<p>I'm only a 10th grader in high school, but am currently thinking about my future in college and UCLA is definitely at the top of my list of colleges I want to get into. I'm a resident of California and am planning on being a pre-med/biology major.</p>
<p>9th grade weighted GPA: 4.67
9th grade unwieighted GPA: 4.0
10th grade weighted GPA: 4.6
10th grade unwighted GPA: 4.0
I have not calculated my UC GPA yet because my counselor says I first need to finish 11th grade to do so.</p>
<p>9th Grade Classes (Straight A's)
1. Honors English 1/2
2. Geometry (No honors level offered)
3. Honors Spanish 3/4
4. Honors World History
5. Honors Biology
(Also, P.E. and an Elective)</p>
<p>*Took Chemistry over the summer (to get ahead in the sciences) (Grade = A)</p>
<p>CLASSES PLANNING ON TAKING IN 11TH GRADE:
1. AP English
2. AP Chemistry
3. AP U.S. History
4. Honors Math Analysis (Pre-Calc)
5. Honors Spanish 7/8
(And Elective)</p>
<p>CLASSES PLANNING ON TAKING IN 12TH GRADE:
1. AP English
2. AP Biology
3. AP Govt./Economics
4. AP Calculus AB
5. AP Spanish
(And Elective)</p>
<p>Just took my PSAT's and got my scores back:
Critical Reading: 490
Mathematics: 690
Writing Skills: 630
Total Score adds up to about 1810.</p>
<p>Extra-curriculur activities:
- Science Team/Science Fair
- Model UN
- Volunteer at hospital (so far about 100 hours) (9th-10th grade & will continue on thru 12th grade)
- A few other planning committees in the school and w/ the board of education
- bookkeeping volunteerwork at an office</p>
<p>Have not yet took any SAT Subject Tests or the actual SAT itself.</p>
<p>If you could give me some feedback on how I'm doing so far and what my chances are in getting accepted to UCLA in the future, that's be great.</p>
<p>Please give me advice/suggestions/criticism on how I can improve my chances of getting in in the long run. In what areas do I need to step up my game and in what areas am I doing well in?</p>
<p>Looks good so far. If you somehow make it through your junior year without a grade dent, don’t die your senior year. It’s a really sad thing to see seniors who got accepted getting their admissions revoked due to any circumstances (most common and hardest to justify: senioritis) that caused their grades to drop. D:</p>
<p>Based on your PSAT, you may want to study for the SAT. I think for most schools, the “safe zone” is at least 2000. </p>
<p>Your extracurriculars show a relative focus, which is good. Too many people join a lot of random clubs, showing no particular interest. Try to run for office in some of those clubs you’re in to show “leadership” qualities, even if it’s just a title and you don’t really do anything.</p>
<p>Thank you @r8sratnb and @silvercross for your feedback! I will be taking an SAT Prep Course this summer to boost up my SAT score. I am definitely aiming at the 2000’s. I’ll probably be president of MUN next year and take on some leadership title for the Science Team as well.</p>
<p>I wanted to lighten the load of my senior year by taking one of my courses at a community college next summer (summer before 12th grade) so it will count as an AP class. Do you recommend I take Spanish over at a community college, such as SMC? Do you think it would be easy or hard for me to get an A in? How challenging would the summer course be for a junior in high school? On a side note, if you take a course over the summer at a community college and want it to count as an AP class, do you have to take the AP exam at the end of the year in May, or does it automatically count as an AP?</p>
<p>Thank you for all your help!</p>
<p>The more advice, suggestions, and criticism, the better. :)</p>
<p>I agree with the above posters. You’re looking pretty good. You’ll want to have higher SAT scores than your PSAT, but it’s early enough that you don’t have to worry at all. Grades are the big thing right now along with a mix of ECs, both of which you have. </p>
<p>Don’t concern yourself with your intended major, either, since it looks as though you’ll be applying to L&S as your college (most students and majors), and major selection is not a factor in admission there. You can easily change your focus now or once you are admitted within L&S. </p>
<p>Your planned 11th grade schedule is strong, as is your twelfth. Even if you decided to take fewer APs, you’d actually still be fine.</p>
<p>As for CC classes, take them if you can get them and with good professors! But budget cuts may prevent that from happening…</p>
<p>Thank you @TWSA50! Your feedback helps me a lot!</p>
<p>Since I don’t know anyone who goes to SMC, I would probably have to go online to ratemyprofessors.com or some other website to figure out which professors I should take the summer course with. Does anyone know which subjects are the easiest to take over the summer at a community college? Any classes that I would earn a good grade in as a high school student that would look good on my transcript?</p>
<p>There are many perks to earning lots of units before entry as a full-time student. I passed out of a bunch of GEs and accumulated enough units for junior standing before entry as a freshman thanks to AP and community college. So, I registered for winter before just about everyone I know that is also a freshman. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, your AP units will not count toward GE credit at UCLA and some of the other UCs; you’ll just get unit and sometimes subject credit. Lots of CC classes, on the other hand, will give you all three. Given also that you’re going to be a science major, I would focus on taking classes that will fulfill college requirements (like English) and social sciences GEs (like philosophy or history). Spanish, for one, would satisfy the college foreign language requirement, so it’s a very good choice if you can get into it and take it with a good professor. Use UCLA’s articulation agreement with the community colleges ([Articulation</a> Agreements](<a href=“http://www.ugeducation.ucla.edu/counseling/articulations/articulationlist1.htm]Articulation”>http://www.ugeducation.ucla.edu/counseling/articulations/articulationlist1.htm)) as a guide for some of your other options. Other universities have their own agreements and GEs, but they are usually similar.</p>
