Is this Sophomore on track for T20s and OxBridge?

Chance Me / Match Me!
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Thank you for your advice. I do not think me not taking APs freshman year is all that strange since my old school does not allow APs freshman year but afaik, most schools don’t really care about freshman year rigour. I did manage to get into 2 honors courses but this was not the maximum rigour freshman year.

Sophomore year is a similar story but I did manage to convince my teacher to give me AP Bio despite being a sophomore. Normally students in my school are only allowed to take AP WH sophomore year so I think I’m doing better than average on that end.

To clear things up: Yes, this school is uncompetitive and that’s mostly because the majority of the students here are really only interested in a technical education rather than a college one. This means that many students only put in enough effort to get a bunch of Bs. That’s how this school is both “extremely uncompetitive” and “going above a B is rare”. It can really be separated into to with the top 50-30 students being interested in going to higher level colleges and the others being interested in other pathways.

I also know these future predictions can’t happen, but I’m trying to give the best image on what I’m trying to do at least within the next year.

As for the 1k dollars, I personally find it impressive but it’s also because of how I made it. It’s not me going around my school asking for some money from every kid but instead I raised the money by giving the kids in the nearby elementary schools a field day and preparing that for them. Most high school students are not anywhere

I know the record label, books, and albums are currently not going anywhere and I am trying my best to improve them. The major issue is just how difficult it is to find artists who are willing to sign to a new label and do something, especially post-pandemic when many artists are now skeptical of them. I have faith I can make the label go somewhere but for now, I’d rather just say I owned one and I put in effort to make it do something and it failed as chances are, considering the disunified nature of this label that is what most likely is going to happen.

I am currently trying to find activities I like but these are what I currently like. I don’t know how to say it in a way that makes sense but I like creating organizations and solving problems and the likes. That’s why I’m trying to create a Deca and a campus improvement club at my school as I want to solve the vacuums caused by those clubs not existing.

Lastly, I am currently improving my grades, while my first semester was mostly Bs with some As, during the latter half of that semester (when I finally moved out of the apartment) my grades drastically improved. I am also currently taking the most rigorous courses my school offers and am also taking classes at a local community college (including an honors-level course there). Is there anything more that I can really do to improve “rigor”? My school just does not have any other options besides dual enrollment classes over the spring semester which are mostly classes I’m not interested in.

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The last sentence got cut off, so I’m mentally filling it in with an assumption that most high school students aren’t doing things like that (an assumption you’ve already expressed about some of your ECs).

Just above that, you note that most students at your school are not shooting for college. So naturally you’re looking at your classmates, comparing yourself to them, and seeing that you are doing a lot more compared to the majority of them. Understandable.

The problem is that you’re not seeing beyond your high school and your classmates. The thing is A LOT of high school students are doing things like and more. And a lot are ultimately rejected from T20 schools. Take some time to read through some threads here. The EA threads, for example, might be enlightening - many students/parents post their stats along with the result (accepted, deferred, rejected). See what’s going on out there. You might also get some ideas about what could make a more successful application.

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I am not talking about state university I am talking about community college. In the U.S Community colleges typically (including mine) offer “Associates Degrees” which are 2 year degrees, no doctorates. I know that my best route right now is to get that degree when I’m outside of HS and transfer to UC systems (since my community college is a feeder into UCLA) but I’d rather have the “college experience” as a freshman and sophomore and I’m not entirely certain if that sort of experience is possible at a local community college (maybe it is, maybe it isn’t. I haven’t checked the student life at my local community college lmao).

Lastly, I do know what I want, I’m just currently leaving doors open. As I stated before I’m currently trying to make Physics HL happen and that’s because I want to get a physics degree. But I am willing to take a mathematics degree instead and then hop over to a major in theoretical physics back in the U.S which lets that sort of degree hopping happen. If I don’t get Physics HL to happen at my school then I’ll most likely just go for Mathematics instead.

Lastly, the reason why I’m trying to make it into OxBridge is because of the difficulties you’ve stated. Right now the major thing that’s holding me back from T20s in the U.S is my Freshman year GPA so going to a school whose admissions processes are more centered around other factors like IB and AP scores and an entrance test will be extremely helpful to me. As I’ve said before, while I can’t change the past I will try my best to change the future and as it stands, I think it’s far more reasonable for me to get a good score in the entrance exams and IB/AP tests than it is to go in the perpetual rat race of trying to recorrect for my Freshman year GPA. Does that make sense?

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Oh no the last sentence is actually supposed to say “Nobody in my school is involved in that and nobody has donated”. I’m not too sure what happened but yeah, I don’t know what my classmates are doing. I think some are doing similar projects like mine for the award but I can’t be too certain.

