<p>Hi I'm a freshman in high school and I just got into this selective admissions high school (think Stuyvesant). The change as been so big, and the classes are so much harder than they were in public school. They don't offer AP classes here, but all classes are already Honors, so no regular classes either. I want to know if I'm doing okay, I think it'll be get better next year when I'm completely transitioned. My first semester grades were:</p>
<p>Honors Geometry- B+
Honors World History- A
Physical Education- A
Honors Introductory Biology- B+
Mixed Chorus- A
Health- B+
Honors Spanish 2- A-
Honors English- A</p>
<p>EC's
Carle Foundation hospital teen volunteer program
Volunteer at cattle bank (local historical museum)
Publicist of Pokemon club (don't hate, nerds are amazing)
Member of Japan Club
Junior varsity on girl's soccer team.</p>
<p>Yeah I know my grades aren't great, especially since I know I can do better, I'm trying to get straight a's on my second semester grades to even out the B's, but do you think I'm doing bad? I really like planning things and was thinking of going to Northwestern, but I'm not sure how important underclassmen grades and EC's are. Thanks in advance :)</p>
<p>Well congratulations! I know, I feel so odd to be stressing out about college NOW especially when none of my friends even know what field they want to be a part of as adults. I just have a lot to live up to, and as an only child I feel like I can’t disappoint my parents (who by the way put way too much pressure on me). I guess things will just fall into place, I hope I’m doing okay :/</p>
<p>Your grades are just fine. Like you said, it’s an adjustment period, and you’re only a second semester freshman! Just keep working hard :)</p>
<p>By the way, as for the importance of underclassmen grades/ECs, they’re important, but colleges look at your application holistically, meaning as a whole. So, what they’ll do is compare your junior/first semester senior grades to your freshmen grades and think “Hm, did she keep up her GPA despite rising difficulty in courses, or was she not up for the challenge?” So, even if you’re unsatisfied with your grades now, you can show an upward trend and colleges will love that!</p>
<p>Last point, I don’t recommend having your heart set on a college so early. I didn’t seriously start my college search process until early junior year, and even that was earlier than most of my friends. The fact that I knew for sure where I wanted to go by second semester surprised most people xD.</p>
<p>Hm. That’s an interesting way of looking at it, for some reason I always felt like college was going to be the most important part of my life. I think I’ll just try my best and see where it goes from there. thanks for the input!</p>
<p>^Something people always told me was that I’m going to have a good time pretty much no matter where I go. While some schools ARE better than others in terms of endowment, student:teacher ratio, research opps, etc., what makes your college experience great is more what you DO with what your college has to offer. So, you could go to an Ivy and have a ****ty time because you never socialized or took advantage of the wonderful chances it gives. On the other hand, someone could go to a state university and have the best four years of their life because they joined a lot of clubs, studied hard, and succeeded.</p>
<p>So, yeah, just try your best, and enjoy high school. Try not to forget that high school is for more than academics too ;P</p>
<p>If you are from Illinois, take a look at UIUC when you get a little older - one of the top public schools in the nation and it’s very cheap. If you are going into Engineering, you’ll get all the same opportunities that you would get from Columbia engineering, etc…</p>
<p>Actually I live right next to UIUC. Our high school is affiliated with it and we’re right on campus! I pretty much know the whole place :). But I kind of want to get away from my parents lol. Yup a big portion of each graduating class at my school goes there so I’m definitely still keeping it in my options.</p>
<p>Dont worry about colleges especially as a freshmen. Just make sure your grades are decent, do EC’s, and enjoy your HS years</p>
<p>Oh well if I lived on a state college campus like you, I wouldn’t want to go there either :D</p>
<p>not at all.</p>
<p>it seems you are on the verge of getting all As and Im sure you can get it next semester.</p>
<p>oh. uh i’m a she. but yeah thats why im concerned because i want to go into the medical field and science and math are extremely important for that, so i really need to get those up. i had an A- for first quarter in both classes and then a B+ for second quarter in both, then they both averaged to a B+ for the semester so it was really sad because it was pretty close.</p>