I am a sophomore in high school at a prestigious boarding school, and yet I feel like I have no hope of getting into a good college. I have great grades, great test scores, play varsity sports, and yet in every meaningful award or competition I put myself towards to, I’ve failed to achieve anything. I have so many regrets and so many wishes that I had just tried harder in my freshman year and the fall and early winter of sophomore year. I still have hope that my efforts can culminate into something this summer or my junior year, but I honestly am losing optimism that I can be admitted into an Ivy League as my senior year approaches. Sorry. This was just a rant.
First, it seems as if you are in a high pressure environment where “good college” only means Ivy League. There are many great schools out there. You may have a chance at a top school anyway, so certainly apply. You don’t need to win awards or competitions. But also try to learn about and love some other schools.
If I were your parent, I would kind of find your post concerning. You have worked hard and achieved a lot. If you think you are depressed, please talk to someone.
Your chances of admission to a school where you can thrive are very high. Please find a school that fits you, despite the pressures of your school.
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Please read this: The original “Average” Excellent student graduates today
TLDR: “My shy, quiet girl who didn’t win a single award in high school will soon be leaving home for a grown up job. She’s achieved a truly great goal: graduating with a hard-earned degree. She is going to be fine, and my mission is accomplished.“
You don’t have to go to Harvard to have a successful and fulfilling life. You are young and have so much life to live before you even need to think about what your future path is. Do your best and take time to enjoy your youth. You will be fine.
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There are 3,700 colleges in the US; of those, the top 10% are not good, they’re very, very good, the kind students from around the world desperately hope to get into.
Some state flagships have incredible honors colleges - University of South Carolina, Penn State, UT (Austin), UGA, ASU Barrett.
There are great colleges you’ve never heard of simply because they’re not nearby-- but people who matter will know.
And ultimately, as tempting as impressing your classmates may be, who will matter more, the employers you impress with your achievements in college, or the kids you live with right now?
Who’s putting such pressure on you? Yourself? Then, choose to opt out. You can coast: a top boarding school will get you to a great college. Your peers? Ditch the prestige-obsessed sophomores (there’s a reason for the word “sophomoric”, don’t be one of them and let others be if they wish).
Btw your friends should be people who like you for who you are, praise your success, cheer you when you feel down, and love the colleges you love regardless of usnwr rankings.
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You are thinking of this all wrong.
Why are you in a good high school? Why do you want to go to college?
The point of going to a good high school is for you to get a good education. If the entire benefit of your high school is to give you admission to an “elite” college, you are wasting your time and your parents money.
A good high school is supposed to prepare you for success in life. So is college. However, what is most important in college helping you succeed is that it would be the right college for you. For the vast majority of students, those colleges which are worshipped in the private prep schools, i.e., Ivies and such, are not the best colleges for them, and even for students who would succeed at these colleges, there are dozens to hundreds of colleges at which they would succeed just as well.
With great grades, great test scores, varsity sports and a couple of decent ECs, you are almost assured admissions to an excellent colleges at which you will succeed and thrive.
Our President attended University of Delaware (USNews #97), and the Vice President attended Howard University (USNews #80). I wouldn’t consider either of them to be failures, despite having attended colleges which your high school wouldn’t consider worthy of a mention on its list of matriculations.
if your high school is as good as they claim it is, you will succeed in life whether you attend Yale, UVA, U Iowa, or U Arizona, or U New Mexico. If you got a good educational and social foundation in school, you will do very well in life whether your college is ranked as #3 or as #93.
Your college is no more than another stage in your life, not the culmination of your life. Attending an “elite” college is not “success”, it is a step to success for some people.
Finally - you are only a sophomore.
Most kids, including my own, have had few, if any, major successes and awards by the end of Sophomore year. Yet many of them do just as well as, or better than, those who are “stars” in their sophomore years (again, my kid is a good example). You have great grades and great test scores, and varsity sports. You are ahead of the curve.
Keep on focusing on your grades and on your ECs and on doing as well as you can. As I wrote, you will almost certainly attend an excellent college where you will do well.
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I feel the same way, I am a sophomore too and I was recently invited to apply to NHS. On the application it asked for leadership positions and awards and I had to essentially leave it blank. This discouraged me but what my parents and friends told me was to keep these in mind:
-You are only a sophomore and have not had time to accumulate awards.
-You are living during a global pandemic with extremely limited options.
-Prestigious/ivy schools don’t mean much in the long run. Grad schools don’t even really care as long as you do well wherever you end up. My dad is a very successful doctor, and do you want to know where he went to school? His local state university with an acceptance rate near 100%.
Hope this helps, and just remember to take a deep breath 
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You are wise beyond your years, young padawan.
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