How to make my college application great

Applying to College Common and Coalition Application
1

<p>Im a sophomore at a very good high school (i think it won an award or something for being one of the best in america, but not positive so don't quote me on it). Freshman year i slacked really bad... i took honors classes and my end of year GPA was around a 2.5 and i played football which i was really good at and i got moved up to the JV team at the end of the year as well. This year i really want to step it up and prove myself. i joined IB in hopes that it would offset my bad grades from last year. Im taking psychology, IB physics and geometry, IB Math, Latin 1, IB english 2, AP European History, and IB spanish 2. through out my high school year i plan on staying in IB so taking hard classes, and for my electives ill have taken latin1-3, IB spanish 2-4, Psychology 1-2 And IB psychology along with a writing class of some kind for my senior year. At the moment i have a 3.5 GPA but its the very beginning of the year so i plan on bringing that up to at least a 3.8 .Im in the Model UN club and will be joining beta club and probably debate. I quit football this year so i could focus on grades more but i'm thinking about doing it again next year... or i might try crew seeing as my schools crew team is quite frankly amazing. My dream school is Harvard (LAW). So basically my question is this. </p>

<p>1) Should i do a sport next year or are these ECs enough. and if so which would be better for my chances to a good college, football or crew
2) i did really bad my freshman year with a 2.5..... has this ruined my chances of going to an good college?
3) What other ECs should i do to help my college application look good
4) any other hints/tips are also appreciated</p>

2

<p>There is nothing you can do now about your freshman year, so focus on what you can control. Get good grades in challenging classes and participate in activities you like - not activities you think the colleges want you to select. Most importantly, apply to schools you are qualified for. So my advice: Stop focusing on how you messed up and focus instead on the future, which is all you can control. You have good grades, and you have done some great things. Write an essay about you that stands out and you will be fine. Don’t try to be someone you are not.</p>

3

<p>well im actually really interested in Model UN and debate club both of which im planning on doin… and i really liked football but another big reason that i quit was that basically everyone on the team were *******s… they were just jerks to everyone in the school cause they thought they were better and i didnt want to be a part of that or grouped with them… but i quite miss it and i was starting on offense and defense so im sure id be able to rejoin… should i just suck it up and do football again next year?</p>