<p>Hi all, and thanks for your time.</p>
<p>Right now I am a high school sophomore wondering if I'm on the right track for some of the top schools in the nation based on slight mess-ups in my freshman year due to personal problems.</p>
<p>From elementary school to 9th grade, I went to a school for gifted students and I was accelerated at least a year above my grade level in my academic subjects. The program ended in ninth grade. As a result, I am a sophomore who has already completed courses such as Global History II that sophomores normally take and I am in English 11 Honors and Spanish IV. I have received above a 90 in all of my classes so far since when I started taking high school courses in seventh grade, but I had a slight downward curve after seventh grade that progressed into ninth grade. In ninth grade, I probably got an 89% or maybe 90 in Spanish III (they haven't finalized the grade because the teacher was very unfair towards many students and my standardized test scores were way higher than in the coursework). Overall I would say this program was very rigorous and admissions officers would likely recognize that. Many graduates have attended Ivy League schools and other highly prestigious schools. When I entered my new high school, I began to do better as I could apply the skills I had learned in my previous school.</p>
<p>Some other things to take into consideration:</p>
<p>Schedule:</p>
<p>Current Year Schedule (Sophomore):</p>
<p>US History and Government Honors (not taking AP until next year because my school said I'm already a year ahead so it's kind of a middle ground between AP World History and AP US History)
English 11 Honors
Trigonometry Honors
Chemistry Honors
Spanish IV Honors</p>
<p>I'm also taking some required courses as well such as a music class, a health class, etc.</p>
<p>Next year's schedule (Junior) :</p>
<p>AP US History
AP Spanish Language and Culture
AP Statistics (doubling up! :) )
English 12 Honors (could not be placed in AP because I won't be a senior)
College Algebra/ Calculus Honors
Physics Honors</p>
<p>My school does not offer many APs... should I self-study some?</p>
<p>Some other info about me:</p>
<p>Average (for sophomore year): 102 (my school uses a 100 point scale) unweighted: 97.7
Class rank: 10 or 11/153 (It fluctuates)
I don't have as much weight as everyone else so it's lower than what it would be unweighted.</p>
<p>ECs (pretty weak):
Many hours tutoring underprivileged children at a community center
Varsity Track and Field
Was Treasurer of my last school (like it really matters haha)
Spanish Honor Society
Taught CPR classes
Mathletes
Knowledge Masters Open (our team last year was first in the state and small school division)
Math Club
Green Key Club
French Club
Creative Writing
Art Club
National Honor Society</p>
<p>State: New York
Gender: Male
Race: African-American (first-generation immigrant from the Caribbean)</p>
<p>Started practicing to get 2250+ on the SAT</p>
<p>Will take SAT Subject Test in Chemistry this year and Math II and Physics next year</p>
<p>I am really strongly interested in math and science, and I want to go to Columbia and do engineering, science, or pre-med related studies. I hope my freshman year didn't ruin it. Does anyone have any advice on how to show this interest through internships, research, etc. and make myself stand out?</p>