What could I get in to? Tips for EC's? College Options?

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Hello,
I'm currently a high school junior and am looking to get into a competitive college.
I'm at a loss as to what schools I could potentially get in to... I frequently hear that I'm perfect for Ivy League and the like, but then I see people way more qualified than me constantly get rejected from the big names. I feel like my EC's are strong, but could be much better, and could seriously boost my chances.</p>

<p>Here are some of my stats:
Male
Eurasian? (mom is Indian, dad is Caucasian)
Class of 14
Good private school (AL)
GPA: 4.0 at the start of JR year, looking to go up to a 4.3 (AP's are 4.6 for A+, normal classes are 4.3)</p>

<p>Freshman year:
Honors Geometry Seminar: A-
Spanish II: B+
English 9: A
World History: A-
Biology: A
Band (I play percussion): A+
(definitely a meh year- could have done much better)</p>

<p>Sophomore year:
Honors Algebra II- A
Math Seminar- Pass (pass/fail class)
Spanish III- A
English 10- A
Human Phys- A-
World History II- A
Chemistry- A
Band- A+</p>

<p>Junior Year Classes:
Honors Precal- (shoe-in A+)
Math Seminar
Spanish IV- (Probably A+)
AP English Lang-(Between B+ and A-)
AP Chem-(Probably A)
Honors Physics0- (Probably A+)
Band- (Shoe in A+)</p>

<p>With regards to my seemingly thin course load- I have taken the hardest courses my school has offered, and we are only allowed to take AP classes after out Soph. year. The only possible difference I could have made would have been to skip Algebra II, and I wasn't aware of that option.</p>

<p>Test Scores:
PLAN: projected 33-35 ACT
PSAT (practice test offered by school): 200 (no prep)</p>

<p>My EC's:
-Varsity XC since Freshmen year
-Varsity track since 7th grade
-I have had great success with running. I have many individual titles to my name and many awards given to me by my school, including a student-athlete scholarship. I have placed in the top 3 in the mile, 2 mile, or 4x800 since Freshmen year, and this year I will be looking to take the individual state championship in XC, and in the mile and 2 mile in track.
-Been on the state championship XC team twice (My team has won a record of 7 consecutive state championships)
-This year I am organizing a food drive at my school's home XC meet</p>

<p>-Summer internship at NASA Marshall Space Flight Center. I worked on the nuclear propulsion stage project and helped with trajectory modeling.</p>

<p>-I have consistently taken math classes outside of school with MIST academy since 8th grade. I have taken classes that covered advanced algebra, geometry, number theory, probability, combinatorics, and am currently taking Calculus. I'm hoping to pass the AP calculus exam and exempt from calculus my senior year in HS and take a math course at my local college. </p>

<p>-Numerous, NUMEROUS, Science Olympiad medals at the state and regional level. Did I mention numerous? I have put in many hours to building events and written tests and most recently won gold in all three of my events at state (Robot Arm, Towers, Fermi Questions).
-Participated in National Science Olympiad twice in Robot Arm, Towers, Fermi Questions, and Sumo Bots. Placed 16th in towers in 2012.</p>

<p>-Went to Duke TIP for Physics summer before 8th grade and Neuroscience summer before Freshmen year. Received state recognition award.</p>

<p>-President of the Philosophy Club
-Counselor at the Boys and Girls club
-Math tutor at local business
-Robotics camp instructor at local business
-Participated in ARML national math competition
-NHS Member
-Tri-M member
-Section leader for percussion in band</p>

<p>Awards/Accolades:
-Many Track/XC medals
-Around 20 science olympiad medals
-Scholar Athlete Scholarship award
-Another Scholar Athlete Award
-Duke TIP state recognition award</p>

<p>This year I am going to focus on math testing and I have high hopes for qualifying for AIME and possibly USAMO (a stretch, but I can dream.)</p>

<p>I want to get in to a competitive college, and if I could go anywhere, it would probably be MIT.
I'm guessing I should really highlight how I concentrate very hard on running (usually about 3 hours a day) and still maintain a academically rigorous life. Depending on my success in HS, I may want to run for whichever school I go to. </p>

<p>I want to major in biology/biomed/bioengineering with possibly a minor in physics.</p>

<p>So what can I do to make my EC's better? What should I concentrate on in my applications? What colleges should I look at?</p>

2

<p>So you’re pretty much perfect.</p>

<p>To be honest, if I were part of admissions, I would accept you in a heartbeat.</p>

3

<p>sumobats,</p>

<p>I appreciate that, but I know I am not perfect. I might not even be in the top 10% of my class. I can count 5 people off the top of my head that I know personally who have far better EC’s than I. I’m desperately looking for advice, as well as suggestions for colleges.</p>

4

<p>There is nothing wrong with your EC’s! Try to prepare for the SAT and/or ACT to make sure your test scores are as solid as the rest of your application. Write a good essay and ask your favorite English teacher to review it. Don’t make yourself crazy trying to be perfect!
Keep MIT on your list as your “dream” school. Everyone needs one or two of those.
Identify the features of MIT that attract you, then find other schools with those traits, including some where your odds of admission are statistically better. The majority of kids applying to MIT are just as accomplished as you are, so it ends up being a crap-shoot to get in. Ditto for Stanford.
There are plenty of wonderful schools for you. If you are in a good private school, then you have a college counselor who should be your first resource in coming up with a good list! Take advantage of his or her knowledge!</p>

5

<p>Okay so obviously keep your grades up and take the most challenging classes, because not being in the top 10% of your class will probably hurt you.</p>

<p>Aim for a 2250+ SAT or 34+ ACT because most people applying will have around that score. You should start studying now because getting from a 2000 to a 2250 is a lot harder than getting from a 1600 to a 2000 because now you have to master much more difficult questions.</p>

<p>My biggest advice to you is try to get into a good summer program. I’m not much of a math or science person but I know that there are some super prestigious summer programs absolutely free. This will likely set you apart in college admissions from other people with better grades. Try looking in the summer programs forum because I really only know about the writing/language/humanities programs. Also remember to research how colleges look at the program; it might be held at an ivy league school but colleges might consider it a self selective program that only rich kids attend. The free programs like RIT, MITES, and TASP are usually more prestigious. </p>

<p>As for college suggestions, definitely Rice University. You also might want to consider UC Berkeley, U of Michigan, Johns Hopkins, and Carnegie Mellon. Personally I also love Dartmouth, Brown, and Princeton, but I don’t know anything about their science programs. </p>

<p>Last thing, your grammar is amazing but you lack a distinctive voice. This might hurt you with college essays because they could have a really amazing topic but your lack of voice might make it sound dull.</p>