<p>Hey everyone,
I'm a sophomore in high school. I'm already getting nervous about the college application process and am afraid that my grades aren't good enough to get me in to the colleges that I want to go to. I have a 3.6 weighted gpa and have taken the psat's(not sure what my score is exactly I know that I did well on the english/writing sections and bombed the math section because I hadn't really learned geometry yet). Last year I played field hockey and did ski team and this year I just did field hockey. I am in the Unicef club, Yearbook, and write for the school newspaper. I go to a tough high school and haven't really been able to get my grades up. I also am a ski instructor at a mountain in Vermont and am going to Australia with People to People. I'm interested in studying journalism in college because I want to work for a fashion magazine.
Here's a list of some of the colleges I'm interested in (liberal arts and journalism programs): College of the Holy Cross (my dad went there), Laffayette, Lehigh, Bucknell, Colgate, St. Michael's, Providence, Elon, Syracuse (Newhouse school), UNC chapel hill, Northwestern (Medill).
I want to know if these seem reasonable and if there is anything else I should be doing this year.
Thanks so much</p>
<p>Oh I forgot to say that I take honors history and bio this year and I’m thinking AP U.S. history, AP Lang (english), and honors Spanish 5 for next year.</p>
<p>I’d offer you advice if I could, but I’m not really familiar with the schools you’re interested in. The sheer fact that you’re aware that you need to start thinking about your apps for colleges is a good sign that you’ll be ready when the time comes, so get involved and lead and such! And remember that that extra hour of studying may suck now, but the grades you get from it may land you an excellent school in the future.</p>
<p>But this effectively a bump, because I’m hoping your question gets answered by someone who knows more specifics. So good luck!</p>
<p>I actually think you are on target for most of these schools. I am taking into account that you will be starting to take more AP’s junior and senior year (take at least 6-8 total), and if you earn all A’s and B’s, you should be fine. Your EC’s are looking very good for 10th grade. Keep it up and try to get in some leadership over the next 2 years. But, yes, I think you are doing fine for these schools. Buy the book, The Best 373 Colleges by Princeton review --it’s a great resource for all the SAT’s score avg. of each school and the avg. gpa. Really good to have on hand and give you an idea of the scores you will need to earn in spring '12 on SAT’s. Also, start thinking about what you excel in and will take your SAT II subject tests in --don’t have to decide now, but it’s a good idea to look at what these schools require and what would impress them (language tests? math II test? etc.). Good luck and good for you for being so on top of your college search process! BTW, I think college data dot com is really helpful at giving “chances” for schools–very accurate so far for my S who’s going through apps. admissions right now :).</p>
<p>Your SAT scores will be determinative of the schools you will have a chance to attend!<br>
You really have to have a certain score to be serious about getting in.</p>
<p>You can open up a College Board account on collegeboard.com, and start taking practice SAT tests. Determine the areas you are weak in, and concentrate on studying those areas. College Board also offers a relatively inexpensive online prep course that you may want to consider. Get those SAT scores as high as you possibly can. If you or your parents have the funds - take a more formal SAT prep class, or hire a private tutor. Independent college advisors can also be helpful with advice.</p>
<p>Put together a resume of your high school achievements, clubs & orgs, sports, honor societies, etc. You can do this on paper - or consider using the innovative application we’ve developed called bragTAG - a facebook app that helps you organize, catalogue and send an interactive resume to college admissions departments, coaches, counselors and teacher that are writing your letters of recommendation. You can do all of this on paper as well - just like a job resume. If you don’t have a well rounded “brag sheet” as this is called - get started creating one asap - join groups that you have a passion for, and round out your high school experience.</p>
<p>Good luck in your quest, it is hard work to get into top colleges - but SO worth the effort when you get the fat acceptance letter in your mailbox!</p>
<p>egl167 -</p>
