<p>Right now I'm a junior in high school and looking at these schools:
UNC at Chapel Hill (my top, top choice)
UT at Austin
Penn State
Virginia Tech
JMU</p>
<p>I am considering putting University of Florida and University of Alabama on my list as well.</p>
<p>My dream is to become a journalist, so my plan is to double-major in journalism and political science as a fall back and because the two can go hand-in-hand.</p>
<p>My stats:
Live in Virginia
GPA: 4.293 (weighted-my county does not give unweighted)
Class rank: unknown (my county does not have class ranks or valedictorians, etc.)</p>
<p>Schedule
Took Algebra I and Geometry HN in middle school (A and A- respecitvely as final grades)
Also took French 1A and 1B in middle (both A's as final grades)</p>
<p>Freshman year: (class--final grade)
Algebra II HN--A
English 9 HN--A
Health/PE 9--A
Biology HN--A
French 2--A
Journalism 1--A
World History and Geography 2 HN--A</p>
<p>Sophomore year:
Precalculus w/ Trigonometry--A
English 10 HN--A
Health/Pe 10--A
IB Chemistry I--A (my school's equivalent to honors chemistry)
French 3--A
Journalism 2--A
AP U.S. Government and Politics--A (only AP offered at my school, 5 on exam)</p>
<p>Junior year: (only 1 quarter of the way through)
IB Math SL I--A-
IB Physics I--A
IB English HL I--A
IB HOA--A
IB French I--A
IB Business SL--A (will take IB exam in May)
Journalism 3--A</p>
<p>*Not doing full IB Diploma--although I do have the courses necessary, I've learned over the years that the amount pressure I put on myself to do exceedingly well (combined with level of course work) should not compromise my health! I also think that a ton of my friends are doing the diploma...just for the diploma and the notoriety etc., when it should really be about the learning behind it all. IB is so interesting and I want to take advantage of what it offers, but newspaper also is important to me. I already write 3 articles for every issue on average, and adding TOK and EE, which are all about higher thinking and writing, will put me on the verge of my breaking point! </p>
<p>Extracurriculars:
Student newspaper
freshman year: started as contributing writer, promoted to staff writer in second semester
sophomore year: copy editor, paper ranked 9th in country at NSPA convention
junior year: opinion editor
senior year: will take managing editor position</p>
<p>National Honor Society member since sophomore year</p>
<p>French Honor Society member since sophomore year</p>
<p>Camp Invention-an interactive science camp for elementary school students for 5 days in summer
summer before freshman year: junior counselor--worked with one teacher at a certain module and helped students complete tasks)
summer before sophomore year: promoted to camp counselor--worked with one group of kids (fourth graders) and traveled to each module and monitored their safety during tasks/lunch/free time
summer before junior year: camp counselor role is now known as leadership intern or LI--same roles as camp counselor but I also mentor a counselor in training (CIT) who also works with my group to help develop their leadership skills necessary to advance to higher position</p>
<p>"Taking Flight" Mentor
selected as one of 150 juniors and seniors through application process--I mentor a group of freshmen to help ease their transition to high school. We meet once a month and have training sessions as well. </p>
<p>GIVE tutor
since sophomore year I have volunteered at a local community center almost every Saturday for 2 hours and tutor younger children in need of assistance. I've helped kids in French, reading, writing, and math.</p>
<p>Newseum Student Advisory Team
applied to position--only 30 students from metropolitan area (DC, Maryland, VA, or DMV as we call it) Once every two months we meet at the Newseum and help the public relations team find ways to attract kids my age to the Newseum's exhibits. We review exhibits and give our perspective on how students will enjoy it/ what should be improved</p>
<p>Test scores:
SAT: 1930 (570CR, 680M, 680W w/ 9 on essay) will retake in March
ACT: taking for first time in February--took a mock one and got 28 overall (31 english, 29 math, 26 reading, 25 science) w/o studying and having the slightest clue what I was doing--definitely studying now for sure!!!</p>
<p>Wow I was only curious and wrote a whole novel--oh well! Also, are there any other schools that someone thinks I should consider? I'm open to suggestions, though I'd like to stay on east coast (w/ the exception of Texas-haha)</p>