<p>Couple of questions that I would LOVE to have answered : )</p>
<p>1) By the end of my senior year I will be taking a total of 7 AP classes. It would not be posssibe for me to take anymore due to my music class. Is this a sufficient amount to still have for a great shot at Stanford and Cornell considering everything else (ECs, SAT, and essay) is in short of saying oustanding I guess?</p>
<p>2) I feel like by the time I will apply I will almost look like eveyone else in the top 25% of applicants. I have grades, experiences, volunteer hours, friends, SAT's (hopefully if I study hard) and tons of ECS. However, my ECS range from about 9 different clubs, but no national awards just state qualifiers in several areas. They have no focus like they want on "two clubs" or what not. I was thinking about starting a club for Ping pong, but I doubt such a club with little importance will boost my chances. Any ideas about a club or maybe something else that I could focus on. I love math and science and am a pretty sociable person.</p>
<p>I feel like in order to increase my dream since middle school, I need to up the money on the table and really focus on something, but I can't figure it out.
I am still a sophomore so i have some time, but I should start to get crackin soon.</p>
<p>lots of ECs lol I have 2 clubs but that only got me into UCLA</p>
<p>but yea I don't really get admission process sometimes. But the more you do can't hurt you but no one can really say you have a good shot unless you have something that makes you stand out.</p>
<p>I'll give an example. My friend was basically like you. He had everything. He played 3 years of high school football and 1 year of high school basketball. He participated in county basketball teams. He has lots of EC and ap classes along with 300+ hours of community service. He was even in the newspaper for a few reasons. He had high grades(4.3+). And high SAT 2180(alright not that high but good enough). He applied to Stanford and was rejected. The more you do the more it helps. But nothing is certain.</p>
<p>My mom's coworker's sister's daughter was some high ranking US piano player. She had tons of rewards both from state and National level. She got into Stanford with mediocre grades and a 2.1k SAT score. She didn't have any sport and only some random Chinese club for community service.</p>
<p>If you like ping pong, and want to get together with other people who like ping pong in order to play with them, and talk about ping pong, and get better at ping pong, then by all means start a ping pong club.</p>
<p>If you're thinking of starting a ping pong club because you believe starting a club would impress an admissions officer, then I'd recommend skipping it.</p>
<p>One of the best things about high school is that you have a chance to do things you really like doing. I was on my high school newspaper staff thirty-plus years ago because I was was interested in becoming a better writer, because I thought it would be really fun, and because the other people who were on the school newspaper staff were people who I thought I would enjoy hanging out with.</p>
<p>There's a group of ten of us who are still close friends a third of a century after we joined that staff together. We email each other every week, and discuss our lives, and current events. We had a big reunion a year ago, and most of us are getting together again in a couple of months.</p>
<p>As it happened, I did end up attending both Cornell and Stanford. But if a thunderous voice were to resonate from the hills today, and tell me I had to relive my life, and would have to give up either the high school newspaper experience, or Cornell and Stanford, I wouldn't hesitate for a second. The time I spent with my friends on the school newspaper, and the friendships I have enjoyed ever since, would win hands down.</p>