I am a current senior and am applying to Stanford, MIT, Purdue, USC, UC Berkeley, University of Michigan, UCLA and Auburn and have already applied to Georgia Tech. I filled out my Tech app on the last day and know I need to revise how I present my ECs but am not sure of the best way to do it. My ECs include Cross country, my local climbing team (qualified for nationals in 10th grade for speed climbing), math team (dropped after 10th grade, explained later) and quiz team, team member at Chick-fil-a, camp counselor over the summer for VBS at my church and camp invention, I started a small stock market analysis/discussion group with friends at my school, and was part of an exchange program with a school in Germany. I feel like I can describe these decently well on my application (although I certainly do need a bit of revision), but I also spend a good amount of time outside of school teaching myself coding (currently learning Python), watching lectures online through MIT OpenCourseWare, and reading about business and computers. I feel that these do not belong in the activities section of the common app, but I feel that they do provide a better view of who I am and would make me look like a less generic applicant for the more prestigious universities.
Additionally, I switched to dual enrollment after the first semester of my junior year because my AP Calc teacher whom I had had since freshman year was biased against me for no apparent reason. For my GA tech application, I put something along the lines that I had "personal issues with my teacher's teaching methods and philosophies, but still wanted to challenge myself with the same level of work, so I transferred to dual enrollment". Is this the best way to go about explaining the situation without putting myself in a bad light or should I rephrase this somehow?
For perspective, I have a 4.22 GPA, 1550 SAT with 800 math, 740 SAT physics, 790 SAT Math II, and am a white male. My common app essay was about my experience with cross country to give a bit more depth to my dedication and growth through the sport.
I certainly would not describe any conflict with a teacher – remember the idea of a college application is to make colleges want to have you on campus and a teacher conflict is not a plus. There is no need to explain an switch to a dual enrollment class as that is a fairly common way to go. If you feel a great need to explain it I would just say that it was a better fit, a more challenging path or something along those lines.
I agree (and there is some disagreement on CC about this point) that teaching yourself coding is more of a hobby than an EC since it is a solitary pursuit – if you use your coding skills to help an organization in your school or community then it could turn into an EC. Otherwise you could might discussing it in a supplemental essay.
I agree that switching to dual enrollment is fairly common, however, my concern is that it will raise a red flag with admissions officers that I did it mid-year, resulting in me having to drop AP Human and band to make room in my schedule. I don’t feel like I can justifiably say that I wanted to challenge myself through dual enrollment, while my transcript shows that I ended up taking fewer classes (although I will be able to take one more math course as dual enrollment is semester based).
I believe that I can afford most of these schools, and will certainly consider cost more once I see what financial aid I am offered. Until then, I am applying to schools that appeal to me, with Tech being in-state and offering the HOPE scholarship.
Since you are not a resident of California, take the publics off of your list if you cannot afford the schools.
The public universities in California are funded by state taxpayers, they will be at full fees of $60K per year or a quarter of a million dollars for a public college for four years.
There is limited to NO financial aid for non-residents. The State is out of money and relies on non-residents as cash cows. Scholarships are designated for in-state applicants.
The competition with in-state residents will be tough. OOS competition is even tougher.