High school student here, what should I do for admissions?

Sorry for the vague title, I hope I will clear things up in this post. I am currently a freshman in high school and my dream school is CMU, I am wondering what ECs both at school and at home would increase my chances of admissions. I plan on taking IB classes my junior and senior years and AP Computer Science A my sophomore year.

I am currently studying for the SAT in which I will take in June and was wondering what else I should do. I would like some suggestions for ECs as well as awards I should try for. I would also like to know if there are any summer programs I could do in computer science or math that provide housing. When I do searches all of which I find are for underrepresented groups in STEM, of which I am not.

It is way too early to think about specific colleges (especially the super-competitive ones). You don’t even have one full year’s GPA and you have no standardized testing. You also need to recognize that HS should be an experience in and of itself – a time of learning and growth and not just a 4 year college application prep experience.

It is good to take school seriously and know that college will be on your horizon, but it is too early to start planning for specific colleges.

For now you should focus on:
–Working hard, learning, and doing as well as you can in the most challenging curriculum you can manage.
–When the time comes study for standardized tests.
–Get involved in activities you care about and work towards making meaningful contributions to those activities. One EC is not in and of itself better than any other. The trick is to find things YOU care about, that YOU enjoy, and that YOU can contribute to.
–Enjoying spending time with your family and friends.

When the time comes (junior year) asses your academic stats (including GPA, standardized tests, course rigor) as well as your financial needs and apply to a wide range of reach, match, and safety schools that appear affordable (you will have to run a net price calculator for each school you consider) and that you would be happy to attend. You need to expand your horizons and recognize that there are many wonderful schools out there where you can have a great 4 year experience and get where you want to go in life.

CMU is a highly competitive school, especially for CS. Don’t plan your 4 years of HS around a reach school.

Focus on taking 4 years of core courses - english, math, history, science (bio, chem, physics and one of those being AP), and foreign language and just doing the best you can do.

Do the activities that interest you.

Curious: Why are you taking the SAT in your freshman year? It is much more common to take it junior year after the PSATs.

“It is way too early to think about specific colleges (especially the super-competitive ones).”

I have to respectfully disagree with this.

If you follow @momofsenior1’s advice and take four years of the core classes, you’re certainly on the right track. However, a lot of kids don’t take four years of each of the five cores. And if those students assume their high school’s list of graduation requirement are going to be adequate for their favored colleges, they may find more doors closed to them than they expected.

We have posters all the time on CC asking some version of “I am missing X requirement for Dream School, but should I apply anyway?” Sometimes that is due to special circumstances, but as often as not, it is due simply to poor planning. High school is as good a time as any to learn and practice this valuable life skill.

Even if you diligently take all the five cores, though, how is an OOS student hoping to go to Berkeley supposed to know that the UC colleges require a year of fine arts in high school? Students who do the research early enough can make room in their schedule for a qualifying class, if they have to. Wait until junior or senior year and it may be a problem.

We have a lot of students on these boards doubling up in math or taking it over the summer so they can get to calculus by senior year. Why? Because some colleges strongly recommend or even require it for certain programs. How would those students have known to do that if they weren’t told or didn’t look into it?

UIUC and Purdue are pretty comparable colleges for STEM. Purdue, however, requires applicants to have three years of social studies, and UIUC only requires applicants to have two. Harvard also wants three years of social studies, but they suggest that they prefer that two years be history (one world, one US) instead of a year each of psychology, economics, or government. I picked these examples to illustrate the subtle differences among the different college requirements. But isn’t it useful, to a budding therapist who is chomping at the bit to take AP Psych, to be aware exactly how s/he must plan differently to be a Harvard hopeful vs. a flagship hopeful?

High school shouldn’t be a long rat race with a top college as the finish line. And students shouldn’t live their high school careers focused on one or two highly selective universities. However, high schoolers are (for the most part) aware that T25 students aren’t born in spring of junior year. Striking a balance is the key. That means “running your own race”. It means deliberately closing some doors in order to keep others open (or just to keep one’s sanity in tact). It means putting the big rocks in the jar first, then the carefully selected medium-size rocks, then filling in with pebbles. Early awareness can reveal what big and medium rocks students want in their jar in the first place.

I am currently taking Algebra 2 and I hear that the SAT doesn’t really go past it.

Yes, you can do well on the Math section after Algebra 2 (my D got 790 towards the end of 8th grade Alg2).

But the SAT has two parts. And once you are in 9th grade, all attempts at the test are on your record. The EBRW component of the SAT isn’t as easily compartmentalized - your reading, writing, analysis, etc. skills will all most certainly improve over time.

You won’t forget your Algebra 2 and earlier knowledge.

With CMU as a target, unless you consistency get at least 1500, more like 1550, on practice tests, I would suggest you wait. There’s no “took it early” bonus.