Feedback from freshman year

Hi,

I would say this is great progress for your freshman year. The two clubs are a great start, but it's even more imperative that you have an impact on the clubs, instead of just holding a position. It'd be a good idea to start brainstorming how you would expand on those clubs and familiarizing yourself with its existing activities.

I'm not sure your minor coding competition would have significant impact. Did you qualify for maybe a larger coding competition? It's not a requirement, but I suggest to start thinking about how you're going to fill up the 5 awards/honors spots on commonapp.

AP testing is good. Congrats on getting a 5! However, I do want to say AP CSP is considered a relatively easy AP, and it might have little to no impact for your application. Honestly, AP scores in general don't have that much impact on your application, but it would still be good to get a 4 or 5 on a more advanced AP CS course such as CSA.

I know summer is coming to an end, but it would be even better for you to participate in a summer program or activity that relates to your field of study. It doesn't need to be some selective pay-to-win program; it could just be like volunteering or working. For my freshman summer, I put most of my time into achieving two PVSA awards (both gold, which is 200+ hours).

I'm assuming you're planning to go into CS, based on the competition you participated in and your AP testing, so I would recommend start finding ECs related to CS. Your clubs are good, but are they related to CS? Spikes can definitely help you a lot when you're applying to top 20 schools. I'm not super familiar with CS activities as it isn't my intended field of study, but I would suggest getting an internship around sophomore year summer.

Hi! Congratulations on all your accomplishments in your first year of high school! As far as freshman year involvement goes, this is a great start-- especially if you plan to major in Computer Science or a related STEM concentration. While it's important to stay heavily involved with extracurriculars and such, what's even more important is that you're not just doing it for the applications. Schools are more interested in students who join clubs for things they could talk about for hours than those who go to a meeting just to say they've Gone To A Meeting. Find your passions, and get involved accordingly! The only specific suggestion I have for you in the next few years is to find the field you want to major in and research available youth internships. Even when applying to the most competitive schools, field experience will help you stand out in a way that academics and clubs cannot. I hope this helps, good luck in your sophomore year!