I am about to start my freshman year and up until now I have felt fairly secure about getting into an ivy/other top school. Now having seen some of the people here I am begging to get concerned. Bellow are past and future plans, if someone could look at them andjust tell me a general thing I should do to improve that would be amazing! (No honors/other courses are marked as my school does not provide them)
Past extracurricular while on team: Soccer (7 years) Track (1 year) Rock climbing (1 year) Sailing (3 years)
Also: Piano (7 years)
last year GPA:4.0
Plans Freshman year: Track; Sailing; AP French (self-study); Other AP (self-study)?; History team?
Plans Sophomore year: Track?; Soccer?; Math Team?; 1/2 APs (self-study); SAT/ACT
Plans Junior year: Track?; Soccer?; Math Team?; 1 English AP (class); European History AP (class); Spanish AP (self-study)?
Plans Senior year: Track?; Soccer?; Math Team?; 1 English AP (class); Biology or Chemistry AP
You haven’t started high school yet, so it’s hard to say, but so far you’re doing very well!
My main advice is to narrow down your extracurriculars to one or two. Ivy League schools and other schools look for quality, not quantity. Instead of having a million activities, it’s better to have only one but spend hours every day on that activity to become the absolute best in it.
I’d also recommend studying for and taking the SAT’s and SAT subject tests early, like sophomore year. Once junior year rolls around, things get busy, so it’s best to get those out of the way.
Remember to think more than just college apps during your high school experience. Have ambition and personal goals, and try to figure out what extracurriculars, course-selection and community service really sets you apart from others. College is a part of your journey, not the other way around.
If you work your absolute hardest at what you love, naturally, things like getting into top colleges will happen. More importantly, you’ll become a successful adult who contributes something positive and unique to the college and community at-large.
If you have more questions, feel free to DM me. We can even chat about this. I was accepted into Harvard’s Class of 2021, and several other schools. Best of luck, and I hope you have fun in high school!
Sorry, to clarify the GPA marked is one that was given by an online converter for international grading systems. I currently live in France and have an average of 15.(something)/20. When I go back to the US the grade will rise to aprox a 17.(something)/20 as french schools oversees usually inflate grades by about 2 points. It should be noted that these are french grades and not American grades, it has been my experience that although a 15 is quite decent in France it is quite bad in the US.
You are an incoming freshman and colleges do not care about a single thing you did before beginning high school, unless it was some very big deal. I mean like a national award, or being famous for something. It’s too early for this post. Come back in a couple of years.
If French schools inflated, your US gpa equivalent would be lower.
But US colleges will look at what you did get, not play with maybes.
“Ivy League schools and other schools look for quality, not quantity.”
No. They look for a certain balance and the sorts of choices one made. Those choices show your level of awareness snd thinking. Or not. Quantity is fine. Variety is fine.
OP, your biggest issue is you have no idea what a tippy top looks for. I don’t know how you were "confident " without this knowledge, with no track record yet, in activities or acadrmics, and considering TTs accept so very few.
Do your own digging into what they say they look for, the sorts of students they brag about. It’s far from as simple as stats and a few ECs. Or what some posters claim.
I completely agree with @Lindagaf – it is way too early to think about specific colleges (especially the hyper-competitive ones). You don’t even have one full year’s GPA and you have no standardized testing. You also need to recognize that HS should be an experience in and of itself – a time of learning and growth and not just a 4 year college application prep experience.
It is good to take school seriously and know that college will be on your horizon, but it is too early to start planning for specific colleges. I would highly recommend that you get off of CC until your junior year.
For now you should focus on:
–Working hard, learning, and doing as well as you can in the most challenging curriculum you can manage.
–When the time comes study for standardized tests.
–Continue your involvement in activities you care about and work towards making meaningful contributions to those activities.
–Enjoying spending time with your family and friends.
When the time comes asses your academic stats (including GPA, standardized tests, course rigor) as well as your financial needs and apply to a wide range of reach, match, and safety schools that appear affordable (you will have to run a net price calculator for each school you consider) and that you would be happy to attend. You need to expand your horizons and recognize that there are many wonderful schools out there where you can have a great 4 year experience and get where you want to go in life.
Read a lot of books. It is helpful if you get a leadership position in your clubs/activities. It is also helpful to volunteer in your community. I think it’s good to have a plan of what you want to study in high school, but don’t worry about specific colleges yet. You can explore what colleges you like in your junior year. You are on the right track to do very well in high school, enjoy!
I agree with most everyone else. I am not a fan of grooming yourself for a particular level of school. I’ve always believed that you do the best you can and where you end up will take care of itself. Attempting to create a hypothetical path seems like it has a potential to make you miserable for the next 4 years. Over the next 4 years you will have to take a certain number of math, science, social studies and language both English and one other language to be considered for many if not most colleges. Take the most rigorous courses you’re comfortable with and obviously the better you do the more options you will realistically have when it comes time to apply in 3 years. Do what your interested in and if you enjoy it and are good at it continue to focus on it. There will come a time when you have to tell about yourself and it’s much easier to do if your interests and activities are genuine.
High school will give you an opportunity to determine what your good at and enjoy academically. It may give you some insight into what you might want to study and even what type of career path you may want pursue. You may find in three years that an “Ivy or other top schools” is not the best path for you and you will have spent wasted energy concerned with something of limited importance. You might also discover that you have gifts that can be best explored at one of those “top” universities. I would spend your time focusing on learning, both in your courses and outside of them, growing and enjoying your HS years. Good luck.
@rbt0583: No one can be secure about getting into a top university especially an in-coming HS Freshman. You have posted several threads on the same subject and you will keep getting the same advice.
Do not focus on any particular school this early in HS.
Do your best in your courses, participate and show dedication to your EC’s but do what you love.
Seek out leadership positions and be involved in the community.
Prep for the SAT and ACT exams Junior year.
Make some good connections with your teachers for possible letters of recommendation.
If Honors/AP classes are not offered your school, you will not be penalized for taking any since they are not available. It is fine if you want to self study but schools would rather see you take the actual course instead.
You might want to consider taking dual enrollment/community college courses if the AP courses are not available.
As long as you take a rigorous HS schedule and your counselor marks off “rigorous schedule” you will be fine.
I see no Art course and many colleges have an Visual and/or Performing Arts requirement.
You need English all 4 years and Biology/Chemistry/Physics for a top school.
Come back at the end of Junior year and posters can then see you where stand.
lmao @Lindagaf is soooo correct, it’s kinda funny to me that someone who hasn’t even started high school yet is claiming others have “missed the point”. this site is called ‘college confidential’, not ‘8th grade confidential’. my advice: write down your username and password to your account, store it away, and shut off your account until you are a junior. until then, don’t go saying you’ll get into ivy’s (as a 14 year old), give us useless information, and then act like you know what you’re talking about.
You didn’t even start high school, yet you’re worrying over whether you’ll get into an ivy league school. To be honest, you sound a lot like me. When I was entering high school, I was so set on applying and going to an ivy league school. However, at the beginning of junior year, I got much more realistic. I realized that applying to an Ivy League was basically a shot in dark, even with my record (see links below):
I want you to consider the possibility of going to a school that isn’t an Ivy League. Just because you won’t end up at one means that the world is going to end. Be realistic. Most of all, enjoy your time at high school. Those four years will fly by fast, and you won’t want to have your head buried in a book.
Hope this helped and best of luck with high school! You can do it
