I'd appreciate any advice

anti_gravity · May 14, 2008, 12:46am

Hello everyone,

I know that this is going to be a rather long post but I’d be very appreciative if anyone here could give me pointers on what to expect and how to improve my application. I’ve just finished my junior year of HS.

Basics about myself:

Male
White
Texas
Will be applying for financial aid (I qualify as economically disadvantaged if that’ll help me out any)

Subject of interest

Mathematics and theoretical physics, with a possible minor in philosophy

Applying to:

Princeton
Stanford (Early Action)
UC Berkeley
Columbia
Cornell
Duke
Rice
UT Austin

Schools I’ve attended

Grades 9 and 10 were spent at a 5A (750 students in my graduating class) public school that is commended by the state for academic excellence. I left ranked as somewhere around 35 in my class of roughly 750.

Grades 11 and 12 have been/ will be spent at a private institution that is very competetive and selective (every college admissions officer I’ve talked to has recognised it and given it high regards) called the Texas Academy for Mathematics and Science. All the classes at this school are taken as regular college classes at the University of North Texas and thus are at AP level of difficulty.

Testing

Here’s where I need help deciding what to do. I took the SAT to get into the private school I’m enrolled in currently and will take it again, but I’m not sure which subject tests I should take. I’m thinking Physics and Math obviously, but what should the third one be?

PSAT: 218 (still waiting to hear if I’m a semifinalist)
SAT: 2080 (Freshman year)

Courses Completed (by end of junior year)

High School lvl:

English (honors) - 2 years - A
History (Honors then AP World) - 2 years - A (did not take the AP test)
Math (honors) - 3 years worth - A
Chemistry (honors) - 1 year - A
Biology (honors) - 1 year - A
Physics (honors)- 1 year - A
Spanish - 3 years worth - A/A/B
Principles of Engineering - 1 year - A
Band - 1 year - A
Athletics - 1 year - A (duh)

GPA: 100.3

College lvl:

English Honors - A
Biology Honors - B
Chemistry - B/C
Pre Calculus/Calculus - A
Real Analysis I - A
Physics Research - A

GPA: 3.51

Courses I will complete during my senior year

Calculus II and III (includes multivariable and vector)
Physics (General Mechanics with Calculus)
Abstract Algebra (junior level course)
Real Analysis II
Ancient Philosophy
World Literature
US History
Poli Sci

Research

Since October of my junior year I’ve worked in a condensed matter research lab with a professor within UNT’s physics department. I’ll most likely continue the work during the fall and may (hopefully) be able to coauthor a paper with said professor.

Additionally I will be spending 2.5 months this summer (junior/senior year) working in a lab of the same field at UC Berkeley.

Other ECs

Eagle Scout (BSA member for almost 10 years)
UNT Dean’s Honors List (Grades 11 - present)
National Honors Society member (Grade 12 obviously)
I will work as a math tutor through UNT’s Math Department (Grade 12)
UIL (interscholastic) Mathematics and Sciences competitions (Grades 8 - 10)
Mu Alpha Theta (10 - present)
Event Coordinator for my school’s Speech and Debate (and FBLA) club
Junior Statesmen of America Member (grades 11 - present)
Track and Field long distance running (working on a sub-40 minute 10K)

Letters of Recommendation

All the following are proefessors who’d be willing to write recomendation letters if I asked:

My Calculus/ Pre-Calculus professor who is an alumni of Stanford (undergrad) and Princeton (Graduate)

My Real Analysis professor

The head of UNT’s Mathematics Department, who will be my Abstract Algebra professor

The professor within the physics department that I’ve been dong research with, who is an alumni of Princeton (undergrad) and Berkeley (graduate)

The professor at Berkeley that I’ll be working with this summer

Legacies

None

Thank you for taking the time to read through this. I’d be very grateful for any help you could offer me that’d improve my application as well as give me realistic odds of making it into my target schools.

Thank you again.

kevin101 · May 14, 2008, 3:14am

Well, from your info above, just being a Junior in HS and you already received A in “real analysis” which I assumed to be a junior COLLEGE level math course! That single fact will probably put you into the top 1% who has a highest math backgrounds among all the high school students.

Note that even college students struggle like crazy with that real analysis, not to mention about high school student getting A. If so, I personally believe that you definitely deserve a chance in many schools including Ivies provided that your major is technical and math related.

One simple question for you: I do not think that you can take real analysis (upper division) from high school or community college and also taking Real Analysis requires you to finish all calculus plus linear algebra plus differential equation before you taking it (in your case, you only finished the single variable calculus) so how did you get an A in that class?

anti_gravity · May 14, 2008, 3:44am

Thank you for your imput Kevin.

As far as your question goes, it’s the school I’m enrolled in (The Texas Academy of Mathematics and Science). The program is technically a college program through the University of North Texas that is attended by students who would otherwise be in their Junior and Senior years of HS. The way the program works is we attend University classes with regular college students but are required to take classes that also satisfy the requirements for a high school diploma according to the State of Texas (ie we must take 4 semesters worth of English/Lit courses, 2 semesters of history etc). That way once we finish the two years we are given both a high school diploma and (for me at least) ~75 hours that may or may not be transferable to another college. It’s a pretty sweet deal, although it takes considerable work.

I realize now that this looks like I’m ■■■■■■■■ so here’s the schools’ website:

[TAMS</a> Home, University of North Texas](<a href=“http://www.tams.unt.edu/]TAMS”>http://www.tams.unt.edu/)

As far as how I enrolled in Real Analysis… the undergraduate advisor for the Math department was my Calculus/Pre-Calculus professor. I asked him for a challenging math course to take as an elective and he gave me the deparment’s approval to take it without the normal pre-reqs (Cal II).

And to get an A… I didn’t miss a single class, took notes of every single thing the professor wrote on the chalkboard, did every homework in its entirety and studied for several hours the week leading up to all the major tests. Also I’ve only taken the first of two semesters of the course, so the work is much more spread out than it would be at other colleges.

anti_gravity · May 14, 2008, 7:11pm

Does anyone else have any other advice or chances they could share with me?

kevin101 · May 14, 2008, 10:18pm

If that is the case, I can assure you to sit back and relax. Just wait for your acceptance letters!

One thing that might be a big trouble for you is your SAT. You definitely need to pull up your SAT or ACT so that you are above their cut off scores and you will be sure in. Retaking it seems like a must for your case if you want to improve your chance even more.

I’m impressed by your stats. Seriously, I have NEVER seen a current high school student finished and aced “real analysis”. You are kind of lucky to have joined that program because it is not possible at many other states. The highest a high school student can take is multi-variable calculus or linear algebra or differential equation from a community college.

That single “A” in “real analysis” will greatly impress the admission committees and I’m very sure about it. Every math majors at least from UCLA (my current school) consider real analysis to be the toughest math course and usually we take it during our senior year. That single A means much more than 800 from SAT or any A from other AP math courses.

Good luck! Please let me know what the actual admission decisions you receive! I will wait for your good news!

anti_gravity · May 15, 2008, 12:08am

Thank you for the encouragement. I’ll definately post the results of my college applications once next spring rolls around.

I'd appreciate any advice

CONNECT WITH US