HS Sophmore: What should I do from now on if I want to go to an Ivy League School?

Applying to College
1

<p>Hey everyone,</p>

<p>I'm currently a sophomore in the Tampa, Florida area and am interested in challenging myself as much as possible and nurturing my love for high level learning at an Ivy League school or equivalent (such as MIT or UC Berkeley). What I would really be interested in learning is what I need to do in order to achieve this goal?</p>

<p>My current unweighted GPA is 4.0
My current weighted GPA is 4.6 (Will continue to rise, as I currently have mainly honors classes)
My current class rank is within the top 5 out of 600 students (not sure exactly)</p>

<p>Freshman Year Classes:
Eng. I Hon.- A both semesters
Biology I Hon.- A both sem.
AP World History- A both sem. (4 on AP Exam, highest at my school)
Geometry I Hon.- A both sem.
Construction Tech.- A both sem. (Most boring amount of time I've had to live through)
H.O.P.E- A both sem. (Required by county)
Spanish II- A both sem.</p>

<p>Sophmore Year Classes: (1st semester grades, current classes)
Eng. II Hon.- A
Chemistry I Hon.- A
Physics I Hon.- A
AP European History- A
Algebra II Hon.-
Driver's Ed.- A
Currently enrolled in Team Sports II
Spanish III- A</p>

<p>Classes I will be taking Junior Year:
AP English Language
AP Physics "B"
AP Chemistry
AP US History
Pre-Calc. (Dual Enrollment at local community college)
AP Statistics
AP Art History</p>

<p>My Extra Curricular Activities Include:
Key Club (Officer)
Mu-Alpha-Theta (Math Club)
The most important one to me is Ice Hockey which I play at a varsity level for my county, as well as with a Tier II Travel Club Team at my local rink. (I've committed a HUGE chunk of my life to this and am on ice 6 days a week for at least 3/4 of the year)
Next year I plan on joining NHS and becoming involved on the class board.</p>

<p>Over the summer, I'm thinking about doing an enrichment program through my school, though I have not decided yet. I will also be beginning a research project with the help of my freshman year biology teacher, I'm still working out the details, but it will involve superconductors.</p>

<p>On the FCAT (Florida's ridiculous standardized test) I've gotten perfects multiple times on different sections and when I took the SAT in 7th grade through DUKE TIP, I received a score of 590 for the Math and 530 for the CR section, I can't remember each individual score. (Considering it was 7th grade, I thought it was pretty good)</p>

<p>I am trying to make my schedule as demanding as possible because I have yet to be challenged intellectually (I currently have five 100's or higher in my classes), and enjoy thinking at a higher level.</p>

<p>If there is anything anyone can recommend I do, it would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you, and I hope to become more involved with this forum as I approach my road to college.</p>

2

<p>Really now the best thing you can do is find a parent who went to an ivy. That and your stats and you're in.</p>

3

<p>One challenge for many out-of-state applicants to UC Berkeley is that their high school course list doesn't quite match the UC required course list. You are smart to think about this now, while you still have plenty of time. Go to the general UC admissions website and pull up the list of high school classes. Check your completed and planned classes against the list.</p>

4

<p>
[quote]
I am trying to make my schedule as demanding as possible because I have yet to be challenged intellectually (I currently have five 100's or higher in my classes), and enjoy thinking at a higher level.

[/quote]

I suggest this a lot, but you sound like a great person for it:
Take some classes at a nearby university or community college. Statistics might be a good choice, if you plan to take pre-calc/trig and calculus in high school instead of AP Statistics.</p>

5

<p>did you take the PSATs? although its not really a good indicator of your real SAT score....its better than nothing :)</p>

<p>couple comments bout your schedule (from a senior's perspective):</p>

<ul>
<li>its good that you're challenging yourself. but dont overload APs. ever. but you sound like youre smart enough</li>
<li>i noticed that you dont have spanish planned for jr year. although you did take up to spanish III, many schools want to see 3 or even 4 years of a foreign language (not required, but it looks really good). does your school not offer AP spanish or something?</li>
</ul>

<p>besides that...looks like you've done as much as you can. ivy admittance after that is basically unpredictable :) good luck</p>

6

<p>Just focus on math, science, and the important social sciences. </p>

<p>For Math:</p>

<p>I skipped a math level after 9th grade. I was taking Geometry in 9th grade, but I took an Algebra II test (which I aced) to move into Pre-Calc Honors in 10th grade. </p>