<p>Ratemyprofessors.com is quite a help when evaluating CC professors. There tend to be lots of comments on them, since they often stay teaching at one school for a longer period than HS teachers do.</p>
<p>@TWSA50, thank you for all the thorough information. It helps me so much!</p>
<p>The articulation agreement between SMC and UCLA helped me look at all my different options. Thank you for posting the agreement. It gives me a wider outlook on what classes I can now take to fulfill my requirements.</p>
<p>I have heard that if one takes a specific AP class, for example, AP Biology, then when they go to college they will be able to fulfill some of their biology units if you earned a 5 on the AP exam and can skip a semester of the course. I know someone who started his biology course during 2nd semester instead of 1st because UCLA had credited his AP Biology course. Would UCLA still accept some of these AP classes as credit, or does it depend on the college I am applying to?</p>
<p>When you say you registered for winter before everyone you knew that were also freshmen, what do you mean? Would you be able to elaborate a bit on what you said? Do you mean you registered for the CC courses in the winter, or did you sign up for CC courses that would take place during the winter. I’m a bit confused on that one bit.</p>
<p>I think I actually posted the link for the articulation agreements for the old set of GEs. The information is similar but not quite a perfect match. Sorry about that. I always click on the wrong links on that site. Check out this one, instead: [Articulation</a> Agreements](<a href=“http://www.ugeducation.ucla.edu/counseling/articulations/articulationlist2.htm]Articulation”>http://www.ugeducation.ucla.edu/counseling/articulations/articulationlist2.htm). If you intend to attend CC summer school, remember to get the concurrent enrollment paperwork out of the way and sign-up for admission as early as you can. Register as soon as you are allowed to so that you can get a nice enrollment time and get into good classes. Don’t fear waitlists, though, as you can often get into those classes, and sometimes you can “crash” already closed ones on the first day also. </p>
<p>Now back to the questions. First, UCLA and many other upper-tier schools tend to not allow their students to pass out of actual classes and GEs through AP exams. My reading on the issue has shown that these policies arose in the last decade or so out of the growing numbers of people taking and passing AP exams (perhaps many exams), a concern over maintaining educational quality, and a goal to offer all students the opportunity to gain a variety of knowledge through general education courses. Believe what you may. All public schools in California will, however, grant unit credit for exams taken. At UCs on quarter calendars like UCLA, this is usually four or eight units. </p>
<p>Since I passed the exam and earned credit for AP Biology, I can use that as an example. UCLA received my exam score and then awarded me eight units of “Unassigned” Life Sciences department credit. Even though the course and exam correspond to some of the material in LS 1, 2, 3, and 4 at UCLA, I earn no course (also called subject) credit for them. Essentially, the exam and course served as a way to get into college, a source for a lot of units, and preparation for similar coursework at UCLA. The person you speak of more than likely is either mistaken about UCLA’s policy regarding APs or did something unusual. I suppose he/she could have petitioned for UCLA-awarded credit-by-examination or something like that. Was it awhile ago?</p>
<p>As for the second question, I meant register at UCLA. lol I apologize if that was not clear. I believe that CC enrollment is usually based on when you apply to attend (if you have to apply) and your status as a continuing or new student at that particular campus. Enrollment appointments at LA are usually based on one’s class standing, which is determined by the total number of units of college coursework (including AP, CC courses, or other UC courses) he/she has completed. Most first-years are still considered freshmen or sophomores by winter quarter, so I have a little advantage in junior standing at least for now (less so in spring).</p>
<p>Thank you @TWSA50 for all your guidance. Thank you as well for the updated links on the articulation agreements. They have helped tremendously.</p>
<p>Yes, the person that I asked graduated some time ago (around 5-8 years ago) so I’m guessing the policies have changed since then regarding credit given for AP classes.</p>
<p>Now I see what you meant by registering at college. I thought you were talking about CC, not UCLA. My mistake. Thank you for clearing that up. I see the advantages that AP classes and CC courses can give one in terms of being granted credit in college. </p>
<p>Again, thank you for your help. I really appreciate it! :)</p>
<p>It’s a little premature to say this now, and you probably won’t need it, but I wish you good luck. Hopefully the budget situation will turn around when you apply and fees won’t keep going up!</p>