<p>Hey, I'm an African American rising sophomore attending a public high school in South Florida. I'm curious about what I should expect my sophomore year of high school. Here's my schedule:
AP World History
Chemistry Honors
English 2 Honors
Geometry Honors
Spanish 4 Honors
International Relations Honors
Financial Operations Honors(Part of the DECA Program)
My freshman year was okay. I ended with a 3.6 GPA. I hope to get this up a lot. I only had two ECs (Color guard and Orchestra). I won't be participating in either sophomore year but I will be doing other ECs. I would like to know if that will hurt my chances in the college admission process. I'm aiming to be a competitive candidate to an ivy or Stanford. I would also like some advice for success in my classes. Thanks :)</p>
<p>Tip #1: Do all World History assignments and READ your assigned textbook readings (trust me, it helps).
Tip #2: Make sure you understand the concepts in geometry. I tried breezing through it and taking it easy and it really didn’t turn out well. I still have problems with sine and cosine lol.
Tip #3: If I were you, I’d try to keep doing orchestra and color guard if possible
Tip #4: Make sure you get to know your teachers
Tip #5: Pay attention in spanish
Tip #6: Do well :). Your GPA for last year wasn’t bad at all (mine in freshman year was like 3.6ish too, hehe) but try to raise it a little for the ivies and stanford.</p>
<p>GL in your sophomore year.</p>
<p>well you look like you are pretty hardworking so keep it up. A 3.6 is a good gpa, I mean you can always raise it, but that should get you into a good school. If you want Standford or ivies you will probably have to raise it, but you have plenty of time. Don’t worry. Have fun and don’t stress out too much or put too much pressure on yourself. Get involved with a lot of ECs. Not too many as to throw off your grades, but this is something that I didn’t take very seriously, mostly because I didn’t really know that they were a big deal, ESPECIALLY when it comes to tough schools. Think about it, everyone else has high gpa’s and test scores, so you need to have other things to make you stand out.</p>
<p>Read lots of books. Just last week, I was looking at college apps, and many have extra forms you have to fill out listing what books you’ve read in the past year or 4 years and sometimes they have you write an essay about what one you liked best and why. </p>
<p>Ok, now this is really bad. Bad=geeky in this case. I used to think that standardized tests were kinda fun and mixed with my wanting to go to like Harvard, I would buy ACT and SAT books and do them for fun at home. While this may be indicative of no life (lol :P) it did help me out on tests later. (and just fwi, I did have a life and the testing stuff was by no means a big part of it, I mostly just did this before I took the tests and in the summers). You can sometimes find old test prep books for really cheap at libraries who sell donated books or old ones from the library. </p>
<p>Speaking of testing, make sure you know what tests you need to take. A lot of ivies and like schools require SAT IIs. I would recommend taking the 2 or 3 that you need (depending on the school) early enough that you can take it again if you need to. Some people recommend taking the test after you finish the class, this is probably a good idea. Make sure you can take them twice. For example, I had finished advanced algerba II and pre-calc and I took the Math SAT II both level 1 and 2 (in 10th grade) and I got like 660 and 640…not gonna land me Yale …I took it in December of 11th grade (I was in AP Calc and AP Chem) and I got 750s. Better. So yeah. </p>
<p>Study hard, learn a lot. Good job with all the honors classes. Be nice to your teachers, get to know them so they get to know you well, so that they will want to write good rec letters for you.</p>
<p>Maybe get involved in summer programs. Volunteer work. Drama. Sports. </p>
<p>Have fun in high school, they are “supposedly” the best years of your life. (College is sounding pretty good to me right now so I’d like to disagree :P)</p>
<p>Best of luck</p>
<p>My 2 cents:</p>
<ul>
<li>In terms of classes, just keep your grades up and do well. Pretty self explanatory.</li>
<li><p>If you do well in your AP World History class, I’d HIGHLY recommend taking the World History SAT II at the end of your sophomore year. AP classes are great prep for subject test, in my opinion.</p></li>
<li><p>I’d recommend sticking with the ECs you were involved in freshman year to stay consistent. But you should have a passion for what ever you choose to do. So if you decide to change for sophomore year, make sure it’s something you really want to do and you’re involved for the rest of your high school career. </p></li>
<li><p>I would also recommend taking a look at ACT and SAT material, especially of you have to take the PSAT at your school in Junior year. Do well enough on that test and you can get a scholarship.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>Hope this helps :D</p>
<p>Thanks for all your advice. I really appreciate it.
@IsaacM I do the same exact thing. I think tests are fun in a way lol. My friends make fun of me all the time for it.
Also, do you guys think that being that the highest math class I will be eligible to take is Pre Calc or AP Statistics will hurt me? And which should I take? Pre Calc or Stat?</p>
<p>I would take precalc so that you can take AP Calc (or the equivalent) later. Taking the highest math class is probably a good thing, unless you struggle with it. But I would definitely recommend taking precalc. Calculus is one of my favorite classes, and if you are seriously interested in science and engineering, you will be using more calc than stats. Take both if you can though, I wish I had time to take both, but I’m going into 12th grade and I couldn’t fit it in. </p>
<p>If you are looking to go into a humanities type field, stats may be better though.</p>
<p>Thanks. I think I’m probably gonna take AP Stat because 1) Im not that good at math and 2) I’m more of a Humanities girl. 
What are you taking as a senior?</p>