Hello!
I am currently a freshman in high school and I wanted to make sure that I am on the right track to do well, and hopefully make it to an Ivy League (Harvard I would hope).
Here are my details:
Male
Class of 2022
Asian (Thai/Chinese)
Public high school in California
My current classes: [CP is the equivalent of a normal class]
Honors Precalculus/ Calc A
Honors English 9
CP Spanish
AP Physics 1
AP Art History
No GPA yet because the school year has just begun
I am not sure what tests I should take at the end of the year; I know that I will take the AP Physics 1 Exam and the AP Art History Exam, but not sure yet if I should take SAT Subject Math 2 or AP Calculus AB (I will be taking Calculus BC my sophomore year and I was told that if I did well on my AP Calc BC Exam I would also get credits for the AP Calc AB Exam).
Eighth Grade - 1350/1440 (I think it is low although it is 99th percentile)
I will probably take the PSAT 9 and hope that I will qualify for a National Merit Scholarship
I need help with my ECs the most; I do play a Thai instrument (I played piano and violin for 3 years each but stopped) and am interested in joining possibly the school Tennis or Golf team.
Planning to volunteer at a local hospital every week, so I hope I get a lot of hours from this
As for clubs, I go to a Medical and Red Cross club; I hope I will get a position next year
Lastly, I would like some suggestions for some summer activities - I am planning on applying to RSI but other than that I do not know if I have any other options that would help my application.
Thank you for reading!
jesus christ im a Freshman and im doing AP physics freshman year. You are one of the most competitive people I’ve ever seen. just focus on ur grades and ur fine
Thank you! Harvard really is my dream school; the campus was nice when I visited, the people were great, and I liked the environment. I really hope I get in
Good luck to you in AP Physics!
Your schedule is okay. Now try to get A-/A in as many classes as possible.
Be aware that admission to Top 25 universities and LACs depends heavily on your extracurricular involvement and personal impact. It’s not how many APs you take nor how many hours you volunteer. Finally, aim for top 25 universities or LACs if you wish but do not obsess over them. Everyone has dream schools, it’s very easy. The real work is in finding your two affordable safeties and 3-5 affordable matches, deciding on what matters to you so that safeties and matches share some characteristics with your dream schools (a major, small classes, strong study abroad opportunities… )
Thanks! I am still not sure about what extracurriculars to take for competitions I might participate in DECA or USABO.
I am not sure if I will participate in sports, but I will be sure to use your advice! Thanks!
But note that admission to super-selective colleges requires more than top-end academic credentials; high extracurricular achievement, essays, and recommendations are important, and the colleges have their own ideas of what they are looking for in students (and some of what they are looking for are not in your control, such as unearned attributes like legacy).
Fortunately, being in California, you have good public university options.
You should be taking history/social studies every year. Is it too late to take world history, or whatever freshmen at your school take? Colleges, especially selective ones like Harvard, highly recommend all 4 years of the core subjects.
In my program, there was no option to take a history/social studies class, so I decided to take AP Art History (I’m not sure if that would count). But this program allows me to take AP Lang in the sophomore year which is why I chose it.
And yes, I did Algebra in 6th grade and am continuing on normally but may skip Calc AB because Calc A is included in my Precalculus course right now.
Also, I will apply to several of the UCs, but I am aiming for HYPS; would you recommend any extracurriculars that would look nice (I actually want to commit to an extracurricular and not just do it for the application).
Art History can do double duty as art and History depending on what else is taken and the school’s classification. It’ll all be understood in the context of California high schools, many of which do not offer a typical Freshman social science course, so the ingenuity will be appreciated.
Btw it’s a HARD course so spend time on it.
However if you can take either euro or world history next year you should have a good foundation already since you’ll know the timeline and various basics.
Don’t hyperfocus. If you really want to think about college, read Princeton Review’s best colleges and find 25 colleges you hadn’t heard of and like. Then read How to be a high school superstar by Cal Newport.
It was either take Human Geo with AP Lang in 11th or Art History with AP Lang in 10th grade so I chose Art History with AP Lang in 10th.
I have a 97-98% so far in Art History, and I know how much I will have to study for the AP Exam – my teacher has a lot of extra work so my two tests so far have a smaller impact.
I plan on AP World next year, and I will look into this book!
My options right now are to either use Art History as an art course, and take AP Human Geo next year or to use it as a history class and take a class like Drawing (I love drawing anyways that’s what I do in my free time).
I just am not sure about taking World and Human Geo at the same time so I will talk to my counselor about it.
I would not set up a dream school like HYP. The reason why I say that is because those schools are so hard to get into that literally no one has a good shot at getting in. They deny the vast majority of qualified students. I would shoot high, but I would not shoot specifically for Harvard. The chances are more than likely that you will be let down. I am not saying you will not get into Harvard but hyping yourself for Harvard is very risky.
I’d go with World History and Drawing next year since you seem excited about both.
Any school with an acceptance rate 20% and below must be considered an automatic reach.
You can dream about them but the real work is finding matches and safeties you like and can afford.
