Hobbies
Cheerleading Squad

Clubs
N/A

Experience
Columbia University's Science Honors program, Model United Nations, Physics Bowl, National Merit Scholarship, National Economics Challenge

Biography
I am a U.S. citizen who was born abroad (in London). I credit most successes in life to hard work (in addition to natural talent), and the discipline that I acquired in my early dance training has served me well. At the age of eight, I studied dance, auditioned, and was admitted to The Central School of Ballet in England, which normally accepts students only between the ages of 10 and 16. Later, when I moved to New York, I continued to dance at the Joffrey School of Ballet. However, when I got older, I found that I preferred to become involved in school activities and no longer had the time to commit to rigorous dance training. My sophomore year in high school I made the cheerleading squad of which I am still a member. (Ours is probably the only high school cheerleading squad that uses a mathematical symbol, p-cubed, as their sign.) I also have participated in Model United Nations conferences, and I pursued an interest in robotics for a while.
This past summer I was selected to attend a summer program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where I took an electrical engineering (EE) course, a programming course and a math course featuring cryptography. As part of the EE course, under a three-day time constraint my two-person team designed and built a DC motor, which ran at 2600 rpm. I also studied operational amplifiers and built an AM radio. In addition, I was selected (on the basis of a math/science examination) to participate in Columbia University’s Science Honors Program. There I have taken fun courses, like Elementary Particle Physics and Relativity and Quantum Theory. From the first moment I was exposed to it (as a junior in my high school Research Physics course), physics has held deep fascination for me. My physics teachers, Dr. Majewski and Dr. Winkel, with their difficult problem sets and unwavering faith in me, have encouraged me to improve. In their classes, I have done presentations on relativity and blackbody radiation. Also in my junior year, I became really interested in competitions, such as the U.S. Physics Bowl and the National Economics Challenge, for the first time. I tied for third highest score in the nation (sixth place) in Division 1 of the Physics Bowl last year. In the National Economics Challenge, my four-person team placed second in the state of New York in the AP Division.
As far as classes are concerned, I have taken all the courses in the Math Honors sequence, Advanced Topics Biology and Research Chemistry. The AP courses I have taken are Statistics, Calculus BC, Physics B, Microeconomics, and Macroeconomics. To date, I have received 5’s on all my AP exams. This year, I will take AP exams in Physics C, U.S. History, and Chemistry. I also took Multivariate Calculus in the fall and am now taking Differential Equations. As far as my other vital statistics are concerned, my overall GPA is 97.5, my SAT scores are 800 Math and 770 Verbal, and my Math IIC and Physics SAT II scores are 800’s. My PSAT score is 240 (Math: 80, Verbal: 80, Writing: 80), and I received a National Merit Scholarship this year. The colleges to which I have been accepted include MIT, Harvard, Princeton, CalTech, and Stanford. As you can see, I have a difficult (but enviable) choice to make.
Finally, I’d just like to say that I am thrilled that I have been selected for the U.S. Physics Team! I look forward to the trip down to Maryland next month and meeting my fellow teammates.