<p>Hello everyone,</p>
<p>This is my first post, so please forgive me if this isn't the right section to ask my questions. Anyway, I'll start with telling about myself.</p>
<p>I am in 8th grade, and I have 94+ in all of my classes (which are all at the highest academic levels, btw), and I scored a 1710 on the SAT this year (yes, I know it's a little low, but I slacked off with preparation). As far as ECs go, I know Japanese and some Chinese (not fluent yet in either), I am a registered black belt in Tae Kwon Do, and I can play violin. The ECs I will take during High School are:
-HOSA
-National Math Honors Society (tutoring other students)
-Beta Club
-Volunteering & internships at hospitals</p>
<p>Now, here are my questions:
1. What part of my ECs should improve (as in athletics, academics, my main focus, which is healthcare sciences, etc.) if my preferred college is Dartmouth?
2a. Do you need 93+ averages in all classes to have a 4.0 GPA? If so, how can I maintain a 4.0? I do know that a 4.0 isn't necessary to get into Ivy League colleges, but I just like the satisfaction of academic success (who doesn't?).
2b. Is it difficult to maintain a 4.0 when taking AP Courses? I heard from one high schooler that AP Calculus (which I want to take since I enjoy math) is extremely challenging to get an A in. That frightens me.
3. Do you have any other tips for me in regards to succeeding in high school?</p>
<p>Thank you for taking the time to read this and/or for responding :)</p>
<ol>
<li><p>First of all, your preferred college is probably going to change. Don’t structure your ECs around what college you think you want to go to at 13/14 years old.
Start doing stuff right away freshman year to show commitment. Get leadership positions and form good relationships with your teachers so they’ll write good recommendations when you need them for applications. </p></li>
<li><p>You need all As to have an unweighted 4.0, but what counts as an A depends on your high school’s grading scale. Generally the lowest A is between 90 and 94. Some schools will round up anything within 0.5 points of the lowest A.
Some schools DO NOT consider an A- a 4.0, so make sure you check that too. Don’t worry about how your school weights grades, if they do. Colleges will recalculate your GPA. Just try to get a lot of As and take hard classes. 3.8+ unweighted will be okay. </p></li>
<li><p>It SHOULD be, though at some schools it’s not.
In general, take them regardless. </p></li>
<li><p>“I scored a 1710 on the SAT this year (yes, I know it’s a little low, but I slacked off with preparation)”</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Avoid statements like this. You know the score was above average or you wouldn’t have shared.</p>
<p>OMIGOSH</p>
<p>I love Yakisoba! Especially, the cheese flavor. </p>
<p>…k bye.</p>
<p>I didn’t even start thinking about college until sophomore year. Even then, it seemed so far off. It wasn’t until SATs junior year I really started thinking about them.
You’re in eighth grade. Enjoy being a kid. I just turned 18 a few hours ago. My childhood is over… enjoy yours.</p>
<p>I don’t see why college is such an awful thing to think about that people stop enjoying their childhoods when they start caring about their grades or thinking about college/the future. I guess it is for a lot of people on this website because they turn this crazy ridiculous obsession, but it doesn’t need to be like that. The OP will be in high school in a few months.</p>
<p>APs depend on the school and teacher. My teacher was pretty nice, so AP Calc wasn’t hard (if you paid attention!), and the test was really easy. </p>
<p>I felt like our teacher pranked us… my Calc classed walked in to take the AP test… after it was done, we staggered out, thinking, god that was easier than my first calc quiz! (exaggeration. but people who god c’s in calc were able to get 5. our teacher was pretty good though)</p>
<p>btw you seem really motivated. 8th grader taking a sat? just curious why?</p>
<ol>
<li>Do things that you are interested in. High school is a great time to explore a lot of activities and find what you enjoy doing. This works out great for college applications as well, as admissions committees like to see a “passion” in your ECs, but definitely look for what YOU enjoy doing. Continuing with Tae Kwon Do if you enjoy it would definitely be great on your application. Try to think of things that you would enjoy, though. Don’t spend 4 years doing stuff you hate because it will “look good,” and don’t skip out on things you might love because it won’t look as good.</li>
</ol>
<p>2a. It depends on the school and on whether or not your classes are weighted. At my school, you need a 94+ (or the weighted equivalent in AP/IB classes) to have a 4.0</p>
<p>2b. Just do your solid best in everything. Don’t slack off, do your work, participate in class, and you’ll get the grades you deserve. Don’t get too hung up on maintaining that 4.0 GPA, focus on taking it each class at a time and doing your best in everything.</p>
<ol>
<li>The most notable right now is, do not come back to CC until you are in your second semester of junior year at the EARLIEST. For you right now, this site is a waste of time as you are not even in high school yet, and in the first three years of high school, your focus should be doing well in high school, not college. That’s the only way to build a good application. Not to mention that the amount of over-acheiving people on this site who hate themselves and undermine their outstanding scores will cause unnecessary stress!
Just try to forget about college for now. Focus on doing your best in your classes, enjoying your EC’s, and making friends. By doing that, you will have the best possible high school experience–and your college application will be better for it.</li>
</ol>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>“btw you seem really motivated. 8th grader taking a sat? just curious why?”</p>
<p>I took an ACT in 7th grade for a talent search. Maybe that’s it?</p>
<p>^ That awkward moment…</p>
<p>Well, I usually tell young-ins like you to lay off the studies when you’re so young. Like seriously so many kids are…nevermind that for another post. Since you, OP, asked some questions…why not answer?</p>
<p>1. What part of my ECs should improve (as in athletics, academics, my main focus, which is healthcare sciences, etc.) if my preferred college is Dartmouth?
I would start worrying about this once you have some actual ECs going. Once you know what you’re involved in then you can see where improvement needs to happen. Remember, things frequently don’t go by plans. You can find a club (or cause) that you’re absolutely passionate about and, well, messes up your plan. Adjust as you go on.
2a. Do you need 93+ averages in all classes to have a 4.0 GPA? If so, how can I maintain a 4.0? I do know that a 4.0 isn’t necessary to get into Ivy League colleges, but I just like the satisfaction of academic success (who doesn’t?).
This depends entirely on your school. I can’t help you there.
2b. Is it difficult to maintain a 4.0 when taking AP Courses? I heard from one high schooler that AP Calculus (which I want to take since I enjoy math) is extremely challenging to get an A in. That frightens me.
It’s only difficult to maintain a 4.0 when you’re in a class that extremely challenges you and that A is at the end of a tunnel that keeps getting longer. If you’re understanding your classes and can master them, then no, maintaining a 4.0 will not be hard. It will take effort, though.
3. Do you have any other tips for me in regards to succeeding in high school?
Have fun. There’s no use in working your butt off for four years just to look back and see that you didn’t fully enjoy it. No regrets. Not everything needs to be done for the sake of college admissions. Don’t always listen to your parents. Don’t always listen to your teachers and guidance counselors. You don’t have to “find” yourself in high school, you have the rest of your life for that, but get a good idea of what you down want to be. It’ll help greatly once you leave college.</p>
<p>Thanks for the input, everyone. The reason why I joined this forum is that I want to have a clear plan early, so I don’t have to worry about it when I’m older. Also, it’s not like I’m wasting my entire childhood on prepping for college since I have a lot of free time to do what I want. Furthermore, the ECs I’m currently doing and studying for the SAT are enjoyable to me because these activities are actually challenging for me. Also, they were all picked by me before I even knew ECs affected college at all.</p>
<p>But, I will take your advice and only pick the ECs that I know I will like. The AP advice really helped too. :)</p>