<p>I'm planning on applying to top schools such as MIT, Princeton and UPenn and have very strong academics (3.95 unweighted GPA taking most challenging classes at my school), play sports all year round and am involved in a few clubs but I'm trying to make my application stand out from the many others these schools receive. I'm passionate about mathematics and softball. I'm about to enter my junior year so I'm trying to find ways to pursue my passions and stand out to colleges. Any ideas? I'd like to do some sort of research or internship relating to math but have no ideas for a specific topic.</p>
<p>for sports, the way to stand out is to build EC’s around it like volunteer related to the sport and be the best at it, with math I guess you’ll have to stand out by winning state competitions. I don’t think there’s anything you can really research about math, you can work with a professor at a local college but that’s about it</p>
<p>Winning some awards and having leadership would be a nice way to stand out but at the end of the day getting as close to a perfect score as possible on your SAT and/or ACT will make you stand out the most, particularly if you are un-hooked. You stated “softball” as one of your passions. If you are female and interested in Engineering for example, this makes you stand out nicely as well.</p>
<p>Thanks! Others’ advice is still appreciated.</p>