confused about GPA and if I am doing enough EC

Pre-College Issues High School Life
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<p>Well, I've decided I'd like to steal this thread as well to check up on how I'm doing, since I am also a sophomore (class of 2008!)</p>

<p>I'm aiming for UCSB, UCLA, Stanford, Columbia, Brown, and Princeton.
Princeton's my #1 choice but I realize my chances for these schools are probably quite slim.</p>

<p>Asian Male
Northern California
Slightly above average suburban public school</p>

<p>GPA:</p>

<p>3.87 (Freshman Year, unweighted.) No weighted classes available freshman year, although I took Advanced English and Advanced World History 9. My only B was in Advanced English</p>

<p>4.2-ish? (Sophomore year, weighted. This is projected, since I'm still a sophomore)</p>

<p>RANK: Top 5%</p>

<p>EXTRACURRICULAR ACTIVITIES:</p>

<p>-President of Writing Club (10)
-Vice President and Co-founder of Dynamic Associates, web design company (9,10)
-Treasurer and one of the original founders of Red Cross Club (10)
-Disciplinary Officer of PMICU <a href="9,10">Pre Military Intensive Conditioning Unit, basically we work out</a>
-Domestic News Reporter for Democratic Student Union (10)
-School Literary Magazine (10)
-CSF <a href="10">California Scholarship Federation</a>
-JV Track and Field (9,10)
-Student Council Representative (9)
-City Volunteer (6,7,8,9,10) (120+ hours)
-Piano (4 years)
-Guitar (1 year)
-Chinese School (6,7,8,9,10)</p>

<p>ACADEMIC HONORS:
-Scholar Athlete Award
-Academic Award (award school gives out for high grades)
-Rotary Business Achievement contest finalist</p>

<p>FRESHMEN COUSES:
Art 1/2-A
Health/Adv.World History 9-A
Adv. English 10-B
Geometry-A
Spanish 1-A
Physical Education-A
Biology-A</p>

<p>SOPHOMORE COURSES:
*First Quarter Grades
AP European History-A
AP Art Studio-A
Adv. English 10-A
Adv. Algebra 2-B
Chemistry-A-
Spanish 2-A
Teacher Aide-A</p>

<p>SUMMER:
-Participant in Stanford EPGY 2005 for Creative Writing</p>

<p>Sorry I stole your format, Blazer. ;)</p>

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<p>Lol no problem. Your grades are very similar to my brother's except he got straight A's in his honors classes last year (perfectionist) lol. But your grades and extracurricular activities look amazing to me (or the little I know :)I haven't seriously started talking to my counselor yet (probably not until next year) but because of the academic program I'm in, the director is constantly giving us information about programs (like TASS for sophomores) and preparing for our standardized tests. So, yeah, my school's definitely keeping me up to date but I'm not sure if I'm taking advantage of all my resources. Also, a while back I mentioned my junior schedule, which will probably be this (wondering if it would look bad to the competitive schools if I wasn't taking like 4 AP's, since I heard that junior year is when you should take the most AP's):
Chemistry 1 Honors
Algebra 3/Discrete Mathematics Honors
AP English Language and Composition
AP United States History
French IV Honors
The Twentieth Century Seminar (Honors)
Two-Dimensional Art
Photography</p>

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<p>Blazer...you are seriously doing fine. Your app will expand as you get closer to college. Just go for more leadership in your ECs and try to focus everything towards your passion. </p>

<p>Forgotten...I see you like creative writing...Me too! What do you do in your writing club? And do you know of any good summer writing programs?</p>

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<p>forgottonhawk
Wow-you are probably going to get into the colleges you want at this rate-Along with Blazer08-Just keep it up!!!!!!!!!!!:)
Now i know I really suck and what should my goals should be-CLC here I come(college of lake County-community college)and if they rejecy me I have always Walmart and Mcdonalds:)</p>

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<p>Misty - Totally my opinion, not that I know what admissions are looking for - but I would say they probably don't look at effort grades. I know at my school that's totally subjective and some teachers don't care and give everyone a 2 (like a B) no matter how much effort is put in - or how little. On my high school transcript, all they list are semester grades. Period. Well, plus GPA and class rank and all.</p>

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<p>Thanks for all of your input guys! Feels good to be a sophomore. People actually respond to stuff like this now, haha. I've been on CC since 8th grade and the responses I used to get were quite...minimal.</p>

<p>Blythe-That's awesome! If you'd like, perhaps we could share some of our work or something. My writing club is basically set up workshop-style; basically every person in the club brings along a piece of their own writing and members of the club offer their constructive criticism. I found this style of sharing writing extremely effective while I was at Stanford last summer. EPGY was a great program. I got to meet numerous authors including Tobias Wolff. If you want more info on EPGY, I could elaborate, but I don't feel like typing it all out right now.</p>

