<p>Well let me start telling you about me. I am an orthodox Jewish teenager with a large family. I go to school 6 days a week, sunday-friday from 7:30 AM through 9:15 PM (except Friday's), and on Thursday's we go till 10:15 PM. YES, THIS IS NOT A MISPRINT! And you might be thinking what might we be doing for all these hours. We pray, have breakfast, learn Jewish studies, lunch, Jewish studies, and then english(secular-not Judaism related) and then more learning, dinner, then more education. I maintaned a 3.9 gpa in freshman year, a 3.7 gpa in sophmore year due to taking the most advanced classes available and struggling with my porn addiction, which thank God I overcame( by the way do you reccomend writing about this in my college admission essay on the college application). And then right now in my Junior year I am taking the most advanced classes available( I'm taking Calculus!), and so far this year i have a 4.0 gpa. Also, this is the first year we are allowed to take AP's, and we have to self-study them in our free time, WHICH IS PRACTICALLY IMPOSSIBLE! So, when i come home at 9:30 i have to stay up finishing schoolwork, and also doing AP's. I got 81% on PSAT(didnt take SAT yet).I am taking(self-study) AP psychology and AP english language and composition(which i have no idea how to do, please help!). Also, in my freshman summer i went to camp, and helped my mom with her work. Somphmore summer, our school offeres us summer school so i went there.( also planning on going there junior year, and these are the only two years they allow us to take it, I'd take more if they let). I also when i had like winter break, and other breaks in school i helped my Temple raise money(charity). I also spent my summer with our temple in a program where we help young Jewish boys and girls come closer to judiasim. AND our school does not have a counseler so I do not have anyone to really guide me(my parents are too busy) and i am the first child in my family going to college so do you think with all my background info, especially my school hours which restrict me from doing alot of extra-curriculars(also our school doesnt have any groups, and clubs we can be into, the only thing we have is a librarian and i volunteer there for my school), so any tips on what to do, how to do, all the who's what's and why's, just please help me! i am also trying to get into UCLA, i wnat to become a pharmacist. So please help THANKS ALOT! have to get back to studying....</p>
<p>Whoa … way too much information for most of us. No, don’t write about your porn addiction in your essay. Since you are in a unique environment, many of us here won’t have the right insight to offer you more than general advice. Can you work with another adult that has successfully sent a student from this environment to a good college? Is there any teacher at your current school that can offer advice on the college application process? Will you be required or encouraged to look at schools that are Jewish or predominantly Jewish? </p>
<p>There is a lot of information available in these forums. Search them and learn what you can in your spare time, but recognize that many of the students and parents that comment are trying to get their kids into highly selective schools. They have many generations in their families of kids that have been preparing for highly selective colleges, so they will appear to have amazing stats and ECs. Do not compare yourself to them as your time constraints due to your culture are much different. </p>
<p>Do the best you can with your school … study, do your homework, push yourself. If you run into a wall, seek tutoring or help from a student or teacher. If you are likely to get a C in any AP course, strongly consider reducing your course load to non-AP, but try to take AP courses in the areas that are the most interesting to you. </p>
<p>Keep up your work with your temple … a lot of that adds up to great extra curriculars. Some schools will see that as very positive because you have developed skills and leadership in this space.</p>
<p>Good luck to you!</p>
<p>p.s. When it comes time to writing an essay, hopefully you won’t have one long continuous paragraph that looks like you didn’t take a breath! Relax … you are doing fine, and you will get into a good college, just don’t focus only on UCLA.</p>