I was always pretty good at academics. I graduated from high school with a 4.35 GPA (on a four point scale), which was good enough to place me in the top 2% of my graduating class of over 600 students. I scored a 1420 on the SAT (including a perfect 800 on the math half of the test), and a 34 on the ACT. I majored in computer science at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with a "goal directed sequence" (essentially a minor) in political science. With the help of 35 hours' worth of "free credit" from placement tests, proficiency exams, and so forth, I was able to get my bachelor's degree with honors in just three years with a 4.60 GPA (on a five point scale).

Now, don't get me wrong - I'll be the first to tell you that test scores, GPAs, and even degrees mean almost nothing in the real world. Nonetheless, I actually liked school and some of the challenges it presented, and I take quite a bit of pride in my accomplishments, even if they don't tell you much about who I am or what I can do.

During high school, most of my extracurricular activities were related to academics: engineering competitions, German club, and even the math team. Probably the best move I made during high school was to participate in a co-op program my senior year, which got me started in the real world at Argonne.

During college, my extracurriculars tended to be politically-oriented: I was the copy editor for the conservative newspaper on campus, I was vice president of the campus sponsorship of a candidate for Illinois House of Representatives, I attended a conservative leadership school as a member of College Republicans, and so on.

This page is maintained by Jeffrey S. Curtis (curtis@anl.gov)
Last updated 6/23/96

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