<p>I'm a sophomore this year and I think I'm pretty ambitious. I'm not aiming to get into ivies or anything, but I would like to go to a top university. I want to know what I should do and if I'm heading into the right direction to get to where I want to be by the time I graduate.</p>
<p>My courseload this year is </p>
<p>World Cultures/English (honors)
World Cultures/History (honors)
Trig/Pre-Calc
Honors Chem
Japanese</p>
<p>It's probably one of the toughest in my class since I'm ahead in math and I'm taking all the honors classes that my school has to offer. I'm planning to take mostly APs next year and right now my GPA is around a 3.8</p>
<p>For ECs I have</p>
<p>Basketball Club - Founder
Young Democrats
JV basketball
Key club
Another volunteer club at my school
Academic Olympics
FBLA
Marching band (last year, not this year due to lack of time)</p>
<p>I plan to get leadership roles in both FBLA and Key club next year since I am new to them this year. </p>
<p>I just want to know if I'm in the right track. I'm doing everything I like so far, but is it really enough to get into the higher schools?</p>
<p>the way i see it, you're definitely on track. i'm a junior right now, and in my sophomore year i worried about the same stuff you're stressing over. it's a little to early to tell if you can get into a higher school right now, since you're only a sophomore, but i would say that if you keep up the hard work it should definitely pay off in the end. =)</p>
<p>Yeah, our school offers that for all sophomores and juniors...I'm planning to take one of the SAT IIs this year too, but not sure which subject yet.</p>
<p>Don't worry about loading yourself up with a lot of activities and extra honors/AP classes. While those are important, it is even more important that you find a passion to focus on. You don't have to discover your goal in life while you're in high school, but you should try to find something that you're excited about, whether it's theoretical physics or student government. Colleges will know from reading your essays if you've truly enjoyed and learned from your activities or if you just tried to bulk up your resume.</p>
<p>I agree with everyone else - everything looks good so far. My only advice - enjoy the next three years of high school. Get involved in activities that you enjoy, regardless of how you think it will "look" to admissions officers. Like celestial said, if you find an activity or two that you really enjoy, you'll be able to convey that passion in your application.</p>
<p>Also, as far as the SAT II, since you're in Pre-calc, take a look at some Math IIC practice tests towards the end of the school year. The IIC material covers up to Pre-calc, so the test shouldn't be too bad, and it's recommended by most colleges if you're considering the sciences/engineering. Also take a look at a SAT II Chem book to see if you think your class covered enough to take the test (unless you're planning on taking AP Chem next year, in which case, it'd probably be best to take the the SAT II along with the AP at the end of your junior year.</p>
<p>Thanks. There was another thing I was wondering. I heard from some people that taking all APs for every class doesn't mean that much to schools anymore. So would it be bad if I had all APs next year?</p>
<p>...Why would it be bad? If you can't handle all the work, then I guess it's bad. I'm not sure if I understand your question... if you had 6 APs and got all A's that wouldn't look bad at all.</p>
<p>What would you take if you didn't do all AP's? Do you mean that there's some other class you would rather take?</p>
<p>Not another class I'd rather take but I was just saying what I heard from other people. It's that everyone has APs and sometimes schools don't think of it as special or anything anymore.</p>
<p>chilllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll outtttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttt ur a sophmore, kk????</p>
<p>Just because it's not special doesn't mean you shouldn't do it. That's like saying everyone at Harvard has a 4.0, so you don't need it because it's not special. Rather, 4.0 is a "standard" that people should aim to meet.</p>
<p>Likewise, having multiple AP's is standard, though not extraordinary. Does that make sense? Multiple AP's is what you should have, but it won't get you in by itself. By multiple, I mean 2, 3, 4...? Depends on your school and how many AP's are offered. Some people take 3 which is a lot for their school, and other schools have many students who take 5 APs. Just depends.</p>
<p>That being said, it's not necessary per se to have ALL AP's. Do what you want to do.... for example, I was in marching band all 4 years. It wasn't AP, but I enjoyed it very much and I got into top universities. Stats are important, but they aren't everything.</p>
<p>Remember, it's okay to worry a little bit about what colleges want to see, but you can only guess up to a certain point. There's no perfect formula; one of the best things about top universities is diversity! People have different backgrounds and different passions. Make sure you find something you really enjoy (whether academic or extracurricular) and commit to that. Colleges want to know what kind of a person you are, what you value, what you have learned, and what you think about things.</p>
<p>P.S. I am speaking from experience of people who were admitted to Ivies and Stanford.</p>