If colleges ask for it, send it. Otherwise, you risk having an incomplete application and not receiving full consideration. Colleges are well beyond discriminating on the basis of how you look. On the other hand, if they don’t ask for a photo, don’t send one. Sending exactly the material a college application requires is usually the best policy.

Great questions! You can really do a lot with a well-written, interesting essay. If your grades are good but not fantastic, you could push yourself over the edge to acceptance with a great essay. And even if your grades and scores are great, presenting yourself in a poor essay could really hurt your chances for acceptance. 

The best essays discuss something meaningful in your life and show a passion for the subject you’re writing about. If the essay deals with some problems you’ve overcome, it should be insightful, show that you’ve reflected on what you went through, and it should share what you’ve learned from those problems. For instance, if you had a personal challenge that affected your grades for a time, briefly share that challenge along with how you have worked to become a better student since then. Overall, a good essay is well-organized, interesting, and helps the reader get a good picture of who you are. 

Make sure you answer the essay question on the application, if they ask a specific one. If you feel that your activities experiences were very important in your life and had a great impact on you, then yes, write about that. The college wants to know you a little better – what has been important in your life, what has changed you, people who have had an impact on you, how you have become a better person, etc. Don’t list your activities in an essay; schools can read about them elsewhere in your application. 

As far as recommendations, just submit the number the school asks for. You actually do need to make sure they are quality recommendations; more is NOT necessarily better. Just like in an essay, schools want to find out something about you from a recommendation that is more than just facts or “I think this student should go to your school.” You do want your recommendations to be well-developed, clear, and concise.

A few final tips: get a parent or teacher to read through your essay to find ways you could improve it, and make sure you don’t have any spelling or grammatical errors. This does not mean having your parent write your essay for you. Good luck! 

Sophomore year is a great year to start looking at colleges. You should start thinking about what kind of school you want to attend (e.g., public vs. private, large vs. small, etc.). You should start looking at a variety of schools at this stage. It’s good to get an idea of how many students apply versus how many are admitted, what the average GPA of an incoming freshmen is, what the student to teacher ratio is, etc. so you can determine where you would fit in. Also, be sure to consider non-academic factors such as size, location, financial aid availability, student mix, etc.

Most schools have a pre-med program, which you’ll need to complete before applying to medical school. Actually, “pre-med” is not a formal major, but you do need to take certain science and math courses in order to be accepted to a medical school. Beyond the required courses, you can major in almost anything.

At this time, it’s best to focus on doing your best as an undergraduate before beginning to consider medical schools (where you’ll focus on your specialty, such as pediatrics).

Good luck.

While the University of Texas is your first choice, it is also the first choice of dozens, if not hundreds, of other high school seniors. Consequently, the admissions committee is well aware that many applicants are going to “pull out all the stops” to try and get their applications noticed.

That said, the best way to get your application is not to write the admissions committee a letter telling them how desperate you are to attend their school. They know that dozens of applicants long to be admitted. They also have thousands of applications to read and don’t have the time or interest to reading any extra essays.

The best way to make your application stand out is by submitting the strongest overall application possible. The admissions committee will evaluate your application based on several factors, including grades, rigor of curriculum, essays, recommendations, extracurriculars, and SAT scores. Make sure your application is strong and unique in each of these areas, and you should stand out.

Usually the acceptance is for a specific semester and you cannot defer it. However, you could ask the college if they will. If you have interesting or unique plans for your year off, they may consider it. Be aware that you will be taking somewhat of a risk with any sort of request of this nature.

Typically what you can do is list both your GPAs separately on your new application. Schools will usually combine GPAs themselves using a formula, so you don't have to feel responsible for that part of it.  Otherwise, if you really do want to get a sense of where you stand, you can use this formula I borrowed from UNC's career services website (careers.unc.edu):

Step 1:
[(# of credit hours from previous college) X (GPA at previous college)]
+ [(# of credit hours completed so far at current college) X (GPA at current college)]
= SUM

Step 2:
SUM divided by total credit hours from both colleges
= combined GPA

Example:
(30 credits X 3.4)
+ (30 credits X 3.1)
= 102 + 93
=195
195/60 = 3.25 combined GPA

Remember, though, that you need to indicate on your application that you already combined your GPA using this formula. A safe bet is to list both your separate GPAs as well as your estimated combined GPA.

For being such a short question, this is a good one! There are many variables, but to be honest, you can apply to as many schools as you want -- that is, if you don't mind paying the application fee for each one.

In general, I advise against applying to just one or two schools (it's a bit risky in case you don't get accepted to either one). Applying to five or six schools is usually an appropriate number, and I'll explain why. You want to have a couple "reach schools" in there, which are schools you'd really like to attend -- but usually they're very selective, and getting accepted is probably a long shot for you. Next, have a couple of "second-string" schools that you're reasonably sure you can get accepted to. Lastly, think about applying to one or two "safety schools" that you are almost guaranteed to get into.

