I am a freshman at a private school, and although this may sound annoying, I need some help to me a better student for college. I don’t really know whether I should do more, and I just need advice.
Here are some stats:
Classes: ( I am in all the honors classes the school has available)
Honors Bio A
Honors Geo A-/A
Honors French B+/A-
English A-
History A
School Orchestra A
Clubs:
president/founder of club where we play music outside of school for nursery homes and raise money for hospitals
EC:
outside of school orchestra (violin) for 6 years, 3rd from highest level, moving up every year
squash
Sports:
squash (varsity)
cross country (junior varsity)
Crew (JV)
I don’t know what to do for clubs or in the summer, but I know that I really want to focus on Bio
I am taking the SAT Bio and I think I’m going to get like 770
which SAT subject tests should I take? Which clubs should I attend? Summer internships?
Also I don’t have any awards… what should I do?
Fine to start thinking about this early. If you want to get into Stanford (notice the spelling of it), Harvard, or Princeton, you need to PLAN to do the following:
Get all As. Yes, you can be admitted to all of them with some Bs, but you will be in serious competition with students who have ALL As.
Take a tough work load every semester. As many AP classes as you can handle.
SAT - Get a super high score. When you take it for real, it will just be based on 1600 points (just CR and Math). If you feel you can do really well in those two sections, take the SAT. If you think you could do better on the ACT, take that.
Put some serious effort into ONE of your ECs and/or ONE of your sports. Your sports won’t help you much unless you are good enough to be a recruited athlete; then that sport will help you TONS. Colleges want to see excellence, and they would rather you excel in ONE EC than just be a passive member of several.
Finally, do know that all of the Ivy League schools AND Stanford are a REACH for everyone. We got a mailing from Stanford within the last year that said that they accepted only 64% of those applicants with a PERFECT 2400 on the SAT. So, a perfect score doesn’t guarantee you anything. Still something to strive for though.
As you progress through high school, if you aren’t keeping a 4.0 unweighted and you you don’t score exceptionally well on standardized tests, do consider targeting some other schools. You probably want to do that anyway as those schools reject stellar applicants every year.
Also, really THINK about what you want in a college; what you want your college career to be like.
Do you want a college with a greek system or not?
Do you want warm weather or cold?
Do you want a big university with graduate programs or a smaller one with only undergrads?
Do you care if the college has big time sports?
Liberal or conservative or a mix?
Rural, small town, big city?
Do they have the degrees you want?
Would you like a very competitive environment with other students or would you like it to be more laid back?
Do you think you will be good enough in a sport to compete on the college level, and if so do you want to, and if so, what division (I, II, or III)? There are some EXCELLENT Division III colleges out there that need athletes, so if you can help them but aren’t quite good enough to help a Division I school, you might use that to your advantage to get into one of those great Division III schools (most of the top liberal arts colleges are Division III).
Thanks so much! Do you have any suggestions for what to do in the summer if I want to focus on Bio? Also Squash is my main sport and I have been playing in tournaments for the past 4 years. Also for clubs what should I do?
Join or start a club if you have a passion for it and will be a major contributing member. Otherwise, spend your efforts in the areas you are already focused on. Your music club is excellent. Focus efforts there.
Awards will come. You are still just too young to have accumulated them yet.
You should eventually be a National Honor Society Member.
You should try to do as well as you can on the PSAT so that you can be at least a National Merit Commended Scholar if not better.
You should try to get into the French National Honor Society.
You will have some sort of award from your school when you graduate – Honor Roll all 4 years, or something of that nature.
Princeton has a varsity squash team (men’s and women’s teams).
Harvard has a varsity squash team (men’s and women’s).
Stanford has varsity squash for women only.
Keep those good grades and do not let them fall.
Get a great score on the SAT or ACT.
Improve your squash game so that you can be a recruited varsity athlete. You didn’t say if you are male or female, so I don’t know if Stanford applies for you here or not.
