Am I on the right track?

Pre-College Issues High School Life
1

Hello! I’m going into junior year next year! Just wanted some advice on things I should do/keep doing as I continue my high school journey! :slight_smile:

Junior Year Schedule
AP Lang
AP US History
Got promoted to Accelerated Math (1/2 sem Math Analysis, 1/2 sem AP Calc AB) because of my high Alg 2 grade.
AP Chemistry
Volleyball
Academic Decathlon

This year I took all honors and one AP, AP Environmental Science. I got a B last semester(my only B ), but I’m semi confident that I will get an A this semester (upwards trend? :slight_smile:
Anyway, my big issue here is that I did not pass Spanish 2 (I got a D). However, I am doing summer school to replace that grade, and I’m on the right track to pass the class as of now. Will this completely destroy my chances at any top 50 school? (Excluding ivies, top 10 etc) My dream is UCLA, which I believe is out of reach, but I have fallen in love with NYU, Boston U, and Duke etc. (very STEM centered schools, I believe)
If you do not count my nauseating spanish grade, since I am doing summer school to replace it, I believe my GPA would be about a 3.83, UW.
My freshman GPA was a 4.0 UW

EC’s
I have played piano for 10+ years, with minor competitions and recitals, and I played in an award winning symphony orchestra for 1 year in my old high school. (I switched schools last year)
I am an avid hiker and rock climber (not sure if this matters on a college app, but I’ve logged over 150 hours hiking, it’s something I’m very passionate about)
I am on a gold medal winning academic decathlon team, and I currently hold a leadership position at the moment, and I am hoping to be president my last two years.
I am in a volunteering club where I organize events for the members to go to soup kitchens and homeless shelters
I am part of student council, and I will run for a leadership position next year, and hopefully get on the council board my senior year.
I volunteer at a local hospital 4 hours every week, I think I will have over 300 by the end of this summer.
I was selected to participate in a medical seminar/camp this summer through a local hospital (take about 140/500 students)

I feel very intimidated by this site (bad or good thing?) but I feel that if i post some of my stats (although they might be embarrassing…) I can get constructive feedback from intelligent people my age on what I should do and keep on doing. (Yes, I know, my spanish grade is in the hole, but I really hope it doesn’t kill my chances completely…oh well. Gotta move on)

Also, SAT, I got a decent score on the PSAT, and I’m taking classes, so I will most likely break 2000. Hopefully. Thanks for reading this, I appreciate every single comment :slight_smile: i posted this in the chances forum and got no responses so I’m reposting.

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bump

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What’s your intended major? And what higher level learning institution are you planning on or considering studying at?

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Psychology or Neuroscience. UCLA (top choice, I live nearby), Vanderbilt, Duke, Northwestern, Case Western Reserve, NYU (if I can afford it) Tulane, USC. Pretty much schools with large pre-med populations, with a hospital nearby, sufficient research opportunities. I want to go to med school eventually. @BillyBill1234

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One exception class in something your not majoring in shouldn’t greatly hurt you, though that D will probably appear on your transcript making you look bad. Your have amazing grades overall so I don’t think it will hurt you too bad. ECs are really good too, you seem passionate about a lot of stuff. But you’ll need a SAT preferably higher a little higher than a 2000 or an ACT above 30 of to get in these competing schools like NU, Vanderbilt, Duke, and UCLA. ED definitely will boost your chances so do that. I don’t know much about UCLA but in general you look competitive for any of these schools if you ignore the one D. I think RD though NU and Vanderbilt are a high reach, unless you write compelling essays and max end of Junior year grades because both of those schools like accepting a lot of students ED, like max GPAs, and essays that show high interest. Also something to be aware, a lot of schools like NU (which is the one I know the most about so I’m just using it as an example) require you to take two years of a language in college if your in the arts and science college. IDK why you struggled so much, but it’s something you may want to consider if you really don’t want to take a language. Your get into case western and NYU and Tulane probably. You should add maybe one more safety though just in case. Overall write really good essays, try your best to a maximum upward trend (all As if possible), get a good test score and you’ll have a really good shot for UCLA, and even if you don’t get in there you’ll certainly get in the majority of the colleges you listed. Good luck!

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Thank you so much, this advice is really great. I speak, read, and write in Russian, so I might take a CC course and get a high mark to show that I can do foreign language. Would you recommend this? And NU is a lovely school, I visited it this winter, and I fell in love with it. @Heisenbergyk

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Glad to help! Yeah definitely take Russian in the future if your good in it if it plays off our strengths (unless of course there’s something else you want to learn too).

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Okay thanks!