I live in the suburbs of Chicago. I’m currently a sophomore in my high school that has 417 people in my class. I am ranked 5th in the class and I am more likely to get closer to valedictorian than drop further down, however I know the top two and will never have a GPA like their’s. I have a 4.404 weighted GPA and have only ever gotten one A- (so what would that make my unweighted be), and I am taking several more AP classes later in the year which will raise my GPA (I’m projected to graduate with a 4.710).
I have taken the hardest possible classes for my freshman year and am taking 3 AP classes this year, 4 AP classes next year, and 5 AP classes my senior year. My biggest accomplishment thus far is that I was one of the first 5 freshman at my school to ever take honors chemistry (we took honors biology over the summer going into freshman year, a prerequisite to taking the course). I am, then, one of the 2 first sophomores ever (of the aforementioned 5) to take AP Chemistry sophomore year in my school. I am succeeding in the class, with a 95% so far (an A, or 5.00 towards GPA). Another huge accomplishment academically for me is that I am one of the first sophomores in the school history to take the newest class at our school: AP Seminar, an english course. I am doing very well in the class, getting nearly an A+ in the class (it will show as an A on my transcripts though). Obviously I don’t know what my AP scores are yet, but I am most confident that I will score well on both. These two “firsts” in our school history makes me, I hope, a very attractive candidate since I am paving history and I’m showing how I’m not afraid of taking risks and stepping into the unknown and blah blah blah.
I have a 32 composite ACT with a 35 in english, 35 in math, 27 in reading, and 30 in science. Typically I score better on the science sections of these tests so I am retaking it soon. Reading is, without any doubt, my weakest subject. As in school, I excel in math and science (again, a 30 is a low score for me in science) and will take all available AP math and science classes for both by my end of senior year.
I am on my way to success in my school’s speech team (going to state this year) and I went to the level below state last year but did not place for my two events. I consistently medal in all tournaments (over 10 so far, average place of fourth). I am guaranteed to be a captain next year and my senior year since the coaches and I have talked and work well together. On the science olympiad team, I was one of two freshmen to make it to varsity and then state in the same year. It is likely that between now and my junior year we will go to state again and hopefully place, and I might be able to be a captain next year but for sure by senior year since I also am very close with the coach.
I am also a member of my school’s Student Council, which is the closest thing we have to a government. It is structured such that there are six members that hold equal authority and the rest (about 70 or so) volunteer and help the community. I do not currently hold one of those six positions, but if all goes right I will my senior year (only seniors hold the positions).
As far as volunteer hours go, I have 30 as of now. Half were spent from volunteering for a children’s theater company, which reflects my interest in speech and speech team. Since I am an ex-runner, the other half were spent at a children’s track camp over the summer. I will continue to volunteer for both (the theater company is 3 times a year, so 2 left (an extra 30 in total), and the track camp is 1 time in the summer). I will hold a job this summer and into my junior year and possibly terminate it by my senior year due to the heavy work load.
I am also an invited member of the WYSE competition in my school, and less than 2% of the student body is even invited to join. It is an academic competition across several subjects, primarily those in STEM, and the series goes regionals to sectionals to state if the competitors place well. We are on the cusp of our first official tournament (regionals) for WYSE, and it is a wonderful opportunity for me to truly stand out academically, even more so.
I have talked to my councilor and I will be inducted into the Nation Honors Society next year and senior year, along with our Cum Laude program. The earliest you can enter both is junior year, so I will join as soon as possible. Both are designed to recognize a holistic student, but Cum Laude focuses more on excellence in academics than anything else.
Perhaps my biggest weakness is in the sports domain. In the years preceding high school, I played tennis avidly and was quite skilled (for an 8th grader haha). However, I didn’t attend the summer camp going into high school since I had a conflict with speech auditions and tryouts, and that upset the coach and caused him to cut me from the team. The best I can say without sounding too cocky is that everyone on the team was kind of shocked since I did well in tryouts, certainly better than at least two of the kids that made the team. The coach is, however, known for being a jerk and it does show. I am trying out again this year, and this time around there aren’t enough of us to even constitute for a team, so he can’t cut me based off of his personal conflicts with me. This presents me with an odd situation: I have a greater chance at getting into the varsity team than the freshman/sophomore team since the coach is different in the varsity team. Such is life, though…
I will also try out for four school plays between now and application time senior year. I would put my odds at 80% for the play this year, and 90% for all subsequent plays due to my interaction with the speech team which has close ties to the theater team.
There is this intangible pull I feel towards the USMA, even though I am more regarded as an academic kid and not really athletic. That is true in the sense of upper body strength, however I have excellent endurance and I can run the mile in 5:55. I absolutely love a good challenge, be it physical, mental, or both. I love this country and I want to be the best I possibly can, I just don’t know if USMA will lead me to my full potential, but it is very attractive to me. I am very well-mannered and very responsible and disciplined, I hope I will fit in with the lifestyle.
This is my list, with my objective interest ranking out of 10. What is unrealistic, where do I have a good chance at, what is a good fit possibly not listed, what can I do to look more appealing to these colleges? And one final note, I am fairly introverted but have great speaking skills (from speech), so I will do well in interviews but I do NOT want to go to a party school.
Yale - 10
United States Military Academy - 9 or 10
Harvard - 9
Princeton University - 9
Massachusetts Institue of Technology - 8 or 9
Columbia University - 8
Dartmouth College - 8
University of Pennsylvania - 8
Northwestern University - 7 or 8
University of Chicago - 7 or 8
Amherst College - 7
Cornell University - 7
University of Michigan - 5
University of Notre Dame - 3 or 4