hello! im a sophomore in high school currently and i need some advice on which classes i should take next school year. im interested in the arts, humanities, and sciences (im terrible at math!) my courses for next year look like this:
- ap english
- ap us history
- pre-ap physics
- pre-cal
- ap drawing
- photography
- graphic design
- student aide (aka study hall)
i want to pursue a major in something art related, like architecture or graphic design, because that’s really all im interested in. schools i want to apply to are: risd, nyu, pratt, ut austin, and ucla… i know those seem pretty unrealistic but i do have high hopes. my uw gpa by the time i apply will be somewhere between 3.0-3.3, because i really slacked off during freshman year and half of sophomore year, so i plan on compensating with high sat/act scores. i also know i’ll need to spend a lot of time working on an art portfolio and extracirriculars that show my interest in art. right now im only in nahs and art club.
with that being said… what other extracirriculars/societies/clubs would benefit my interests? will be schedule allow for me to study for the sat/act along with developing my portfolio in art?
any stories or advice would be greatly appreciated 
I don’t know if UCLA and NYU will admit you with a 3.0-3.3 uw GPA, unless you have a really strong hook. Why are you planning to take pre-calc and pre-ap physics if you’re bad at math? Pre-calc by itself isn’t that hard if you pay attention, but most people learn it to move on to AP Calc, which I’m assuming you’re not going to take. Physics is heavily math-based as well. Have you taken AP Art History? A fantastic art portfolio is indeed very important if that’s what you’re interested in and good at. Usually people include several paintings, watercolors, portraits, still life, sketches, etc. Your current schedule looks manageable, but I wouldn’t expect too much sleep. How does your school’s student aid course work? If it’s not that significant I would drop it to free up time. You should look into the Congressional art competition where you live. If you win your work would be featured in the US Capitol, which is a very high honor. You can even look into how to make your art benefit your community. Developing an interest and expanding it to help others is always a good idea.
UCLA uses only 10-11th grades in their GPA calculation and their they weight the GPA based on honors points for 8 semesters of AP/IB courses taken 10-11th grades if OOS. 9th grades are not included in the UC GPA calculation and 12th grades are not available at time of application nor used in the calculation.
https://rogerhub.com/gpa-calculator-uc/
Average Capped weighted UC GPA not major specific last year was a 4.23 while UW GPA was 3.76. I do not think you really have a chance with a 3.0-3.3 uwGPA even with a spectacular portfolio but if you want to apply, why not chance it.
Also the California UC’s are very GPA focused vs. test focus. For UCLA, you need top grades and top test scores.