<p>Shushugah:</p>
<p>I appreciate the passionate pursuit of a single goal: something I can truly identify with. But I don’t think you’re approaching colleges with the right mindset. I went on your profile and saw that even today, you posted something about still taking 11 AP tests… This doesn’t look like you’ve let off of your past super-ambitious ways.</p>
<p>I know I’m not in a super-qualified position to be making any gigantic recommendations for life courses, but I want to tell you that you should really really really channel a particular skill and try to forge a path of your own, rather than walk down the path most traveled (AP’s and standardized tests.) While some measure of this testing is necessary, it eventually takes away from an important part of college admissions. There has to be something unique about you. What do I mean? Write a novel, write a killer program (like what you were talking about), start an initiative at your school/community. Look at all the greats I assume you’re trying to imitate. Yes, Bill Gates got into Harvard, but he was also so detached from the notion of graduate school that he tinkered around with computers before dropping out. Look at Mark Zuckerberg. Yes, he went to Harvard, but that was because he wrote an ingenious program (Synapse) and had passion in the classics as a high-schooler. I could be wrong, but I find it very hard to believe that either of them obsessed over AP’s.</p>
<p>If it makes you feel better, I got into UChicago without a billion AP’s. Much more important, in fact, were the essays I wrote… The AP’s had barely any weight in the decision. Please do not squander those two quality years in front of you with your face plastered to a study book that doesn’t interest you. There’s nothing wrong with singular pursuit of academics, but it sounds like are doing so for all the wrong reasons. Whenever you are reading a book, ask yourself if you would be reading it if the notion of a super-selective college did not exist. That said, do not abandon your studies, but do not worship them, either.</p>