Am I on the right track?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Hi, I am a freshman in high school, and here is a background myself.
State: MA
Income bracket: 120000
Race: Asian, no legacy
GPA: 3.78, taking hardest courses offered at our school for freshmen
SAT (8th grade): 710 M 590 W 560 R 1860 C without any studying, should improve to at least 2200-2250+
Class rank: Not offered, but I would say top 15%, and probably top 10%. Very competitive school, one of the best public in MA
Projected courseloads: All honors, with these APs: APUSH, AP European History, AP BC Calc, AP Stat, AP Physics, AP Chem, AP Micro, AP Macro, AP Chinese, possibly AP Bio and AP English Lang
ECs:
Speech - Part of the extemp team. National qualifier as a freshman (last person to do this at our school became 3rd in the country!), projected team captain. Very motivated. Aiming for top 48 at nationals this year.
FBLA - Team member, but one of the most active underclassmen. One of only 4 underclassmen with any type of leadership role. Projected president. Will aim for a top 15 at nationals every year.
Soccer - Player on the team. Played on freshman team, because no one on team was allowed to play JV or Varsity. Goal is varsity next year, and hopefully captain. Projection: Varsity player in junior and senior year, Not captain.
Smaller clubs: Quiz bowl (projected captain as senior), Newspaper (projected editor of sports as senior), Math Team member (nothing)
Community service: 2 hours every weekend being a teacher assistant at Chinese school, help out a couple times every month at the food pantry, projected 80-120 hours this year.

Now, I was looking at colleges.
My goals: Upenn Wharton, Northwestern, UMich for Engineering (Enviromental Engineering)
I know these might be hard goals. But I believe that I have a chance. Am I on the right track, and what else should I do?

I also have a major issue with procrastination. I will often not do the HW until lunch, and barely get them in on time.

2

Currently, I am the most interested in Michigan. I would also like to get a Minor in Business there.

3

I am also an Asian male.

4

bump

5

Find something you are interested in and engage in activities that actually relate to that interest. This will go a long way in helping admissions counselors understand your commitment and individuality. Everyone is spending time at the food bank. If you want to study engineering - great, participate in some science/engineering activities.

6

3.78 isn’t a bad GPA but definietly not good enough for places like Wharton. Aim for a 4.0+ for your next three years. Also I suppose a 1860 isn’t that bad (+ ur a freshman) for not studying but don’t bank on the fact that you’ll get at least a 2200.

Aside from that, find activities that you want to do. You seem to know what you want to do just pursue them the best as you can.

But one thing, if you are interested in U Mich engineering then why Wharton which is a business school? And vise versa.

7

Thanks for the feedback everyone!
I have a 3.78 UW GPA, school does not calculated weighted GPA till next year, but since I take honors (3 classes I can’t take honors as a freshman), from what I hear from people in the past, I would have around a 4.6 W GPA. (top 10% of very competitive school)
If the GPA calculation was just from second half of first semester, they would have been higher. I got a couple of Bs first term, was involved in way too many activities. I have now cut them down.
However, to be considered for UPenn Wharton, I do agree that my GPA would have to be quite a bit higher.

I got the 1860 in SAT when I took the test in 8th grade with no studying, parents just signed me up for it.

Also, I absolutely love speech and FBLA. Those 2 clubs are activities that I am completely passionate about. I would not have a fun high school life without those 2. I make friends, and learn life skills.

OK, so what I wanted to do originally was to major in engineering (I want to do environmental engineering), minor in business as an undergrad. The three schools I would aim for in this is UC Berkley, Stanford (no chance at all), and UMich (realistic goal). However, if I get accepted into UPenn Wharton, I would attend there.

Agh I want to add something on again. Forgot something. I would like to get MBA in business (preferably UMich, Harvard, or Stanford), so that is why I am doing business oriented clubs. I am looking into our school’s Science Team, but would only be interested in Environmental Engineering/Science.

I also plan to attend two summer programs in the next 2 years. GMIF, a speech camp as a sophomore, and a business and/or engineering camp at UMich/Penn/others as a junior.

Anyone else? What should be my main goal? And once again, thanks for the feedback!

8

probably going to be a bit repetitive but the gpa could use some work
also because the sat is different now, not sure how that would play out
but overall i applaud u for being so ahead of the curve lol
upenn is a reach
northwestern personally i feel is a match but who knows
each year the quality and quantity of applicants is increasing
but best of luck to u
and word of advice : take a lot of ap exams. recently a lot of kids have been doing so well on the sat and have such strong gpas, colleges need a way to differentiate amongst students. so they have been using ap scores as one way, among others

9

also i would recommend u choose one major . being well rounded is good and all but colleges want someone who knows their goal and what they want to do. just my two cents. lol

10

If you are projected FBLA president you are on the right track. I recommend dropping your other ECs, particularly speech, and only doing FBLA so that you show high level involvement in a major organization.