<p>Hi :) I am a junior, and lately, all I have been able to think about is where I will go to college. I am visiting New York City next week to tour NYU, St. Johns, and Fordham. I think I have pretty good chances at all those schools, but I want to know if I could go somewhere even better, like Columbia... I have also started researching California schools like UCLA and Berkeley. </p>
<p>I'll start off with the advantages I have for my application.
I go to a private school with pretty high academic standards. I have never taken a regular class other than religion (which I am required to take all four years) and my electives (freshman year speech and debate- required. Sophomore year journalism- choice). I am now in the IB program. First quarter just ended, and I have all high A's. I am determined to keep straight A's all year. My SAT scores are projected to be on the higher end. Right now, I'm in the 1,850-2,000 range, but I want to work on improving that to a 2,100. Those projections are based on practice tests and PSATs. I haven't taken the actual SAT yet (other than in 7th grade with the Duke Talent Identification). </p>
<p>I have excellent ECs. I have been in Key Club since freshman year and am now the president. I am an editor of my school newspaper, President of Submissions/Communications for my school literary magazine, and a columnist/social media team member for a paper called tb-two*, which is run through the Tampa Bay Times. It is their high school publications which goes out to 80 high school and retail locations; I work for them at the Times headquarters alongside actual Times writers and editors. I am an Ambassador for my school (club promoting the school). I am also highly involved in youth ministry; I served as a student leader and volunteer at my youth group for all of last year and am now a peer minister at my school. As a peer minister, I am required to occasionally give 10-15 minute speeches in front of up to 200 people. I played varsity tennis freshman and sophomore year, but I don't think I'll continue this year. I am very interested in law; I did an internship for a judge last summer and will be interning with her again this summer. I am also in debate club and Model UN. I recently joined drama club as a hair and makeup stylist. I have been involved in the foreign exchange program since freshman year. I hosted a Croatian student for a week, went to Croatia to stay with her for a week, and will be hosting another Croatian this year. I am an artist; I designed the homecoming t-shirt for my class freshmen year, and we won first place in the t-shirt competition. Now, I'm taking IB art. I also recently founded a school photography club, which I am president of. I am a skilled writer. I won the class award for journalism last year (highest average) and am currently in place to win the IB English award (99.5 average for first quarter). I think this will be to my benefit when writing my essay. I am set to be in every honor society the school offers at the end of this year (as long as I maintain at least a B average, which I am already greatly surpassing). I will also get excellent teacher recommendations. A lot of my teachers love me.</p>
<p>The one thing I am worried about is my GPA. Freshman year didn't go so well for me. I was a huge slacker. I ended the year with a 3.6 weighted GPA. My sophomore year weighted GPA was a 4.1, and this year, it will be a 4.95. I am determined to making that happen. I refuse to have another B. Also, I have NEVER had a C and never will. However, I still can't get any higher than a 4.2 cumulative weighted GPA and a 3.7 UW. I am really worried that this will blow my chances at a school like Columbia or Berkeley. Do I still have a chance since it was all freshman year and I've obviously made vast improvements since then?
Thanks to anyone who answers. It's much appreciated.</p>