<p>I currently have a 4.0gpa, I signed up for classes for my freshmen year of high school and I will be taking
Honors Physics
Honors Algebra II
Latin I
Honors English
(I will take Health and Geography in Summer School online)</p>
<p>my high school is just a nerighborhood highschool, there arn't any good ones out here!</p>
<p>I am going to a john hopkins summer program</p>
<p>I took the sat... but i didnt to famulous... I got a 570 math... is that ok for an eighth grader? i think i could'vr done loads better!</p>
<p>What else should I do? Is it bad that my high school isn't ranked or anything?
Is it bad that they won't let me take AP classes until I am in 10th grade (we are only alowed one then)</p>
<p>Hey now, let's not be rude or brusque. Young'ns deserve our courtesy.</p>
<p>Find something you love. Don't worry about specific GPAs, and don't get obsessed about colleges in 8th grade. Really. Please. It's depressing and mildly frightening (and to be perfectly honest, makes me feel a little worthless). Don't be passionate about the admissions process. Be passionate about learning. You'll have a lot more fun and you'll get into a great college almost as a sweet byproduct. And if you're not passionate about learning, don't force it so that you can get into HYP (or MIT or Stanford or U of C or wherever) - if you don't love learning, why would you want to be at one of these places anyhow? The social cachet of these schools isn't worth having a miserable experience during what could be some of the best years of your life. You only get to be 20 once - make sure you're going to be spending it at a place you love.</p>
<p>Don't let your parents run the show. I don't know how high-pressure your family is, but the college admissions process can be bad business for some. Adolescence will put some serious wedges between you and your folks anyhow, but its extra difficult when you feel like your parents are not only controlling your present, but are trying to control your future as well. Make sure they give you your space - a lot of times you can keep them off your back if you take the initiative and then keep them updated (this is especially true with doing research on schools, filling out apps, etc - all a long way off for you).</p>
<p>Finally, discover more about yourself. And not just your academic interests - find your values, find out what type of person you are. What's important to you? It's not something that can be done over a summer or for a semester credit, and it's not something you're going to have finished by the time you're a senior ready to send out that app. I don't know if you've been around teenagers much, but a lot of them don't seem quite comfortable in their own skin yet. And that's 100% OK and 100% normal. But if you manage to get comfortable with who you are you will impress the hell out of people. And you do that by figuring out what really matters to you and living by that. It may be disorienting to some to see a 15, 16 year old kid who knows who they are - not many expect a teenager to have a firm sense of self, and they might find your precociousness a little unnerving (this especially applies to your peers). That being said, starting to work towards your own identity not only helps give youthful energies a direction, but the self-knowledge that you gain also gives you a confidence that people recognize almost immediately. Just make sure that confidence doesn't translate into a cockiness.</p>
<p>Hm. It's late and that last paragraph seems to be a lot of pseudo-philosophizing that will be of very little value to you. My apologies. In any event, be well, and go play outside, or something. Don't let college admissions ruin a perfectly good spring. Certainly not when college admissions is a good four years away.
All the best,
DMW</p>
<p>Don't worry about your high school's ranking, how many AP tests you can take, or your current SAT score. </p>
<p>It sounds like you have your academic courses covered- but what about your interests and electives? It's important to remember that most of the applicants to the top schools will have the academics - it's the "other things" that will set you apart.
You want to develop some interests, and pursue them for your whole high school career. Two or three is enough, if you have dedicated time and energy to them. </p>
<p>Through your activiities, you will have an opportunity to develop yourself, stretch, lead, and give back to others. Through your activities, you can demonstrate who you are.
