Help!! Sophomore, general questions

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Hi! I am currently a sophomore in high school. I have been reading forums for a while and I am starting to just get nervous in general. So many other kids on this website seem to be taking 10-15 AP courses with an infinite list of honors and awards.

I feel that I am doing almost everything I can at my school, but it is no where near good enough to get accepted to any sort of selective colleges, which is what I want more than anything.

Freshman year, no one was aloud to take any AP courses.

Sophomore year, only APUSH was open, but I was petrified to take the course because of the teacher, (I had him the previous year and his class brought down my whole GPA)

Junior year, I am taking AP Euro, there are no other AP courses open except AP Bio, but I thought it might be better to take Honors Physics. Also, my school offers a course I can get 3 college credits for, so I am taking that

Senior year I am hoping to take AP English, AP Calc, AP Bio, and an AP history course.

I am worried about my schedule not being considered strong enough. My freshman year GPA was also pretty low (87), and this year my GPA is a 92. Although I have not been loading up AP courses, I am taking all the honors courses that I can, (Math, History, Chem)

Do colleges understand that not all students are able to take a high amount of AP courses??? Is this going to hurt my chances during college admissions???

What else can I do to be a stronger candidate?? I participate in sports all year, but I am not involved in anything to do with arts such as the musical or band or anything. I also have required community service, but I plan to try and do extra over the summer. I also am not sure how to receive awards since my school doesn’t really offer any except honor roll, which I receive every semester.

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I’m sure colleges will understand your AP course load. But the main reason for AP courses is for you, the student, to challenge yourself.
If possible you could just self-study some of the easier AP courses like environmental Science or HGEO. Apparently you can cram a course in a week.
My school only offers three AP courses (chem, calculus, lit.). Sad to say, but *imma have to self-study five more.
If you do a lot of community hours, and sports maybe try for Duke of Edinburgh award (research this). Mind you that you also need a skill-based hobby for this (for me, I’m using violin). This award doesn’t require you to be good at any of the activities, just week-by-week dedication.
It’s totally OK to be slightly not proficient in the arts, and it’s totally OK to not have as many opportunities around you.
But try researching for meaningful opportunities that apply to your future major over the summer. (eg: if you want to major in sciences, find a summer lab to work at)
Or just make sure your volunteer hours have taught you something- don’t just sort brochures for an entire summer.

PS: best of luck, you sound like you are quite diligent, :smile: