Steve
Here is a rough resume:
New Jersey
Male
White
GPA: 3.97 unweighted, 4.98 weighted GPA (Unfortunately I got one B+ my Junior year, will that hurt?)
Class Rank: 3 of 250
SAT: 2340
AP Human Geography 5, AP World History 5, AP Calculus AB 5, Environmental Science 5, Spanish Language 5, English Language 4, Biology 5, US History 5
National AP Scholar
Math SAT II: 760; United States History: 780
National Merit Semifinalist
NJ Governors School in the Sciences at Drew
Internship at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory for Research
Founded domestic service organization
President of Service Education in School and presiding over all student service organizations
over 100 hours of service
Raised over $50,000 dollars through fundraisers for school
Had student body complete over 10,000 hours of service collectively
Volunteer at Hospital and Day Care Center
Baritone Saxophone, Alto Sax, Piano, Voice
Jazz Band, A Cappella Chorus, Music Ministry, Brass and Wind Ensemble, Concert Band, Diocesan Band
Involved heavily in Theater: 8 productions in highschool, plays and musicals with leads
Chosen to sing in Region I Concert last January
Featured Member of North Jersey Young Men's Ensemble
Peer Leader for Freshmen and run Freshman homeroom
Knight of Setonia
Antioch Team Leader
National, Math, and Spanish Honor Society
Tutor in Algebra II, Physics, and Spanish
SAT Tutor
Honorable mention in Toshiba ExploraVision Competition for design of a solar-powered device using steam and a turbogenerator efficiently to heat homes
2 Sessions at Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth: Studied cognitive psychology and quantum cryptography
I plan on submitting a paper I wrote during my own research called "Computational Modeling of Varying Nucleophile Activity on the RNA Cleavage Transition State"- Should I just submit the whole thing or just the abstract?
Of course, I can't write all this down in an application. Any ideas for which of these I should really try to highlight in my application so that the reviewers get a better insight into my passions and interests as a whole?
My primary interests are Harvard, Penn, and Columbia. I'm also interested in Duke, Georgetown, and Boston College most likely. Could anyone also recommend any good middle ground schools for me? I'm looking to study premed but I want to go to a liberal arts college. I understand my odds since a lot of brilliant kids apply, I just want to know if I'd even make the cut for consideration beyond the first few waves of applications. And don't get me wrong, I'm not one of those people whose life would be over if I were rejected, and realistically I understand that's a definite possibility with the quality of applicants they get in addition to issues with minority recruiting etc. Whatever your response, please just be kind with your answers!!! Thanks a bunch :D
Answer
Holy cow that's a LONG and impressive resume...it's clear that you're a very talented and hardworking kid, and it's good that you realize putting all your eggs in one basket is never a good idea :) I'd visit campuses and apply to as many schools as you can afford to, so you can compare scholarship and financial aid offers, and also have a higher chance at being accepted into one of your top choices. The only recommendation I have is to chop down that resume into what's the MOST important. It seems far too list-y and it would be better to have high involvement and passion for a couple activities than 15 different things. Leave off the SAT scores, GPA, class rank, and high school course info because all of that will appear on your transcripts and you don't want to be redundant
Also, just curious...did you go to a public or private high school?
As for highlighting your passions and interests, that's what the application essay is for! I suggest beginning it the summer before your senior year so you have ample time for revision and polishing before applications are due. I would forget submitting the paper...colleges want a creative essay to get an idea of you as a person, not an analytical or research-based one
Holy cow that's a LONG and impressive resume...it's clear that you're a very talented and hardworking kid, and it's good that you realize putting all your eggs in one basket is never a good idea :) I'd visit campuses and apply to as many schools as you can afford to, so you can compare scholarship and financial aid offers, and also have a higher chance at being accepted into one of your top choices. The only recommendation I have is to chop down that resume into what's the MOST important. It seems far too list-y and it would be better to have high involvement and passion for a couple activities than 15 different things. Leave off the SAT scores, GPA, class rank, and high school course info because all of that will appear on your transcripts and you don't want to be redundant
Also, just curious...did you go to a public or private high school?
As for highlighting your passions and interests, that's what the application essay is for! I suggest beginning it the summer before your senior year so you have ample time for revision and polishing before applications are due. I would forget submitting the paper...colleges want a creative essay to get an idea of you as a person, not an analytical or research-based one
If I went to community college, would I be able show NYU what I am capable of, or am I just dreaming?
Thomas J.
I'm a sophomore in HS. Here are my grades so far:
Block 1-Special ed English: C+
Block 2-Concert Band: A, Jazz Lab: A-, Wellness: B
Block 3-Geometry: C+, Practical Biology: A
Block 4-Special ed Social Skills: A-
My special ed teacher plans on having me in the following classes for 11th grade:
-Special ed English for the 1st semester, 10th grade English for the 2nd (I have not completed 10th grade English yet, so taking 11th grade English is not an option next year)
-Algebra 2
-Concert Band
-Wellness
-Conceptual Chemistry (I don't meet the math prereq for academic Chemistry)
-Social Skills
-Electives: Maybe digital imaging & web design
I spend half the day in special ed. My special ed teacher says my focus is a problem in all my classes beyond concert band and jazz lab. I often zone out and think about other matters during the lesson. Also, until recently, I did not spend any time outside the school building studying. When the teachers said my homework was to study, I considered that equivalent to no homework whatsoever. I was able to get good grades without studying through fifth grade, when we did single step problems in math and answering questions from simple passages in reading, but now, the problems I get in high school math for the most part are multistep, and we answer questions and write about what goes on in real novels.
