<p>I just finished my sophomore year of high school. This past year was awful in all respects. Although I didn't have a formal diagnosis, I did a lot of research and I can be sure when I say that I suffered from depression. I felt like **** this entire year, and as a result my grades suffered. This sounds terrible, but first semester I got a B in Algebra 2/Trig, a C in World Lit and a D in Chem Honors. Second semester I got a B in World History, a C in Algebra 2/Trig and a D in Chem Honors AGAIN (aaaaaah). I had a strong B in math all of second semester but the final *<strong><em>ed it up. I got a B in history because my teacher didn't accept one late assignment. I got a C in lit first semester because all of my teacher's assignments/projects were worth a *</em></strong> ton of unweighted points, around 400, and giving her ONE accidentally late essay for a project dropped my grade nearly 10 percent. As for chem, or should I say the bane of my existence, I was completely unprepared for the rigor of the class. I came from freshman year with a 4.0 GPA and a humongous ego. I wasn't ready to teach myself everything for the class, was not ready to handle my notoriously bad chem teacher (she's been sued twice). Ergo, a D for first semester. As for second semester, I was so filled with dread about the original D and so *<strong><em>ing bummed out that I was not willing to put in the effort to redeem myself, so I suffered again. In the end, if I had gotten one more question on the final right, I would have gotten a C in the class. That's how close I got. Chem H was just one of "those" classes. The impossible, *</em></strong>ing unbearable, rip-out-your-hair ones. </p>
<p>Anyways, now that I'm past the spiel portion, the real question: If I show significant improvement now that I'm over my depression, will I be able to get into an "amazing" school? In other words, if I get straight A's for the remainder of high school, have spectacular SAT/SAT II/AP scores, have some extracurriculars that I'm passionate about, and thoroughly explain why I ****ed up sophomore year, could I go somewhere awesome like UCLA, UCB, USC, UChicago, Northwestern, Cornell (heh), etc.? I realize some (all) of these are a high reach. If not, could I make it to UCSD, UCD, UCI?</p>
<p>So far in high school I have done volunteering and this past year I started tutoring someone twice a week after school for geometry/biology, which has earned me at least 50 community service hours. I realize that's not much, and I am scared because I've heard much talk about colleges not appreciating people that start beefing up their applications at the start of junior/senior year. I've also heard a lot about colleges not seeing people with a low GPA but high SAT scores in a good light. Is that true? Would those two factors affect my chances severely? </p>
<p>Anyways, here is my proposed plan for the next two years:
-Straight A's (my unweighted GPA will amount to a 3.675 if this works out, weighted would be a 3.918)
-2200 - 2400 on SAT
-750 - 800's on some SAT II's (probably for Bio, Math II, French, Chemistry, maybe Lit)
-4-5s on AP tests (Bio, Calc, Gov, French, English Language)
-A's in the summer school chem and psych classes I'll take next summer
-Speech and Debate junior and senior year (I'm actually very interested in improving both of these skills, not a meaningless EC)
-More tutoring (Study Buddies Society)!
-Newspaper Columnist (for my senior year, I applied for next year but got rejected - we have a damn fine newspaper)
-La Pluma (our school's literary magazine) officer (j/sen)
^^I love writing A LOT, I may even major in journalism. Hence the newspaper and magazine.
-French Honor Society Officer (I love languages and learning them, and I will be skipping a level of French)
-Track and Field (I used to run...lolz)
-Cross Country (just senior year)
-Link Leader (just senior year, the person who helps freshmen get comfortable with high school)
-I play the double bass, guitar, and piano and am going to take orchestra all four years
-If I stay on track I should know five languages by the end of high school (read/write/speak English, Urdu, French, Arabic, only speak Spanish)</p>
<p>Btdubbs, I am a Pakistani girl, if that will make a difference. I also go to a highly ranked, competitive public high school so the pressure's on. Just last year a girl here found a potential cure for cancer.</p>
<p>So, what do you think?</p>