<p>I'm currently a high school Junior and i'm really worried about my current chances for college. Up until now, I have been one of those students that has not really tried to do anything at school, no extracurricular and just average grades. Is it too late for me to improve my chances of getting to a good college or is there any way that i can improve it? If so, how? Please help.</p>
<p>GPA: 3.4 (Unweighted) 3.5 (Weighted) - I've only took one AP Class, World History when i was a sophomore and a PAP English II class, other than that all of my classes have been academic.
Taking AP English III and AP US History this year, and plan on taking PAP Physics and Pre-Calculus next semester.</p>
<p>High School Rank: 212/467 - I've really slacked at school and haven't tried my hardest due to the fact that i was simply unaware of the college process.</p>
<p>EC -
Newspaper - 1 Year (Plan on being in newspaper my last two years)
Film Club - 1 Year (11th Grade)</p>
<p>I pretty much have done nothing else. My first two years was just me getting in trouble at school and slacking off. </p>
<p>Your resume contains info about ECs and work experience. The vast vast majority of US colleges don’t care about either of those. </p>
<p>The type of college you’ll be targeting will focus solely on three things: transcript, test scores and ability to pay.</p>
<p>1) transcript: pretty obvious, get As and Bs from here on out. Take as rigorous a courseload as managable for you.
2) SAT/ACT: prep for them – pretty self explanatory
3) money: talk with the parents. How much do you have to work with?</p>
<p>Make an appt w/your guid counselor and talk this out. He/She will know the paths that students like you have taken in years prior. </p>
<p>What’s done is done. Good that you’re maturing now. Good luck .</p>
<p>It depends on what you mean by “good college”. You can’t be a slacker for two years and then get into Ivy league or other top tier schools. But remember that there are thousands of schools, so there will definitely be schools that will accept you. You will have to work with your guidance counselor to apply to the right schools!
Also, “the getting in trouble at school” phrase could spell problems with getting into college depending on exactly what that means Again, a frank talk with your guidance counselor is in order.</p>
<p>Not really expecting to go to an Ivy League school, but I just don’t want to go to an obscure college.
I got in trouble Freshman year, went to Alternative School for alcohol and a couple minor write-ups sophomore year.</p>
<p>Your situation is one where you might want to consider a Gap Year. Not only will it give you an extra year of (hopefully excellent) grades to factor into your GPA, but it will give you an extra year to demonstrate the maturity that you clearly didn’t have in freshman and sophomore year, and the opportunity to explore some potential professional directions. Doing so allows you to assure the adcoms that you are now on track, focused and have something unique/interesting to contribute to the student body. Take a look at The Gap Year Advantage by Karl Haigler and Rae Nelson. Note that most of the top schools are very supportive of students taking a gap year - some like Harvard even encourage it. [Harvard</a> College Admissions § Applying: Taking Time Off](<a href=“http://www.admissions.college.harvard.edu/apply/time_off/index.html]Harvard”>http://www.admissions.college.harvard.edu/apply/time_off/index.html)</p>
Again, a frank talk with your guidance counselor is in order.</p>