I'm freaking out- am I doing enough?

Applying to College
1

So, right now I’m a high school freshman. I took eleven high school credits in middle school:

English 1 Honors (A)
English 2 Honors (A)
Algebra 1 (T)
Geometry Honors (T)
Algebra 2 Honors §
Pre-Calculus Honors (A)
French 1 (A)
French 2 (A) (Half Credit)
Guitar 1 (A)
Debate 1 Honors (A)
Biology 1 Honors (A)
Career Research (Mandatory for gratuation) (A) (Half Credit)

Grades of (T) or § mean that I took a test and passed instead of having an unweighted or honors class bringing down my GPA. All of my EOCs or FSAs were 5s.

My unweighted GPA is a 4.0.

My weighted GPA right now is only a 4.625…

I’m really scared that I won’t be able to overcome the drag on my GPA from the unweighted classes I took…

I’m #61 out of 933, I really need to be valedictorian because my ECs aren’t so great.

I’m on the debate team, I do LD, and next year I’m going to be LD captain because the current captain is graduating, and I’m the only novice this year lol

Should I join the Science Olympiad and math team?

I want to join NHS, but I’m not sure if you have to be an upperclassman to join.

This year I’m taking five AP tests, three AP classes (AP Chemistry, AP English Language and Composition, and AP Psychology) and Calculus 1 and Calculus 2 through dual enrollment at UF, which correspond to AP Calculus AB and AP Calculus BC.

My other four classes are all Honors, and all electives: Debate 2 Honors, Portfolio Art Honors, Rocketry 1 Honors, and French 3 Honors.

I’m planning on adding a dual enrollment philosophy class in the spring, along with an introductory coding class and maybe Latin.

I feel sick when I think about my Guitar credits. How could I do this to myself??? 6th grade me was such an idiot.

I’m a white, Jewish, upper middle class, hetero-normative female.

Am I completely screwed???

I think I could easily get a perfect SAT score, if I do will it help make up for my mediocre GPA?

HELP ME PLEASE

2

Bump

3

Bump

4

People please please help me

5

RELAX. You are only a freshman. You can’t change the past. And you are doing just fine. How is a 4.0UW/4.6W mediocre? You are in the top 7% of your class - not too shabby!

You seem to be taking an extremely advanced and loaded course schedule - which could lead to a lot of stress and working yourself into the ground which is NOT healthy. What is the rush?

Pick a few extracurriculars that really interest you and get involved. Not for your future college applications but for you.

And relax. Take a deep breath.

6

Yes, you need to calm down. You are doing great!

Colleges don’t care about weighted gpas since every school does weighting differently. It’s the unweighted that’s matters and you’ve got a 4.0. They also look at rigor and it seems that you are way ahead of the game there. In fact so far ahead, that you may want to ease up a bit. You seem to be putting an unhealthy amount of pressure on yourself.

Finally, class rank matters for top colleges but you just want to be in the top 10%. You are there so you are good. There is no need to be valedictorian. Most schools don’t even name their vals and sals until after college applications are in so the colleges wouldn’t even know when they are making decisions.

7

Right now, so many top colleges report that half or fewer of their admits had class rank to report. And even val can be not admitted when the whole picture isn’t there. (Some colleges report these figures.)

Yes, you need more than one EC. No, being val won’t overcome just one EC. (Not unless you’ll apply to some rack-and-stack colleges that only look at stats.) Nor NHS (which doesn’t really count.)

Spend less time being anxious and instead figure out how to be proactive. Learn what your probable targets want to see in you, get a better idea than you have now.

For the most part, top colleges don’t care about middle school courses. They want to see 9-12. Yup, even if MS courses show on your transcript. They’ll see the type of classes taken, but none of what you state is especially or unusually rigorous. Not like you took AP calc in 9th.

To take some decision in 6th grade so seriously (guitar) is silly.

Get the right perspective.

8

You need to relax and get some perspective otherwise HS is going to suck and you are going to burn out.

You should be focused on finding activities you enjoy, doing your best with your classes, and having fun. NOT worrying about college at 14. There are THOUSANDS of colleges in the US where you can be extremely successful, including your state flagship.

I’m going to repeat some of what’s already been said to emphasize the points:

Your middle school grades and courses aren’t going to matter a hill of beans.

Your weighted GPA doesn’t matter, nor does being val/sal

There is no need to self study for AP tests or try to get too far ahead of your normal progression. It’s not a race to see how many AP courses you can graduate with.

Don’t pick ECs based on what you think colleges want, pick based on your interests and what sounds fun.

Top schools will expect:

4 years of english
4 years of math
4 years of science (bio, chem, physics, and one of those AP)
3-4 years of history
3-4 years of foreign language
1 year of fine arts

They will expect you to take these in HS.

Take a deep breath and focus on making friends, having good balance, and developing resiliency.

9

It is way too early to think about colleges (especially the hyper-competitive ones). You don’t even have one full year’s GPA and you have no standardized testing. You also need to recognize that HS should be an experience in and of itself – a time of learning and growth and not just a 4 year college application prep experience.

It is good to take school seriously and know that college will be on your horizon, but it is too early to start planning for specific colleges. I would highly recommend that you get off of CC (except the HS life forum) until your junior year.

For now you should focus on:
–Working hard, learning, and doing as well as you can in the most challenging curriculum you can manage.
–When the time comes study for standardized tests.
–Continue your involvement in activities you care about and work towards making meaningful contributions to those activities.
–Enjoying spending time with your family and friends.

When the time comes asses your academic stats (including GPA, standardized tests, course rigor) as well as your financial needs and apply to a wide range of reach, match, and safety schools that appear affordable (you will have to run a net price calculator for each school you consider) and that you would be happy to attend. You need to expand your horizons and recognize that there are many wonderful schools out there where you can have a great 4 year experience and get where you want to go in life.