I know, I know, these threads must be extremely tedious for you readers, but I really do need help. I’ve always been a good student, but once I started high school, I’ve gone down a little bit. It really hits my self-confidence because I know how stubborn and determined I can be when I want to accomplish something. I’m really trying to work myself out of this maze I’ve got myself into.
I want to apply to New York University, University of Michigan, Georgia Tech, University of Massachusetts, and Boston College. Do I have a chance at any of these schools? If it helps, I want to possibly do a double major/minor in subjects such as Chemistry/Engineering/Forensic science/Math/
Stats:
-high school sophomore
-private school
-Freshman GPA: 88.67 (3.4335)
-Current sophomore GPA: 91.5 (3.575) (I know it’s low, but it’s obviously an improvement from freshman year)
-My first PSAT score: 900/1600 or 1350/2400 (I just started taking prep classes/review books)
-national honor society next year
-National English Honor Society for next year (I’m great at English class)
-Varsity Lacrosse (goalie)
-Track & Field
-Seniors only take college classes in my school, so that means I’ll take those too/get college credits.
-There’s a chance I can take AP Bio, AP Calculus, and AP English in the next two years.
-Internship at a accountants office
-Internship at a law firm
-I’m a summer camp counselor/Held a job throughout high school.
-I will have 400 hours of community service done by senior year, if I follow my schedule.
-I’m in Book Club
-Literary Art Magazine
-Photography club
-Forensics Club
-Feminist club
-I’m a dispatcher for my neighborhood’s local, volunteer ambulance
-I’m part of the Youth squad for the local Volunteer ambulance. They’ll train me to be an EMT/drive an ambulance/medical procedures/dispatching,
-I’ve lost of lot of weight during high school, which shows that I determination. Possibly something to talk about in a college essay/personal question?
It is really hard to say as you have no actual tests, and only a PSAT from sophomore year. I’d keep working on your GPA and test scores, both need to go up for most of the schools on your list. Is cost an issue, as your list is going to be fairly pricey? Be sure you work with your parents to run net price calculators for each school (on the financial aid website page for each school. Also… high school “internships” aren’t usually considered any great shakes by colleges – those types of firms don’t usually give any significant responsibility to high school students with no accounting or law background. So don’t assume those are going to help you much. Keep thinking about essay topics – I feel like the weight loss topic is interesting to YOU, but not sure it will catch the interest of an admissions officer.
Is there some reason you have chosen those schools? Have you visited them? That is a useful thing to do, get out and see the schools you are interested in over the next year and a half. Maybe stop at an LAC campus, too, and see if you like those. Assuming you are female, you might take a look at Smith and Mt. Holyoke (although only Smith has engineering).
I know I can raise my GPA without a doubt (I used to have a 97%). My grades are just low because of pure laziness- I find the material easy, I just don’t like to study because I have trouble focusing. As for PSAT scores, my grade wasn’t too bad for a first time and I’m taking the adequate measures to fix that. As for price, I do have a pretty nice college trust fund, but I would prefer to save that for the future. But I’m not sure I’ll have that- my mother is very manipulative, and she likes hold it over my head and taunt me with it. My parents wont be involved in my tuition. I do have a bank account that I do try to add money to frequently. I very much willing to take out loans/financial aid. And before anybody comments on that, I’d rather work my ass off to pay for a degree that would be completely worth it. For example, my aunt went to NYU too, but her father disapproved of her getting married to this guy, so he stopped paying tuition. She took out loans. And now, she has her masters in clinical/school psychology and a JD in law. She runs her own law firm. She owns a house too (which is awesome because I live in an apartment and I always wanted to have a house eventually). And yes, it took a long time to pay them off, but it obviously paid off for her in the end. I’m willing to do that.
Honestly, I think having internships show that you’re willing to learn different things, branch out and find a god field, and that you’re responsible. And the weight loss stories shows determination and triumph when it honestly seemed like nothing was going to work out for me. I just feel like that there has to be some value to all of this, it just can’t be for nothing.
At this point, I’m just starting to think about schools to apply too. I live in Brooklyn, so going to NYU is actually very accommodating for me. I live about forty five minutes away. And they have a nice Med school. I know people who go there and love it. My two favorite choices are NYU and U of M. I like University of Michigan because it has a good chemistry and engineering program. Plus, my mom lived there a couple of years ago and said just wonderful stuff about Michigan and the college, and that just prompted me to look into it.
My mom and I already planned a road trip this summer to look at some schools, so that should be fun.