<p>Ok so im a sophomore in a public high school ranked top 80 in the nation. I got a 3.1 freshman year(my only A was in P.E.) and a 3.4 sophmore year( A in english and P.E.). I'v had trouble adjusting to high school until the end of sophmoreyear. I also wrestle(in school) and do boxing and mma(outside school but haven't had any fights yet). I am planning to complete 300 service hours this summer and i might get an internship at a technology startup(a close family friend has started), i am also planning to start studying for sat's
My questions are:
What can I do during summer to help my college apps that i havent already mentioned?
What is your opinion on my extracurriculars so far?
I know i have a bad gpa but do i still have any chance of getting into a decent college such as University of San Diego/University of Miami/Nyu/peperdine/rutgers without getting a 4.0 the next two years because that will be unattainable for me(i could definately get better than a 3.5)</p>
<p>bump+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++</p>
<p>It seems like you’re on an ok track for the schools you are aiming for, certainly gpa is the one that you realize you’ll need to work on in the upcoming year. As far as what you plan to do during the summer, you seem to be in good shape with the volunteering and startup internship. The schools that you are aiming for won’t be too concerned with what you did over summers as long as you’re keeping yourself somewhat busy.</p>
<p>Unless you’re good enough to be a recruited athlete, there’s hardly any extracurricular activity that can make up for a sub-par GPA.</p>
<p>And, really, this makes sense. Colleges and universities are academic institutions. With the exception of a small number of revenue-generating sports, they’re not trying to admit extracurricular stand-outs; they’re trying to recruit students who will be successful. And the best indicator of the kind of student you have been is your transcript.</p>
<p>So, more than anything else, you should work on getting good grades.</p>
<p>thanks for the responses! What gpa should i aim to get to go to one of the schools I mentioned? I know nyu and peperdine are probably out of reach though.</p>
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<p>How 'bout this, sap2011? I’ll tell you how to answer that question for yourself.</p>
<p>You need to know about a document called a common data set. Almost every college and university publishes one, and they all have the same format. (That’s what’s “common” about them.) Section C of the common data set gives information about applicants for freshman admission. Within section C, item C7 gives all kinds of information about the currently enrolled freshman class: the 25th and 75th percentile scores on SAT and ACT; what percent of the class had HS GPA > 3.75, or 3.50-3.74, or 3.25-3.49, etc; what percent of current freshmen were in the top 10% (or top 25% or top half) of their HS graduating class; and so on. Some sites also collect this information on lots and lots of colleges and universities. College Board is one such site. If you go there, enter the name of a college that interests you, and click various tabs, you can find all kinds of information about selectivity, admissions statistics, etc.</p>
<p>To find a college or university’s common data set online, you don’t usually have to do anything more than Google the name of the school and the phrase “common data set.”</p>
<p>But if you’re going to look up several colleges, you may find it easiest to start with College Board.</p>
<p>This little trick is how a lot of the people on College Confidential who know so much learned most of what the know. (Well, except for the people who seem to know a lot, or seem to think they know a lot, but are actually just making stuff up. There’s some of that, too!)</p>
<p>Good luck, and happy hunting!</p>
<p>thanks for the advice!!</p>