Georgetown/BC/UVA/Southern California/Wake Forest/Michigan...

Hello, any help would be greatly appreciated…

I’m currently a junior in at a top 10 public high school in my state. This will be my 2nd year at this school after I moved to this new town an hour away from another top 10 high school. Freshman year I had a major family crisis on multiple levels, and my grades suffered (1 A, 3 B’s, two C’s and a D), but I was much better than that. That year I was a very successful writer for the school newspaper, on the debate team, and played basketball.

After moving going into sophomore year, I turned things around and got straight A’s in mostly CP classes and 1 honors (poor grades freshman year prevented me from taking harder classes). I played JV basketball and ran track, as well as being in Habitat for Humanity, Model UN, and helping out in a classroom once a month for children with physical disabilities at my school.

This year, I am in 3 AP’s, 1 honors, and 2 CP (and gym) and will probably have all A’s and A-'s except in AP Lit and AP bio, based on how it is so far. I am on the varsity surf team this year, will play varsity basketball, and run varsity track. I will continue with Habitat for Humanity, will be in FBLA, and plan on creating a political debate club. I will continue to help out with helping out once a month with children with disabilities. I plan on either interning/working over this upcoming summer or doing a service trip. Next year, I plan on taking 3 or 4 AP’s and will continue with the other activities. Do not have SAT scores yet, but have prepped for them and test pretty well.

I visited BC and BU this past week, and I am considering the following schools

Georgetown
University of Southern California
UVA
Boston College
Michigan
Wake Forest
Fordham
Boston University
UPenn (would have legacy here)

I’m looking for a school that has great academics, but has a great social scene as well with tons of school spirit. I plan on majoring in economics or business management. I want a school where people have fun but also are very successful. I visited BC and thought it seemed fun but was worried that because they do not have greek like and that they are a Jesuit school, it might not be as fun of a school to attend, but I could be wrong. I do not plan on joining a frat however. It’d also be great to attend a school with an attractive student population as well in general. I like the idea of a school with a nice campus, but also kind of like when a school has an urban center nearby to have fun in. Also, please, if possible, mention whether or not the dorms/food are nice.

Lastly, despite others believing I have a chance of being accepted, I worry that my freshman year grades will hold me down. Do I have a chance at these prestigious schools?

I accidentally left off Villanova and Tulane

There are a lot of schools that don’t have greek life and are pretty lit. BC and Middlebury come to mind, so don’t worry about that. Keep the GPA high and get strong test scores and you should be good. Find something your passionate about and work on that. Still a bit early to call chances.