I’ve been a straight A student my entire life until my freshman year, where I got two B’s. My three closest friends have GPA’s of 4.5, 4.5, and 4.8, where I have a 4.3. I am aware that 4.3 is still a great GPA, but my mentality is that if I am not matched with at least 4.5 I feel poorly of myself, being the frind with the lowset GPA (my friend group is made of what I’d call the most intelligent people in my class, and i do javr the lowest GPA). I realize colleges will lIke it if I get high SAT and ACT scores, which I am heavily preparing for. Also, I’ve been told they really like extracurriculars, which I will try to get into more.
My overall question is, which extracurriculars really shine in the eyes of colleges? Are there any ways to boost my average GPA over the next three years? (I am going to be a sophomore). I am also going to take IB and I am going to take a class over summer in junior year to make space for an AP class senior year.
Please, any tips that will aid me will be appreciated. Thank you for your time!
Here is some advice for you. #1 - Don’t compare yourself to your friends. #2 - Don’t do stuff just because its good and colleges will look as you as “amazing” or “an interesting applicant”. You should do stuff that you enjoy and be a genuine person. If you don’t like academic bowl, then don’t just join the team for a college application. My advice to you is to find stuff you TRULY like and are enjoyed in. IB and AP classes weight your GPA if you do good in them. You are already a very competitive applicant with your GPA. Definitely get involved in some E.Cs, but don’t just do them for the sake of college applications.
Thank you, I’m a very competitive person so it’s hard for me to not compare myself to others, but I’m working on it. I’m flexible and I kinda like anything, and I do want to get involved in EC’s, but I play a fall sport. I’m involved in math club (genuinely, I like math), but only for second semester due to my sport. But I don’t know any other EC’s I could do with my schedule because I have a lot of homework after school.
Well, if its your schedule doing that then you either have to do stuff outside of school or find a way to manage your schedule in a different way.
Your goal is to take the most challenging classes available and get mostly As in them. Don’t worry too much about the GPA your school calculates (especially weighted GPA, which is what you’re posting about), because all high schools weight grades differently and colleges aren’t going to take your high school’s GPA at face value.
You don’t need to do any specific ECs (like a sport, musical instrument, etc.). You just need to show focus, dedication, accomplishment, and ideally leadership in whatever you do. Here is a quote from a Yale admissions officer ([source](http://questions.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/12/17/qa-college-admissions/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_php=true&_type=blogs&_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=4)):
“The thing we are looking for outside the classroom is not a series of check boxes on a resume; we’re looking instead for a high level of engagement or leadership in whatever it is that the student cares about most. For some students, community service is at the forefront of their extracurriculars, in which case we pay a lot of attention to what they have accomplished in that area. For other students, some other passion or interest holds primary sway, and we evaluate the engagement in that area. We know that very few students can fully engage more than one or two primary activities at a high level. Though it is fine for a student to have varied interests, a significant number of students make the common mistake of spreading themselves too thinly in a resume-building exercise.”
I don’t come onto this website a lot, so I just saw these new replies. Thank you so much! 