The teachers also have considerably low expectations for me. On all my tests and quizzes, unlike the regular ed students, I am permitted to ask the teacher for help, and never this entire school year was I ever assigned more than a worksheet or two of homework on a typical day. A regular student in my school district gets 10 minutes of homework each day for every grade level, so by this formula, if I was in regular ed I'd be getting 100 minutes of homework every typical day, significantly more when there's a well-announced assessment where it equals several typical days in class in terms of course grade. Also, out of the 20,000+ students that benefit from my school district, I am one of the hard to name that's exempt from summer reading.
I know a few sophomores who are in pre-calculus because they were in Algebra 2/Trig 1 in 8th grade and Geometry/Trig 2 in 9th. They usually have GPAs of around 3.7-3.8, are enrolled in two, three or four honors classes and do extracurricular sports, writing or music. I was in pre-algebra in 8th grade and algebra 1 in 9th, which is a grade below the recommended program. How did they get this far but not me? Because they were not lazy and did their homework back in middle school.
My GPA is around a 3.2. I have never been in any extracurriculars. My family besides mom says NYU is a very good match for me. My Aunt Paula says the reason I get less than phenomenal grades is because I don't show my teachers what I'm capable of. NYU's average GPA is what the sophomores in pre-calc get.
I told guidance it would mean a lot to me if I was in an AP class in 11th grade, but I'm not in compliance with the prerequisites. For some reason I was scheduled in the least rigorous math/science courses available to me for sophomore year that's held in a regular classroom. The least of them all is in a resource room, which I am in for English and Social Skills, and during tests and quizzes in Geometry and Practical Biology.
I never cared about my grades until something hard work-induced happened.
My Uncle Drew was able to afford a $3M, 8,000 sq. ft. custom built house in Avon-by-the-Sea, NJ. He is in the top 1% of earners in the USA, and he has been licensed to practice heart surgery since 1999. It has a bar, three fireplaces, five bedrooms, a private dock, basketball court, balconies on the 2nd and 3rd floor, wall safe, library, built in sound system, elevator, fitness room, 100" home theatre, even a 1980's arcade machine and vintage Pepsi machine! Needless to say, my family was euphoric upon experiencing the magazine quality aesthetics and abundant amenities. He claims I am just as capable as he is to build a home no less elegant than his if I never settle for less than my best on any work I get. My mom says the only reason why he's saying that is because he knew that if he said "no" when I asked him if I'm just as capable as he is, I could have problems. Is Uncle Drew correct, or is mom correct?
My mom also says if I do not significantly more As on my transcript, the best career she recommends for me is a tour guide. One of the jobs I imagine I'd be very happy at is one at Facebook's new engineering office in NYC. My Aunt Paula, Uncle Drew, etc. agree with me that I am capable of getting that job. My mom, on the other hand, does not. She thinks I'm overconfident. She even believes that I could live with her the rest of my life if I don't crack more books open at home.
I do not want to weaken the potential prosperity of my life. I will do everything I can to make sure I don't have to settle for a college less exciting to put on a job resume. NYU is my dream college. It is better to get a B- in an AP class than it is to get an A in a regular class because taking harder classes and getting lower grades shows that you're willing to challenge yourself and not just take the easy way out. There's a lot of factors that are yet to be worked out, but as it stands right now, I'm probably not looking at much more than a state university, and not a great one at that.
My GPA is mediocre at best, no extracurricular activities is a huge detriment, curriculum is not rigorous and I still can't get good grades, and so on. It's no wonder why I don't feel like I'm being challenged right now.
Answer
Honestly just do well in communty college. After the two years tranfer out to the college you want and go from there. Being in the medical is very hard. Most people don't make it. If that what you truely want than go for it don't just do it for the money. My friend wanted to become a doctor and after 2 years in college he change major ans school than again major and now 6 years later he graduating as graphic designer. My brother wanted to be a doctor and right now he doing nursing to see if he want to keep going. Becoming a doctor is a lot of work. About 8 years of college plus 3 to4 years of residental. Plus $250,000 or more student loans. Good luck.
Honestly just do well in communty college. After the two years tranfer out to the college you want and go from there. Being in the medical is very hard. Most people don't make it. If that what you truely want than go for it don't just do it for the money. My friend wanted to become a doctor and after 2 years in college he change major ans school than again major and now 6 years later he graduating as graphic designer. My brother wanted to be a doctor and right now he doing nursing to see if he want to keep going. Becoming a doctor is a lot of work. About 8 years of college plus 3 to4 years of residental. Plus $250,000 or more student loans. Good luck.
Powered by Yahoo! Answers
Tidak ada komentar:
Posting Komentar