<p>“People think I study a lot, but I don’t,” Jeff said. “I just look at myself as a normal kid with a lot of interests.”</p>
<p>Jeff, who will attend Harvard University this fall as a math major, began his summer accepting a Plano Trustees Award of Excellence. Throughout his academic career, he has accomplished more than the average “whiz kid.”</p>
<p>His resume touts Plano East’s highest grade-point average (4.6647) in its 24-year history. He has scored perfectly on the SAT and ACT several times since his freshman year. Jeff also has traveled extensively, competing in national academic competitions.</p>
<p>Scholars were asked to recognize an educator that has influenced their academic careers. Jeff chose the director of his summer program, Max Warshauer, a professor at Texas State University at San Marcos.</p>
<p>It is Jeff’s natural leadership qualities coupled with his high IQ that get most people’s attention, Dr. Warshauer said.</p>
<p>“Among the top kids all over the country, Jeff stands out. He has deep insight,” said Dr. Warshauer, who started Mathworks, a summer enrichment program. “A bright student can make others feel bad, but Jeff doesn’t do that.”</p>
<p>Jeff will fill his summer break with academic competitions and an internship with Siemen’s, researching hearing solutions…"</p>
<p>I would certainly argue that anyone who retakes perfect scores is definitely not a “normal kid.” But the sentence is vague. I’m hoping that it means that he took the SAT, later took the ACT, and then took some SATIIs, and maybe then took some more SATIIs, and got perfect scores every time.</p>
<p>Plano and Plano East are highly affluent North Dallas areas with a long history of turning out top students. I believe the top 2 or 3 from last year also ended up at Harvard.</p>
<p>No. Because you have to take the SAT within a year of applying, he obviously had to retake the SAT, thus him getting a perfect several times. The sentence said, since his Freshman year. </p>
<p>Nope. There is no requirement that the SAT must be taken within one year of the application. Here is a quote directly from the Harvard.edu admissions FAQ:</p>
<p>“Our testing requirements will change with the introduction of the new SAT I. For the Class of 2010, students may submit either the “old” SAT I or ACT taken before March 2005, or the new SAT or ACT (which must include the writing section). As always, students must also submit three SAT II exams of their choosing. The Admissions Committee will continue to consider all test results in light of students’ educational opportunities.”</p>
<p>Wow, I was pretty surprised to see a thread about Plano… (This is gonna be a long post…)</p>
<p>I actually live in Plano, and bandit_TX is right; there are a lot of opportunities (for example, almost all the AP classes are available to us, and there’s an IB program at East – which is where this guy graduated from), and a lot of people end up going to really “good” colleges. As for its affluence… people tend to see it as rich, but most of the really wealthy people go to West. It definitely isn’t Highland Park, and I definitely live in a pretty standard middle-class area.</p>
<p>Oh, and also, we have huge graduating classes, so the fact that this guy was valedictorian is a really big deal… This year (2006), the Plano (not East) graduating class was around 1,250, I think. That’s why they have three schools (Plano, East and West) for 11th/12th and five feeders for 9th/10th.</p>
<p>As for the SAT thing… for certain merit scholarships (can’t think of specific examples right now…), SAT scores from, say, before sophomore year might not count towards eligibility. Also, I’m pretty sure this guy took the old SAT and the new SAT and got perfect scores on both of them.</p>
<p>I don’t know much about the graduating classes this year, but I do personally know that the salutatorian at Plano is headed for Harvard. She had a perfect score as well, and her AcDec team got second at Nationals. Most valedictorians here go on to “top-tier” kind of schools, with an exception being the Plano valedictorian from four years ago.</p>
<p>just an FYI, my friend jeff nanney in the article above was admitted to Harvard EA, Yale likely letter, Stanford, MIT, Princeton, Chicago, Caltech and more. We have 3 people going to Harvard, 2 to Yale, 1 to Stanford, 1 to MIT, still it is well accepted that Jeff is a cut above.</p>
<p>It seems like Plano’s valedictorians are loved by Harvard, according to my friends who were last year’s Plano Senior High School and Plano West Senior High School’s valedictorians.</p>
<p>ah, plano. so misunderstood and so talked-about. 10 of us planoites from the public schools are going to harvard next year. vals and sals from plano nearly always end up at HYPS. or UT austin. haha.</p>
<p>also, don’t hate on jeff. haukim explained the sat thing well. jeff is a presidential scholar and a winner in siemens-westinghouse, just got 3rd place at isef, a quizbowl standout, etc etc etc etc…many etcs are needed to cover all this kid accomplishes. i wouldn’t be surprised if he’s among the brightest students in the harvard class of 2010 (at least i hope so, or i’ll be at the bottom of the stack. haha).</p>