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College/Activity List.md

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+#college 
+- - -
+- Robotics Club
+	- Significant role in coding, designing and building robots. I held leadership positions including president, controls officer and electrical lead.
+- Rocketry Club
+	- I designed, manufactured, assembled and launched a rocket for The American Rocketry Competition and helped create new designs and ideas in the club.
+- Fabrication Club
+	- Assisted students with technical projects and classwork as well as providing the ability to utilize complex school resources, machines and tools.
+- Math Club
+	- Competed in many math competitions advancing to state level. Planned and hosted community competition for hundreds of elementary school students.
+- Orchestra
+	- Performed in school's highest level symphony orchestra sitting in second chair. Competed in several festivals each year including at Carnegie Hall.
+- Lab Work
+	- Worked with graduate student at University of Minnesota to research nanoparticle synthesis for microplastic removal and gain research and lab skills
+- Seattle Young Engineers
+	- Taught young kids engineering concepts and helped to 
+- SAT Tutoring?
+- Programming Club
+- Indoor Rock Climbing
+- 

College/Additions to UC application.md

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+#college 
+- - -
+- add "self-taught pianist"
+	- talk about trombone concerto
+	- other orchestra
+	- private lessons
+- private cello lessons/orchestra involvement
+	- carnegie hall
+	- sat first stand in symphony
+- outreach event with Haynes Lab
+- Robinson center microbiology course
+- peer tutoring in 9th grade for Chem B
+- 

College/College Visits/Berkeley 4-11-24.md

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+#college/visit
+- - -
+- Campus
+    - Similar ish to UW
+    - Overall, pretty nice
+    - Mix of building types and styles
+    - Not super big, definitely walkable
+    - Decent food options
+    - In a college town, much less isolated than stanford
+    - Surrounding neighborhood is okay
+    - Built on a hill, lots of stairs
+- Housing is guaranteed for first year
+- After first year, housing is very hard to get on campus
+- Chemistry is in its own college, but engineering isn't
+- CS will be in it’s own college
+- Greek life is pretty important
+- Feels less integrated

College/College Visits/Caltech 8-30-24.md

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+#college/visit
+- - -
+- No tours were available
+- Campus
+    - Overall very good
+    - Right next to JPL
+    - Not super large
+    - Architecture is pretty varied
+    - There was some construction
+    - Some newer buildings
+    - Dorms didn’t looks super large
+        - Seems like housing is guaranteed for 4 years though
+    - One cafeteria we saw didn’t have a lot of variety
+        - There are probably ones in the dorms though
+    - Good outdoor areas
+    - Overall location is great
+    - Neighborhood is great
+- There is a strong affiliation with JPL

College/College Visits/Harvard 2-20-25.md

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+#college/visit
+- - -
+- Campus
+    - overall very nice, lots of brick buildings
+    - Mostly in one place in Boston, feels like a cohesive campus
+    - Pretty big
+    - Lots of food and store options around campus
+    - Very cold; lots of snow
+    - Plenty of dorm rooms, 98% of students live on campus all 4 years
+    - Right next to Boston downtown, but doesn’t feel right in the city
+    - can eat in dining halls, but there are good restaurants nearby
+- House System
+    - Every student is sorted into one of 12 houses March of freshmen year
+    - Each house lives in their own building, and different houses have different things in buildings (ceramics studio and rock climbing wall)
+    - can choose up to 8 people to block with and and group is all put into one house together
+    - Sorting is mostly just random
+    - All freshmen stay in same place and eat in same hall until they are sorted
+    - Can still use amenities from other houses
+- Info session focused a lot on the network and support at Harvard
+    - Every student gets three advisors to help them
+- Able to take classes at [[MIT 2-21-25|MIT]]
+    - Very close, ~20-30min walk
+- Massive alumni network

College/College Visits/Harvey Mudd 8-30-24.md

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+#college/visit
+- - -
+- Campus
+    - Pretty good
+    - In Claremont
+    - Architecture is not amazing
+    - Campus (for just Harvey Mudd) is not super large
+    - Overall campus for Claremont schools (5 of them) is 640 acres
+    - You can take classes between them
+    - Overall location is pretty good
+    - About 1.5 hours from LA
+- Liberal arts
+    - You have to take 5 classes in different disciplines
+    - Also have to take 5 depth classes in one subject
+    - To graduate, you either do a clinic (capstone project) for engineering or comp sci or a thesis for the sciences
+- All students do research
+    - No graduate students though
+- Maker spaces and machine shops anyone can use
+- Materials are mostly free
+- 99% of students live on campus all 4 years
+- Different forms for different personalities
+- About 13% acceptance rate
+- Need blind
+- Apparently food is very good
+- Lost of double majors
+- Engineering is a blanket major, so you can specialize in several things

