Hi, I’m not sure if this is exactly the correct forum to post this in, and my apologies if it isn’t.
Okay, so, long and short of my story is that my freshman and now sophomore year are going less well than planned. A lot less well than planned, really. I know I’m still young and I have time, but I go to one of those schools where everyone is basically smothered by the looming idea of college, as it’s a very good school.
My grades/extracurriculars so far are as follows:*
*Just a quick note—my school doesn’t weight GPAs, and also—not counting APs—does not have any “advanced/honors” classes except in math, because everyone in my school is pretty much really smart.
FRESHMAN YEAR
GPA: 3.0
—Spanish I: B-
—Algebra I: C+
—Geometry: A-
—Atlantic Communities I (History): C+
—Biology: B+
—English: B+
—Theatre Workshop: B+
—Digital Photography: B+
Extracurriculars:
—Theatre: I’m really heavily involved. I did five shows with the school freshman year.
—Student Ambassadors: Basically I give tours to new students, try to convince alumni to send us money, etc.
—Student Council: Rep, not President but working on it.
—Recreational Squash
—Yearbook: Editor
—Community Service
—Volunteer Librarian
SOPHOMORE YEAR (so far)
GPA: ?
—Spanish II: B-
—Algebra II: B
—Atlantic Communities II (History): B-
—Chemistry: B
—English: A-
—Video Production: A-
—Atlantic Communities III (History): ?
I’m expecting English to stay consistent or go up to an A. Spanish and Chemistry should go up to at least B+'s, ACII should go up to at least a B, and I think my Algebra II grade might go down to a B-, or even C+. I got a D- on a test today which is what really prompted this posting.
Extracurriculars:
—Theatre: Once again, heavily involved. I’m doing six shows (I think?) and I’m also writing one.
—Student Ambassadors
—Student Council
—Recreational Squash
—Yearbook
—Varsity Baseball Team Manager (Possibly—still waiting to hear back from the coach.)
—Dance Crew
—Community Service
—Volunteer Librarian
PSAT Score: 1280/1520 (97th Percentile)
—ENG: 680 out of 760 (98th Percentile)
—MATH: 610 out of 760 (94th Percentile)
—I’m projected to get at least a 1400/1520 next year, or possibly higher.
So, obviously, so far not very good other than the PSAT. I should point out that I do want to go to school for theatre, so I expect a slight lax on my grades because of that, but not much considering the schools I want to apply to.
I should also say that my high school is a private school and is on all the “Top Twenty” lists for schools (most notably Forbes) and carries a very good name for itself (especially with Yale—10% of our graduating class goes to Yale alone—but I’m not stupid enough to think I’m going to Yale.) The most common thing we hear back from recent graduates is how easy college is compared to my school—it’s literally the hardest in the state. And almost every school I want to apply to is in-state, or nearby, and they definitely recognize my school’s name and should understand how challenging it is. You go to this school with an Ivy-League or similar in mind, which is why I’m 3/4’s through with sophomore year and already so focused on college—it’s already a huge deal here, so please try and understand that I comprehend a lot can change, but I want to figure out what I need to do to get into my schools now, so I can plan ahead.
Okay, and here are my projected schedules for junior and senior years:
JUNIOR YEAR
Classes:
—AP Music Theory (Part One)
—AP Human Geography
—Writing Semester
—Wit and Wisdom (English)
—Writing for Stage and Screen
—Spanish III
—Conversations in Biology
—Comparative Religion
—Pre-Calc
Extracurriculars:
—Theatre (Possibly Head of Drama Club and our Student Productions Club)
—Student Ambassadors
—Student Council
—Recreational Squash
—Yearbook
—Varsity Baseball Team Manager (Possibly—still waiting to hear back from the coach.)
—Dance Crew
—Community Service
—Interact Club (Founder/President)
—The School Newspaper
SENIOR YEAR
Classes:
—Shakespeare in Performance
—About Poetry
—Creative Writing
—Writing Short Stories and Memoirs
—AP Statistics
—Philosophy, Religion, and Ethics
—AP Environmental Science
—Spanish IV Accelerated
—AP Music Theory (Part 2)
Extracurriculars:
—Theatre (Probably Head)
—Student Ambassadors
—Student Council
—Recreational Squash
—Yearbook
—Varsity Baseball Team Manager (Possibly—still waiting to hear back from the coach.)
—Dance Crew
—Community Service
—Interact Club (Founder/President)
—The School Newspaper
Assuming I finally get my stuff together and knock Junior year out of the park—is there any chance of me getting into a good school? My top ones are in order (and don’t laugh:)
—Wesleyan University
—NYU
—UCLA
—Carnegie Melon
—University of Michigan
—Boston University/College
All for theatre/film work, so I’m (assuming) that will give me even the slightest pardon when it comes to my grades.
Once again, please do not tell me to wait until the end of junior year, because I basically need to know what to do now to get into a good school.
And, well, if the future is grim—hit me up with some less good schools with great theatre programs.
Thanks so much.