Lastly, I really cannot rely on those threads as everyone is suggesting because those threads usually involve someone with a good freshman year GPA that’s not actively burdening them throughout high school. This factor alone makes literally 99% of all of those threads just inapplicable to me since I’m trying to see what people in my situation have done to improve their chances and what they thought could make up for that GPA. My goal ultimately here is to make up for a poor freshman year GPA, not to start competing because as it stands, I’m not able to compete with this GPA (hence why I asked “on track” rather than “make it in” or something like that. I want to know if I’m on track to just being in the race, not winning it).

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You say that your high school is uncompetitive and that most students get Bs. If it’s uncompetitive, they must be getting Bs because the students are less interested, not because the coursework is so challenging. There are some high schools with grade deflation where lower grades would be acceptable to colleges, but yours is not that kind of school. For a T20 school to accept someone from your high school, they will likely want to see exceptional grades and the highest rigor.

ECs cannot make up for academics at top schools. There might be a tiny number of kids (athletes, occasionally fine arts majors, Olympic champions, Hollywood actors, leaders on a world state like Greta Thornburg or David Hogg) who might slip in without pristine academics, but they are few and far between. Placing in Deca or raising $1,000 isn’t cutting it.

Yes, most colleges have holistic admissions, but academics are still the most important factor for 99% of the applicants. AOs might use ECs to decide which 4.0/1550 student to admit. They are not using them to give a kid with slightly above average grades at an uncompetitive high school a bump.

Please go look at the credentials of students rejected by and deferred from T20s in ED and REA this year. There are posts for each one. You will see that there are kids who published books, raised hundreds of thousands of dollars, have national DECA awards, plus perfect grades/scores, who didn’t get in.

You sound like an interesting kid and the purpose isn’t to discourage you. The motivation for this tough love is to encourage you to be far more aware of how competitive the admissions landscape is and to look for a more balanced way to create a list of schools where you will apply in 1.5 years.

Good luck!

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Let me start by saying, you’ve taken time to assess where you are, and where you think you’ll need to be by the middle of senior year (those are the grades that you’ll be submitting, possibly even GPA only up to Junior year, if you apply for EA by November!)

There’s certainly nothing wrong with you setting academic goals for yourself based on that.

And either way, accomplishing those academic goals will help your future academic path - so it’s indeed worthwhile effort. So, yes, there will be “rewards” for your efforts, but whether those will be the specific outcomes you are expecting, you’ve already gotten very good, competent advice!

Certainly a good goal to pursue, as it would put you in the 1st decile of your class, which is where T20 schools recruit most of their applicants.

My only warning is:
It’s not the least uncommon that after freshman year, young people in general have matured, and have started to hear upper-class(wo)men talk about college, so that not just you will suddenly increase their efforts and get more conscious/conscientious about upping their grades/results.

Your ability to suddenly rise into the top-30 assumes everyone else “idles” (specially the current top 52 kids) - but that assumption might not hold true.

Two problems:

a) colleges will not have your “graduate” GPA to look at, but (at best) your mid-senior-year GPA. So you have at minimum one less semester to still “up” the average.
b) even if a college were to decide to recalculate the GPA on your transcript, to drop the Freshman grades, those absolutely wouldn’t be T20 colleges (because they’ll have ten times as many applicants where they don’t need to do extra math), and
c) even if all the above were true, a ≤3.8 still puts you in the lower end of the applicant pool (for which >90% won’t be available spots, regardless how high the GPA, class rank or SAT).

Well - either the school has a policy under which circumstances they will add Community College GPAs to your transcript - or they won’t!? In the first case, do make sure that the circumstances do apply to your scenario/courses.

In summary…
I applaud that you are making a plan, I applaud that you’ve decided to improve your academic outcome, and I think you should stick to that - even if the benefits will likely be different than what you currently assume.

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For some colleges, perhaps so. For others, not really. Take the UCs, for example - all excellent schools, especially for an in state student. They do look at freshman year grades, but they do not include them when they recalculate your GPA for admissions purposes. A poor performance freshman year will not keep you out of the UCs - even the top ones (my daughter, for example, got a C and B freshman year, and just got into to UC Berkeley as an early admit - so obviously, they did not care that much).

They also do holistic review which gives you an opportunity to stand out beyond your grades. As I said above, your current ECs may have some potential, but that potential has not yet been realized. If it is never realized, then your good intentions will not be enough. You need some successful ventures that show achievement and not just attempt.

If you can get those manuscripts published, awesome. If you can get your research published, also awesome. If you can start some successful clubs, maybe win some awards, awesome.

