<p>Hey, nice to meet you guys! As the title says, I'm currently an eighth grader and even though college admissions and what not seem very far away I just want to be prepared and place my self in position where I can succeed. Firstly I'm Half Black and Half Filipino if that helps at all, and through middle school the lowest end of the quarter grade I ever scored with a teacher was a 97.2. Despite that, I'm not a book nerd or anything and consider myself fairly outgoing. I broke my schools 100 meter record in track and field and am the current ASB president. Although this is all great, I'm aware that it really means nothing in terms of getting into a good college however because it's middle school and like who cares about that haha. So after that lengthy introduction I'm just curious what you'd all recommend for me going into high school. I'm hoping to attend HYP or Stanford (I live in California so yay I can stay close to home) and I'm well aware of how daunting that task is. As far as I can tell from the amount of time I've spent on the internet looking this topic up it mainly comes down to</p>
<p>-Take a lot of AP's and do well (maybe a bit better than well but... you get the point)
-Have at LEAST a 2200 and above in your SAT
-Volunteer and Intern a lot in things that your passionate about
-Be well rounded, play sports, do band, join clubs basically do something that shows your not a study robot
-Hold some kind of intangible, that makes you unique and special</p>
<p>Now, I already have al list of ways to meet and accomplish these things, but I need help from people that have and are experiencing it to elaborate the process to me, and confirm or disconfirm how true these words are. THANK YOU!</p>
<p>P.S.- I don't know if this matters but I'm a boy, and my first choice is Harvard</p>
<p>Love your motivation. Communicate with your HS guidance counselor. Identify safety schools and instate schools that you might want to attend and pay attention to what they rate higher in the selection process, i.e. Cal Poly SLO looks at Freshman grades, prefers 3 years of a foreign language, etc. and has a points system instead of maybe other schools who look at Soph-Junior grades and just follow the A-G requirements.</p>
<p>Good luck on your journey!</p>
<p>You sound exactly like me in 8th grade (I’m currently a junior now). Don’t stress out about college at all in freshman year. Just keep your grades up, make new friends, and explore your interests. Definitely get involved though freshman year and stick with those activities!
I don’t recommend prepping for the SAT until the start of your Junior year or the summer before your junior year. You’ll get burnt out pretty quickly if you start any earlier and that’s not good.
If you can, do stuff outside of the school arena as well. Volunteer, get a job, or play on a sports team. Your entire world shouldn’t revolve around school activities (unless you absolutely love them!).</p>
<p>Your freshman year will fly by as will the rest of your 8th grade year. Take the time to enjoy it. And middle school grades don’t exactly translate into good grades in high school. I can’t speak for your high school but the high school I’m attending now was definitely much more rigorous than I imagined with about 4 hours of homework a night (not including study) and a test/quiz every day (some days in multiple subjects).</p>
<p>Remember to study!</p>
<p>P.S.</p>
<p>My first choice is Harvard too. Wish me luck! I hope 2014 turns out to be my year.</p>
<p>I am currently in eighth grade and am Filipino as well! From what I’ve read, you have a lot of impressive accomplishments…my lowest grade was a 96 average so far. I’m in the advanced classes at my school and have applied to a competitive high school, which I think is an important factor in the college admissions process. I hope to get accepted into an Ivy school too (specifically Columbia or Yale). Let’s both work our hardest! I’m glad I have a fellow eighth grader on this site, aha.</p>
<p>My advice: review CCs Terms of Service regarding Can My Posts be Deleted? and Personal Information. What you post here, stays here, forever. In the age of Goggle, it doesn’t take much to type in a few details and come up with a name, HS, etc. Many members post too much information and regret it when people they know (or don’t know) identify them from this site.</p>
<p>As a middle schooler, while school is not quite as time consuming, the absolutely best thing you can do is to READ. </p>
<p>Read everything. Fiction, nonfiction, classics, new books, whatever. Reading will teach you new concepts, grammar, improve your writing skills, and so much more. I cannot emphasize this enough. </p>
<p>I’d recommend reading Robinson Crusoe, the Harry Potter series(such a great, yet enjoyable, vocab builder), and the original Sherlock Holmes. I read all of these in middle school and I only regret not reading more.</p>
<p>Well I wrote a really long corny message and response to all your of your guys comments but I got logged out so to paraphrase:
liveonboca: I’ll be sure to check out local UC’s and what not for back up
xFirefirex: I’ll make sure my academics don’t take all of my life and I’ll be sure to balance it with sports, extra-curriculars, etc.