<p>Take AP Calc AB in Junior year along with AP Statistics. AP statistics is pretty much easy. Some people say its hard, but if you are good with graphs and formulas, its really easy. The class itself is boring as hell but the material should be straightforward. As far as AP Calc is concerned, AB is not very hard. Just buy a supplemental book (Thomas' Calculus is like a Bible) and solve all the questions. In senior year, take BC Calc and Discrete Math or Linear Algebra. My school offers Discrete Math (regular only, no AP unfortunately), so I am taking that and AP Calc BC. MAKE SURE YOU OWN IN CALC. The AP tests are pretty easy though because if you do well in the course, you should be able to do well on the test. Don't get anything less than a 5. If you get a 5 or less in Stat, then that is really sad. Also, you don't have to take the AB calc test as you get a sub-score for it when you take the BC calc test. But...take AB test and get a 5.</p>

<p>For Science:</p>

<p>My school's science goes like this (from 9th to 12th): Physics, Chem, Bio, higher level science. Since you are taking chemistry AP (which I also took), I would suggest that the first thing you do is borrow the AP textbook this summer and solve all the problems in it. Get in touch with your AP chem teacher and send him/her answers to the questions. My AP chem teacher was horrible and I did really bad first quarter (I had to man up after that and study on my own like crazy). Contrary to the difficulty of the class, the AP test is much easier. I got a 5 on the test but a C in the class...***! I did not take AP bio, so I don't know about that. Um.. just a suggestion but if your school has AP physics C, take that. There are like 8 people per class in my school, and there is a MAD HUGE curve. I don't think they allow you to take AP Physics B or C without calculus concurrently, so make sure you skip into calculus or ask your counselor. AP calc AB in your junior year will make some of the math in physics very enjoyable and doable. In our school, AP physics is available only to seniors...consider yourself lucky lol.</p>

<p>For Social Sciences:</p>

<p>DROP the Art history! Its not even worth your time. Take AP Econ. I took that as a junior in addition to AP US part II. In my opinion, its the best class in high school, and the only social studies class that you will actually have use for. I did not take AP art history, but I have heard it is mostly bs lol. If you want, you can take AP gov and politics. Once again, I did not take that class, but I heard that it is very interesting. </p>

<p>If you did not notice yet, I suck at english lol. I took honors until 10th grade and then took regular. -.-</p>

<p>Other than that, remember to take your SAT II subject tests in June. It should be the last month of that school year, so you will still remember all the information from your class. Take SAT II Chem, Physics, and Math II. Chem and Math II are easy, but I have heard Physics is really hard if you are not prepared.</p>

7

<p>I think this has been mentioned before, but you should continue in Spanish. </p>

<p>Make sure you participate in a few competitions and win awards, even if this is only your local science fair.</p>

<p>
[quote]
If you get a 5 or less in Stat, then that is really sad.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Yes, you should totally go for a 6 and then take AP Inequalities/bounded and unbounded intervals. </p>

<p>Lastly, good luck... and for posterity... please do not take AP Physics B, AP Calculus BC, and Spanish I-AP Spanish {College Spanish I, College Spanish II, College Spanish III, and College Spanish IV} online sophomore year. Just say no!</p>

8

<p>do something to set yourself apart. Do some research at a local university. Get a job where you fit in well and can rise in the ranks. Play hockey so well that you get recruited. Whatever the val/sal/top kids in the class before you do, skip it and do something else. Carve a new path and succeed and you will be admitted to the college of your dreams.</p>

9

<p>haha lol I messed up the 5 or less XD</p>

<p>I looked like an idiot thanks for pointing that out :P</p>

10

<p>My "fake stats" sense was tingling while reading your post; either that or you're already doing fine and there's no need to change your direction.</p>

11

<p>Your academics are on track (however, do follow the 4 years of Spanish language advice). </p>

<p>Your varsity hockey could be the hook you need to stand out for the Ivies--they always need hockey players with great academic stats (to balance the stars with less-than- stellar scores). Keep up the traveling club hockey, keep a record of your successes & hockey stats, and start researching when you can contact college hockey coaches. (Google NCAA recruiting guidelines.) Talk to your coaches to find out if other players, in past years, at your level have been recruited by DI schools. Good luck!</p>