<p>Hello! I'm a rising junior who's extremely interested in becoming a broadcast journalist. As most know the prestigious Northwestern University has an amazing summer cherubs workshop which is five weeks of nonstop journalism amazingness and i really would LOVE to be accepted. So i'm wondering from others what i should do to really get myself totally prepared.
As far as accademics go i fluctuated between a weighted GPA of 3.4-3.5 and non weighted of 3.2-3.4 my high school gives a GPA boost to those in honors classes. My courses have been so far
Freshman Year- Honors Geometry, Physical Science, English, American History, and French Then a Band class and a Jazz Band class.
Sophomore Year- AP World History, Honors English, Chemistry, and French 4. And my additional two band classes.
My junior year schedule consist of- IB English, History, and French, AP statistics, Honors Biology, two band classes and forsaking my lunch bell in order to take part in the publications class offered at my school. </p>
<p>As for clubs and such I'm involved in my high school Marching Band, Jazz Combo(which plays volunteer gigs at nursing homes and such outside school hours), Theater Productions (in the orchestra as well as acting), Community Outreach at my church, Pasta for Pennies for Leukemia Lymphoma Society committee, Debate Team (vice president), Diversity Day organization comittee, and Day of Silence(for gay rights) Class of 2012 representative. I'll also be attending the 8 day summer journalism workshop at Georgetown University for 8 days this summer. </p>
<p>So will my massive extracurricular load offset my less than stellar grades? I'm aware you must be in the top 25% of your class to even be considered which i am, so i'm just wondering where do i need to go from here to perhaps make myself stand out more?</p>
<p>Massive extra curricular overload is NOT good. Colleges would rather see depth than breadth. What you really need to do is hone in on a few activities that you really enjoy and pursue them as much as possible. If it is the Lymphoma Society that you are really passionate about, then really put your heart into it; try to raise as much money as you can, campaign market, try to get on a local news station, anything. I would recommend trying to get into Cherubs next year as an excellent pre-college program. </p>
<p>In addition to your ECs, you MUST bring up your GPA and potentially even strengthen your courseload. Is there any way you can take an AP history next year? And, unfortunately on top of all this, I would suggest studying HARD this summer for the PSATs and SATs. PSATs will get you good recognition if you do well enough (201+). And the SATs are of course critical. Since you are taking Biology this year and just took World History, I would suggest registering to take the WH subject test in the fall and Biology in May or June of this year.</p>
<p>alright. i was considering dropping a few and just doing debate, and band things that involve a lot of public performance and speaking so i would have more exposure to being in front of people. </p>
<p>At my school you go from AP world history sophomore year to IB History of the Americas which i’m currently enrolled in now. I’ve taken my AP exam but i’m not sure what my score on it was. My honors Bio class doesn’t really provide any type of test like my AP and IB classes do. I will definately look into more about my PSAT and SAT preparations though thanks for your help!</p>
<p>All you need for the SAT Subject Tests is a year in that college prep subject. A year of Honors Biology should be just fine. And in terms of your course load, so long as you are taking the most challenging courses available to you, you will be fine.</p>
<p>yea i’m gonna go ahead and bump this. pleeeeeease can somebody give me a bit of insight?</p>
<p>So… I don’t know much about the program you are applying for, but beefing up your ECs related to journalism might help. Seems to me that to get into a journalism program, along with good grades (esp. in English), more demonstrated interest might be good. Write for the school paper (or is that what your publications class is?), volunteer at the local public radio station, start a blog, etc. I know you have a lot of ECs already, so you will have to weigh that. If this is super important to you, then your ECs should back up your passion for journalism.</p>
<p>I got into Cherubs this year…I’m leaving in a few days to go to the program! You may want to pull up your GPA ( I had a 3.8) , but I don’t think test scores are huge. I only sent my PSAT in, (199) and obviously that’s not an amazing score or anything. My resume was packed with journalism ECs, but a lot of my fellow cherubs that I’ve spoken to do not have a big of an interest in the field (yet). I think that if you show the admissions committee or whatever that you’re really passionate about journalism, perform at a relatively high academic level, and write a good essay, you’re in. Do some sort of internship and get a leadership position on your newspaper, and I wouldn’t be too worried about it.</p>