<p>In 6th grade I got straight A's and B's each quarter, I'm currently in seventh grade and the past 3 quarters I've gotten all A's and B's and one C+ each quarter (we're on the fourth quarter right now, and I have all A's and B's currently, hopefully I can keep them up till the end of the year!!)</p>
<p>I'm going to an all girls school called the Grier School this coming fall, its not as high education as more popular boarding schools like Deerfield, Choate, Andover, etc but it does have 16 AP classes and a ton of honors classes. I'm going to try to take as many AP and Honors classes as I can handle, and since I consentrate way better in smaller classes (class sizes at Grier is from as little as 2 to a MAXIMUM of 12; most are around 10) I know I'll probably get straight A's since at public school with a class of 30 kids while I'm in the back corner I'm getting mostly A's and B's.</p>
<p>I REALLY want to get away from the North East / New England Area of the US, and I'm striving for UCLA. I want to do something with medicine; right now I want to do something with psychology but I've also thought about a surgeon or a nurse. </p>
<p>Any advice while at boarding school to reach this goal?</p>
<p>THANK YOU :D</p>
<p>P.S. Other colleges I want to apply to:</p>
<p>*University of California, Riverside
*University of California, San Diego
*University of California, Santa Barbara
*San Diego State University
*University of Central Florida
*Florida State University
*University of Texas, Austin
*New York University</p>
<p>Check the UC website to find out whether UC system has special requirements or recommendations for the high school curriculum and arrange your courses to take accordingly. You’ll be fine.</p>
<p>sparkly…aside from the fact that I don’t know how kids concentrate at UC Santa Barbara - it is SO beautiful, warm and sunny - it’s great to see that you have a plan and have picked out some wonderful Universities to pursue. My advice is not to attempt academic heroism at Grier in 8th grade. Get your bearings first. It WILL be harder than your current school. Your Grier GPA that is reported to colleges will not count any 8th grade classes and, like many boarding schools, may not count ninth grade either. This gives you a great opportunity during the first year or two to figure out YOUR ideal balance between academic effort, course type/number, and your life outside the classroom. While part of a great boarding school experience is learning about time management, another part is figuring what balance makes you happiest and most productive.</p>
<p>Wait, rebelangel, why wouldn’t they count 9th grade?</p>
<p>is it because that is the first year you are adjusting to the boarding school?</p>
<p>For those boarding schools that do not count your freshman GPA, it’s to accommodate the stress of adjustment to a much more rigorous environment. It’s always worth asking your boarding school’s college guidance office what years/semesters are included in the GPA reported to colleges.</p>
<p>I agree with Benley. Check the websites of the colleges to make certain you will take the courses required for admission. If they require 3 lab courses, for example, you wouldn’t want to end senior year with only 2 lab courses.</p>
<p>The UC admissions website is very useful in planning your high school curriculum to match the “a-g” requirements. Out of state applicants are often tripped up by the visual and performing arts requirement (two semesters of the same arts class), so make sure you understand that.</p>
<p>You may also find it helpful to look at the UCLA-specific freshman profile of the admitted class.
It’s interesting to know that applicants with 15 or more honors classes had an admit rate of 35%, while those with 10-14 honors classes had an admit rate of 11%, and those with 5-9 honors classes had an admit rate of 9.6%.
Another interesting fact: applicants with 50 or more semesters of a-g classes had an admit rate of 27%, those with 40-49 a-g semesters had an admit rate of 18%, those with 30-39 a-g semesters had an admit rate of 9.6%.</p>
<p>Some middle school classes count toward the # of semesters: math classes starting with algebra and languages other than English. For example, an 8th grader in Algebra and Spanish would have 4 semesters worth before they even start high school. Note that the grade will not be counted, just the credit.</p>
<p>What if honors classes aren’t offered at an applicant’s high school? Do you know if that counts against them?</p>
<p>That’s an interesting question!
We just went to a talk by UC Berkeley’s Dean of Admissions. He emphasized that students are evaluated in the context of the opportunities available to them. His example was that a student who took 5 APs at a school that offers only 5 APs will be evaluated differently than a student who took 5 APs at a school that offers 20.
He stated that the admissions office is well aware that some schools are underresourced. He said that competitive candidates should seek out other learning opportunities beyond their high school, whether online, in the summer, or at a local CC.</p>
<p>One way to check the answer to that question for a specific California high school is to check the UC stat finder website. It lists historical applicant data for the past five years broken out by high school and UC campus.</p>