First off, I apologize if this is the wrong category for this post. If it is, please direct me to the right one!
Hello all! This may be a bit of a long post, but I’m having some anxiety over this upcoming junior year and what it may mean for my college prospects. I lived in MA until 6th grade, after which my family moved to IN. I currently attend a 5000-person public high school that is pretty well-known for its rigor (at least I think – the school is called Carmel High School) as a Junior. For college, I’d love to go somewhere on the east coast, specifically MA. My two biggest choices right now are Boston Universty and Northeastern, although I’m leaning a little farther towards Northeastern right now. That said, I’d be coming in from out of state, so I’d need at least a half scholarship from either place. I’d like to study either math or computer science, and maybe pick up a minor in a language or two. Here are my stats from the past couple years:
Freshman:
Honors Bio - A both semesters and class award (awarded to one student by the department)
AP World History - A both semesters, a 5 on the AP, and a class award
Honors Algebra II - A both semesters
Freshman Band - A both semesters
German II - A both semesters and class award
English 9 Honors - A both semesters
Spanish IV IB - A both semesters
Sophomore:
Honors Chem - A both semesters
AP European History - A both semesters and class award, 5 on the AP
Spanish V IB - A both semesters and class award, 5 on the AP when I took it at the end of the year
AP English Literature - A- first semester, A second semester, 5 on the AP
German III - A both semesters and class award
Wind II (the second best wind ensemble in the school; we have 6 total): A both semesters
Honors PreCalc - A both semesters
Junior:
AP Computer Science – Seems pretty good so far; hoping for an A
AP Calc BC – It’s ok, but it’s getting harder: I have an A now, but it may become a B
AP Chem – I have an A now, but it could become a B
AP Capstone (a pilot English program) – Should be an A
AP German V – This should be an A
Wind I (top wind ensemble) – Everyone gets an A in band, so an A
Regular US History – Easy A
GPA: ~4.6 weighted, a little below 4.0 unweighted
Gender: Male
Race: I look white, but I’m Hispanic in the Iberian sense on my dad’s side (plus I speak the language), so I check the Hispanic box.
ACT: 31 composite when I took it Freshman year
SAT Subject Tests: Literature was 730, Math Level 2 was 800, Spanish was 780, World History was 790
PSAT: Sophomore year it was just above Indiana’s threshhold to become an NMSQT semi-finalist. I don’t remember the number exactly.
Extracurriculars:
Freshman year and before:
I’ve been playing piano at a decently high level (I won a local competition with Debussy’s Arabesque No 1 last year). I hope to put together a small Christmas concert to play for my school this year
I’ve been playing trumpet since 4th grade. I won a gold at the state level last year at ISSMA (a statewide music competition), and in addition to school band, I play in the highest Symphony Orchestra my school has (starting Junior year). I plan on doing ISSMA this year as well
I’ve done Latin and Ballroom dancing since 4th grade – I’m currently doing gold (highest level that isn’t pro) in Latin and bronze in Standard (ie Ballroom). That said, I don’t really do any big competitions; I mostly dance for the fun of it and do shows with my studio.
I’ve done some creative writing as well. I won a national gold in Scholastic Art and Writing my 8th grade year, and was nominated one of the best 4 in my region after freshman and sophomore year. I’ve also been published in 2 poetry anthologies/journals – one international, one national. I’ve kind of lost my passion for writing this past year, though – I probably won’t submit anything all that giant this next year.
I started volunteering for 2 hours after school on Fridays at a local elementary school’s after-school program. It’s nothing all that substantial, but it’s rewarding to be a role model for the kids (your heart hasn’t truly melted until a kid calls you his brother and asks you to walk with him to his car).
I started taking Russian lessons at the Russian School of Indianapolis. My sophomore year I won a gold in the lowest level of the Olimpiada of Spoken Russian.
Sophomore year:
I picked up classical guitar, which includes Flamenco because my teacher is really cool. I’ll probably be playing with his (non-professional – it’s more for hobbyists and his students) Flamenco ensemble this next year (but it’s not set in stone).
Junior Year:
I got drafted by some friends to be the secretary/historian (ie meeting planner and flyer/handout creator) for UNICEF club.
I’m joined swing dance club.
I joined French club for a friend and Spanish club, but I don’t know how much I’ll end up really being able to contribute to those two or go on field trips due to all the other stuff I’ve got going on.
Two summers ago I went to Philips Exeter Academy for a summer program. Last summer I went to Germany for 6 weeks to learn the language better and get to know my mom’s side of the family better.
My older brother is a Freshman at NEU this year, and I’ve already visited the campus and will attend the information session they hosted at my high school.
I feel that my essay should be pretty good – one of the writing awards I won was for a personal narrative, and I do a lot of introspection and thinking, so I hope that works in my favor. My teachers seem to generally like me (especially my German teacher, who I’ve had for the past 2 years, and my Comp Sci teacher), so I imagine that my recommendations would be pretty good.
What worries me is that the admissions officers will see these two B's (in Calc BC and AP Chem) as a downward trend, which is one of the biggest no-nos in the whole college admissions process. In addition, I'm not writing as much, which I'm also afraid will look bad. Although I do worry about admittance to these schools, I'm more concerned about getting the scholarships. Will these two B's and petering-off of writing be a big impediment to my earning scholarships?
My goal, obviously, isn't to get bad grades, but as my high school career has worn on, it's become more and more apparent to me that I'm spending too much time living in the future. I've been so excited for college that I've been putting off my own happiness (more or less) for the past two years. Only once it hit me how small two years left in high school really is did I realize that I need to start making friends and memories now or regret it for a while to come. I want to go to football games. I want to meet new people at clubs. I want to have stupid crushes on girls I meet in clubs that end up leading nowhere. I want to have a few buddies who I'll still be talking to years from now about all the dumb things we did in high school. I want to go to concerts (Owl City, anyone?) and sing like an idiot because I'm young and I can. I want to finally get my licence so I can drive to a friend's house at a moment's notice. I want to be able to go to classical guitar concerts here. I want to have a girlfriend. To be honest, I really just want to make this place finally feel like home. I just don't know if it's worth the two B's and potential lost opportunity to go back to MA for college. Is my situation really as bad as I think it is? I know I probably sound ridiculous, but my dad gives me these scary speeches about once a week about how I need to maintain my grades to get a scholarship, and I'm getting pretty nervous that I may be watching my chance to get back to MA slip out of my fingers.
Advice? Thoughts? Chances?