I’m currently the end of my first semester for junior year, and here are my GPAs
10-12:
Weighted: 4.0
Unweighted: 3.3
9-12:
Weighted: 4.1
Unweighted: 3.5
Academic GPA:
Weighted: 4.1132
Unweighted: 3.4340
I currently have accumulated 3 C’s
2 in sophomore year
both in Algebra 2 Honors
1 in junior year
AP physics
EC:
I did track for my first 2 years of high school and then quit to join IB
Joined the IB Program for my current junior year and upcoming senior year
I am an opinion editor at my school newspaper
I was hoping to attend schools like NYU, UCSD, UCSB, USC, Pepperdine, Occidental, UCI, Cal Poly SLO, Cal Poly Pomona, UC Davis, Northwestern, Emory, Boston College, Boston University, Northeastern, or University of Texas–Austin.
I am now very unsure of my future because I doubt at my current status, I could attend none of these schools.
Is there anything I could do in my junior year 2nd semester or senior year 1st semester to change this. I’m also a Korean-American living in California, if admissions are indeed based on certain demographics.
Side Note: I was hoping to major in either communications, journalism, or political science.
I’d say you have a shot at Occidental or Pepperdine. Have you run the net price calculators on the school websites at those two?
On the financial aid website page of each college. Run them with your parents to see what you might be expected to pay for a given school. Generally the more selective the school the better the aid will be. But you don’t really have the grades for the most selective schools.
I think that you need to add a few “easier to get into” universities. Look at CSU’s and perhaps UCR and UCM.
I don’t know that much about the IB program (it is not offered where we live), but my impression is that it is very demanding. I am not convinced that taking it is the right way to pull up your GPA.
You should try to work hard on your maths because math is a subject where what you learn next year is going to depend upon what you are learning now, and what you are learning now depends a lot on what you learned last year. Your C’s in Algebra 2 are worrisome because so much is going to depend upon algebra as you go forward in your studies. AP physics is one of the things that depends a lot on algebra (as you might have noticed), but there will be more.
If you google "net price calculator " you will find a tool that is very helpful to estimate what a university might cost.
If you’re interested in journalism, include Mizzou.
Northwestern, BU, BC, Northeastern, Emory are likely out of reach.
UT is a public university for the people of Texas. It takes very few OOS students and they must be able to pay full price.
Pepperdine is a religious university with Bible and chapel requirements, is that something important tonyou? In that case, look into more Evangelical colleges.
UNM has an excellent school of journalism that would be a match for your stats.
Look into ASU Barrett, too (ASU isn’t worth it without Barrett, especially when you have UCs and CSUs.)
So run the NPC on UCs/CSUs and all universities you consider a match or a safety, and being results to your family.
Is there anything I could do in the second semester of junior year to increase my chances for a better school?
Can you drop AP Physics and take regular Physics? It’s surprising that you were able to enroll in the AP as it is very math focused and you had C’s in sophomore year algebra. With regular physics you may be able to achieve a higher grade and also free up some study time for other classes.