<p>I've heard the Rhodes Summer Writing Institute is quite good as well, although I haven't gotten the chance to be in this program.</p>

<p><a href="http://www.rhodes.edu/writinginstitute/index.shtml%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.rhodes.edu/writinginstitute/index.shtml&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Just a little update to my "resume..." a friend and I are planning to found a non-profit organization that acts as a sort of outreach to students from China. We'd set up a system of pen pals for the benefit of their English. It's not completely planned out yet, but the premise has been very promising thus far and I plan to fully commit myself to this.</p>

<p>Might as well post what I believe to be my Junior Year schedule...</p>

<p>AP U.S. History
AP Psychology
AP Computer Science
Honors English 11
Honors Trigonometry
Spanish 3
Weights (P.E.)</p>

<p>I'm still debating whether or not I should switch out AP Computer Science or Weights for Honors Physics. My school requires 2 years of Physical Education in order to graduate and so far I've only had 1 year of PE. If I pushed weights out of my junior year schedule, I'd HAVE to have PE for sure my senior year. Any thoughts?</p>

<p>I kind of want to keep weights, however, because the rest of my schedule is pretty tough as it is...</p>

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<p>Oh yeah...some stuff I omitted from my last post:</p>

<p>I haven't actually talked to my school counselor too much about my college plans yet, although I believe I should. I've heard of TASS for sophomores as well, although I had to investigate that on my own, lol. Have you heard of TASP for juniors? I'm more interested in TASP's programs so that's probably what I will be doing the summer after junior year.</p>

<p>I've taken the PSAT this year, and it was easier than the practice test I took, so I'm expecting somewhere around 200-210ish. Have you guys taken it?</p>

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<p>marmadillio-thanks for the input about effprt grades, Iget what you mean about teachers being bias but at my school the effort grades are taken very seriously for example I had a friend with an A in Biology but she had a D in effort-at the end of the term her teacher rounded her grade down to a B because of her minimal effort>
Anyway I just wanted to post my junior schedule to see what you think of it.
Junior Course Load
Algebra II
AP United States History-not sure yet I have to be invited
Spanish IV
Science-Should I take AP Biology(already invited) or wait till next year and do three science term courses?
Art/Extra
Ist term-Drawing, 2st term Independent Study in Russian Art
3st term-Independent Study in Fairy Tales-Do Independent Studies not done pass or fail but graded look good or what?
englidh 11-have to do really well in to be invited to do AP English 12
I am going to try also doing Madarin this year- I wanted to do it as a freshman but could'nt -going to see if I like it this year.I would drop Spanish but my school requires that I stick to a language for three straight years.Also if I start madarin will college frown on it-Thanks again</p>

<p>Forgottenhawk- I think you should just do weights this year to get it over with-it looks like you have a really tough schedule and it might be nice do something physical for when you excersise endorphins make you happy.
Also addintional note for my junior year I might start a club at my school-I was thinking like a film/manga club-also I might have a position at my school's mun commitee( the leaders of our MUN have positions like Security general and such) I am old enough this year to apply I think i am going to try for undersecretary of public relations or research and then try for a higher position the next year.
Will these activites help me at all
Future Thanks</p>

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<p>Forgottenhawk - ever think about doing PE in summer school? Don't know if your school offers it or how good it is, but that's what I did because of a full schedule (Summer school PE and health after 9th grade, and 6:45 PE for one semester in tenth grade) and it worked out GREAT.</p>

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<p>Haha yeah I've taken the PSAT and PLAN and I think I did horrible on both. I think it's because I knew it wouldn't count this year so I really didn't care if I did well or not. Come next year, though, I'm definitely going to try to get some sort of merit recognition. I would keep weights for your junior year so as not to be too overwhelmed with your academic work. I had the same situation, since I'll be the junior class secretary next year I'll be planning prom the whole year (even beginning this summer with reservations and such since our student body officers said they had to reserve the place where the prom was nearly a year in advance). Also, prom is notorious for taking up the junior class's time, so that's another reason why I decided I don't want to take too many AP classes. Senior year, though, I'll probably stick with AP English Literature and Composition, AP Microeconomics, and AP United States Government. Once again, not too many AP classes since I'll finally be a student body officer senior year :)</p>

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<p>Misty - do you not have to take an English credit? - oops just found it. I would take an advanced English if it's available. Supposedly communication arts and all are very highly looked upon by colleges no matter what degree you're going for. I know most colleges require 4 credits of English in high school. And just from past experience, I would go ahead and do science - I'm taking AP Chem and AP Physics this year and it's very difficult - just with homework, experiments, and everything. IMHO it would be better to spread it out.</p>

