So from what I’ve read about applicants, most people have all A’s and are near the top of their class. I’m taking 4 APs this year, but most kids are in my district that are applying. In CD 9 and CD 4 a large majority of applicants come from the Horizons program, which means that grades and classes are much higher here.
I’m getting the feeling that in these districts it really comes down to achievements. Could someone give me an idea if my laundry list of achievements might improve my chances, or does it just make me average compared to the other CMS geniuses?
In middle school I got my GS Silver Award for building a Story Walk for underpriveleged children at a Title I school, and I also won Scholastic Twelve at States for two years in a row with my team. I’ve competed in a Quiz Bowl team and Battle of the Books (we won regionals), and I got some Duke TIP award for getting a 1320 on my SAT in seventh grade.
In high school I’ve been in marching band, Civil Air Patrol, Girl Scouts (won a Torch Award for leadership), Math Club, and I’m starting to tutor students at my school in Math. I got accepted to go on a C-CATS retreat for leadership abilities in Clemson, too. I lead a worship service for small children at my church, and I’ve been published in a young writer’s anthology.
My basic stats are that I had a 4.0 unweighted GPA and a 4.25 weighted one. This year I’m taking AP Calc AB, APES, AP Lang, and AP Psych. I had enough credits to skip a grade from middle school, but I chose not to because I didn’t want to rush. My SAT this year was 1460.
Does this sound like it’s good in a competitive district? I know some of the people that I’m up against, and they certainly have more STEM-related awards.
You are a very strong candidate. My child will be applying this year too but we are not in your district. We have known quite a few kids that have applied over the past two to three years and for the most part admissions make sense but there are typically a few big surprises in that some kids do not get in that have amazing achievements and others that do not have such accomplishments get in.
CMS tends to restrict the Horizons kids and not let them accelerate in high school as much as they are ready for which is a bit of a shame (and strange given how much they have “invested” in them already) but it will mean that they will not be that far ahead of you in terms of classes taken.
Be sure you have good letters of rec from your teachers and keep doing things STEM related, assuming STEM is what you like. If you are in CD 4 or 9 you will be up against incredible kids but as I mentioned, I have seen a few of them not make it in. At the end of the day, you are very well placed and will be a strong applicant to NCSSM. Good luck!!
@Sushiroll36 the Horizons program is a program in CMS that normally has about 10 kids per class. It’s for highly gifted kids that don’t fit very well into regular classes. It’s almost a rite of passage for Horizons kids to stick it out at their high school and then apply to NCSSM bc normal high schools in CMS don’t give challenging classes to them. For example, I’m in the Horizons program and this year I’m taking AP Calc AB, AP Lang, and two other AP classes. I’m applying because my classes are boring despite all the work and I’m going to run out of classes at my high school to take before I graduate.
Most of the Horizons kids this year that are applying are in CD 9. I don’t have as many achievements as some of the other kids in my classes, but I know that the competition is stiff. Last year, only one of the Horizons kids got declined out of the group that applied. Achievements are tough too, because there have been kids in this grade who have participated in the Scripps spelling bee, elite math and chess competitions, quiz bowls, and math and science engineering competitions (and won). If they get in, they’re able to adjust a little faster because the high achievement competition inside the program made them used to extreme stress, a backstabbing environment, and living in a bubble.
However, even though Horizons kids are incredibly qualified, there’s not very many of them and they still aren’t definite acceptances. This year there was about 12 kids in my grade from Horizons who still live in NC (more than average), and not all of them are applying (and those that are are split between CD 4 and CD 9). So they’re not going to take up even close to a majority of the spots given out, they just make the standards higher in the region.
If you’re applying this year and you get in, you’ll probably see a couple of us there! I hope this answered your question.
I do think that it matters that your achievements and hobbies are STEM related. Just anecdotal observations over a period of years. I also think that since Charlotte and environs has been split into two districts, it has allowed more kids from Charlotte and environs to go.
Thank you for answering my question.
(Sorry for bad grammar, my ipad keyboard isn’t very good)
I am a 9th grader from cd 4
2018-2019 classes:
AP world history (all freshmen class, most of them are taking AP calc)
Algerbra 3/ precalculus
Honors biology
Gym
IB Chinese (i am the only freshman in the school taking this class)
Honors english (this class is very rigorous and much harder than i expected)
French
Gpa- unknown( still can’t acess powerschool)
I participate in speech/debate, drama club, Chinese club, teen court. I am creating an animation club. For sports, i will be doing dive and lacrosse. I have done two musical productions this year and i am a girls in science ambassador which is partnered with NC state. I plan on doing mathematical and computational biology research in the upcoming summer.
I have several questions
what are good online resources or AP courses?
what did you use to study for the sat?
i am taking AP calculus next summer, any good resources?
First thing: good online resources? I would definitely suggest NCVPS if you can’t get a class you want. It’s a good online resource. I’m taking Latin III through it because my school stopped offering Latin my freshman year but I already had a credit. For APs, AP courses are different in every school, but APES only requires a biology credit in mine (though some chem knowledge is useful) and it’s not a very difficult course. It goes into stuff you learned like pollution, weather cycles, the ecosystem, but deeper and with a little more work. AP Psych is framed as a junior or senior course at a lot of high schools, but at my school it’s mainly sophomores. It’s a lot of concepts, but it has a really high pass rate and it’s pretty fun.
I actually didn’t study for the SAT very much–since I learned most of the curriculum in middle school, it kinda stuck in my head. What I did end up doing was go to a library and stage a mock SAT for myself, then I scored it to see where I was at (got the same score that I ended up actually getting). It really helps to try it out by yourself, time how long each section takes you (so you know which ones you’ll need to rush), and get a good look at the types of questions. It’s impossible to account for everything, though. When I took it, one question about ‘i’ threw me for a loop since it was a while since I learned that, and that wrecked what would’ve otherwise been a 790 in math.
AP Calc is a funny story for me. For all of math 1, 2, and 3, I slacked off. In precalc after I got a 32 on the pretest, I started relearning all of my algebra. I ended up with a small binder of notes from the internet covering every subject that we went over in precalc. Now, whenever I have a question, I have my own lessons to look back on. For precalculus, the internet has a ton of resources (especially articles explaining things bc I’m a visual learner). My teacher and I didn’t click, so I ended up teaching myself a lot of it.
Tip: For AP Calc AB, the first unit is limits, and that’s one of the first in precalc too. If you focus on limits in precalc and learn more than what you think you need (mainly evaluating limits using different methods), you can start off AP Calc with a really high grade bc you already understand it.
I am applying this year. I’m going to run out of classes to take at my high school and would be forced to dual enroll somewhere else if I don’t get into a school with more math and english classes. I hope this helped!