<p>Alright CC, I've reached a lull in my activities and am requesting your collective wisdom. I've recently done two things that have changed my stats enough that I would like any input on what I've done, what I'm aiming for, and what I can do. And anything else you can think of.</p>
<p>Grade: 11th
Summarized College List: MIT, some ivies, Rice, RPI, Carnegie Mellon, Purdue, V Tech
Ethnicity/Gender: White/Male
School type: Bad public</p>
<p>Thing No. 1 (Bad): (Relatively) Poor standardized test scores (carelessness and lack of preparation)</p>
<p>PSAT: 207 (71 CR, 67 M, 69 W)
SAT: 2170 (2nd time, 730 CR, 690 M, 750 W)
SAT II: US History - 700</p>
<p>Thing No. 2 (Good): Winner of National Student Spaceflight Experiments Program for the second year in a row</p>
<p>Last year, I helped my team design an experimental proposal that won and flew aboard STS-135 (experiment failed due to asphyxiation of samples). </p>
<p>This year, I submitted a solo proposal that won again. I (tentatively) will be able to work in a National Institute of Health Lab and publish my results (I'm working with authors of papers of similar spaceflight experiments to ensure validity of my results and help analyze resulting data).</p>
<p>Other Stats (Objective): 3.97, Val/300, US History (5), Bio (5, self), US Gov (5, self), Env Sci (4, self), 5 AP classes this year and several self-studies, 1st (10th) and 2nd (9th) in County Science Fair, AP Scholar w/Distinction, successfully lobbied for change in county-wide grade weighting policy for a set of courses.</p>
<p>Other Stats (Subjective):
ECs: Math Team (2nd in county), MESA (1st in county, team captain), It's Academic (3rd in county), Varsity Swimming (Coaches Award), VP of Class, Key Club (President 2 years), SMART Team (Presented at American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Poster Session, local university, and technology conference [won $500 at last one]), Computer Bowl (Team Captain two years).</p>
<p>Community Service: 170+ hours
Work: Nursery for over a year, babysitting, tutoring.</p>
<p>Does Thing No. 2 count as a "hook"? I'm aiming for God-tier schools and am discouraged because of my poor test scores. </p>
<p>Summer programs and IxOs are just about the only thing I can do (please tell me if there're other options!), but I've never done an IxO or AIME. I'm reasonably confident in my study/self-teaching skills (AP Bio in 2 weeks), but I would only be able to do one IxO and AIME (AIME is the Math competition, right? AMC 10?), if that. Should I even bother looking into IxOs? Is there any other way to prepare for AIME other than doing previous tests on AoPS?</p>
<p>What are some of the summer programs I could look at? I'm not going to bother applying to RSI with a 67 M PSAT and that's the only program I know of. </p>
<p>Any input is appreciated. Thanks for taking the time to read all of this!</p>