<p>The most important thing for you is to sit down with your parents and talk with them about how they expect your family to pay for your education. I know it seems early for this conversation, but it really isn’t. If they have a nice big college fund stashed away for you, great! However, if you are going to need to apply for scholarships and/or need-based financial aid, then you have to start learning about those things. If you and/or your parents spend some time reading the threads in the Financial Aid Forum here, you/they will get lots of good ideas.</p>
<p>Wishing you all the best!</p>
<p>Thanks so much everyone! All of these tips helped so much. Will definitely consider everything. There’s so much to do!</p>
<p>
It sounds like you’re already doing a lot, and its smart that you’re thinking about college now. However I wouldn’t become too obsessed about it. As to the schools you listed, those are all fine places. </p>
<p>What I would suggest is working on learning the material in your classes and taking challenging classes. Its ironic that you spend 12 years in school and yet they never bother teaching effective study skill habits. For many kids they can improve their grades by studying smarter, not harder. There is a book I recommend all students read called “What Smart Students Know”. Written by a cofounder of the Princeton Review SAT prep service, it goes over the strategies you should use to study various kinds of material, how to take tests, etc. Take a look at the reviews on Amazon for this book. </p>
<p>Another thing that can help in many classes that have things you have to memorize (which is most of them!) is something called spaced repetition. There are free programs like Anki that you can set up on your computer to help you with this. An interesting article explaining the whole idea is at [Want</a> to Remember Everything You’ll Ever Learn?](<a href=“http://www.wired.com/medtech/health/magazine/16-05/ff_wozniak?currentPage=all]Want”>Want to Remember Everything You'll Ever Learn? Surrender to This Algorithm | WIRED)</p>
<p>I think sophomore year is a great time to start working on your list in the most general of terms. At this point I’d suggest working on adding schools to your list, not because you want to confuse yourself but because you want investigate a lot of different options so you can intelligently work on your list later. Things to think about:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Geographically are there places you won’t go? Except for UNC & Northwestern, you’re very oriented to the northeast and mid-atlantic; are there any other areas you’d like?</p></li>
<li><p>Think of 2 - 4 different possible majors. Get a list of the top schools in those fields and investigate their programs. This isn’t about prestige it’s about learning what school might be doing something in a more interesting way to you.</p></li>
<li><p>You need to have the pesky “How much can we afford for college” chat with your parents. It may not matter or it may play a big role. You don’t want to fall in love with a notoriously cheap fin-aid school (e.g., NYU) and learn that there’s no chance of paying for it.</p></li>
<li><p>Don’t fall in love with any school. Contrary to the beliefs of some people on CC there are any number of very good schools where you can get an exceptional undergraduate education.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Finally, study hard and remember that unweighted GPA is a big factor - higher is better as it gives you more options.</p>
<p>Three websites that can tell you how you stack up against your competition:</p>
<p>[College</a> Search - Find colleges and universities by major, location, type, more.](<a href=“College Search - BigFuture | College Board”>College Search - BigFuture | College Board)
[College</a> Navigator - National Center for Education Statistics](<a href=“http://nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator/]College”>College Navigator - National Center for Education Statistics)
[College</a> Search - College Confidential](<a href=“http://www.collegeconfidential.com/college_search/]College”>http://www.collegeconfidential.com/college_search/)</p>
<p>The college confidential search will give you a huge or small list of schools depending on how precisely you answer the questions.</p>
<p>You’ve gotten a lot of good advice so far.
Goals (any way you can achieve them):</p>
<p>Take the most challenging classes you can each semester, even if you can get an easy A elsewhere (including dual enrollment)</p>
<p>Prepare for and take the SAT/ACT junior year at least once, ideally twice (say Jan and Mar)-but don’t take more than three times or you’ll look obsessed IMO</p>
<p>Focus on one or two extracurriculars and pursue them in depth for as many years as possible (ex. Marching Band for all four years)</p>
<p>Open a Common Application (CA) account junior year and familiarize yourself with the forms and questions (the account will be erased that summer); get college guidebooks/review websites/visit campuses; try to work on at least one essay from the CA prompt in the summer after junior year if not before</p>