Hi everyone, I have been very confused and stressed out about this thing recently, could you guys please help me?
I’m a senior at high school, and I’m a ESL student, this is my third year here. I’m aiming for some great schools, like UVA, UCLA, etc, hopefully I will get in. I’m currently taking fashion design( it takes two class periods and is counted as two class credits), ap calculus bc, ap statistics, ap gov, english 12 hn, how are my classes, what other classes should I take?
And my GPA is 3.65, should I drop fashion design and some other classes that can raise my GPA, and look good in my college application? Please help, I really don’t know what to do, and I have to decide really quickly, I like fashion design, but I don’t want it to be the thing to stop me from my dream school. Thank you guys.
should I drop fashion design and take some other classes? ( sorry about mistyping)
I would suggest dropping fashion design because it is an elective and some colleges only care for academic classes. So if you were to drop fashion design it’d be best to take another honors or AP course, as long as you can handle it.
But she is already taking 3 APs and 1 honor. Can’t she have just one breather class? I always thought if all the applicants take only academic classes, they look so boring!!
Well it might seem boring, but its better to have more academic classes than fluff your gpa with regular electives. But depending on the elective. Collegs might see her as interesting.
First, where do you live?
Are you a citizen/permanent resident or do you have a visa?
Do you know your parents’ annual (yearly) budget for college?
These answers will matter more to where you go to college, than whether you take fashion design.
Second, have you taken the SAT or ACT, and how well have you scored? Did you take any SAT Subject?
Third, what classes did you take sophomore and junior year?
ONce you’ve answered all these questions, adults here will be able to estimate whether you should drop fashion design, keep it, or what 
Thank you all so much. I’m a permanent resident, and I live in VA, I go to public school which ranks top150 among national public schools, and it’s ve competitive. My father is a businessman, I am not really sure about the budget. I took sat in June, and got 1740, and I joined summer sat prep program and aming for above 2000 October and hopefully 2200 December. I took esl, algebra 2, english 9, physics, US VA history ( finished with c+, my English was awful then), art; English 10 during summer school; junior year english 11 hn, precalculus hn, art, ap chemistry, expand literacy, business law and management, economic and personal finance(required). And that’s why Im worried my classes don’t look good in college application. And I disnt know about aps or hns when I came here during sophomore year.
My mom is a housewife, and I have other 3 siblings and I’m the youngest, two of them go to college, should this help with the budget?
Take a look at the admission requirements for each of the schools you are considering - they tell you how many years of each subject they want to see at a minimum. It’s not that there is anything wrong with taking fashion - it’s only a problem if you haven’t taken the required courses, such as the required number of years of history or lab science. Your guidance counselor may also be able to help you so make an appointment after you have spent some time checking the requirements.
As for your dream schools, you will need to talk to your parents about what you can afford. The Net Price Calculator for each school will give you an idea of what you would be expected to pay but you’ll need your financial data to fill it out. And yes, having two siblings in college will reduce the amount that the schools expect your parents to pay for you. Here the one for UVA: https://npc.collegeboard.org/student/app/virginia
Regarding your chances at various schools, go to the Common Data Set for the school (google it) and scroll down to Section C where they show the stats for the admitted class. Compare your stats to the info there and you will have a decent idea of where you stand. Give yourself a minor boost if your parents didn’t attend college - that makes you ‘First Generation.’
Okay, so you’re aiming for 2000 SAT + 3.65 at a competitive VA high school.
Curriculum rigor (over 3 years)
Math: Algebra2, Precalculus Honors, AP Calculus, AP stats => excellent
English: ESL, Expand Literacy, English 10, English 11 Honors, English 12 Honors => excellent
Foreign Language : ? => SAT subject test? AP test? Certificate in native language ?
Social Science : Us&VA history, AP Gov, Economics &Personal Finance => OK
Science : Physics, AP Chemistry => do you have Biology credit from your home country? If so, OK
Electives: Business Law, Art, Fashion Design (X2)
Do you like fashion design? It makes you look different from other applicants and if you like it, it’s good. If you don’t like it, there’s no need for taking it. What are your favorite subjects?
You’re lucky to be living in VA: there are lots of excellent universities.
I don’t think you’d qualify for the two flagships (UVA and William&Mary), but there’s no harm in trying. They may take the fact you were ESL into account so why not, at least, try?
There are lots of very good public universities in Virginia and you definitely stand an excellent chance: Virginia Tech (the “third flagship”, sort of), James Madison, UMW, VCU, Christopher Newport.
Depending on what your parents can afford (and you MUST ask them), you may qualify for University of Maryland College Park and certainly the designated honors college, UMD- St mary’s Maryland. Also out of state, you’d qualify for UNC-Wilmington, UNC-Asheville, perhaps even NCSU (the “tech” school, if that’s what you’re interested in), and a few other public universities OOS if you were so tempted and your parents had the money.
You’d also qualify for excellent private universities OOS such as Goucher, Loyola-Maryland, Muhlenberg, UScranton, Allegheny, Ohio Wesleyan, Wooster, Drake, Butler,St Lawrence, Illinois Wesleyan, Beloit, Earlham, perhaps Dickinson, Denison, St Olaf, Skidmore, Mount Holyoke, Sewanee, Connecticut College, Rhodes…
All of these are quite different so you may want to explore their website, run the Net Price Calculator, and if you like what you see, fill out the “request more info” form.
– these may actually be better, because they’d have more time to look into your story and see you came here only 3 years ago, learned the language “on the go”, etc., and because they would give more weight to your life experience and essays - I’m sure you must have compelling things to say.
UCLA: it’s 55K per year, with no financial aid. Can your parents afford that much? No need to start thinking about it if your parents can’t afford it. This is a constraint for all American students.
I have all required classes, and the school also gave me some credits from my home country. I have enough language credits as well. I’m taking sat subjects test in November, foreign language, math 2, and chemistry. What if I take ap psychology in addition, then I will have ap psych, ap gov, ap stat, ap calc bc, english 12 hn, fashion design. My concern is that will colleges look at my transcript, and be like, oh this student doesn’t have strong academic background, she takes fashion in senior, she may not be a qualified student for the school academic atmosphere?
I don’t mean to disdain anything, it’s just a lot of students in my school have been taking tons of aps since junior year, or even sophomore year. Will I look disqualified with fashion design, since it doesn’t look that academic. Thank you all.
No. There is nothing wrong with having a lighter course to balance out the schedule. There is no expectation that just because a school offers 20+ AP’s that a student needs to take most/all of them; this isn’t the arms race. The one with the most AP’s does not always win.
You are in your senior year and most of the applications are focused on what you did in sophomore and junior years. Trying to play catch up this year won’t really help unless you keep that GPA high.
Keep fashion design if you like it. It’ll distinguish you from others (it’s a good thing to have a “fun” class senior year). If you don’t like it, take another “fun” class. If you want to add AP psych because you have a free period, why not?
But overall, your curriculum rigor is good.