<p>Hi all! I’m a senior who just took the SAT again in January (2180–>2240), and I’d really appreciate it if you guys could give me any thoughts on my decisions in April. </p>
<p>I was rejected from Stanford EA before my new SAT’s and a stronger teacher recommendation (this teacher couldn’t give them to me for EA because of illness), but I’ve been recently accepted to U. of Southern California and U. of Maryland at College Park.</p>
<p>I also applied to:</p>
<p>HYP
Columbia U
University of Pennsylvania</p>
<p>Duke U
Rice U
Washington U in St. Louis
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute</p>
<p>Um…well here are my stats:</p>
<p>Profile
Asian Male (surprise surprise…) attending semi-competitive public school (Top 10 in MD)</p>
<p>Intended Major: Biology/Bioengineering</p>
<p>Academics</p>
<p>SAT: 730 CR, 770 M, 740 W (2240 total)
SAT II: 800 Math II, 740 Bio E, 720 USHis
ACT: 33 (34 E, 34 M, 32 R, 30 S)</p>
<p>GPA: 4.0 UW, 4.79 W
Class Rank: 1/379</p>
<p>Senior Courseload and Midyear Grade:
English AP Literature (A)
Photography II (A)
Calculus BC AP (A)
Psychology AP (A)
Spanish 5 AP (B)
Chemistry AP (A)
Independent Research (A)</p>
<p>Other AP’s taken:
Government and Politics AP (4)
Calculus AB AP (5)
Computer Science III AP (N/A)
World History AP (4)
English 11 Language AP (4)
Biology AP (4)</p>
<p>**Extracurriculars<a href=“I%20just%20copied%20my%20additional%20info%20section”>/b</a></p>
<p>:::Community Involvement:::</p>
<p>Teen Representative (11th, 12th)
- Teen member on the local district council called the Village Board. Serving as a liaison for high school students during Board meetings. Plans and hosts community events with two other Teen Reps and discusses issues concerning the welfare of teens in the neighborhood with the Board. </p>
<p>Amnesty International (11th, 12th)
- Treasurer. AI promotes awareness of humanitarian issues. Projects included but are not limited to the making of armbands for the Jena 6 protest, hosting of a coffeehouse to raise donations, and sponsoring of an open debate night.</p>
<p>:::Fine Arts:::</p>
<p>Howard County Gifted and Talented Art Program (9th, 10th, 11th, 12th)
– The county visual arts Saturday program. Nominated by art teachers and critiqued by a board of evaluators before enrollment, the students work on developing skills of interpretation and technique in various artworks and present a show at the county’s Department of Education gallery at the end of the academic year. </p>
<p>National Art Honor Society (11th, 12th)
– Chapter founder and President. NAHS gathers the school’s talented artists and puts their abilities to good use through volunteer service. Projects include but are not limited to the hosting of an art gallery with a coffeehouse, painting of creative art panels for a local kindergarten, and designing of an art calendar for fund raising. </p>
<p>Piano (9th, 10th, 11th, 12th)
– Eight years of study with a National Guild certificate in the Collegiate Preparatory B class, and an A on the High School Recognition Advanced I test.</p>
<p>:::Science and Engineering:::</p>
<p>NASA National Space Club Scholars Program (Summer 2007)
– A 6-week intern program at Goddard Space Flight Center. Participants are assigned to work with a professional in a field related to the student’s stated interests and expertise. Studied the design for the new James Webb Space Telescope’s image-based wavefront sensing and ran tests on a digital signaling processor in the Applied Engineering and Technology Directorate.</p>
<p>U.S. Department of Agriculture Internship (12th)
– An internship provided as part of the Howard County Intern/Mentor class. Studying gene sequences of Theobroma cacao trees. Searching and comparing polymorphisms expressing resistance to Witches’ Broom and frosty pod fungal infections and writing a research paper. </p>
<p>Johns Hopkins Robotics Medical Challenge (10th, 11th, 12th)
– Constructed and programmed a robot which uses infrared sensors to maneuver a course and distinguish specific targets on the ground.</p>
<p>:::Other:::</p>
<p>Soccer (9th, 10th, 11th, 12th)
- Team captain. Played 6 years of outdoor league, 2 years of pick-up on Saturdays, and 1 year of indoor.</p>
<p>Awards</p>
<p>Rensselaer Medal in Mathematics and Science
National Merit Semi-Finalist (Finalist now)
AP Scholar with Distinction
Maryland Distinguished Scholar
Washington Post Top Achievers
Piano High School Recognition
Member of National Piano-Playing Auditions (Preparatory for Collegiate Class)
Outstanding Achievement in JHU Robotics
Student of the Month</p>
<p>Other stuff</p>
<p>Teacher Recommendations: Pretty good, I’d say… My biology teacher talked about my leadership in class discussions whereas my government teacher remarked upon my lasting impression on her as one of the top students she’s had in her career.</p>
<p>Optional Recommendation: I got the manager of the board of my district to write me a recommendation about my community service and performance. She discussed my leadership mainly and made a few comments about some of the events I’ve organized as being the most successful in years.</p>
<p>Interviews: I think interviews would probably be one of the stronger parts of my application. I love to chat with people, and each interview I’ve had has been interesting. I talked a lot about my dual interests in art and science, from which my creative and analytical personality originate. My best interview was probably for Harvard, at which the alumni told me she would definitely write me a stellar recommendation and asked me to call her about my decisions in April.</p>
<p>Essays: Thank goodness I’m done those! Haha…I think my main essay is decent, and it’s received some great comments from readers on CC. The reviews vacillate a little, but generally they were very positive. It’s about my childhood passion for insects and how that has developed into a general curiosity for learning and desire to explore my interests in the college environment. Anyway, I spent a lot of time on these essays. My friend and I worked on ours together for weeks. :X</p>
<p>Visual Art Supplemental: I submitted a CD with a slide show of some of the pieces I’ve worked on over the years. </p>
<p>Anyway, that’s pretty much it. Thanks so much if you’ve read all of that…I just realized how much stuff I had posted. This’ll be my final chance thread on CC…it’s been fun, everyone hehe. </p>
<p>Best of luck to all seniors in April!</p>