<p>I'm going to be a junior this coming fall so I know it's a little early, but I'm pretty worried. I'm an Asian male and a California resident, and I attend one of the top public schools in the state/nation (blue ribbon and was on newsweeks top 100). </p>
<p>Freshmen Year:
Honors Geometry -B B<br>
Honors Social Science - B A
English - A A<br>
Biology - B A<br>
Spanish - B A<br>
Band - A A<br>
UW GPA: 3.5
W GPA: 3.84</p>
<p>Sophomore Year:
Honors Algebra 2 - B B
AP Euro - B B
Honors English - A A
Honors Chemistry - C+ B
Spanish - B A
Band - A A
UW GPA: 3.3
W GPA: 4</p>
<p>AP Euro Exam - 4
overall UW GPA so far: 3.4
overall W GPA so far: 3.9
EC's:
Band 2 years(will continue throughout high school so 4 years)
Orchestra 2 years(will continue throughout high school so 4 years)
Musical Pit
Band Council
Pasadena Youth Symphonic Orchestra
Architect Institute
Green Club(will continue throughout high school so 4 years)
internship at local newspaper
Did Boy Scouts for a few years and hit First Class, but stopped</p>
<p>Awards:
Won Outstanding Player Award</p>
<p>As you can see, my transcript is not very good.
I've taken the hardest classes my school offers, and I do have a legitimate excuse for my poor grades. During my freshmen and sophomore year, my parents were going through a nasty divorce, and of course, this took a huge toll on my grades. I can't describe how many times the divorce has gotten in the way. Luckily, the divorce has been finished, and I am pretty sure my junior year will be a dramatic turnaround. </p>
<p>This is my junior year plan:
spanish 3, pre-cal, band, AP bio, AP american, and AP english. And i plan on getting straight A's (this would raise my overall UW gpa to 3.6 and my W gpa to 4.1) . I also plan to take the AP and SAT II tests for biology, american history, and english, and get 5's and 700+'s. I'm currently taking practice SAT I exams, and scoring 2100+, so my actual score will be somewhere above 2100. And yes, I realize my goal is rather lofty considering my past grades, but I'm determined to make it work.</p>
<p>That being said, my dream colleges would be UCLA, NYU, UC Berkeley, and Northwestern. However, I do plan to apply to all UC's, Boston University, etc.</p>
<p>ANY help you could give me would extremely appreciated.
Especially appreciated would be any way I could make my application shine
(I really want to compete in writing competitions since that is my forte, but I can't seem to find any prestigious ones.) Any colleges you think would be in my range or recommend would be appreciated as well.</p>
<p>Thank you so much for your time and help.</p>