Help: what should i do to increase my chances

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>I am currently a sophomore in a demanding and small all-girls highschool.
our GPAs are a secret to us but i guess I have an A-/B+ average.
i want to go to CMU and UC berkley real bad but will settle for something less.</p>

<p>here's what I've taken:</p>

<p>9th grade</p>

<p>required/no choice
intro to physics
arts in practice
english
ancient civilizations
health
(gym)</p>

<p>elective/choice
orchestra
spanish II
algebraII/trig
digital audio
(varsity xcountry)
(JV crew)</p>

<p>10th grade</p>

<p>required
Modern world history
english
arts in society
chemistry (normal, not slow)
(gym)</p>

<p>choice
precalc/calc
spanish III
orchestra
varsity xcountry
JV crew</p>

<p>I have immense numbers of frees because scheduling in a tiny school is hell. besides, there are barely any electives offered and there are no AP courses offered to freshmen and sophomores.</p>

<p>next year, my choices are</p>

<p>AP US history or regular US hist
AP comp sci or nothing
AP Physics and/or Biology (no way am i taking AP chem.)
Statistics or nothing
Spanish IV or Conversation/Composition
Orchestra or nothing</p>

<p>already decided/required
AP Calc BC
english
health
gym/varsity crew/varsity xcountry</p>

<p>but obviously I can't take ALL these classes so which ones should i take? </p>

<p>my interest lies in math and computer science.
however, although i don't feel i'll ever need spanish, i love it and i'm doing really well in it and have gotten several national awards somehow on competitions.
should I just drop spanish after having gotten so far? it's a pity but my schedule is too full!</p>

<p>also, what should I do this summer?
its too late to get into summer camps. there's been lots of family problems and neither me nor my dad has paid much attention as the deadlines crawled silently passed. so, should I work? Im 15. volunteer? teach myself whatever? hang around at home and read economics books? (i just finished freakonomics, the end of poverty, and the world is flat, which were all a little long winded but inspiring in their own way.)</p>

<p>and what SAT IIs should I take? i might be taking the Math II level 2 in June. what else?</p>

2

<p>bump:
my azn dad is still yelling at me but im no azn genious...
i honestly dont think i'd care that much if it werent for him...
well, sometimes i do and sometimes (now) i dont.</p>

<p>please help?</p>

3

<p>You're only 15? Jesus.
This summer I'd do some volunteering I guess, if it's too late to try anything else. Maybe study for the PSATs a little so you can aim for a high score?</p>

4

<p>volunteering... but where? shelving books at a library? blech! i went to the library website and it said: looking for someone who would enjoy touching and breathing dust decades old. and that you have to be able to stand for a long time.
no way. im not breathing in decade old dead skin particles. and its boring and hypocritical.</p>

<p>I couldn't find any internships related to my interests. So what else might I be able to volunteer for? Both me and my dad are flaky and let all the oppertunities slip by.</p>

<p>my PSATs were 190... (with a perfect in math and 60th percentile in writing) is that bad or good? didnt qualify for the merit scholarship... i will work on writing, although I'm not sure how.</p>

<p>but what should i do with spanish?</p>

<p>and i am nervous now because my dad is the typical azn dad... only depressed and mentally disturbed.</p>

5

<p>60th percentile in Writing is pretty bad. o_o Try aiming for the 80's or 90's. You can easily do that with some practice tests.</p>

<p>And what do you mean, your GPA is a secret? Your school can't keep that info from you. -_-</p>

<p>Concerning Spanish, I completed three years... that's probably good enough, but you COULD go for four years.</p>

6

<p>you'll probably get merit next year for the PSATs if you raise your writing score, take as many AP classes as you can but focus on classes that relate to your desired major</p>

7

<p>thanks guys! :)
I have an excuse when it comes to writing! English is my second language! (that's no excuse. chinese kids in china score way higher than me) but still. Also, I went to a very interesting public school in a poor urban neighborhood so i went around speaking slang for many years without realizing it. Took a while to correct my speech. and now, i have no clue what's right or not. (I'm just making up excuses... mainly because i have no clue what to do to improve my grammar... or being able to discern between correct and incorrect usages of grammar. help? I've looked at practice tests and whatnot but it's made it WORSE!)</p>

<p>I <em>kind of</em> dont want to drop spanish because i do really well on it (placed 1st on the nat sp exam which supposedly according to my teacher is really good. they spelled my name wrong both times. :() and also i love it. swear and flirt in spanish all the time. no me jodes.:P meh!</p>

<p>the GPA is a secret because they dont tell you and if you ask them, they say, "i'll have to look it up. come see me later" and then you ask again and they say the same thing. I've never asked about class rank but that seems like taboo at my school. makes you look like a jealous overcompetitive anal person with no life.</p>