<p>Ok, so i'm new here. I've been lurking a while, but finally made an account and am posting.
I want to go to a really good school, hopefully an ivy, but it seems like im already screwed and beyond hope. I just want to know if theres anything I should do to have a better chance.</p>
<p>Atm my UW GPA is 3.85/3.9ish, cuz of a few A-s and a B+ in french frosh year. My class rank is 11/~500. Took the highest level classes avaliable except for doubling up on math. Im taking 2 AP classes this year.
My biggest problem I see is that I take art. I legitimately love it, but since its not the easiest way to make a living and I like history and english just as much, I'm not pursuing them. Art is unweighted, so all of the kids who take tons of weighted classes have a leg up, meanwhile atm I'm in Art III, which isnt that easy, is time consuming, and gets no credit.
I got my PSAT scores and did pretty bad(CR:65, M:64, WR:68), my only excuse being that my school has semester scheduling so it wasnt since last year, 1st semester(ended 9 months ago) that I had an english or math class.
The only other EC's besides those listed below are the NHS and art club. Also I volunteered at youth programs the past 2 summers and I volunteer at middle school xc meets. Plus I do volunteer stuff with scouts.
I dont have much time to do other stuff because running takes a lot out of you if you do 70 miles per week, 2 a days twice a week, abs+core everyday, and lift twice a week. It means I dont get home from school until 5:30 Mon-Fri, have to wake up at 5:30 on tues and thurs, and 7:30 on Sat(gotta love 15 milers haha). And thats in the off season; In season I also have xc meets til 7 1-2 times per week, for track its til the same time, but every other week I also have a meet will go to 10-11.</p>
<p>Now for things that give me a little hope:
I can write pretty well, so I think I will score big points with an essay.</p>
<p>I am about to become an eagle scout, and will probably get at least 2-3 palms.</p>
<p>I love to run and am pretty good at it. Hopefully this might let me into an ivy with sucking slightly academically. I do xc and track and was the xc captain this past year, and will be next year and will be track co-captain both years. Last year in my state, I was one of 3 sophs to qualify for my event. I failed at xc states this past year, but indoor track is comign up and I have a decent shot to medal (top 8). For outdoor I have a good chance of medalling, maybe top 5, and a small chance of being ranked top 20 nationally for juniors in my main event, decent chance of top 30.</p>
<p>Next year I plan on dropping my class rank to ~8th because I am taking 6 AP classes and Art IV, which means 6.5/8 classes are weighted, bringing me closer to the kids who last year had 5.5/8 vs my 4/8 and 6/8 vs my 5/8 this year. Obviously ill try to keep my grades to all A's, maybe focusing more on bringing an A- to an A than an A to an A+.
If everything goes good for running, and im not injured like I was this past season, i have a good shot at top 5-10 i the state for xc(PA's probably ~10th in the country for being good at distance, and has a ton of depth because of a large population). Will shoot for 1st or 2nd though haha. And for indoor and outdoor ill shoot for 1st, plus a state record in the 3200(only a few sec faster than needed to win last year).
Only downside is that this will take up an even larger chunk of time if I up it to 85 miles a week.</p>
<p>So yeah... what should I do to have a better chance at making it to an ivy?
And becoming a state champ/nationally ranked top 15ish will help, right?
And I will probably have to get a job this summer cuz I want a car and gas money. Is work experience, especially if I worked somewhere I was passionate (local running store) a plus? or doesn't matter?</p>
<p>Anyways, thanks for any help.</p>