I am currently a sophomore in high school. I am “advanced” in my classes for my school(IDK the definition of “advanced” after reading these forums), but nothing special. This semester I am taking
Algebra II/ Trigonometry
Chemistry
10th Grade Honors English
French 2
Normal World History
A PE Class
My school does not offer many AP classes. I would be taking 2 AP classes next year (English, and AP Macroeconomics) and 3 or 4 Senior Year. I play Lacrosse and plan on continuing through senior year, and I played football this year but don’t plan on continuing. Besides that I have almost no EC’s, volunteer work, or awards. What can I do to improve my EC’s and have a better chance at a decent college? BTW I currently have a 3.44 cumulative GPA, because my first semester this year I did poorly. I am looking at attending a 35-55% acceptance rate school.
Definitely pay more attention to your grades and GPA this second semester (or the end of it) as well as your grades in junior year. A rise in GPA shows you worked hard to improve your grades.
As for ECs, you might want to look into your school’s clubs. There are service, leo, and key clubs that complete a lot of community service afterschool. If they don’t exist or there aren’t many you are interested in, you could always search locally to see what non profit organizations interest you. You could work for the American Red Cross or help out at your city’s soup kitchen. There are so many possibilities for volunteer work.
Right now, don’t focus too much on awards because when you apply to scholarships at the end of junior year/senior year, most would require you to submit your gpa and grades along with the application essay. You can look into local scholarships for your town or state- just ask your counselor for that information. For other awards, there are contests online for science, math, and writing. If that interests you, just google search “___ contests for high school students ___ grade” and browse through.
Good luck!
Get good grades
Do well on the SAT/ACT