Can you please rate preliminary college app?

Applying to College
1

Hi, I’m a HS junior and as wondering if you guys could tell me what I could be doing to improve my schedule, grades, ECs. I just want some feedback; how would this look to a college?

Ethnicity: My father’s African, originally from Nigeria. My mother is Asian-American; her great-grandparents were from Japan. They both went to prestigious schools and have their master’s.

Academics:
Transcript: I currently have 13 B’s/B+'s and 11 A’s/A-'s

This year, I’m taking Honors Physics, Honors Precalc, AP English, AP Latin, and AP U.S. History
Next year I’m taking AP Econ, AP Political Science, AP Calculus AB, AP English, and High Honors Anatomy

Cumulative Weighted GPA: 4.6
UW GPA (for just this school year): 3.4 GPA

I just took the ACT and SAT, so I don’t have scores. However, I did take a practice ACT w/o any prep and scored a 30.

Extracurriculars/Volunteer Info: (Yeah, I know, I need to work on these…)

I am a competitive figure skater and have been skating for 14 years. I have a shortened schedule so that I can leave school early to skate; I skate about 2 hours a day.

I’m on the figure skating club at my school…that’s about it.

I’m planning on volunteering about twice a week during the summer, and am planning to join Science Olympiad or Debate Team next year.

Employment:
I work as a junior figure skating coach. I used to work about 6 hours a week, but now it’s down to 1 because of my busy skating/school schedule.

Academic awards:
Member of Latin Honor Society
Been on Honor Roll all 3 years (although everyone at my school gets on that)

I am planning on entering some essay contests, because I am a decent writer and I believe that I could do pretty well.

So with that said, what do you guys suggest? Should I be focusing more on getting my GPA up? What can I do to improve my academic achievements? What types of ECs should I be doing more of? Does this look bad to a college?

Thanks!

2

This would all have to be put in context. What colleges do you have in mind? For example, you would be a strong candidate for the University of Oregon but most likely a rejection waiting to happen at Dartmouth.

3

@Homeless2Harvard‌ I guess moderately to very selective schools. Is is my academics that aren’t looking so great, or everything as a whole?

4

Well with very selective schools your 3.4 GPA could very easily put you out of the running. Although your 30 in your practice ACT is a good starting point, a 30 usually isn’t even at the 25th percentile for most selective schools which means you’d have to bring it up to at least a 32 or 33 to be at the bottom. Your extracurriculars are seriously lacking as well unless you are a highly recognized skater which doesn’t seem to be the case. Joining a bunch of clubs senior year won’t do anything for your application because colleges will be able to see it for what it is: application padding. If you put your race as African American, it could help a bit but seeing as you’re a junior, almost done with the school year with a 3.4 gpa, I’d look at more realistic options than the Ivies or anything north of the top 20.

5

@Homeless2Harvard‌ Thanks for the advice, I appreciate it. Correct me if I’m wrong though, but I was under the impression that colleges look at Weighted GPA? And even if they look at UW, the 3.4 is only for my first semester of Junior year; it’s not cumulative. Cumulative should be higher, I just wasn’t able to find it on my school profile. Obviously a 30 on the ACT will not cut it which is why I am preparing and studying very hard for the one in June. In terms of grades, I’m pretty sure colleges also value progress and improvement, so I’m working very hard to get all my grades up to A’s this semester and first semester of senior year.
You’re right; I am not a highly recognized skater but I am a “Gold Blade Medalist” and I recently switched coaches to a more competitive rink; I expect a huge improvement in my scores and results this competitive season. I’m sorry to bog you down w/ all this…I’ve been feeling very worried about the admissions process. I feel like the above doesn’t show what I’m capable of. I guess I just need to work harder.

6

Weighted GPA means nothing to colleges because different schools weigh gpas differently. They only really look at your unweighted gpa and hence will be looking at your cumulative gpa. I hope it is higher for your sake but with 13 B’s, I wouldn’t bet too much on it. They do consider upward trends but that by no means excuses a weaker transcript. Remember that these schools are able to reject perfect 2400’s, 36’s with 4.0 uw gpas left and right which leaves weaker applicants way behind in the dust. Just do your best and let the cards fall where they may. You can’t be expected to do any more than your best.

7

Given that you have more Bs than As, I’d say that you have a very small chance of getting into a top 20 school without a legit hook. Improve your SAT/ACT score, show an upward GPA trend, and look into moderately selective colleges (UCSD? Tulane?) as well as LACs.