<p>UPenn and Duke are my absolute dream schools and I was wondering how I could improve and if I'm on the right track!
I'm currently a female freshman, and my unweighted gpa is roughly a 3.7/3.8
I took honors geom, AH english, accel WH, gifted and talented program, honors spanish 1, and honors biology. my course load next year will be more rigorous with 2 advanced honors classes, english and chem.</p>
<p>Is it ok if I don't take any AP's soph year? Only history is available, which does not interest me, to be honest. </p>
<p>I played varsity soccer this year and really want to play in college along with club soccer and summer soccer.
I also ran varsity winter and spring track and received 2nd team all conference. (2:27 800m, 5:28 1600m, i know not the best)
I got accepted into Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania's teen summer volunteer program and I'm attending UPENN soccer camp this summer.
I participate in the Interact club.
ANY ADVICE IS APPRECIATED.</p>
<p>I know i'm short on EC's, but it's tough with winter track, indoor soccer, spring track, club soccer, summer soccer, and highschool soccer.</p>
<p>depends on what career track your interested in, give some general goal/info and I can advise, its different for Wharton CAS or engineering. I have a decent knowledge of what Penn prefers for each school as far as EC and course selection.</p>
<p>Hey, I’m going to be a sophomore, and I’m just the same as you! (GPA wise and aspirations!) Only thing is, I didn’t have any ecs this past year :S due to the fact that my school didn’t offer them! But it’s ok 
I’m making up for it this summer and this year! You’re definitely on the right track, and good, do not do anything that you don’t feel is “in” you. You know what I mean? You don’t have to fill up your application with clubs and sports that you’re really not interested in, but rather change the community and be productive with things that you really ARE interested in. That’s what they look for. Using your talents productively to make you stand out from the other applicants. Remember that they look for quality, not quantity. Unfortunately for me, I’m not sure what my talents are yet 
but I love water polo, reading, animals and swimming. So we’ll see what happens in the next few years. I want to go to UPenn also! Good for you, keep on going! You can do it! and I will too. I have the craziest schedules for soph, junior and senior year. Ahh, wish me luck :P</p>
<p>Hey! I’m a freshman at Penn. You seem on track. Personally, I took the most rigorous course load offered in high school…but I know a handful of people who didn’t exactly do that and managed to get in (though they had spectacular extracurriculars). idk for sure…if I were you I would take that history course since you’re going into your junior year…and junior has the greatest weight of all your years in high school for college admissions (note: I dropped AP history my senior year). Then again, 1 AP probably won’t make a world of difference for you. @upennvetgirl727, your school not having ECs is the perfect opportunity to start some ECs/clubs. A lot of people I know who got into Penn started clubs and had leadership roles. Like I helped start a debate club and wrote my essay about that. idk. just try to market yourself as much as possible in your apps and use your ECs as proof…</p>
<p>Edit: I just noticed the thing on sports by the OP. The main value of sports for college admissions is the prospect of getting recruited. If you are not planning on competing in Division 1 athletics and would prefer to spend that time in studies or something else…sports just become another EC…you just use them to prove that you do use your time doing other things. You could maybe use it to talk about teamwork in your essay…idk…but don’t stress over your times affecting your admissions if you don’t want to play d1.</p>
<p>Thank you all!
Upennvetgirl727, best of luck to you too! Starting a club does sound like a wonderful idea! Keep up the good work too and dream big!
Hopeland, thank you so much for your advice and input, I really appreciate it. However, I’m going into my sophomore year! Will having 1 AP credit sophomore year really matter or can I focus on AH chem and english so the transition to AP chem and english won’t be as big as a jump? And for sports, I’m thinking d1 or d2, but I’m still quite young. For track, I think I’m good for d2 right now, but with improvement throughout my years, I may qualify for d1. Most schools I’m interested in (Upenn, Duke, UVA) are D1 too.</p>
<p>@hopeland I know, I should have started a club. the only thing I have for freshman is student council. the principal (a total crackpot) was very strict on club starting. It was a crazy christian school. There were only … hmm, like maybe 16 students in high school, and I asked everyone what club I should start, and no one seemed interested. But this summer I might be playing water polo on a new team, and as of right now I’m shadowing vets at a nearby veterinary hospital, and just about anything else I can get my hands on for this summer. the only fallback is the fact that i’m 15. a lot of people won’t take me. I’m going to join a lot of the clubs next year (going to a way better, fantastic school, where the principal/head of the school actually knows how to run the place) and starting a few as well. I’m going to apply for UPenn YSP next summer. Trust me, I’ll deff make up for the ecs I didn’t do in 9th grade. Someone on here that goes to Dartmouth told me not to worry about my freshman year. You think I’m ok?</p>