Hello everyone! I am currently a sophomore in high school (young, i know) but I have started thinking about colleges. I have decided that my first choice is FSU (im a florida resident) because overall I like the school and they have my major. Im an honor student (all a’s and b’s) but the only thing I’m involved in this year is Key club which worries me because i feel like it is not enough to set me apart from other applicants. My cumulative GPA is 3.66 and my hpa is 4.2, I think. I’m in the top 5% in my class. If this helps, I took an AP class freshman year, got a B overall and passed the exam with a 4. I am taking all AICE and 1 ap class this year. For Junior year my schedule will look like this:
AP US History
Aice Spanish
Aice english language
aice global perspectives
aice marine science
pre calc honors
ap psychology
ALSO I will be continuing Key Club, become a member of NHS and join cross country. Do you think the rigor of my junior year course and my involvement in a sport and NHS will help me get into FSU? It is my top choice along with UCF. I REALLY want to go and I feel like I might have a chance with my junior year. I am going to try my hardest to get all A’s to bring up my gpa. Do you think this will be enough?
You’re fine man. You have good grades and youre in state. I think you should bulk up on EC’s just in case. Also precalc is hard af you might wanna think twice about taking it as an honors. Your Jr year schedule is great but I’d consider another AP that’s not too demanding (Comp Gov?). Good luck
Your weighted GPA is likely to increase junior year but I’m worried you’re taking too many AICE/AP classes. You shouldn’t have more than 4, perhaps 5 with AP Psych which is easy. This schedule should have 1 class switched out from AP/AICE level into honors, unless you’ve 1° checked with current teachers, subject by subject, that you can get an A in their subject at that level* AND 2° checked with current students who can indicate whether the class is a lot of work and confirmed it’s not - ask how much hw the class typically is, per day, then add it all up. remember that your upper limit should be 3hours AND 3° have already tested the level of rigor (2-3 AICE/AP this year) and been comfortable with it AND 4° checked with your GC what the conditions are for “dropping down” one level if you see you can’t keep up with one class.
For FSU, the two key criteria will be weighted GPA (ie., don’t take an AP/Aice class if you don’t think you can at least get a B in it) and ACT score; EC’s will come into play but will be secondary. For competitive private universities, however, ECs will matter more.