Advice for a disappointed and confused junior

Parents Forum
1

<p>(I’m posting this to the parents forum because I feel that the advice from parents comes from a more mature perspective than that of my peers.)</p>

<p>Background: I’m a current junior at a very competitive public school in California, and plan on applying to several highly selective schools. I have decent “standard” stats: 3.97 UW GPA (out of 4), 2360 SAT I, and 800 on the Math 2, Chemistry, and Physics SAT subject tests. I self-studied for the AP Physics B exam last year and got a 5, will be self-studying for Calculus BC and Physics C this year, and am taking the most rigorous courseload available (or at least it will be to our counselors). Besides those, (probably) earning an honorable mention on the USAMTS (USA Math Talent Search), and going to various academic summer programs (not particularly prestigous), I have zero extracurricular activities. (The reasons are mainly that I focused on raising my grades from nearly all Bs in middle school to straight As in 9th grade, taking up a good deal of my time that year, and that I was/am quite shy about approaching other people about opportunities or joining clubs.)</p>

<p>Recently, I didn’t perform very well on some academic competitions (which are what I try to focus on outside of school): I got 90 and 93 on the AMC 12A and 12B, respectively (so I might not qualify for AIME); tried out for, but didn’t pass onto the US physics olympiad semifinals; and qualified for the invitational round of NACLO, a linguistics competition, which could lead to being on the US international linguisics olympiad team (which I feel is rather unlikely for me). (Having a high index, based on both AMC and AIME scores, qualifies a person for the USAMO.)</p>

<p>I’m really mad at myself for being lazy when it comes to doing math/physics; I mostly just read and do problems that I think I can do in my head instead of really focusing on the harder problems. It’s kind of too late to do anything about this for college apps since it will be nearly impossible to qualify for USAMO at this point and I don’t think most college admissions officers know whether there’s a significant difference between AIME scores of 3-5 and scores of 6-8 (the latter of which will probably contain my score if I use these few weeks to prepare). Besides math and physics, I basically do nothing of significance outside of schoolwork; I browse reddit and Metafilter, play the piano, watch anime, and play games. So despite my decent general background (mentioned above), I don’t think highly selective schools that I want to go to (like MIT, Harvey Mudd, UChicago, and Carnegie Mellon) will admit me. I predict that I’ll be admitted to one or both of UC Berkeley or UCLA (based on historical results for our school), which aren’t bad schools, but not where I want to go to. My parents want me to go to one of those schools if I don’t get into similarly-ranked or more highly ranked schools than those, because they don’t want to pay private/OOS school tuition for schools that they don’t feel are better choices than the UCs. So I will likely end up at UC Berkeley or UCLA. If we view college admissions as a test of how successful a person was in high school, using “getting into schools that one wants to go to and can go to” as the criterion, then I will probably have failed high school. (This may not be a particularly good way to evaluate success in high school.)</p>

<p>As for what I’ll do in college: I like math and physics, and could be interested in computer science, linguistics, psychology, and related fields, but I’m not very good at math or physics (relative to the spectrum of people interested in those subjects, judging with AMC and USPhO standards). I really don’t know what I should do when I start out in college; if I decided I could be a physics major, for example, I would have to take math and physics courses in my first year, and since a normal courseload seems to be 4 courses a semester, that’s half of the year. I want to also take computer science (to get a taste of what it’s like) as well as Japanese language (which I really want to continue learning), so then I have no space left for other humanities or social science classes (aka the rest of the distribution requirements). So I’m not sure how to work out courses in college. (Another disadvantage of being interested in too much.)</p>

<p>Overall, I feel really bad about myself, because I know that relative to most students in the US, I am doing really well (so I’m complaining too much when I should be thankful and have decent self-esteem, etc.), and because I put a lot of hope for college admissions into a few competitions that I participated in within the span of 1.5 months, which doesn’t make sense. My friends aren’t exactly supportive, which doesn’t help. (I know they’re not the best friends, but I hang out with them because they share most of my interests and are interesting to be with.) Most of my good friends made the AIME with scores of 100+ on the AMC 12A, which are fairly good, and a good portion of them made USPhO semifinals (obviously, this is contributing to my warped view of life).</p>

<p>Comments and/or advice? If you would like specific prompts, I would like advice on how to deal with my emotions, boost my college applications, and figure out how to approach college (in terms of coursework, extracurricular activities, etc.).</p>

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<p>Take a d–e–e–p breath. You are stressing over nothing.</p>

3

<p>“If we view college admissions as a test of how successful a person was in high school, using “getting into schools that one wants to go to and can go to” as the criterion, then I will probably have failed high school.”</p>

