<p>Hi all, this is my first post to the CC forum. I am a high school sophomore that is worried about my chances of getting into top colleges( Berkeley, UCLA, NYU, etc...I'm not trying to get into the ivys, I realize thats a lost cause). </p>
<p>I would like some suggestions on how to improve to better stand out in college admissions.
I go to a private school in upstate NY.
I have 4.0 UW GPA, but I don't know what my weighted GPA is.
APs: as a soph I am currently taking ap euro, and as a junior I will be taking ap lit, ap bio, and ap us, and as a senior i will be taking ap govt, ap cs, ap eng lang, ap calc bc, and ap chem.
I got a 1940 on my Practice SAT placement thing my school had but that was without studying, so I think(hope) if I work hard over the summer I'll be able to bring it up to a 2100.</p>
<p>So academically I am doing pretty decent, but thats not what I am worried about. I am worried about my lacking of meaningful extracurriculars.
My ECs are:
-JV/Varsity ice hockey
-I also have a paid job reffing youth ice hockey
-Coding club member
-co-created my schools coding club website
- 110 volunteer hours
-when I'm an upperclassmen I'll be in National Honor Society
-when I'm a upperclassmen I'm going to participate in my schools big brother program and mentor an underclassman.
.....thats it.
I'm really worried that my app will be lacking in meaningful ECs, and I kind of feel like its too late to start because i'm already like halfway through my sophomore year :(
Btw, I would like to major in computer science, but I don't think my ECs really display that. Do you guys have any advice? I've been really stressed out about this lately because I work really hard in school and it would really suck If I didn't get into the college of my choice, so any advice at all to improve my ECs or any other aspect would be greatly appreciated
Thanks for your time.</p>
<p>I think you’ll be fine with those colleges you mentioned. As long as you write meaningful essays. In terms of ECs, I think you need to work on those more. It’s not too late to add to you ECs! I obviously don’t know what your school offers, but there are a lot of things outside of school also. Why don’t you start a local technology program? For example, I know that in my local library, there are older people who have trouble with technology, some people fixed this by having younger tech savvy people come in and have sessions teaching older people how to use email, word, etc. You can start a program like that! It shows leadership, initiative, and something related to what you want to major in. Look at it this way, if something’s missing in your community, there’s nothing preventing you from creating it! XD Anyway that’s just one example, your possibilities are not limited since your still a sophomore!</p>
<p>With your statistics, you’d be a great applicant for the Ivies. How would things be a lost cause? What makes you say that? Sure, the application is a crapshoot but that doesn’t mean you can’t apply…</p>
<p>Innovian, I consider it a lost cause because most of the other applicants have amazing EC’s like starting their own business or non-profit or something like that.</p>
<p>i used to think that too, but not ALL people who get accepted into ivies have amazing extracurriculars. if the admissions people think that you would excel and give back to their school, then you would be admitted. But, you have to show your passion through your essays. my friend got admitted into cornell last year with a 2000 sat score and around a 3.9 uw gpa. however, she was fully committed to attending cornell, and that showed through her application. when you’re filling those apps out two years from now, just remember to be sincere. 
if you’re interested, here are my stats:
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1587271-chance-me.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1587271-chance-me.html</a></p>