<p>Forgottenhawk - a PSAT of 210 is outstanding. You're a sophomore, right? When I took it as a sophomore I got a 197, and as a junior got a 224 - which has gotten me to a semifinalist so far. This year I believe 214 was the cut off for National Merit (204-213? was the range for Commended Scholar), so getting a score like that as a sophomore speaks highly of you.</p>

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<p>Another question, how do you guys study for your exams (like how much time and how far in advance)? We have our mid-terms in about two or three weeks and I need to start studying for those. I also have my biology end of course test December 4 :/ but I already know I'll be staying after school everday this week for some tutoring since it's 20% of our final grade. Yeah, I've heard about TASP but I seriously don't think I can get accepted into that program (it's similar to RSI isn't it?) But go ahead and apply, from what I've read on these other forums it's a great experience!</p>

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<p>marmadillo- That sounds good...I'll try investigating the summer PE options I have around here. And thanks about the PSAT thing. Yeah, I'm still a sophomore and I took it this year mainly to prepare for it next year. That sounds great then...hopefully I can become a semi-finalist next year, when it actually counts. I do believe the cut off is a bit higher though, for California (which is where I live). </p>

<p>Do any of you guys know how reflective PSAT scores are of SAT scores? As in, will I be able to score similarily on the SAT?</p>

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<p>Haha, don't count on it reflecting in your SAT scores. I consider myself a good writer, but got like a 660 on the first writing portion and a 740 on the second :-( On the traditional scale (out of 1600) I first had a 1410 and then it went down to a 1400!! Basically, I think I was lucky when I took the PSAT...</p>

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<p>Marmadillo- how did you do so well on your PSAT? Did you start preparing a few months in advanced? I'd like to get some sort of recognition (heck even commendation), whether it be from the National Achievement (good ol' URM lol) or National Merit. How difficult is it to receive National Achievement or Merit commendation (even more specifically in South Carolina, where hopefully the cut-off scores aren't nearly as high)? Anyone have any sites for Achievement/Merit commendation cut-off scores?</p>

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<p>I'm not too confident of my chances at getting into TASP either, but I believe they're good enough that I should send in an application next year.</p>

<p>For finals, I usually start studying a week in advance at the earliest and CRAM on the night before, although I try not to stay up too late. I studied for a total of 28 hours last year, I believe, solely for my English final which I got a B on. =/</p>

<p>I sit myself down and go through all of my notes and refer to the textbook whenever a point isn't clear. I also form study groups both online (AIM) and offline. Working with groups benefits all parties because if you can teach the material to someone, you've basically mastered it. Obviously, it's good for the person being taught to to listen in to the other lecture.</p>

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<p>Marmadillio- yeah i have to take four years of english. Thanks for the advice about my science courses-I was generally feeling that I would wait to do AP Bio when I am a senior since I am taking seven classes this year and the term classes are supposed to be realy easy-I just hope that it doesn't look bad on my apps to colleges. Also would it be okay to take three Aps senior year(english,Bio and self study for Ap Art history)
I have taken PLAn and PSAT too-I don't think I did realy well but maybe average due to my weakness in math
Forgotten Hawk-the people at my school say that when you get back your PsAT and PLan tests they include a prediction for your performance on the SAT based on your scores</p>

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<p>Blazer - It was some time ago, but I don't remember prepping. I think I've read one SAT prep book a couple years ago, and knew what the format would be, but that was basically it. I don't know how I got that score except it was my birthday and I was feeling lucky :-D Plus I took it as a sophomore and knew what it was going to look like.</p>

<p>In Missouri, I BELIEVE 206 was the cut off for Commended Scholar, and 214 the cut off for .... Semifinalist or whatever. I would guess that maybe SC is a little higher, if that helps. What is National Achievement?</p>

<p>On that same vein, what is TASP and RSI and all? AUUGH too many acronyms.</p>

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<p>Good idea about the study group forgottenhawk but unfortunately for me most of the people in my classes are lazy so I've always ended up doing all the work in groups lol. Thanks for the advice though. Maybe I should divide the week before the exams into different days when I should stuy? Maybe Monday-Health, Tuesday-English, Wednesday-French, Thursday-AP Euro, and Friday-Biology? Anyone ever tried that?</p>

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<p>Misty - you should have no problem with 3 APs. I'm taking 6 (Lit, Chem, Stat, Physics, Gov, and Psych) this year, took 3 last year (Calc BC, Lang, and US His) and one sophomore year (World). It's honestly not as hard as they make it out to be. You will become very dependant on your friends to help you with what you don't understand and be ready to return the favor when they need help. Some of my friends do In. Study (I never have) and I get the idea that it's a little harder to keep motivating yourself, but not bad.</p>

<p>BTW for Bio be prepared to memorize - A LOT. At our school, that's probably the hardest AP class.</p>