help out a sophomore who is stressing out please?!?

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Michigan
1

<p>Hi!
So I was just calculating my GPA for this year, and when I saw it my heart stopped. I do a lot out of school, but my grades aren't all A's. I was wondering if any of you could give me a good idea if I'm striving too high or what I should do to improve to get into any of these schools. I'm stressing out because I feel like I'm slacking and I could be doing so much better and I want to go to a school I would love. I was wondering if any of you guys might be able to guide me and help me out to get into UMich.</p>

<p>I want to major in Bio-medical engineering and minor in psychology</p>

<p>The schools I was to apply to: Rice University, Carnegie Mellon, University of Michigan, UC Berkeley (<-Top choice), Purdue University, UConn, UC San Diego, NYU, Syracuse Univ.</p>

<p>Some of these are my strive schools, but I'm hoping that by the end of junior year and I can get into some of them. UC Berkeley is my top and dream school, and after that comes NYU and UMich.</p>

<p>My Grades:</p>

<p>9th:
Java/ntwking (Reg): B
World Hist (H): A-
Alg II (H): B+
Geometry (H): B
Biology (H): A-
English (H): A-
Drawing&Painting (Reg): A-
Latin 2 (Reg): B</p>

<p>According to my school, my unweighted gpa that year was 3.54 and weighted was 3.84</p>

<p>10th:
CAD&Web Design (Reg): A
European History (AP):B
Pre Calculus (H):B
Chemistry (H):B
Biology (AP):A-
English (H):A-
Latin 3 (H):B</p>

<p>I don't know what my gpa is this year, I'm hoping that the weighted is a bit over 4.0 though :/</p>

<p>Junior Year course load:</p>

<p>Advanced CAD
AP US Hist
Honors Calculus
Honors Physics
Honors English
AP Studio Art
Honors Latin 4
(AP Art History out of school)</p>

<p>AP Exams I plan to take:
AP Bio: (a 3 or 4 I think, results havent come yet)
AP Euro: (4 I think, results havent come yet)
APUSH (jr yr)
AP Art (jr yr)
AP Art History (out of school)
AP BC Calc (sr yr)
AP Literature (sr yr)
AP Gov (sr yr)
AP Latin (sr yr)</p>

<p>EC's (as of now)</p>

<p>Girls Varsity Basketball (2 yrs)
Latin Club (since 2009), 2nd Vice President (2013-2014), 1st Vice President (2014-2015) State Latin Club Treasurer (2014-2015)
Drama Crew (2013-2014)
ACYOA Youth Organization (since 2011)
I work as a Swim Instructor (2013-present)
I work at an Art Museum (2013-present)
I'm half way through writing a novel that I'd like to publish in the next year or so</p>

<p>Community Service:</p>

<p>54 hours at an Art Museum
Starting my own organization later this summer</p>

<p>Awards:
Magna Cum Laude on the National Latin Exam</p>

<p>Ethnicity: Middle Eastern-white</p>

<p>Potential Essay Topics:
Being an immigrant to the US
Tearing my Achilles tendon and MCL in freshman yr and how that affected me</p>

<p>PLEASE HELP A FELLOW STUDENT OUT HERE. I FEEL LIKE IM STRIVING TOO HIGH AND I WANT TO BE REALISTIC. I WANT TO KNOW WHAT I NEED TO IMPROVE ON.</p>

2

<p>It seems your cumulative uwGPA so far would be around 3.5 or less. This is going to hurt your chance at UMich and other top schools, particularly for engineering. Try your best to bring up your GPA in Junior and demonstrate a good upward trend.</p>

3

<p>Being OOS will hurt. Being a female will help a lot. So will being an immigrant </p>

<p>It looks like you are taking a very rigorous course load but you still have a very active and broad set of ECs, which is fantastic. </p>

<p>GPAs are looked at in relation to that school and others like it. A 3.5 at your school could be like a 4.0 somewhere else. Judging by some of the courses offered ( like Advanced CAD) it sounds like you go to a very good high school and I wouldn’t be surprised that even if your GPA is lower it is still competitive.</p>

<p>I think you are on a very good path not. Just don’t stress out too much. You have a lot going on and a lot of time to impress Michigan and your other schools. I mean ■■■■, you’re writing a book.</p>

<p>Just keep up the hard work and continue to strive to improve in your weaker subjects. You seem to be on a very good path</p>

4

<p>It is true that GPA 3.5 at some school may be equivalent to 4.0 in other schools. So your school profile and counselor report would be important. Nevertheless, OP’s GPA of 3.5 has not taken account those very rigor courses yet. My concern is if OP got several Bs in those honor classes at grade 9 and grade 10, her GPA may suffer more with the much more rigor courses in Junior and Senior. I would suggest OP to talk to her GC to see if she may change her class schedule aiming at improving her GPA if necessary. </p>

5

<p>Stretching yourself too thin and looking awfully cliche. As in you’re trying too hard instead of focusing on a couple of things you REALLY care about.</p>