<p>Because my school board has organized the junior high schools as grades 7-9 and high school s as 10-12, I just started high school. I got my first report card 2 weeks ago and got all As and a B+, and I’m bringing that B+ up to an A as well as my grades have been rapidly increasing in that course. I’m on the honor roll as well. For my extracurricular activities, I’m on the debate team (my school’s debate team is one of the top-ranked in the world) and have won a few titles in tournaments now and I’m on my school’s film fest committee and am part of my school’s science olympics team, in addition to being on my school’s Principal Advisory Committee and doing a science fair project about Higgs Fields. Outside of school I’ve done lots of volunteering and I won an award for volunteering last year and a few years ago I placed in the top 10% percent nationally in a math competition, which I got a certificate for. I’m currently writing a collection of short stories in my spare time. My school doesn’t have many AP or honors courses but this year I’m doing honors math and next year and the year after I’ll basically be doing exclusively AP and honors. My goal is to get into a top school and study astronomy or astrophysics and I’ve been reading extensively about the best schools for them. I’d like to pursue a doctorate. At this rate, will I have relatively good chances of succeeding or should I work harder?</p>
<p>You don’t need to add more ECs. Pick 2 or 3 current ECs that you like most to focus on. Quality counts, not quantity. Make sure you have time for reading to improve critical reading skill for the SAT.</p>
<p>I do lots of reading, and am reading my way through Modern Library’s list of the 100 Best Novels. On a slightly irrelevant note, I also was very involved in donating books to my city’s library system and have so far donated over 150 this year.</p>
<p>You need to have a balance of fiction and non-fiction books. Have you read “A Brief History of Time” of Stephen Hawking and “The Elegant Universe” of Brian Green?</p>
<p>Yes, I’ve read all of Stephen Hawking and Brian Greene’s books.</p>