I’m a freshman in high school and I want to know if I can get into any of my dream colleges- I’ve had a pretty rough first semester but I’m working on picking myself up. I also want to be a writer so I’m applying to schools where some of my favorite writers went.
Dream colleges:
Harvard
Yale
Penn
Princeton
U chicago
Stanford
Columbia
Iowa Writers Workshop
Other colleges I’m thinking of applying to:
UC Berkely
UCLA
Cornell
Carnegie Mellon
University of Michigan
NYU
GPA: 4.1 weighted/3.6 unweighted (only weighted shows on transcript)
Honors Bio- B- (this is a weighted class and I’m not that strong science)
Honors Geometry- B (not strong at math either)
Honors Hebrew Lang- A-
World History- A
English- A
Physical Education- A
Art- A
Extracurriculars:
So I can’t be the leader or president of any club since I’m only a freshman, but I’m on track to be in charge of some of these clubs.
Model UN- special version at my school for freshman only
Debate
Photography- CO-president
Drama
YIAC- Political Activist Club
Literary magazine
Newspaper- editor of sports section
STEM- pass/fail class that counts on my GPA
Piano- nine years of lessons/won some state awards
Moot Beit Din- sorta like Mock Trial but judaic
Chidon Hatanach- Jewish Bible contest, Placed Nationally twice
Volunteer work: On my own, do over 200 hours of community service for semester. I volunteer for 5 different things that I’m passionate about:
Social Media intern for charity that raises money for schools in underdeveloped countries
Weekly volunteer at charity for families with a chronically ill family member
volunteer for political activist charity
volunteer at underfunded public school- tutor the students
Volunteer at organization for people with developmental disabilities
Awards and publications: NYT summer reading program (published), published in Claremont review, Scholastic art and writing gold key winner and honorable mention, published in stonesoup
keep in mind that I started prepping for SATs already, and that I’ve been working on that areas I haven’t been that strong at this semester
That’s quite a list. Why do you want to go to Harvard? Penn? Columbia? Brown? They are all so drastically different.
Also, don’t do any EC solely for the purpose of college apps. AOs will see right through you.
@anxiouswreck I’m in every EC for a reason. I genuinely enjoy volunteering, and most of my other ECs are related to my passions, which is writing and to help me with public speaking which is my weakness. I like the teacher a lot who does the STEM elective a lot. I took brown off of my list but Harvard, Penn and Columbia all have great English/Creative Writing programs and I’ve wanted to be an English major since forever.
it’s way, way, w a y too early to chance you for any of those schools. you need to start looking at schools around your second semester of junior year. until then, build up your extracurricular involvement, and focus on your grades. colleges don’t really care about weighted gpa. your unweighted is the most important.
Disclaimer, disclaimer: I wasn’t trying to accuse you of anything! I’m glad you engage in your community in several ways. I was just chucking some general advice that some kids on CC really need.
Also, don’t get too hung up on high ranked schools because they have great programs. It’s great you have some in mind, but they are all reaches. I think it’s wicked early to be thinking about specific colleges, but I want to tell you this. 40,000+ freshmen around the globe have their eyes on the schools on your list, and in 4 years less than 2,000 of them will attend it. You are definitely on the right track, but the chances of getting into these schools is getting slimmer by the year. It’s great that you love Harvard, but think about what it really is that draws you to it (other than rank). Is it the size? Location? More grads than undergrads? Use that information to find match schools and fall in love with them too- you’re more likely to end up there.
Again, it’s early, but for good English programs consider Northeastern, Ohio State, Pitt, Emory, Brandeis, Fordham, or LACs like Wesleyan, Vassar, or Hamilton. I promise you, there’s so much more than Ivy Leagues!
Impressive that you listed Iowa Writers’ Workshop. If you are going to examine colleges at this early stage of your high school career, then try to identify specific programs or majors at various schools which are of interest to you.
Many colleges & universities offer summer writing programs.
As it’s been previously established, it is far too early to quantify chances with only 1/4 of your high school career done, especially considering the fact that you haven’t taken SAT/ACT or AP tests yet. That being said, your course is rigorous and you have loaded yourself up with many, many extra-circulars. Obviously, your GPA needs to increase to have a chance at the top schools. Also, while your surfeit of extra-circulars is impressive, you will need to find some extra-circular that offers a unique perspective via leadership or research. The sheer breadth of things you are doing are not as valuable as doing university research or getting at internship at a business/law office/hospital/political campaign. You seem to be very driven and passionate, but without superior leadership, GPA, and test scores, all this work may not result in admission to the nation’s top schools. Also, your still a freshman, so it’s good to explore all those schools, but definitely do research, and if you can get there, tour the schools Many of them are vastly different: Princeton has an enrollment of 8,000 and Berkeley has an enrollment of 40,000. Cornell is super rural in Ithaca, NY, whereas Columbia, NYU, Chicago, and Berkeley are very urban. These are just the objective quantifiable differences, the vibes on each campus are also very different. Like I said, you’re still in your first year of high school and thus have time to crystallize exactly what kind of college you want to go to and exactly what you want from your college experience. Good luck.