Remember, you don't have to go to an Ivy League; you can always get a great education at a wide variety of public colleges and other private schools too.

This is a task that just about everyone applying to college will have to complete: the writing of the application essay. There is no way I can tell you how you should answer that question, and there is no way I would tell you. But I hope I can give you some tips on how to get started. 

First, instead of thinking about the "right answer" to this question, think about why you really do want to go to this school. Have you heard great things about it? Do you have family or friends who have gone there before you? Does the school have exactly the program you want? Do you love the campus? The school traditions? If you don't know why you want to go to this school, you need to do more research. Really think through why this school is a great fit for you. If you can't answer this question in your own mind, you won't be able to believably articulate it on paper.

Second, follow the directions. If a question says "be brief," then be brief. If it says "one page," then write one page. More is NOT necessarily better. Don't try to fit your life story into one paragraph. Make sure you answer the question that is asked...no more, no less.

Third, put yourself in the position of the person reading your answer. They read hundreds, maybe thousands of these. Why should they be impressed by your essay above others? Is it your honesty? Humor? Articulate thoughts? Commitment to the school you are applying to? Passion for your area of study? Sell yourself in an honest manner. Be memorable!

Finally, take your time. This is not something to rattle off and send in. Write a first draft, then come back to it a few days later, and so on until it's just right. Read through it over and over for mistakes; an automatic spell-check is not enough! Give your final draft to one or two other people (English teachers can be great help) for their suggestions.

Happy writing.

You don't always have to provide a log of your hours for admission purposes. But it wouldn't hurt to keep putting together an estimate of hours for each activity you're involved in, just to be safe. Try contacting the previous clubs to see if you can track down some more accurate records.

For the activities you participate in right now, ask around to see if you could take on a leadership role or two. Sometimes the desire and moxie to attain such a position is worth more than just the hours of experience. If you think creatively about this and pursue a leadership position more aggressively (especially in a club where others are reluctant to assume leadership), that could work out very well for you.

As far as your unique experiences go, I think your time spent in the international school in Asia is quite an asset to you! When you're putting together application essays, I highly recommend you write about your experiences studying in a different country.

Colleges are looking for students who have had a vibrant series of experiences and have critically thought about those experiences. They are not necessarily only looking for traditional involvement in extracurricular activities, although that doesn't hurt either. Ivy League schools are looking to recruit an interesting and diverse set of students every year. So your experience could very well make you stand out from the crowd. Now, you may or may not decide to explain your lower involvement in American extracurriculars as a result of your time abroad -- that's really up to you. I wish you well in your future application process.

I think you might be over-thinking it a bit; you're allowed to relax a little. You sound like an excellent student, and colleges know that you might not be able to choose exactly where you go to high school. They will consider your GPA as well as test scores, teacher recommendations, activities, and personal essay. If you're still worried about it, maybe you could consider taking the summer to try a precollege program, which might also give you a chance to get out of town and see a college option or two.

As far as your other question, whether to stay in band or take a couple of other classes - I would say that you should pursue what you want to do and not worry about what colleges "want most." What they want to see is someone passionate about what they do and try, so stick with what you want to do and don't worry about which is "better."

It depends on which schools you want to apply to, but it may be possible for you to fill out the Common Application this fall. Students who fill out this application can send it to multiple schools - but keep in mind that you still have to fulfill all the other application requirements of each school, whether it's writing a specific essay or obtaining a certain number of teacher recommendations. You might still have to pay separate fees as well. Check out the Common Questions section if you still want more information...and, of course, to check if your schools are listed as participants. Good luck.

Typically, yes. I'd suggest you follow up with a few teachers that you respect and who know you pretty well. It will be better if they have a fresh idea of your work before two years pass. They could even write drafts now and then just revise them when the time comes for you to apply to school. But I'd work on that now - good luck.

I don't think it will ruin your chances by any means (unless you're planning on studying math in college, I suppose). If you're worried about your math score, though, it doesn't hurt to call up some of your preferred colleges and simply ask. You don't have to give too much information away if you don't want to. And you can always try retaking the test if you'd like, of course.

Also remember that admission is a combination of considering your grades, test scores, extracurricular activities, personal essay and recommendations. So you have several factors that could run in your favor. If you love English, I suggest you totally wow the admissions committee with a sparkling and creative personal essay. That's the kind of thing that admissions officers really remember. In any case, don't rule yourself out yet.

Even though this is a special circumstance, it might not actually be that complicated. On your college applications I simply suggest you add a brief statement just like the one you told me: that you couldn't participate in activities during your first two years because of medical issues (you may want to list the issue if you're comfortable doing so) and that now you can participate. That will tell the admissions committees what they need to know.

Of course, I suggest you join activities that you're most interested in. Don't be insincere about who you are!