Hi everyone. I'm currently a rising junior, but I have basically made a list of my goals for the next two years so I can stay focused on achieving them and stay motivated. Anything with a * next to it is not for certain yet. I know how ridiculous "chances" threads are, and it's not like I want a percent chance. I know that a ton of the schools I'm applying to are pretty much a crapshoot. However, I'd like some input from the community on whether (1) I will pass the "academic test" for them to examine my application closer and (2) whether my subjective areas such as Extracurriculars and supplements will be good to go. One last note; I know that I can't perfectly plan the future, and chances are this won't be my exact application at all! I would be grateful, however, if you could simply set aside the fact that I am merely a sophomore and critique this application as if I am a senior. Thanks!
Schools (not including safeties b/c it’s a waste of everyone’s time): Princeton (will apply SCEA), Stanford, Harvard, Yale, Cornell, Penn (in-state resident), Columbia, Duke
OBJECTIVE
Me: White Male from PA, Income >150k, NOT being recruited (obviously)
School: Private, rigorous, 150 kids per grade, sends ~25 kids to Ivies every year (10-15 to Penn)
GPA W/UW:/b
Class Rank: School does not rank, but top 10%
SAT I (breakdown) : 2300 (770 M, 780 W, 750 CR)
ACT: did not take
SAT IIs: World History 750, Math II 770, Literature 760
AP: World History (5), European History (5), Language & Composition (5)*
Senior Course Load: Select Choir, AP Calc BC, AP US History, AP Mandarin, Honors British Literature, AP Physics, Ethics
Awards:
- National Chinese Honors Society (10-12)
- School-wide Public Speaking Contest 3x Winner (6-8)
- Most Improved Winter track (9)
- Varsity Letters in Winter/Spring Track (9-12)
- Cum Laude Society (top 10% of class) (11,12)*
- AP Scholar (11)*
SUBJECTIVE
**Extra-Curriculars: **
- School’s A Capella Group, 9-12 (leader, 12)
- Varsity Winter/Spring Track, 9-12
- Lead roles in school plays & musicals (9,10 supporting roles; 11,12 leads)
- Domino Board (Make decisions about plays, publicize school musicals), 11-12
- Varsity Mock Trial(our school has 3 teams), 10-12 (Mock Trial Board, 12)
- PMEA State-wide Chorus (11,12)
- PMEA Regional Chorus (10)
- Organize and emcee the school’s Open Mic performances with two others (12)*
- going to Columbia University’s “The Barcelona Experience”(10)
- going on a 3 week trip to China w/ the school, staying with a host family and taking classes in Chinese (10)
- Choir President*
- School representative in Poetry Out Loud Competition (11)*
Work/Job Experience:
- worked @ local theatre’s ticketing office for 200+ hours (Summers of 9th, 10th)
- intern at Comcast for basically all of the summer of 11th grade* (connections :D)
- made ~$3,000 on a server I created and ran via an online gaming platform (summer of frosh, prob won’t mention this one)
Volunteering/Service:
- See first under “Work/Job Experience” - I chose not to get paid b/c the theatre struggling financially at the time; part of the reason that I opted to volunteer in the first place
- various days of service throughout the years at shelters, farms, art galleries, etc. basic stuff.
- Summer of 9th grade: organized a fundraiser at my house (with substantial guidance from my father) to raise money for the “Give the Gift of Music Foundation” ; was able to give a violin and around $1600 to the cause
- Summer of 10th grade: organized a fundraiser (with little to no guidance) in conjunction w/ the local theatre to raise money for their new children’s program - raised around $4000*
- Summer of 10th grade: organized & emceed an end-of-the-year musical gala @ my school where the most talented performers could do their thing, proceeds from tickets also went to an organization picked by the school; made around $2000*
Essays: Common App will talk about how the local theatre got me interested in music and theatre at a very young age and how I have developed as a person because of these interests as well as what I did to give back to the theatre, and how I can apply the skills I’ve learned in my future life. For the others, I’ll get there when I do.
Interview: No way to predict this. I’m a pretty laid back person and very expressive, hope this works to my favor. (Thanks acting, haha!)
Recs: 1) Very close to my freshman English teacher, who is and will be my advisor all the way until the end of high school. He is also a drummer for the school’s teacher band and is very interested in music, just like me. Should be awesome (I mean, he’s an English teacher)
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Still deciding on who I should pick for this. I’m very close to the director of our musicals, (known him since 4th grade) but he’s not a very good writer and doesn’t really like to talk of others highly. Our choral director is new this year, but he seems to have taken a liking to me.*
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Additional Rec: President & Lead theatrical director of the local theatre I have basically grown up in and volunteered a ton in. Should be SUPERB. This guy loves me and my family; we actually have him over for dinner a few times a year!
Arts Supplement: I want to submit this, but I don’t know what to do. I really love to sing and I think I’m alright at it; would just uploading a video of me singing a very difficult song a-capella be sufficient? Should I submit a video of me live onstage performing? I’d love to know what works and what doesn’t for this. Thanks!
Other Supplement (?): Am I able to submit a document as a supplement, such as my theatrical resume? It is basically a list, in chronological order, of all professional theatre I’ve done that includes what show, where I did it, and what my part was. The resume most notably includes the countless local plays that I performed in up until around 9th grade, as well as my playing the title role in “Oliver!” at the USA’s oldest theatre. (This was in 5th grade) Also, I performed at the London Royal Ballet while in MS (while they toured in the USA). I was only an extra and did hardly any real dancing, but oh well, it’s something.
Hooks: None, except for that my father went to Columbia for grad school. I don’t think that affects anything though.
- = This isn't definite yet, or it is in progress. For example, I haven't taken my SAT, SAT IIs, or APs yet, but I'm pretty confident that my scores will be at or around what I've predicted. Some things don't have a star next to them, even though they're 11 or 12 because there is basically a 100% chance that they will occur in the future. For example, I'm already in the process of planning both events for this summer, but the money made is just an estimate.
Thanks for reading, I know this post is super long! 
Please don’t be too harsh.