National Merit Semi-Finalist and National AP Scholar!

Yesterday I received two snippets of great news--I'm a National Merit Semi-finalist and a National AP Scholar! Whether or not you advance to the National Merit Semi-finalist stage depends solely on your PSAT score, which for me, was 225, out of a possible 240. AP Scholar awards depend on the number of APs you take and the scores you receive. For National AP Scholar, you must take at least 8 AP tests and receive scores of at least 4s and 5s on all of them. 

California has one of the highest PSAT cutoffs in the nation- last year it was 223, which meant that if you scored a 223 or higher, you were eligible for the NMSF award. Although I got my PSAT results in December, I can now breathe a sigh of relief. I don't know what this year's cutoff score is, but I'm pretty sure it jumped no higher than one point (it may even have decreased a point or two, no one knows right now).

On Writing Essays + Potential Gap Year!

Oftentimes the best essay ideas come out of nowhere- while you're in the shower, or strolling through the park, or reading someone's blog post, or even just before you're about to go to bed and turn the lamp switch off. I'm thankful for these random bursts of inspiration, as these essays are the ones that are usually most naturally written and least mechanical. Staring at a blank word document desperately racking your brain for creative ideas = super unproductive.

In other exciting news, I'm looking at a lot of gap year opportunities next year! Of course I'm still finishing my college applications, but once I receive my acceptances (fingers-crossed!), I plan to defer admission by one year, if my gap year opportunities work out. I'm hoping to perhaps study abroad in Germany, Russia, Turkey, Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Morocco, South Africa, Thailand, Indonesia, or Malaysia! Traveling is one of my greatest passions; I feel so strongly about it that I even crafted one of my supplements around the idea of cultural exchange.