<p>I am a junior in high school who is just beginning this crazy college search process. I am the oldest child in my family so my parents and I haven't been through this process before, so all of the insight is appreciated.</p>
<p>My unweighted GPA is 4.3. I take the most rigorous courses my school offers</p>
<p>Freshman year
Honors English-A
Honors Algebra 2- A-
Civics (Mandatory)-
Highlights of Western Civilization (Mandatory)- A
Honors Biology- A-
Honors Spanish- A-
Orchestra- A-</p>
<p>Sophomore year-
Honors Chemistry- A
Honors English- A+
Honors World History- A
Honors Pre-Calc- A-
AP Microeconomics- A- (5 on AP Exam)
AP Macroeconomics- A (5 on AP Exam)
Honors Spanish- A-
Orchestra- A</p>
<p>This year my coursework includes AP Chemistry, AP Calc AB, AP US History, AP Language and Composition, honors Spanish and honors Physics. This may be premature, but so far my grades are comparable to my first two years in high school. Hopefully this remains the case through the rest of the year. Next year I plan on taking AP Government and Politics, AP Modern European History, AP Literature, Multi-variable Calculus, AP Physics or AP Environmental Science and honors Spanish. </p>
<p>Outside of school I have participated in many extracurricular activities. From September 2009 to September 2010 I had an internship at my Congressman's district office. I worked in the office for a few hundred hours. I have also volunteered for Obama for America in 2008 and Blumenthal for Connecticut this year. As is evident, I hope to major in political science and work within the field after college. I am also going to become an Eagle Scout and served for one year as my troop's Senior Patrol Leader (top youth leadership position in troop). Other activities include debate team (likely captain next year), newspaper (opinions editor Sophomore and Junior Year, and potentially editor in chief next year) and environmental activism. I have co-organized two benefit concerts for our states clean energy option program and raise awareness about important environmental challenges. I also work as a caddy in the summer. Finally last year, this year and likely next year I served on our states student advisory council to the State BOE. These are the highlights of my extracurricular work so far.</p>
<p>As far as athletics I earned a varsity letter for golf in each of my years so far in high school. I anticipate the same thing over the next two years.</p>
<p>So all of this summarizes my resume to this point in high school. Over the next months I will take SAT/ACT, and hopefully continue my work with different activities. I know a lot depends on my test scores, but I would appreciate any insight into schools that would fit my academic performance and my interest in political science. Also, what is the best way to go about preparing for standardized testing, and the rest of the admissions process over the next year? And how can one best determine to take the SAT or ACT? </p>
<p>Finally, the schools I am most interested are UPenn, Dartmouth, Brown (and really any other Ivies), Williams, Amherst, Georgetown, Northwestern, Wash U, Duke, Emory and UVA. Are these schools feasible considering my grades and extracurriculars? And are there any others you would highly recommend?</p>
<p>Thank you for your time and input.</p>