College/College Visits/MIT 2-21-25.md

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+#college/visit
+- - -
+- Campus
+    - Much more modern than Harvard
+    - Fells like a pretty cohesive campus, though a little more like it is next to a city
+    - Much more public art around campus than Harvard
+    - buildings feel pretty new
+    - Some students live off campus, but housing is guaranteed
+    - there are 11 different houses you can live in
+        - get to choose which one you want
+        - some have dining halls, some you cook yourself
+- Division 3 sports
+- There are certain requirements for freshmen year in humanities
+- Don’t declare major until sophomore year
+- first year you can’t fail classes
+- Can take classes at [[Harvard 2-20-25|Harvard]]

College/College Visits/Northeastern 2-21-25.md

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+#college/visit
+- - -
+- Campus
+    - a little more modern
+    - Buildings are pretty boring, but there is public art
+    - Not a lot of student housing
+    - Inside of Boston
+    - feels like a pretty cohesive campus, does feel like it is in a city though
+- Co-ops
+    - Students will go and work with a company for ~6 months, and will often get payed
+    - Students will often do 2-3 co-ops
+    - Opportunity to get real word experience in companies
+    - more permanent than internships
+    - lots of people will be coming and going with co-op programs
+- There are also several study-abroad programs, including first semester
+- Not a lot of housing

College/College Visits/Stanford 4-10-24.md

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+#college/visit
+- - -
+- Beautiful campus
+    - Very sunny
+    - Very large campus, lots of biking
+        - Bike paths look great
+        - Still mostly walkable
+    - Lots of short buildings
+    - Lots of shady places to study
+    - Decent food options
+    - Total 8000 acres, but main campus is smaller
+- Machine shop
+    - Lots of great machines, industry level
+    - Not sure how to use them
+- Everyone is on campus (98% live on campus)
+- Train stop to san Francisco close
+- Campus is mostly disconnected and isolated
+- Great overall location
+    - Between San Francisco and San Jose
+    - 30min from apple park
+- 16000 students
+    - 1700 incoming class

College/College Visits/UCLA 8-29-24.md

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+#college/visit
+- - -
+- Campus
+    - Campus was great
+    - Right in middle of LA
+        - Doesn’t really feel like it though
+    - Feels pretty similar to UW
+        - Architecture style
+        - Vibe
+    - Also very similar to Berkley
+    - Nice neighborhood around
+- You can stay on campus for all 4 years
+    - Most people leave after 2
+    - Basic dorms have no air conditioning
+    - Food halls are very good supposedly
+- Olympics in 2028
+- Protest culture
+    - Some of the most extensive Israel Palestine protests
+- Engineering is separate school
+    - Might be hard to get into
+    - Lots of majors, including undeclared engineer
+    - Can’t really transfer into department
+- Very minimal financial aid
+- Beach is very close
+- Free bus pass
+- Most people just walk around campus
+    - Only one road in campus

College/Colleges.md

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+#college 
+- - -
+Rankings
+1. [[MIT 2-21-25|MIT]]
+2. [[Stanford 4-10-24|Stanford]]
+3. [[Caltech 8-30-24|Caltech]]
+4. [[Harvard 2-20-25|Harvard]]
+5. Carnegie Mellon
+6. [[Berkeley 4-11-24|Berkeley]]
+7. [[Harvey Mudd 8-30-24|Harvey Mudd]]
+8. UW
+9. [[Northeastern 2-21-25|Northeastern]]
+10. [[UCLA 8-29-24|UCLA]]

