I’ve done okay my freshman year, straight A’s with one B+ in Personal Finance. However I’m not taking any APs and my extracurriculars are pretty much dead. With the next coming semester I’m definitely going to try and get APs under my belt and try out for a sport so that my freshman year isn’t pretty much blank on my college apps. I definitely want to major in something related to journalism, so what clubs/classes do you guys suggest I take? I want to eventually attend Columbia’s Journalism school, so I’d like to know what the requirements are and what I can do to go above and beyond. I don’t know if this is a cliche/stupid question, but it’s one I feel serious about so any help is appreciated. Thanks in advance.
I messed up freshman year; straight A-s and a B+ first semester, then A’s and an A- second semester. I attended one of the most difficult (ranked the 3rd most difficult in the nation by US News) high schools, but that didn’t stop me from being motivated to do well in difficult courses. You should take APs next semester, and yes, find a sport and do well in it as an extracurricular. Hate it or love it, sports are one of the best ECs you can have. I think Stanford liked that I was on varsity basketball, volleyball, and water polo… or maybe it was just my okay ACT score (35) and average GPA of 4.33 weighted… the point is you need something to differentiate yourself to Ivies/ ivy-level colleges besides grades. A sport and maybe some writing clubs/activities would be good for you.
Biggest Advice: Find something you are passionate about. Whether it be sports, music, math, physics, chemistry, languages etc. and stand out in that area.
Academic Advice: I recommend a rigorous courseload and participate in competitions.
Standardized testing advice: Get 34+ on ACT or 1530+ on New SAT.
Extracurriculars: Start a club. Join a volunteer organization/academic team/sports team.
Overall, try to stand out in one area in particular and do your best to maintain all As.