I’m a current sophomore who’s thinking about applying to college next year.
I’m not worried about finishing the requirements of graduating early because my school is actually set up in a way that everyone finishes all their requirements by the end 11th grade (two years of English in 9th grade). Most people stay for 12th and spend a half year taking advanced classes and internships. I’m so sure about what I want to do, CS, that I don’t want to wait another year and have to pay for another year of tuition to my high school. I’m also not interested in taking a gap year, I intend to stay in high school if I don’t get into any colleges.
Also, even though I’m definitely getting better grades and taking harder classes than most people at so many other schools, my stats and course selection compared to the rest of my high school are actually average. I took 4 APs in 9th (I got one 4, the rest were 5s), 6 APs in 10th, and will take between 2-4 APs in 11th.
My school is extremely competitive and although I’m taking a really difficult course load so is every other student at my school and I know if I went to any other high school I’d have a huge advantage, but since I’m competing with my classmates I don’t have much of an advantage. I’d also only apply to 2-3 schools in 11th grade that I’d be willing to to graduate early to go to so that applications don’t take up too much time and stress in junior year, and assuming I don’t get in apply to the usual large amount in senior year. Also, I intend on taking the SAT next year.
So I was wondering, with about a 3.8 (4.4 weighted if you only weight APs) at a competitive high school in 9th, and if I can manage to get 3.9+ in sophomore year, do I have a shot at getting into a competitive CS school for college, i.e. Berkeley (I’m a CA resident)? If I’m one of the only 11th graders who do apply from my school will they end up comparing me to the seniors at my school? Is it advantageous for me to apply earlier?
Really hard to say without ACT/SAT scores. If you haven’t taken either, take the next one that comes up as a dry run. and see where you’re at. You should probably be at the 98th percentile or higher.
That is a super competitive school and you would be competing against those a year older than you and you’ve said nothing about your EC’s at all.
How do your parents feel about it? Choosing to launch a year early to a residential college isn’t just about academic prowess.
you HAVE to have completed ALL the A-G requirements in order to have a chance of acceptance at Cal or any UC campus…
Those INCLUDE 4 YEARS of English.
will you have them all done by the end of your Jr year?
If not, dont bother applying to any UC early.
In addition to your HS graduation requirement, check the requirement of each college you are going to apply. For examples, most schools would require 4 years of English, 4 years of Math (or up to Calc), 3 years of lab sciences, 2-4 years of foreign language, etc. Meeting the HS graduation requirement does not mean you are ready to apply to any college.
My school requires us to take 2 years of english in freshman year, so yes, ALL of the a-g requirements will be completed by 11th grade, and I’ll have taken 13-15 APs before graduating. My school actually only allows seniors to take classes for a trimester before moving on to research and internships, so I’m not rushing to finish requirements or anything because I’ll have to finish them either way. I also finished Calc AB last year, taking BC this year, and I’ll take either Stats or a post-AP math class next year.
My parents are all for it because they too agree another year of high school wouldn’t be beneficial. In extracurriculars my school is definitely lacking but I do acting, singing, CS clubs, leadership. Is there a disadvantage of applying early besides less extracurriculars? Also, what would I need to get on SATs to make me a competitive applicant? (BTW I also plan on taking subject tests in Math 2 and Chemistry)
My school requires us to take 2 years of english in freshman year, so yes, ALL of the a-g requirements will be completed by 11th grade, and I’ll have taken 13-15 APs before graduating. My school actually only allows seniors to take classes for a trimester before moving on to research and internships, so I’m not rushing to finish requirements or anything because I’ll have to finish them either way. I also finished Calc AB last year, taking BC this year, and I’ll take either Stats or a post-AP math class next year.
My parents are all for it because they too agree another year of high school wouldn’t be beneficial. In extracurriculars my school is definitely lacking but I do acting, singing, CS clubs, leadership. Is there a disadvantage of applying early besides less extracurriculars? Also, what would I need to get on SATs to make me a competitive applicant? (BTW I also plan on taking subject tests in Math 2 and Chemistry)
the OTHER reality you have to face regarding the UC’s , is that the most competitive campuses are COMMITTED to admitting a very hi % of Calif Freshman who are FIRST generation college students- up to 40 % at UC and 35% at UCLA.
Do you qualify? If not, you need to seriously rethink attempting to apply early, as you will already be competing against seniors from across Calif with more developed EC’s, as well as top stats and standardized test scores ,and wait until next year when you application will be viewed more favorably by the majority of competitive colleges.
@weeeeeknd There is no harm in applying your junior year. Sounds like your senior year is mainly outside the classroom and your high school sounds very expensive. Is it Berkeley or bust or are you flexible?
@gearmom I’m mainly considering schools that I would be willing to leave high school for, like Berkeley or CMU. I probably wouldn’t consider leaving high school just yet if I didn’t get into my top choice schools if I thought I’d have a better shot by waiting a year.