Hi everyone. I will be a High School Junior in the fall. I had a few questions about what everyone thinks my chances are at a few schools and what I can do to improve my chances at these schools mostly Junior year. I have a 3.2 GPA at the end of my Soohomore year, largely in part because I admit I slacked off and didn’t always try my best, and I worked my job way too much throughout the school year when I should have been more focused on my school work. I go to the top ranked Public High School in my state. I am the leader of a Community Service Club at my school so I will have that for all 4 years in High School. I am a Student Government representative and am shooting to be Vice President my Senior year but if I don’t get that I will be one of 6 representatives elected from my grade and will have that from Sophomore through Senior Year. I am a DECA member and made it to state this year and will hopefully make it all the way to Internationals the next two years and will be an elected chapter leader my senior year. I have have that for my Soohomore through Senior years. My Junior year course load includes and specialty first of its kind program that has only been around for a couple of years, where I spend half my day off campus at an office building and work with real businesses on Projects. For that I will receive a 11th Grade regular English credit, an IB Business credit, and an AP Micro/Macro Economics credit. With my time back at m regular high school campus I will be taking regular Precalculus, regular Biology, and regular Spanish 3. I hope to achieve above a 4.0 this year because I know I am capable of it when I work my hardest. My ACT is in the 30-33 range so hopefully that will help boost my college applications next year along with my strong EC’s. I ask today, what you all think I can do to improve my college application and what you think my chances are/ what I can do to boost my chances at the following schools!
- Boston College
- Georgetown University
- Fordham University
- Bucknell University
- Villanova
- USC
- George Washington University
- UW Madison
- Tufts
- Northwestern
I know some of you think they might be unrealistic with my lower GPA Sophomore year, but I hope a really strong Junior year, great EC’s, a really strong ACT score, and great recommendations will help set me apart. Let me know what you think honestly! Thank you!
Also, I have a job I hold every October at a haunted attraction and am a manager at this point. And I have held a job every summer. And every winter I teach to little kids in a program I learned to ski through and have been apart of for 9+ years. Not sure if these will help at all but wanted to include them.
I also plan on majoring in Business, probably Finance, Accounting, or possibly International Relations instead if those are not offered at the school. Please help me out thanks!
Hi there! I’m a senior in high school (you can read my profile/chance me if you would like.) I will tell you what I did and hope it offers some merit to you. Everything looks great, except your GPA. Good news: junior year is the most important. Your sophomore GPA won’t absolutely kill you, but it’s dragging down your profile. Your junior course load is unique, but it doesn’t seem challenging for schools like Georgetown (many regular classes). If you can get your ACT to 33 you’re in great condition. The Princeton Review really helped me, I spent a few days with it and got a 34 ACT first time taking it. Everyone I recommend the Princeton Review to does great with it.
My first thought looking at your profile is that your ECs don’t stand out. What does stand out is your summer jobs and manager at a Halloween attraction, it’s impressive. My advice to you would be to do something unique. Summer before senior year, aka summer before college apps, is CRUCIAL. I traveled to Thailand with a student agency called Rustic Pathways and volunteered with Asian elephants. You need something to stand out, I would highly recommend something like that, IF you have the money. If you don’t have the money try to do something unique still…
Overall, if you get your ACT high, you could be a moderately competitive candidate for many of the schools you listed. Your #1, Boston College, seems like a high match… just get your GPA up.
Let me know if I can help, good luck in junior year!
Thanks for the insight. I should have included some updates when I bumped this that will hopefully help increase my chances. I ended up taking IB Biology and am also taking and additional AP Psychology class through my schools online program so my Junior year schedule looks like
English and Advanced Research
IB Business and Management
AP Microeconomics
AP Macroeconomics
IB Biology
Spanish 3
Precalculus
AP Psychology
Im sitting at about a 4.0 for Junior year currently and have been working really hard in all my classes. I’m going to begin work with a tutor on the SAT or ACT and am shooting for a 1400+ or 32+
I’m looking at doing a summer program similar to the ones you mentioned and hopefully will ended up doing that. Thanks for the advice!
Also, after two months with the business immersion program I can offer some better information. Our instructors spent a day dedicated to how we can stand out to colleges with the program. We start earlier than the normal school at 7:45 compared to 8:00 and we are responsible for our transportation. Business dress is required as we are in an office building with actual companies. We have had to develop incredibly strong communication skills as every student in the program has a business world mentor we are required to communicate with and gain insight and meet with monthly. We are hard at work on our company projects, we are working and communicating and setting up meetings with businesses in the community along with huge companies like Target and Best Buy. We have developed presentations and developed research to present for them to use on actual projects and problems they needed solutions to. We are doing all these things in addition to the challenging coursework we are getting credit for. Hopefully this will help set me apart! If anyone else has any other insight to offer I would greatly appreciate it thanks!
Your junior schedule looks much better with IB Bio and AP Pysch, and the business immersion program sounds great… You’re a strong candidate.
I stopped reading after the first few lines. You aren’t separating by paragraphs.
If you want people to read your information, streamline it.
Look up the cost of these schools first. Ask your parents what they can afford.
USC will be $72K per year.
We can’t chance you without test scores.
Have someone help you with your writing style.
Focus on your GPA and studies. If your GPA doesn’t match your test scores, you will have a problem.
Yes, my parents can afford it.
Edited
ED