<p>Well, I currently volunteer weekly at a nursing home. I go in every Sunday to read crosswords for the elderly for half an hour. And then after that, I go in and paint the ladies’ nails and talk to them and stuff. Is there a way I could take that one step further?</p>
<p>And yeah, I’m about to send in my hospital application stuff tomorrow morning, as my two teachers have just finished with their recs. </p>
<p>So you’re saying that I need to be more involved in volunteering?</p>
<p>Start a club if you’re not a social butterfly. I’m not quiet but I’m not very loud either so I took this route. It was very grueling in the beginning and sometimes even depressing haha until I found my type of leadership. I kind of work behind the scenes through my officers. It’s worked out very well. The first year I had 10 close friends in my club. Now I have ~45 people in a school of 800.</p>
<p>And oh yea community service is very important. Not just any type of volunteering! You need to show how you successfully delivered and benefited your or another community.</p>
<p>Hey, Burningroses! My sister was a TAMSter, class of 2004, and she ended up going to Dartmouth. She majored in math and is now at UT in Austin earning her PhD in applied math. I did the SMI program at TAMS, but didn’t apply the following year to TAMS because of health reasons. You are SO lucky to be heading there in the fall. </p>
<p>My sister applied to Dartmouth, Princeton, and Yale. Dartmouth was the only one of the three that accepted her, although she had a 35 on the ACT and high SAT subject tests. When I did the college application process, I didn’t get into the top schools I applied to either, but managed to get admitted to Bucknell, Villanova, and Washington and Lee. My parents had just finished paying for 4 years of Dartmouth, so money was definitely an issue. I took them up on their offer to pay for grad school if I went to the University of Arkansas, and am a junior this year. Guess my point is not to stress about where you go to college. No matter where it is, you’ll probably go to grad school later, so the question might be “Which colleges have the best program in (insert your intended major) to prepare me for grad school?” Have a great time at TAMS!!!</p>
<p>Thanks! That’s actually what my parents said, that an ivy league college is just a name that costs $50,000. However, I really would like the experience of living and studying at a 300 year old world-renowned university. Plus, my aunt offered to pay part of my tuition if money happened to be of issue (she recently started to put some pressure on me because she doesn’t have any kids and is an extremely high achiever herself).</p>
<p>Do you know what ECs did you sister have?</p>
<p>At her high school, she was in French Club, French Honor Society, Sci-Fi Club, and another one I can’t remember. >< At TAMS she was in the Astronomy Club, one other one I can’t remember, and she started a math tutoring program at one of the Denton elementary schools. She organized groups of TAMSters and buses to take them to/from the school on a twice-weekly basis. </p>
<p>Honestly, now that she is earning her PhD, she realized that Dartmouth probably was not the best place for her to go for undergrad in math. She’s met grad students with undergrad degrees from other schools who were better prepared for doctoral studies. Look into which schools have the most rigorous programs in your intended field and focus your energies on them. Like, for my sister, UChicago would have been a better choice for math, but she preferred the more rural setting of Dartmouth. And, of course, broaden your application list to a range of schools with varying acceptance rates. I read on CC tonight that the acceptance rate for Princeton this year is a record low, something like 7% of applicants. That is insane. </p>
<p>One last thing: I read a Reader’s Digest article awhile back for parents of college-bound students. The article confirmed what your parents are saying. It points out some negative aspects of those high-dollar schools and concludes by saying that students in Honors programs at top state universities frequently end up with educations just as good (or even better) than what they would have had at a high-dollar place, but at a far more affordable cost. Good luck at TAMS and with your college search. It’s a very exciting time!</p>
<p>Probably a dead forum, but I was itching to post somewhere
I’m a recent TAMS graduate (from the Class of 2016) and had been accepted to four Ivy league schools and waitlisted at another. </p>
<p>What I’d recommend most is develop your academic passions but also make sure that you’re a well rounded person. You are going to a school for math and science, so try to show that you have interests in other areas. And leadership is very important as well.</p>
This is probably a dead thread right now, but I was recently accepted to TAMS (Class of 2017) and am also itching to go to Columbia. What can/should I do at TAMS to get in? Do I need to win every research competition? Is it as simple as starting a club or charity-type organization? I heard someone at TAMS made an app to detect glucose levels, and got into Brown…do I have to do something that revolutionary? As for high school, here are my qualifications:
Student Council Secretary
HOSA Officer
HOSA Parliamentarian
Drama Club Sophomore Representative
Assistant Stage Manager for SHREK the Musical
Participation in the various shows put on by my school (4)
Investment Club VP
Academic Math Lab Tutor