yale925: Yay, another fellow 8th grader, let’s make both of are dreams realities k? So corny lol, anyways 925? Do you live in the San Francisco Bay Area too? If so, look at Harker for a option for high school. 11 of the 33 People who got perfect scores in Economics came out of that school and in the past 3 years 11 students got accepted to Harvard, 17 went to Yale, and 33 got into Princeton
entomom: Sorry? Did I say to much about my self? Well it’s fine, I don’t see anything wrong with people identifying me. I try to keep all my social networking clean, and present myself as who I am. A school obsessive, over-emotional nerd lol. Anyways sorry if I disrespected you in anyway, but I think I’m fine
kns1444: Don’t worry I read ALOT. I’ve gone through all the fantasy series such as Harry Potter a while back. Now however, I’m more into writing such as Shakespeare, Scientific and Historical Pieces, George Orwell, Edgar Allen Poe, Mark Twain, Philosophical stuff, and of course any other new popular books buzzing around.
Everyone: THANK YOU FOR TAKING THE TIME TO REPLY TO THIS THREAD!!!</p>
<p>No disrespect taken ;). Just a cautionary tale.</p>
<p>Also, does anyone know of any competitions or internships I could apply into when I’m 15 or so? I know about the Siemens Competition but that’s more towards the sciences and math, and although I enjoy those subjects, history and writing are my forte. If you know of any, no matter the subject please don’t hesitate to alert me. In addition, is anyone aware of any internships that have to do with politics or law? Again thanks for all the help!</p>
<p>If your interests are politics and law, then you are going to have two excellent opportunities to get some exposure to the real world of politics and get some wonderful community service hours: the 2014 election and the 2016 elections. It is not too soon to get in touch with your local city, county, or state legislators, or your favorite political party headquarters and start asking about opportunities to volunteer. You might put yourself in good position to be able to apply to scholarship and internship programs that focus on public service. Learn about Boys State and be ready to apply (usually as a junior) if your high school offers that opportunity.</p>
<p>In addition, you might check out the Asian Pacific Fund website and look at their scholarship programs. I know it is early, but you can get an idea of what kinds of candidates are awarded their scholarships (helps to know as you plan out your high school years.)</p>
<p>[Information</a> for High School Counselors | Asian Pacific Fund](<a href=“http://www.asianpacificfund.org/information-for-high-school-counselors]Information”>http://www.asianpacificfund.org/information-for-high-school-counselors)</p>
<p>Best of luck. And mostly enjoy what is left of the 8th grade, and enjoy high school. Learn who you are, what your passions are, and persevere. You will hear it over and over again, but high school goes by so fast, and then you become an adult and there is no turning back. So treasure each day.</p>
<p>Chesterton, Thank you so much, honestly you introduced me to such a wide variety of opportunities that I never even knew about until you told me about them right now. Your words really helped me get a more insightful and structured view for what I’m trying to accomplish in life.</p>
<p>@HeartbreakJaden:That seems like my dream school! Sadly, I live VERY far away from the San Francisco Bay Area, so that wouldn’t be an option. I hope I get accepted to the schools I applied to! And don’t worry-I’m a school-obsessive overemotional nerd too!</p>
<p>@kns1444: Books are literally my life! My favorite is “Lolita” by Vladimir Nabokov. It’s quite a controversial book and I think that’s what got me hooked. I’m also a fan of classic American literature, and I love the Catcher in the Rye, The Great Gatsby, etc. </p>
<p>This year I think I’ll be entering my county’s local science competition. I barely participate in any competitive events so I want to start this year.</p>
<p>@wright96: Gahh! I’m sorry. I can’t help from worrying.</p>