It's not too early to be thinking about this because you will want to start exploring, if you haven't already, to see what direction you want to take. Try some new things - get involved and see where that leads.</p>
<p>Good luck ... remember that there are many great school's out there. Don't get focused on one or two at this point. Keep you mind and options open. You can narrow you choices down later, once you have a history of accomplishment and some goals. At this point, you have no way of knowing which school would be a good fit. That part will come later.</p>
<p>I would say, don't stress, but do have something resembling a plan. Freshman year, look around and figure out what extracurriculars you want to focus on and how you might hope to specialize. Stuff like SAT Subject tests and potential schedules a few years down the line should be floating around in your mind. Try to get on the AP track early, and self study easier AP courses early if you're interested (even as early as freshman year, if you look at a book and think you can handle it- you probably don't need your school's permission to take a test, only to take a class, so you'd be free to prepare on your own). Later on, Junior year, you may be busy and unable to do things like that, so figure out how to get your time to trade off most effectively.</p>
<p>All of that said, a few significant caveats- Don't worry about tests too much yet- Do not start preparing for the SAT until at least the summer before you take it, don't stress about the PSAT, and don't do things for the sake of getting into college. Figure out what you like to do and then develop a plan to pursue those interests.</p>
<p>Everybody in the forum is absolute right. The college admission process is one of the most annoying things to come across so forget about it for now. Go outside and shoot some hoops or do whatever you love doing. I mean from my personal experience...I started the application process in November and I found out by April 1 and dudeeeeeeee afterward I felt so tiredddddddd. I was exhausted! After many many many many sleepless nights, I'm starting to grow white hair oh my gosh. lmao. Anyway, enough about me...have fun while you can kid. Don't worry about this crap yet, you can certaily read about it to get a head start and gather some background info for your school as I always tell my younger brother who will be a high school freshman in the fall. He and I will be visiting Yale and Harvard this weekend (I'm so excited!) just to see the school and you know, to have a good time. Well, I consider walking around fun...but I don't know about you lmao.</p>
<p>gosh, ur in 8th grade! 8th grade was the best year of my middle school life-the dances, i had excellent grades, friends, clubs, etc. ENJOY this year...i did but i wish i was still back there. even freshman year is a bummer. its when u hav to start thinking about ur grades and school work- but not all students have great intiative, so I commend u for that. try to have fun while u can, and never lose sight of ur goals. its not all that crazy 4 u to b at CC, but still just browse-its exciting and in a weird way rewarding to be in a forum where mostly everyone has all these high-acheivers, it gives u something to work at so when u do take sats or aps u know where u hav to be,</p>
<p>PS: Dont post a "what r my chances" or "am i on the right track" thread until ur a junior-its kinda annoying b/c 9th&10th graders still have time to redeem themselves from the horrors of getting a B(lol)</p>
<p>Maintaining a 4.0 GPA gets steadily harder as you move up high school. Please do not forget that. I see a lot of people get overly-confident about their GPA, then BOOM! One quarter, out of nowhere, they get a bunch of B's...or C's.</p>
<ol>
<li> Chill out. You're only in 8th grade.</li>
<li> Don't chill out TOO much. Do your homework and study hard.</li>
<li> Keep taking Latin :) . I've taken it for five years and I'm going to Princeton next year. (It's certainly not a guarantee, but it doesn't hurt either, and it'll more than likely help you out in other subjects) </li>
<li> Have fun. Find some organizations or activities that interest you (equestrian, community service, choir, hiking, etc.) and stick with them.<br>
Also, I don't know what your new high school's like, but it's probably not <em>that</em> bad. Relax.<br>
Worry = stress = less confidence = less success
Just do your best and you'll be fine.</li>
</ol>
<p>These people are right, if you want to get in a school like Yale, don't stress, Yale is cake, lots of the people here, I'm sure, go out and get drunk at least once a week, am I right guys and gals? Don't bother answering that, but trust me, it's true.</p>
<p>Anyhow, don't stress, now if you want to get into a good college, like Dartmouth or Harvard, well then just study hard and do your best, and pray a lot, no one has proven that doesnt work.</p>
<p>HEY! That is absolutely uncalled for. Racism on these boards is absolutely ridiculous, and you wouldn't be on these boards yourself, shiva, unless you were just a little bit obsessive yourself.</p>