Am I on the Right Track?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Hi. I'm new to this site and am currently a sophomore in high school, so obviously I don't need to start seriously freaking about colleges for quite some time. However, I am a driven and academic person and would love to get into a highly competitive college some day, so I was hoping for input from people here about whether I am on the right track and if there's anything else you'd suggest doing. Figured that was a better idea then waiting till the last minute to find out that I screwed everything up. xD Thanks a ton. :)</p>

<p>(Also, I apologize if this is in the wrong forum, it didn't seem to quite fit anywhere.)</p>

<p>BACKGROUND:
Location: California
Ethnicity: Caucasian
Gender: Female
School Type: Large public school (about 3000 students)
Other: I'm very interested in science, particularly biology, and am fairly certain that I want to become a physician/surgeon one day</p>

<p>FRESHMAN SCHEDULE/GRADES:
English 1-H: A+
Algebra 2-H: A
PE 1: A
French 1: A
Biology 1-H: A
Art 1: A</p>

<p>GPA: 4.0</p>

<p>SOPHOMORE SCHEDULE:</p>

<p>AP Biology
French 2
Pre-Calculus Math Analysis Honors
AP European History
Sculpture
English 2-H</p>

<p>--Will be taking the PSAT, AP Bio, and AP Euro tests this year.</p>

<p>EXTRACURRICULARS:</p>

<p>--I'm on the speech and debate team, and though I wasn't very active on it last year I'm definitely going to participate more this upcoming year since I've found that I love it.
--I volunteered once a week for a few months last year at a local humane society, and got 20 something hours.
--Over the summer I started volunteering at the hospital (am currently in the gift shop) and will probably be working 2-3 hours per week.
--This summer I took part in the Young Women in Cancer Research Oncofertility Saturday Academy (quite a mouthful), in which 11 other girls and I got to learn about the female reproductive system and different infertility treatments at various locations on the UCSD campus and create our own scientific research posters. Link:SDSA</a> - BEWiSE - Oncofertility
--I don't participate in any organized sports, but I work out at the gym 5-6 days a week for 1.5-2 hours at a time. I have no idea how that'll look on a college application...
--My school has an 90-180 hour internship program for seniors in a variety of fields, including medicine, so I'll probably participate in that.
--I draw as a hobby, and am pretty good at it. I draw mostly people and animals and have a very meticulous and detailed style. Don't get me wrong, I'm not spectacular (it is just a hobby) but I really enjoy it. Might want to submit some stuff to teen exhibits/publications one day.
--This summer I took a drawing class at a local community college, since it sounded fun and I wanted to improve. I can get credit for it at my high school, but I'm not sure if that'd be a good idea since I only got a B... :P
--Here are the clubs that I'm considering taking part in. Obviously I can't do all of them, but I'm planning on finding several that I'll enjoy and (hopefully) eventually get leadership positions in (caps are the ones I'm almost positive I'll do):</p>

<p>ACADEMIC LEAGUE
Amnesty International
Art Club
CA Scholarship Federation
Cultural Club
Environmental Club
French Club
Future Voters of America
GAY/STRAIGT ALLIANCE
Interact Club
Model UN
National Honor Society
SPEECH AND DEBATE</p>

2

<p>be careful not to spread yourself too thin. if you like art, keep drawing, take more art classes, win some art awards, join art clubs, etc and pursue it deeply. seeing a million unrelated wont impress colleges, so as long as you can prove you are passionate about something and get good test scores you’re good</p>

3

<p>It’s better to focus on 1-2 clubs and excel in them than to be in a lot of useless clubs. 1-2 clubs demonstrate interest, pursuing that interest demonstrates passion. 2+ clubs illustrates your ability to juggle your time, not much effort.</p>

<p>Your doing well with your classes, but try to start doing a dual enrollment with a community college, and befriend professors in the fields of biology, get into internship along side with them, that is a successful way to network and get an awesome letter of recommendation along with experience, which puts you ahead of the applicant pool for your graduating year.</p>

<p>I suggest researching something that interests you in biology, something that has been looked at through a different perspective and do a research project. I’ll let you play with the idea.</p>

<p>Hopefully you get my drift.</p>

4

<p>the internship you mentioned would be pretty important if you’re hoping for bio.
Other than that, I would recommend that you focus on some of your ec’s. right now it just looks like you’ve tried a little of everything.</p>