from? I'm Asian but I'm from Mongolia which is a developing third world country and I'm also a first gen immigrant. </p>
<p>Another question, during the summers I usually go to Mongolia and I'm wondering if I should take the time instead to do summer activities or camps. I'm especially interested in the sciences, specifically bio engineering, biomed, etc.</p>
<p>In terms of EC, I'm on the national Mongolian fencing team and I've went to international competitions before, will that matter at all? The reason I'm asking is because it's sort of like being on the Sudanese bobsledding team or something; it's a bit rare and sorta useless I would think.</p>
<p>Sorry if this post is a bit disjointed and not very well thought out, I just had a few questions.</p>
<p>I think that the fencing is rather fascinating - I’m sure admissions officers would love to hear about it - definitely mention it, if not write your actual essay about it.</p>
<p>I don’t think you need to worry about using your summers for more college-inclined pursuits; going to Mongolia during your summers is enriching culturally and that is just as valuable if not more, even if it isn’t your run of the mill EC. Your heritage is important - much of defines who you are as a person, and I’d imagine colleges would want to know about it. College admissions officers want to craft their classes to be diverse in their scope - and I’m sure there’s room for a Mongolian national fencer. Don’t worry - the ECs that people have on this website (AIDS research, internships at the Hague, etc) aren’t really indicative of what ECs most people have - kids who have a good shot at most schools are kids who are passionate about what they do, both inside and outside of the classroom. </p>
<p>As I mentioned before I was new to this site and when I started exploring I was absolutely blown away at the sheer magnitude of the people posting; SAT scores above 2000 were the norm, 5’s on all AP tests taken, president of clubs and captains of teams and National merit finalists and semi finalists, etc. I honestly began to panick because these people were applying to the same schools I wanted to go to and they were WORRIED for goodness sake.</p>
<p>The only things I really have going for me are:
All honors
decently high GPA so far (top 20% right now, aiming for top 10%)
I fence (not very good at all actually)
Science league
planning to volunteer as an EMT</p>
<p>My school has an AP qualifying system; I don’t know if that’s the norm but we have to take a test as well as have good grades and a teacher rec and the class sizes are extremely small so it’s very competitive. I also haven’t taken the SAT’s yet but I got an 190 on the PSAT this year with no prep.</p>
<p>My ideal school would be JHU by far and I’m willing to do whatever it takes to get there. Do you have any advice on things to set as goals or apply for or just advice in general to be honest? I know i’m being extremely redundant but I’m super new to this college scene and I’d just like to know what I need to be doing the next few years.</p>