I screwed up my first 2 years... chances? ANY HELP WELCOME

Chance Me / Match Me!
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<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
Honors Social Science - B A
English - A A
Biology - B A
Spanish - B A
Band - A A
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>

2

<p>bump...............?</p>

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<p>I'm not sure UC's look at frosh year. Good chance at Boston U and NYU, UC's will depend on junior grades.</p>

4

<p>UC's look at sophomore and junior grades - do well in junior year and as an in-state applicant you certainly have a good chance at all the UC's with some SAT scores.</p>

5

<p>I would encourage you to look into some summer classes at community colleges. This would allow you to bring up your UW GPA, which is your major fallback. If you do this, you have a good chance</p>

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<p>Do most Ivies look at your freshman grades?</p>

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<p>future-scientist</p>

<p>I'm not sure what that has to do with this thread, since I'm not applying to ivies...</p>

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<p>uhhh...collegeplox
this is my thread...? lol</p>

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<p>LOL ^</p>

<p>Yeah, anyway, you have an upwards trend in your transcript so that's good. Decent ECs but try to get some community service hours in too. You're a good match for BU as of now but UCLA and UCB are still reaches. NYU seems okay (middle 50% is around 3.6). Work hard junior year and you'll be fine.</p>

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<p>holy...
I am sorry lmao. I was watching youtube as I was typing in that entry. uhh, but yeah again</p>

<p>im not sure what that has to do with this thread, since YOU'RE not applying to ivies. rofl</p>