College/Common Application Essay Ideas.md

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+#college 
+- - -
+1. Some students have a background, identity, interest, or talent that is so meaningful they believe their application would be incomplete without it. If this sounds like you, then please share your story.
+2. The lessons we take from obstacles we encounter can be fundamental to later success. Recount a time when you faced a challenge, setback, or failure. How did it affect you, and what did you learn from the experience?
+	1. Talk about the challenges with team communication in the previous robotics season and how we were still able to eventually get the robot working
+	2. WSMC States two years ago when team member left and we still got 4th(?)
+	3. Doing first math competitions and feeling like I didn't fit with those who had been doing it for years and learning to push myself anyway and work to improve
+	4. Doing most of the wiring on the robot Sophomore year and learning while doing it
+	5. talk about first combat robotics competition and then the second one and how much I improved
+3. Reflect on a time when you questioned or challenged a belief or idea. What prompted your thinking? What was the outcome?
+4. Reflect on something that someone has done for you that has made you happy or thankful in a surprising way. How has this gratitude affected or motivated you?
+	1. Mr. Evans pushing me in geometry and how that lead to me working harder to learn more math and push myself.
+5. Discuss an accomplishment, event, or realization that sparked a period of personal growth and a new understanding of yourself or others.
+	1. Talk about discovering BattleBots and how that lead to combat robotics and a love of engineering
+6. Describe a topic, idea, or concept you find so engaging that it makes you lose all track of time. Why does it captivate you? What or who do you turn to when you want to learn more?
+	1. Circuit board design and the challenge of finding out where each trace will go and how everything can fit together to form one working whole
+7. Share an essay on any topic of your choice. It can be one you've already written, one that responds to a different prompt, or one of your own design

College/Counselor Meeting 8-6-25.md

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+#college 
+- - -
+### Questions
+- what kinds of teachers should I ask for letters of recommendation when there are more than two, should I try to find other outside people as well?
+- Should the UC application answers be one story or more general each?
+
+### Notes
+- common app essay
+	- doesn't have to be 650 words
+	- 550-625 is a good word count
+	- topic is good for common app essay
+	- students now enjoying material after understanding
+	- essay goes too long and there is a lot of repetition
+	- should try to cut down essay and not say the same thing again and again
+	- maybe leads reader to think I want to be a teacher
+		- tone that part down
+		- more about helping other people rather than teaching
+	- structure looks pretty good
+	- make it easy to read
+	- 
+- UC questions don't want stories
+	- they want interview-style answers
+	- often read by outside readers (high school counselors)
+	- might try to calculate UC GPA
+	- 
+- might not get engineering subsection you want
+- change wording for university of Minnesota to make sure it doesn't seem pay to play
+- "helped to" isn't as strong
+- don't need to do optional recommenders
+- readers generally want less
+- only add another recommender if you think it will be helpful and add something new

College/MIT Interview Notes.md

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+#college 
+- - -
+### Questions for interviewer
+- What was your experience with internships while at MIT and what did you think about them?
+- What is something that you did not expect when attending MIT?
+
+### Things to focus on
+- Rocketry: worked to combine many different things into one project
+	- did something (active control) that very few have attempted (people have tried at spaceport america sizes but rarely at TARC sizes)
+- Robotics
+	- gained more experience in a team environment
+
+### About me
+- things I do
+	- robotics, rocketry, coding
+	- Outside of STEM
+		- Play the cello and piano (cello in orchestra at school)
+		- Go climbing with friends for years
+- joy
+	- figuring out new things and applying new knowledge to problems. 
+		- could give example of understanding control loops much better after learning calculus
+		- understanding rocket trajectories and flight paths after Phys C
+- Memorable moments in high school
+	- 

College/Recommendation Letter Requirements.md

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+#college 
+- - -
+- Caltech
+	- 2 teachers required + 1 optional
+		- Hashemi
+		- Nimni
+	- 2 others optional
+- MIT
+	- 2 teachers required
+		- Hashemi
+		- Ishikawa ("humanities, social science, or language teacher")
+- Carnegie Mellon
+	- Counselor required
+	- 1 teacher required + 1 optional
+		- Hashemi
+		- Ishikawa
+	- 1 other optional
+- Harvard
+	- Counselor required
+	- 2 teachers required + 1 optional
+		- Hashemi
+		- Ishikawa
+	- 2 others optional
+- Harvey Mudd
+	- 2 teachers required
+		- Hashemi
+		- Nimni ("humanities, social sciences or arts"?)
+	- 1 other optional
+- Oregon State University
+	- None
+- Stanford
+	- Counselor required
+	- 2 teachers required
+		- Hashemi
+		- Ishikawa
+	- 1 other optional
+- University of Michigan
+	- 1 teacher required + 3 optional
+		- Hashemi
+	- 2 others optional
+- UW
+	- None
+- WPI
+	- Counselor required
+	- 1 teacher required + 1 optional
+		- Hashemi
+	- 1 other optional