I am going to be a junior in high school next year and I want to know what I should do to improve my resumé and how it’s looking so far. The colleges that I am looking at include Duke, Hopkins, UCLA, UPenn, Brown and similar schools.
I have gotten all A’s and A-'s except for one B+ in English 10 Honors. Averaging the GPA from freshman and sophomore year, I have a 4.2 gpa (i have only taken 2 ap classes so far). Last summer, I did a summer program at Johns Hopkins University for two weeks, dealing with medicine (mainly psychology) and law and earned college credits. This summer, I am doing an internship at L-3 Communications. I am working on computer programming and helping the team there work on projects. I am the only high school intern. It is a paid internship and pays much more than minimum wage. The problem is that I am not sure if I want to pursue computer programming in college; to be honest, I am not sure what I want to do. My main concern is will colleges be unhappy if I try different subjects each summer? Would they rather me pursue one subject and be committed to it? I am also doing volunteer work in the hospital this summer; I just feel like I am trying too hard to boost my resumé with all these activities just so I can put it on my college app and am not trying to do well in one specific subject. What do you guys think?
In terms of extra curricular’s, I am currently a member of the debate team, model UN team, orchestra, and tennis team. I am attaining a leadership position in model UN (organizing meets/conferences) and am captain of the tennis team next year. I also made it into the district and regional orchestra last year and hopefully will make it into the state orchestra next year. Also, during sophomore year I worked with a biology professor during the winter and advanced to the state science fair. I’m working on building my sat score and psat score- right now I score in the range of 2050-2100. I am hoping to get it to at least 2200.
I am hoping the thing that sets me apart in the college admission process will be the Internship I am doing this summer. I just fear that I am trying to do too much.
You look like an accomplished applicant that will be able to stand ground in the admissions pool provided you have a good SAT/ACT score and (if you need it) SAT 2 scores. AP courses are important too, at the very least you should be taking the most challenging courseload your school offers.
Your extracurriculars are great, you academics are great, the summer programs are great, and it’s fine if you try different subjects each summer–I think colleges love to see variety and curiosity.
Now although you have a great resume, remember that admissions processes can be really arbitrary and “unfair” at times. I know a guy who had a 2400 and did make Brown, but was rejected from Princeton while a 2150 guy got into Princeton. Many factors come into play. The SAT is more like the component that makes you a candidate for consideration, not for acceptance.
“My main concern is will colleges be unhappy if I try different subjects each summer? Would they rather me pursue one subject and be committed to it? I am also doing volunteer work in the hospital this summer; I just feel like I am trying too hard to boost my resumé with all these activities just so I can put it on my college app and am not trying to do well in one specific subject.”
One of the main objectives of ECs (and summer activities) is to explore lots of things and figure out who you are and what you like. It won’t be held against you. That said, doing things just to boost your resume is a waste of time. Don’t do things you don’t like or enjoy for that reason - you aren’t going to get enough credit for it in admissions to make it worth your time. And if there is something you especially like, depth rather than breadth is highly valued, so dig into that area and invest yourself rather than taking on ‘prestige’ roles that you don’t care about. One club presidency more or less isn’t going to help - especially if it comes at the expense of doing something more meaningful with something you care about.
Your primary reason for taking a specific course is not to appease the colleges, but to broaden your interests and knowledge. Take the (most challenging) courses that you are interested in and get good grades.
Hi, I think you sound like you have a lot of experience under your belt. And you say you are not sure whether or not you are interested in computer programming for a career and that’s ok! Colleges want to see that you are challenging yourself and trying out new things so that when you get to college you can narrow in on what you are passionate about or at least can define yourself as a student and know how to be a confident college student. From what it seems you sound like someone who is active in their community and is not afraid to try new things, which is great! Also you sound like you have hobbies which is great too because although you are doing nothing all these other things, you have time to develop what you are passionate about, and in between all that you are able to keep your grades up which is awesome! You don’t seem like you have too much to worry about, but keep in mind that even if you don’t love something that you try, it has advanced you and you have learned more about yourself as a person and a student and that is irreplaceable. Just keep challenging yourself and exploring and you’ll be great! Good luck!