<p>Hi, I'm going to be a sophomore in high school. I really want to get a kick-start on this whole college application thing and was wondering if you had advice for me--what to add to my extracurriculars, internships, etc.</p>
<p>My potential interests/majors include:
Business Administration
Marketing/Marketing Management
Economics/International Economics
International Studies
Communications</p>
<p>I have quite an extensive list of colleges that I'm interested in, and probably they will become more realistic as I go along, but here they are:
Duke (I am a legacy with parents who donate every year, so they know me there. Went to visit this year and fell in LOVE)
UVA
Emory
Tufts
Columbia (legacy)
NYU
Boston College
BU
Brown
Bucknell
Fordham
GWU
Georgetown
Marist College
Northeastern
Princeton
UPenn (legacy)
U Rochester
Villanova (legacy)</p>
<p>Here are my academic credentials (by the way, I go to a selective private school):
-4.0 unweighted GPA (4.0 scale)
-3 Honors classes freshman year, 4 honors classes this year (not allowed to take AP until junior year)
-Proficient in Spanish, I'm taking classes 2 grade levels ahead and am set to take the Spanish AP exam junior year and a college Spanish course senior year-- hopefully I'll be fluent by end of HS
-Top 10% of my class
-Both junior and senior year, I plan to take 5 APs
-I took the official SAT practice test today and scored a 2030 (710 CW, 620 M, 700 W). I'm planning to take the real one sophomore year as well as junior year</p>
<p>Extracurriculars:
-Varsity cross country and Varsity track (I plan to do this all 4 years, my coach told me that by senior year I will be a co-captain of both teams)
-Speech and Debate team
-Nordstrom junior board (I focus on fashion marketing)
-By the end of HS I will have about 150-200+ hours of community service
-Student government
-I plan to apply for NHS and SNHS
-Starting an advice blog
-Working on developing an app with my dad, who is an engineer-- we might try to get it sold in the App Store</p>
<p>Okay, so this is pretty much me for freshman/start of sophomore year. Please let me know if there are special things I should be focusing on, especially in the clusters of my academic interests!</p>
<p>Alright, I think you’re pretty much good. You’re going to have a very rigorous schedule, and if you can keep your GPA up, you’ll be golden. SAT score is already decent, you should be able to get it way up junior year. Your EC’s look great, and you seem very passionate. With today’s competitiveness, you really gotta want it. However, I do advise you to sit back and enjoy your high school experience as well, because you are only a sophomore. Keep doing well in school and getting involved, but don’t spend so much time worrying about admissions. I jumped on the crazy college admissions bandwagon summer after junior year, and became obsessed. I can’t even imagine what my life would have been like if I knew what I know now as a sophomore. So do well, but don’t think about it too much until your junior and senior years!</p>
<p>Hard to chance you for all the schools you listed, but I bet you’ll get into at least one extremely high reach if you can keep everything up. Also, heads up, but just because you’re a legacy and your parents donate money every year to Duke doesn’t mean they “know” you. Tons of people are legacies and have parents that donate to Duke. Unless your parents donate thousands and thousands of dollars per year, don’t bank on them knowing you.</p>
<p>Thanks so much I didn’t mean to sound presumptuous when I said they ‘know’ me at Duke, my mom is friends with the alumni admissions director, they email a lot, and I’ve met with her about admissions. I don’t know if that will make any difference or not, but one person does know me! </p>
<p>1) Why you taking practice SATs? By the time you take the real one, the format will be different unless you plan on taking the SAT only in the fall of your junior year (including retakes). No one can reasonably chance you for any school.</p>
<p>2) Also, you have just taken the easiest classe you will take for all of high school. That 4.0, means nothing if you don’t maintain it. Not to mention a lot of schools don’t even look at your freshman year to consider admissions.</p>
<p>3) If your parents aren’t donating millions yearly, no, they don’t know you at Duke.</p>
<p>4) The ECs you plan to take over 4 years are pretty weak. Nothing really stands out. Believe it or not, tons of kids make apps and by the time you apply, even more will have them. Try to find an internship for your interests and some summer programs. You CANNOT have empty summers.</p>
<p>My advice is to ignore the College threads on CC until the middle of junior year. That’s when you will really start to get into your groove as a student.</p>
<p>Thank you for your advice! The other day, an acquaintance of my mom’s who is a Duke admissions officer told me they would accept an SAT score from sophomore year for applications–as long as they’re good scores, of course :). I’m not sure how that would go for the other schools I’m interested in, but I’m actually very interested in taking the ‘old’ test and seeing how I do versus the ‘new.’</p>
AnnieBeats has good suggestions about your ECs and summers; if you can make your EC’s stand out, that could make the difference. Can you take the National Spanish Exam, and increase your fluency in mentoring or volunteer work? If interested in Communications, look at the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards (applications due in December for every state), intern or submit some columns or photographs for a community newspaper. UVA, Emory, Brown, UPenn and Princeton appreciate strong writers (all top 20 writing programs.) Think beyond your school: seek out state, regional and national opportunities for your ECs and academics.
When selecting AP courses, note that many colleges don’t offer credit for both AP English Language and Eng. Literature. Junior year will be so stressful when you’re taking SATs and 2-3 Subject tests along with APs, so plan your coursework carefully.
I would recommend that you also take an online SAT study course. The subscriptions are for one year, so you can pace it out, and you will likely be able to dramatically increase your scores (by understanding the “mentality” and format of the SAT) without much pain (60 hours at 1 - 2 hours a week, rather than cramming it all in at the end).
@PiccoloMom1995 said it all. What she said is very dense. Read and re-read it. It will make more sense with each reading. Especially “think beyond your school.”
Everyone else pretty much said everything you need to know, but I’ll just add that you shouldn’t really rely on current practice test scores because you’ll be taking the “redesigned” SAT.
Also, you look like a very competitive applicant, who knows what they want to do, what kind of college environment they want, etc. You sound like you’ve got it all figured out (in regards to college) as a rosing soph, which already gives you a big advantage.
However, as a rising junior, my advice is to try and enjoy high school life, your ECs and the application process as much as possible. Good luck!
@merlion, I think OP plans to have all testing finished within the year (before March 2016). That is January test date of his/her Junior year, which is feasible, especially with >2000 Freshman year. That is why I suggested the study course. s/he will be one of the last to take the current SAT.
I didn’t mean to sound presumptuous when I said they ‘know’ me at Duke, my mom is friends with the alumni admissions director, they email a lot, and I’ve met with her about admissions. I don’t know if that will make any difference or not, but one person does know me! </p>