KNOW THIS - You can’t just put on your application that you are a squash player. That will not help you. You will need to contact the coach (usually in the junior year) and tell them that you want to play squash for them. If you are good enough to be recruited, you will be on their radar and that will help you make being admitted a slam dunk. You have to have the grades and scores though. All of those universities have a recruiting link on their squash team page. That’s how you start the process.
Thank you so much! I am female and I may have said this unclearly but I am not planning to do sports in high school. Do you have any suggestions for internships and other ideas if I want to focus my efforts on bio? I really think that the things that make me me are my commitment to playing the violin, squash, and I want to have more EC’s and summer internships. I have no idea where to start, and I’m so confused. Our school doesn’t do weighted GPA’s and a lot of people go to ivy league colleges. For example out of the total 100 seniors last year 12 got into harvard, 9 dartmouth, and so on. I really want myself to stand out, and I think that the things I am lacking in that I don’t know what to do about is how I spend my summers, how I can make biology stand out, and what my character is.
I do not have specific knowledge of what to do for Bio in the summer or what type of summer internships are available to you in your area. Perhaps your school guidance counselor will be able to help there. It seems that your school is pretty good to be turning out Ivy League students like that, so that bodes well for you, but obviously, you still need to do the work.
You said you are not planning to play sports in high school. Did you mean college? Either way, I understand. Just do know that intending to be an athlete on a varsity sport in college GREATLY helps your chances of admission at these fine schools. But, you know if you could do it or not.
I mean doesn’t it not matter how good I am at squash if I don’t want to do sports in college? I am obviously not the top 10 but I am in the top 150 in the country. I live in the Boston area so yes there are many colleges but I don’t really know what to do and how to find an internship. Also, is that all I need for EC’s? I feel like I need more…
Ok…top 150 in the country as a freshman is pretty good. As a freshman, you don’t necessarily know for sure what you are going to want to do in college. Regardless though, you should know how big of a help being a recruited athlete is to your chances of getting admitted to a top school like you are targeting. Maybe you will try it and maybe not. At least the seed has been planted and you now have the knowledge.
I don’t really know whether to take the biology E or M test though, and if I know I kind of want to do things like substantial energy and stuff like that where you make new ways of using energy and solving problems in the world like the water crisis or anything like that, what major should I do? also what do you think the next steps are for me? Sorry Im so clueless, I don’t have any older siblings who can give advice or anything
A 150 ranking for girls squash is not that great. I doubt you will get any serious interest from Harvard Stanford or Princeton. If you bring your rank up to top 75 then you might get interest from some of the NESCAC coaches. If you don’t feel that you can get your ranking up to this level, then consider spending your time elsewhere (esp Bio).
To find an internship the best way is to just start contacting the professors at the various colleges to see if they could use help over the summer. Are you involved in science fairs?
I just quickly checked the US Squash rankings for girls U17. As of today, only 160 girls have a ranking in this division. So having a ranking in the top 150 doesn’t seem so great. Squash is a tough sport unless you are willing to spend a considerable amount of time training and travelling to tournaments. If this is simply not in the cards for you, I suggest to spend time on other ECs.
@squash0107 First, you’re a freshman; don’t worry so much.
If you are really interested in biology, you should look into the USABO (Unites States Biology Olympiad) program. Being recognized on those tests (or, better yet, making it to the international stage) can and will make a huge difference in college admissions.
I will emphasize that i am not that invested in the sport. You all seem to misunderstand. I get it that I’m not the top player, but I am also just entering the new age group so it is natural that my ranking is low. In my last age group I was ranked 95. I just need some help on EC’s and what to do for internships.
Responding to a question you asked before, sustainable development sounds like a major that will suit your interests. It entails the development of new ways to assure environmental quality and societal development while keeping up with the growing population of the world. I just got interested in it and I’m currently taking the introductory course on Coursera, which I can put on my transcript. You can take the course at your own pace. You may want to look into it. Good luck!