Freshman in High School -- Would really appreciate advice

Applying to College
1

<p>Hi guys,</p>

<p>I just finished my freshman year in high school and did miserably bad. I slacked off and did not try to take any advanced courses and stuck myself in a regular math course instead of an advanced math course. All in all, my grades were still terrible and I ended up with a 3.18 GPA. I know I still have Sophomore, Junior, and Senior year but I want some advice on the colleges I am still eligible to apply for.</p>

<p>Extracurriculars
Piano (7 years) -- Won numerous awards (including performing at Carnegie Hall)
Swimming -- school team (1 year) [mediocre, no acheivements]
Swimming -- outside of school (3 years) [quit]
Community Service -- helped a unknown club for seniors with computers [60 hours]
Planning to join Devclub (development club) in our school for the next two years
Planning to join another club for two years (hopefully advance to a position)</p>

<p>Ethnicity: Asian-American, middle-upper class
School: America's top public school by WSJ and Newsweek, Worth magazine (Hunter College High School)
2500 applicants per year, 165 accepted
2500 applicants already pre-selected from NYS exam prerequisites (90th percentile)</p>

<p>GPA: I'm stuck with a 3.18 this year, if I get 3.8's and 3.8's for the next two, that only brings me to 3.6 GPA. Do colleges count senior years?</p>

<p>Getting 4.0 in Soph + Junior is not impossible, but difficult.</p>

<p>Courses I took
(Honors) Math (our school calls our courses honors b/c our courses are hard to begin with, skipped out on Extended Honors)
Biology (skipped out on Research Bio)
Global Studies
Spanish (3 years already since 7th)
English
^^^^ all regular courses <-- I'm applying for research bio next year</p>

<p>oh, and i have a 90 in biology regents (lol, our school doesn't take regents, that's the only one)</p>

<p>How do you think I should approach next year? More extracurriculars? Colleges I should be thinking about? Grades I should be acheiving? </p>

<p>I really appreciate all your help.</p>

<p>BTW, my SAT as of now, is around a 1850 (without preparation.) I am reaching for a 2100 by Sophomore year and 2250~2350 Junior year (I'm a good test taker.)</p>

<p>Thanks again.</p>

2

<p>

</p>

<p>Um, you can apply to any college you want… there’s no GPA requirement.</p>

3

<p>Well, I’m kind of screwed for getting into Harvard or Yale as at least a 3.7 GPA is needed. I need to work my butt off and get 4.0 GPA’s for the next two years for a 3.7 GPA (and its still doubtful I can get in.)</p>

4

<p>BTW, our school SAT average is 2160 and Hunter carries a 30% acceptance rate to Ivy schools so my grades are really below average.</p>

5

<p>My suggestion: do not worry about grades, rank, or any of the other numbers. Just learn all that you can and try your hardest in your classes. Take classes that you would enjoy. If you want to take ceramics? Go ahead! Take it. Or Foods? That too! Take it. But whatever you do, always try your best. If your best is only a B, that is fine. Once you start caring so much about rank and GPA, you will do stuff that is out of your character. Just be yourself. Embrace this opportunity to learn. I will guarantee you that whatever you learn now will matter in 30 year. Your GPA, rank or any of that will not matter in 30 years. That also goes for awards and stuff like that. You should never strive for awards, just do what you love. You don’t need a committee of people to tell you what you have accomplished; you already know what you did and what it took to get it. Your award is the sense of satisfaction of completing your goals. Not some plaque or trophy.</p>

6

<p>davidthefat has good advice for you.</p>

<p>The other thing you need to do, is sit your parents down and have the “money talk” with them. Find out how much they can pay. Find out how much they are willing for you to borrow in student loans. Find out how much they expect you to pay for with summer jobs and jobs during the school year. Then spend some time in the Financial Aid Forum and at [FinAid</a>! Financial Aid, College Scholarships and Student Loans](<a href=“http://www.finaid.org%5DFinAid”>http://www.finaid.org) familiarizing yourself about the entire financial aid process.</p>