But you need to start making these things happen. If nothing is really going on and you’re just spinning your wheels with them, then it’s time to pivot if you want to make yourself more competitive.

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The major issue I’m experiencing with my college GPA is the circumstances. Due to a lot of weirdness going on with my transfer, I need to make up 3 classes which counts as 9 semester units at my local community college. I decided to add French onto that list which qualifies me as a full time enrolled student there, issue is that the current way my school plugs in grades is only accepting of 3 classes so what’ll happen is either: they add 3/4 classes im taking, they redo their infrastructure (yeah they’re not gonna do that), or they just simply consider all 4 of those courses as being a part of college rather than being a part of regular HS courses like what’s supposed to happen

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You should talk to your guidance counselor or the admissions office at one of the schools in which you are interested because if you are considered to be a full-time student at your local college, you may no longer be eligible for freshman admissions. You would have to apply as a transfer student.

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Speaking of UCs…If you achieve your goal of raising your class rank significantly, then you may find yourself in the top 9% ELC. If so, you will get guaranteed admission to the UC system, although most likely that will be Merced. Not a bad place to land at all, and certainly a decent launching pad into a top grad school for the PhD you hope to pursue. Just something to keep in mind.

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If you were a full-time student, you may no longer be a traditional “HS graduate” and able to apply as a Freshman at some colleges, but might have to apply as “transfer student” from that community college.

Something to consider/check into right now before you cross that threshold at your CC.

On the plus side:
“High school students who are currently enrolled in dual-degree programs or early college programs are ineligible to apply as transfers. These students may only apply as first-year applicants.”

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That is something I’m trying to work around, as it stands right now I may be forced to take another semester at the college to further alleviate my freshman year GPA further but if I do I’m not too sure how transferring would work if you get out of HS. I definitely do want to get in as a freshman but I also just want to get in in general lmao

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First no you don’t. You need a EDUCATION that will enable you to get into a top graduate program. There’s a ton of colleges between CC and T50. My point is think with the end in mind. If it’s “I want to get into a pHD program in Economics or non-euclidian Geometry…” (CC’s do not give doctorates). Then it really doesn’t matter if you go to Brown or Penn State. You like the open curriculum, then look at University of Rochester. UC’s will likely be good for you as they discount freshman year grades (Princeton doesn’t).

You want a large Arabic population the look at schools in Michigan and NYC or DC. I live Providence too but not sure it fits the bill here.

There are multiple roads to get where you’re going. The sooner you realize T20, T50 are nothing more than a number the happier you’ll be

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Yeah I absolutely will. However, I think if I can convince my counselor to put in the grades the same way as they usually do (being that you get both community college credit and a class in HS) I think I would just be a HS student with 1 or 2 college classes and a metric ton of credits. But idk

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I do know this but the major issue is that those middle universities require A LOT of money. Money that I just don’t have. That’s why my current options are really just for T50s and CC since I just don’t have the funds to afford other options without spamming scholarships which would be unreliable to assume I’ll win any or a loan, something that I’m also unable to afford.

I am willing to take out a loan for an education at OxBridge which is why I listed it, but if Im going to be spending that amount of money on any other college then I just won’t go there and will go to the cheapest option I can.

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This is absolutely NOT true. You can tend community college and go on the get a doctorate after attending any college, whether it’s #1 or #1001. The only actual degree available at a community college is an associate’s degree.

Please do away with preconceived ideas. Whatever you are thinking at the moment, it’s all pretty much not accurate.

To get into the most selective colleges you need to have a consistent transcript throughout high school that shows top grades and high rigor. BUT that stuff alone is a basic expectation and all top colleges will reject people with high grades, rigor, and test scores. You need MORE than that. You need great recs, great essays, authentic and interesting ECs, and that unknowable quality that each individual top school is looking for. And that’s not including Oxbridge, where interviews are important.

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I stated my reason why earlier but the tl;Dr is that once you go outside of the T50 schools get far too expensive for me to reasonably pay. That’s why I’m currently either T50s or CC since those options are really the only ones I’m willing to go to for their price (+OxBridge but that’s because I’m willing to take out a loan there and my family is willing to make a way to get there). Outside of that range, the colleges that are affordable to me is extremely small and just simply not worth it when going to CC and transferring to UC system is significantly cheaper

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If this is the typical process, why will you need to convince your counselor?

Did you follow your high school’s procedures for approved dual enrollment?

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There are some fine schools that may offer you decent merit scholarships, if you do succeed in significantly raising your grades and get solid test scores.

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You mentioned that schools outside T50 will be too expensive but your list includes USC?

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