What Should I Do Now? College Apps

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Hi! I'm an 11th grader looking to get into some pretty competitive schools & programs (Harvard is the dream) as a pre-med (I want to be a doctor; I don't know what kind yet). I understand that it doesn't really matter where you do undergrad, but my belief is that I will do just fine at any college but getting into an elite one can open doors that others might not. Besides, it doesn't hurt to boost your acceptance chances across the board!

I need your help to give me ideas on what to do (activities like passion projects, interning, etc.) to stand out in such a competitive college admissions landscape based on my current profile. I want to create a value-based theme/narrative that ties together my entire profile in a very clear-cut way that defines who I am and what makes me unique and also explains WHY I did certain things. Let me share my current profile first.

Academics:

- GPA (unweighted): 4.0

- Lots of Honors & AP classes (took in the past & got a 5 on AP Human Geography & AP World History: Modern; currently taking AP Chemistry, Physics I, Lang, & U.S. History)

- Will take ACT (I get between 32-34 on practice tests)

Extracurriculars:

- HOSA

- I basically just attend once-a-month meetings. I haven't advanced past the preliminary tests to actually compete. My events were Medical Terminology, Medical Assisting, & Job Seeking Skills.

- I want to get a leadership position for 12th grade (elections are at the end of the year), but I need to make it to the State Leadership Conference to run for it

- Done since 9th grade

- VEX Robotics

- My school doesn't compete more than once a year, though I am trying to change that this year by completing a robot & its code a good amount of time in advance. I attend meetings twice a week & also go one more day a week despite no formal meeting on that day. We build a robot from scratch to play in the game that has been selected for the year at competitions. We then code it and tweak it as necessary. I have a team of two others including me on our robot, and I am informally like the team manager, keeping track of what everyone does and helping wherever it is needed.

- I just do this for personal enjoyment. I don't plan to go into computer science or engineering or robotics or AI or anything like that.

- Done since 10th grade

- Tennis

- I will be on my school's varsity team this season even though I am really not that good (at our school, all 11th &

12th graders regardless of ability are in varsity, and underclassmen are in JV).

- I haven't won or competed in any games besides meets (no conference, regionals, sectionals, state).

- I just do this for personal enjoyment. I have no interest in being a pro athlete & playing in college whatsoever.

- Done since 9th grade

- Shadowing doctors

- This summer, I shadowed three medical professionals: two in internal medicine (one was short-term (less than 12 hours); the other was throughout the entire summer (less than 36 hours)) & one oral & maxillofacial surgeon (I watched the dental hygienists & dentists when he was on break) for 28 hours. Due to school, I can't really shadow any of them, especially the oral surgeon since he only comes to the office on Fridays.

- Volunteering @ local food pantry

- I have worked a variety of roles, but I mainly do Help Desk, where I answer the phone & emails from those we serve, volunteers, suppliers, etc. I schedule, cancel, & reschedule appointments, and communicate with staff members if needed. I also provide information on how shopping at our pantry works & the support services we offer (housing assistance, utility bill assistance, financial assistance, clothing assistance, county health programs, Medicaid, referrals to mental health & physical health providers), referring them to the services if needed.

- I really started just to get service hours, but I have come to love volunteering for the sake of helping out

- I started in February of this year as a sophomore (I am writing in September as a junior), and have accumulated 54 hours and counting

- Flexible schedule (I can do shifts whenever I want)

- SNHS (Science National Honor Society)

- Already got acceptance, will do 11th & 12th grade

- Would like to get a leadership position for 12th grade (can't run for 11th)

- We do a STEM Night at our school (booths & activities for kids and families on all things

STEM), and that's about it (we don't really volunteer or do other things in the community)

- Meetings are once a month

- NHS?

- Don't know if I should apply since this is like what everybody does these days (not unique; doesn't make me stand out)

- If I do this, I might run for a leadership position

- NHS does tutoring & community service around the community; leadership manages tutoring, finds volunteering opportunities, and creates their own service projects for the general membership to do

- Meetings are once a month

Demographic Information:

- Male

- Asian Indian

- Middle Class (income around 200k give or take)

Random Interests (besides science/medicine; how can I maybe tie these with those interests & make it still relevant to some of my less relevant activities like Robotics & food pantry volunteering?):

- I love my culture, from Bollywood to Indian cuisine to Indian history. I'm a proud Indian and while I live in a town where there aren't many Indians, the region I live in has a large community of Indians.

- I love travelling. I want to explore the world and I enjoy learning about other parts of the world, like their culture, history, geography, current issues, etc. Heck, I even nerd out about airlines!

Notes For You:

- I want the values being showcased to be proven by my activities, including current ones & eventually my essays (they should be obvious to admissions officers)

- Any passion projects you suggest should be relatively easy to start with (for example, maybe don't suggest make a website or app since I don't really know how to do that kind of code nor do I want to pay for a domain & hosting), not cost money to do, not take a lot of time to start, keep going with, and scale up, be feasible for one person to do solo, and not require me to leave my house anymore than I currently am.

- The suggestions should also be unique and not cliche (I want to stand out, remember?). I want to be having a real-world impact, no matter how big or small, and is measurable and can be proven to admissions officers somehow. Additionally, if it is going to be related to addressing a current issue, it should be something I can say I have noticed firsthand or has affected me personally, and be something far from the mainstream stuff that everybody else has already dealt with (e.g., teen mental health is a no-no since there are so many resources & charities now for teens with mental health concerns to access information, get therapy, etc., and there is a lot of awareness about it at least compared to some other things).

Thank you so much! I really appreciate it! ❤❤❤❤❤❤