Advice For Junior Year And Beyond!

Applying to College
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Hello. I am a current sophomore attending a somewhat competitive, but mediocre public highschool (rank ~700). I am pretty concerned about college admissions because of some things I have heard on the internet, so I figured that I would post and seek some advice. Note: I reposted because it was moved to a less active thread because of the title. I’m looking for advice, not chances at a specific college.

Currently I am taking the hardest coarse load available (actually harder – I jumped 2 yrs in math and 1 in spanish)
My grades:
AP Calc BC: B+
AP Comp Sci: A+
Hons Bio: A+
Spanish (no honors offered): A+
Hons History: A
Hons English: A
DE Econ: B+
Wind Ens : A+
My current GPA is around a 4, and freshmen years GPA was a 3.85 (bad I know but I slacked off)
I’m predicting very strong test scores according to my pre-assessments. Assume ACT 35ish and several good subject SATs. I know it’s bad to assume, but I just want a decent prediction, since I don’t think test scores are an issue for me.

Next year is where it gets complicated. I’m taking 6 DE courses as well as many from my HS:
Psychology (DE)
Biology (DE)
Linear Algebra (DE)
Calc III (DE)
Calculus-Based Physics (DE)
Organic Chem (DE)
AP Euro
AP Spanish
AP Lang & Comp
Wind Ens
Health/Gym online (yuck)

Senior Year:

Analysis (DE)
Fundamentals of Mathematics (DE)
Abstract Algebra (DE)
Quantum Mechanics (DE)
Biochemistry (DE)
Intermediate Spanish (DE)
Advanced Spanish (DE)
Organic Chemistry II (DE)
AP Literature
AP Environmental Science
AP US Gov
AP World
Wind Ens

I have several ECs and achievements but they are weak.

Top Chair District Band
Second Chair Allstate Band
Varsity Tennis (Singles)
State Chess Champion
Gold Medalist State Science Fair (research under university professor)
Air Force Award for Scientific Excellence
NHAS Award & Scholarship for Scientific Excellence

Other info and demographics:
Income ~ 100K
Gender: Male
Ethnicity: White
Hooks: Double Legacy at first choice. Large donations ~ 30 years ago to the tune of 800K. I don’t know if this will help.
Class Rank: N/A
Financial Aid: No
Location : New England Area, would like to not say for privacy.

I think I have my junior course load figured out, what I need is help improving my overall application, and ECs. Any advice would be VERY appreciated. Btw, the university I am taking classes is not a community college, it is a strong state flagship ranked in the top 100, so I hope colleges place more value in these courses. I think my strengths are my course-load, and possibly my hook of legacy. My weakness is definitely my ECs. They’re boring and not very special. I need advice on where to go next with my ECs (Math tutoring, starting a club…?). I’m planning on doing more research next year, and I’m very passionate about science and math in general. I know that it’s early to ask, but if anyone has pointers for me I’d gladly take them. Thanks for reading my long and exceptionally boring post!!

– A concerned highschool student

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I’m also a sophomore, and I’m taking similar math courses as you (exact same actually, :slight_smile: , except for later on, I’m taking them DE at a community college which only goes up to Differential Equations), but here’s some advice:

I’m not sure if you need to worry much about this since we’re different races (I’m Chinese-American), but I’m a little worried about your academics. You have 2 B+s in Sophomore year, and your GPA in Freshman year was a 3.85, and yet you’re planning on taking so many dual-enrollment and AP courses in the following years. I’m guessing the given GPAs are all weighted: think about your unweighted GPA, if your weighted is a 4.0 and a 3.85, your unweighted is going to be a bit lower, putting you at a lower chance for top colleges. As an example, if you were to get a B in all your classes in Senior year, your weighted GPA would be a 4.0, but unweighted would be a 3.0.

As for extracurriculars, your current ones seem excellent. I’d say to stick with the ones you’re doing right now. Pursue whatever it is that you’re interested. If you’re interested in music (band), maybe apply to perform at some major events. If you’re interested in chess, keep up the good work and maybe get to nationals.

As another addition, it seems from your courses that you’re interested in chemistry and biology (let me know if I’m wrong). I’m not sure if you’ve heard of this, but there are Chemistry and Biology Olympiads that you could compete in (I recommend making USABO or USAChO and scoring high in at least one of them). Those would probably be quite helpful when applying to colleges as extracurriculars (I’m not sure if they are considered extracurriculars, but they’re definitely a strong boost to your application).

Also, as a last heads up, you might want to reconsider your math courses, or spend extra time on them. Calculus III is a pretty challenging course (I’ve been self-studying it here and there for the past year). You learn a ton of new content, such as partial derivatives, double integrals, surface integrals, Lagrange multipliers, divergence theorem, etc. You should probably get a head-start on those over the summer before you take the course (You might be able to get a B without this preparation, I’m just a little concerned that you might end up with a C)

Other than that, your application seems very strong. As a question to you, what do you recommend I do to improve in chess? I used to be extremely good at chess (I had a rating of around 1900) back in 7th grade, but then I stopped playing for about 2 years, and when I got back to it, my rating dropped to a 1200. I’m having trouble paying attention and focusing/noticing things now. What do you recommend I to do? Thanks! and good luck!

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How do you take this many courses at once?

Analysis (DE)
Fundamentals of Mathematics (DE)
Abstract Algebra (DE)
Quantum Mechanics (DE)
Biochemistry (DE)
Intermediate Spanish (DE)
Advanced Spanish (DE)
Organic Chemistry II (DE)
AP Literature
AP Environmental Science
AP US Gov
AP World
Wind Ens

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Haha my chess rating has gone down since 2nd grade (I used to be New England champ). I know that those 2 B+ aren’t helping my case, but I hope colleges will see that I’m not perfect and be able to move past that. I have a weighted GPA of 4.5ish I think, but I haven’t calculated carefully. I’m gonna self study a lot over the summer, but I really wanna get into quantum mechanics senior year, which requires analysis. Molecular chemistry is a major interest of mine. I haven’t ever heard of chem or bio Olympiads, I’m gonna check that out! I don’t have a crazy amount of general knowledge, I just do research in some very specialized fields (protein folding mechanics). If you wanna improve chess, just play the 30 minute games on chess.com! I went from 1600 to 2100 on there in about a year, it helps a ton.Thanks for the feedback :slight_smile:

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bopper the DE classes are all 1 semester long, and 2 of them I will be taking over the summer.

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I’m looking at your classes and wondering why you’re taking O-chem (a killer premed weedout class) when I don’t see AP or DE general chemistry? Also, you have one semester of DE bio and one of calc-based physics? Those are often two-semester sequences at the college level and it’s better to do them both together.

Also, even taking some classes in the summer, I’m also worried about your overall workload and burn out. DE summer classes are extremely fast-paced and will limit the time you have for ECs. In addition, they become part of your college transcript that will follow you to grad school.

What are you trying to accomplish? Has an academic advisor at eithermthe high school or the college reviewed your plans?

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MODERATOR’S NOTE:
Closing thread. The OP has already posted this thread under his/her other username. This username has been banned.