Hi guys so I’m currently a sophomore in high school and honestly apart from getting OKAY grades, I have abosulte nothing to offer. I don’t have amazing extracurriculars and I don’t think I can get into my dream school. Any help/advice? I honestly just don’t know anymore.
- join clubs and get leadership positions
- compete in competitions and do well in them
- summer programs and learn from them
- internships
- job shadowing
- volunteering
if there are no clubs at your school that you’re interested in, start one.
also make sure that you are passionate and truly interested in whatever you do. if you find yourself doing anything that you DON’T like and are not interested in it, stop.
Tell us what you have already
Can you elaborate? What exactly do you want to know?
Most kids don’t have amazing extracurriculars. Most kids are doing okay in school. There is a college for you. If you want to feel less stressed, start thinking about colleges where your grades and test scores will give you a realistic chance of admission. Having a dream school in mind is a great way to set yourself up for guaranteed disappointment if you know that you will not have the grades. A much better idea is to apply to a range of colleges that are realistic for YOU based on your grades and test scores, not some anonymous superstar student in the news who might get accepted to all 8 Ivy league schools.
You are still only a sophomore, so it’s a little early to be honest. At this point, the best things you can do to ensure you are on track for getting into college are to keep your grades up, do things you enjoy doing, and, if you like, learn about some of the 4000 colleges in the country. Get a college guide book. There are many. Start learning a little about colleges that sound interesting. You don’t need a plan right now. You are in 10th grade.
It’s good that you have posted here. You can demystify the college process and get a reality check. Come back in your junior year and ask questions. By the time youa re ready to apply to college, you will be well-versed in what needs to be done. You are already ahead of the game because you are thinking about it. But you should not have some kind of self-imposed deadline of when you are supposed to know what you should be doing. You should enjoy your teenage years. Adulthood will come soon enough. Preparing for life after high school doesn’t have to be stressful if you keep your expectations in check.
currently:
Asian Club vice president
Speech Team member (not gone very far)
Private violin lessons
Spring Play (violin player)
volunteer projects
Okay, doesn’t look too bad. Please elaborate on “volunteer projects”. Join more activities, things you are excited to get involved in.
thank you for your advice and i think i’m very stressed now because i had always wanted to go to a more selective college so i don’t disappoint my parents nor myself. i guess i just want to know how to improve myself as a person because i feel as if i am just slacking off and losing hope.
I just looked at your other thread, the one from YESTERDAY. Your OKAY gpa is at 3.8! You are an IB candidate. You have a laundry list of decent extracurriculars. I find your original post on this thread to be a bit disingenuous. To be obsessing about this now gives me a good idea of how your future posts are going to progress. Just stop freaking out and relax, or you will be grey haired and wrecked in another 18 months.
i’ve done some tutoring and also one my city’s famous service projects where we go around and help serve the poor.
i think that although i’m an IB candidate, compared to others i feel as if i am not doing enough
Yeah, so you’re doing your best. Listen, just stop. So what if you don’t get into Michigan? Enough for what, exactly? Are you comparing yourself to other sophomores? Why are you doing this? You can do everything right and still not get into Michigan, especially if you are OOS for Michigan. Will you beat yourself up on decision day because, maybe, if you had just done x, y, and z, you might have got in? Let me be the first to tell you, if you don’t already know, that MANY kids with perfect grades and scores and impressive ECs will not get into Michigan, or Harvard, or Stanford. There is nothing you will ever be able to do to ensure that you will get into one of those schools. Tell your family now that this is the reality, because in two years, it will likely be even more so.
You have some realistic schools on your list. I suggest you get excited about those and others. If you get into Michigan in two years’ time, it’s a nice bonus. If you don’t, you will get over it if you apply wisely.
No, you’re doing great. Stop telling yourself that you aren’t. You have time to do more things because you’re a sophomore
I’ve been rethinking over your words and i realized that you’re right, I’m just very stressed right now and honestly i should just accept the way things are and just continue to try hard. thank you for your words, it really means a lot 
It looks like your EC list is great! I wouldn’t add anything else, or else you will stretch yourself too thin. If you were to drop some because they don’t interest you as much (I dropped 3 clubs at the start of 11th grade), that’s okay too!
If you wanted to add ECs, make sure they are for your benefit and not a college’s.
Cal Newport
Check out “How to be a High School Superstar” by Cal Newport.
“The basic message of the book is this: Don’t wear yourself out taking as many classes as you can and being involved in every club and sport. Instead, leave yourself enough free time to explore your interests. Cultivate one interest and make it into something special that will make you stand out among the other applicants and get you into the toughest schools, even if your grades and scores aren’t stellar. Newport calls this the “relaxed superstar approach,” and he shows you how to really do this, breaking the process down into three principles, explained and illustrated with real life examples of students who got into top schools: (1) underscheduling—making sure you have copious amounts of free time to pursue interesting things, (2) focusing on one or two pursuits instead of trying to be a “jack of all trades,” and (3) innovation—developing an interesting and important activity or project in your area of interest. This fruit yielded by this strategy, an interesting life and real, meaningful achievements, is sure to help not only with college admissions, but getting a job, starting a business, or whatever your goals.”
http://www.examiner.com/review/be-a-relaxed-high-school-superstar