<p>Then you are a:</p>

<p>(a) Truman Scholar
(b) Rhodes Scholar
(c) Fullbright Scholar
(d) ■■■■■</p>

4

<p>There are tons of great schools with strong science/engineering departments that would love to have you. I think you might spend some time doing something extracurricular that doesn’t involve being graded. Awards aren’t everything. Volunteer somewhere. Teach yourself something via MIT’s open courseware, maybe tutor other students, start a business it doesn’t matter what you do. But stop the navel gazing. You’ll be happier.</p>

5

<p>If you’re for real, then you really need to chill. The world and your future do not revolve around extracurricular test results. You are doing well in school, which will be enough to get you into a select university. Relax! Visit your school counselor to find out his/her opinion. Make an appointment to see a therapist if your anxiety does not go away. Do not start college with such overriding anxiety.</p>

6

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<p>May I suggest reading Mindset, a book recommended to me by a CC poster? You need a new definition of “success”…for your own personal happiness.</p>

7

<p>“I don’t think highly selective schools that I want to go to (like MIT, Harvey Mudd, UChicago, and Carnegie Mellon) will admit me.”</p>

<p>Your academic competitions ARE an EC, since they are done outside the classroom. I will be surprised if you are not accepted to Harvey Mudd, UChicago, and/or CMU. MIT is tougher to predict for most applicants. Let your parents also read Mindset, after you’ve finished reading it…</p>

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<p>I don’t have any advice since I don’t have experience with kids whose lives revolve solely around academics…but I will say this, life is additive and ongoing…there is no single pivotal event such as college admissions that is going to define who you are. If you read what you wrote you are already worrying about your college course schedule and how to fit in everything that to you seems interesting. It would be good to slow down and live alittle more in the present. Perhaps your friends aren’t supportive because they are living now and not trying to figure out what will be two years or three years from now. It’s not a bad thing to be a planner but the “what ifs” of today can quickly become the “shoulda, wish I woulda’s” of tomorrow when you live too far in the future.</p>

<p>It’s also healthy to have a competitive streak but to be competitive to the exclusion of other things is unhealthy…again perhaps why your friends are not supportive, they may sense they you are continually measuring yourself against them or always talking about academic accomplishments instead of just being a friend in the moment.</p>

<p>Clearly I don’t know you and can only interpret what I’m reading.</p>

9

<p>I agree with most of the posters here that you are worrying too much about this. That’s not good.</p>

<p>But at least you aren’t worrying about how you can get a $40K car out of your parents. So I give you credit for that.</p>

10

<p>For the very top colleges, you will be competing with those with the same stats as you and who also have a folio of achievements. Depending on how many of them there are and how many those schools are taking that year, you could get shut out. But once you are outside of the top 12-15 arena, you have an excellent chance of getting into any number of schools, and you still do have chances to get into even the top colleges. For your stats, you may be more typical than you think. Just apply to a good array of colleges as well as the schools that are lottery tickets to everyone. You’ll be fine if you do that.</p>

11

<p>Things may have changed, but…</p>

<p>In my mathish kid’s day, college admissions officers most DEFINITELY understood AIME scores and the difference between a 3-5 and a 6-8 is HUGE. I don’t know if Stanford still does it, but it used to send out recruitment letters to the 200 top junior scorers on AIME. A score of 6 was usually the cut off. </p>

<p>Again, I don’t know if it still does, but Princeton used to ask for AIME scores on the application. </p>

<p>So, if I were you, I would study and try to make the 6-8 range on the AIME if that’s still an option. And again, it was a long time ago now, but USAMTS used to be an alternative way of qualifying for the AIME. At least one kid in my kid’s old high school who didn’t do well enough on the AMC to qualify for the AIME got to take it anyway based on his USAMTS results.Find out the current rules. I am lots of years out of date.</p>

<p>And then, if I were your parent, I’d suggest that you apply to some of the top schools that aren’t quite at the top of the stack for math but are still darn good. That would include Yale, Columbia, Stanford and Brown—which isn’t top of the stack for theoretical math, but is for applied math. It will still be a long shot, but your odds will be one heck of a lot higher than they will be at Harvard, MIT, CalTech, or Princeton. </p>

<p>For the same reasons, I’d suggest looking at some of the top LACs. </p>

<p>And I would be stunned if you don’t get into at least one of UChicago, Mudd, or CMU. </p>

<p>The next thing to do is to think long and hard about your essay. In your case it’s going to be more important than usual. You are going to have to overcome the perception that you’re a nerd with nothing else in your life. </p>

<p>UC is hardly the worst option in the world anyway. </p>

<p>Good luck!</p>