Sophmore year worries.....PLEASE RESPOND

Applying to College
1

<p>Hi guys. Kinda new to this website, but I have some serious questions.</p>

<p>My schedule for the upcoming year is AP psychology, Pre-ib chem, AP statistics, AP english lit (also counts as a pre-ib course), AP US History (also counts as a pre-ib course), pre-ib pre-calc, and pre-ib spanish III. Im working towards getting my IB diploma.</p>

<p>I also run Xcountry in the fall and track in the spring. I'm not great personally, but our track team as a whole is ranked #6 in the state.</p>

<p>I was involved in tons of activities last year (at least 15). With my workload, I'm not sure if I can handle as many this year. I think I'm going to do debate, mathletes, FBLA, key club, ect.... still at least 8 or so and try to get leadership roles in those.</p>

<p>I volunteered about 40 hours last year, 20 this summer, and I'm trying to do more, but idk if I can.....</p>

<p>I'm trying to organize 2 different fundraisers for charity and organize a trip to a third world country next summer to do more work. </p>

<p>I'm trying to line up an internship this winter as well.</p>

<p>I plan to take the ACTs and start working on prep for those this winter.</p>

<p>Writing is probably my biggest talent, so I feel as if I will be able to churn out a good essay for addmissions.</p>

<p>I want to do something big and get recognized at a national or world level, but I'm not sure what.</p>

<p>I want to know if I'm on track for an ivy leauge. I feel as if I'm doing well enough to get into a good state college, but there isn't anything special enough about me to make me stand out to an ivy leauge. Any suggestions?</p>

<p>Also, I'm kinda scared about how busy I will be next year. I work hard, but I tend to get stressed easily. And I understand that my future is the most important thing, but I'd like to think that I can still have some sembalance of a social life by the end of the year. What do you guys think?</p>

<p>Thanks for reading this loooooong post. Any comments are helpful. Especially from recent Ivy leauge/stanford alums, current students in these schools, parents of these students, admissions experts or teachers at these schools, or high school guidence counslers.</p>

<p>Thanks guys!</p>

2

<p>So you’re a rising sophomore? No wonder you’re stressed. Your schedule is exhausting. I think you’d be better off spending time looking through the websites of schools you might be interested in, reading up on what their admissions departments say they’re looking for. NO SCHOOL, not Harvard, not Stanford, not Yale, is looking for a student with 15 scattershot activities. The number of activities does not matter. It’s the quality of your commitment to activities that are of significant value to you. To get into even the topmost schools, you don’t need a to do a winter internship AND a service trip to a third world country AND be an athlete AND have leadership roles in 8 organizations and AND organize 2 fundraisers as a high school sophomore. There may be sophomores that do some of those things, but not all, and not in order to get into a great college.</p>

<p>There is a huge range of schools in this country. Your choice is not limited to either a good state college or an Ivy League school. </p>

<p>To maximize your chances of admission at a fine school:</p>

<p>keep challenging yourself with a rigorous curriculum and do well in those subjects. The rest won’t matter if you don’t have a strong GPA in a challenging curriculum.</p>

<p>Do some self-prep for the ACT - get a book and set aside a block of time each week to see how well you do.</p>

<p>Choose those activities that are most meaningful to YOU and commit to maximizing your contribution to them. </p>

<p>Visit your guidance department office and look through some of the resources there - college viewbooks in particular. Do the CC college search and see what comes up when you input your geographic and other preferences. </p>

<p>In college admissions, as in so many other things, it’s quality, not quantity.</p>

3

<p>I cant agree more with the frazzled11.
Just remember that what matters most right now is YOU.
You are really young and honestly, dont burn out.</p>

<p>Just FOCUS on a couple of things you like the most and don’t kill yourself along the way.</p>

4

<p>You should drop half of your activities. Stick with the ones for which you have the most passion. Colleges are not impressed by laundry lists of ECs. They would rather see real commitment to one, than mere participation in 15. Also, any school you apply to will look first and foremost at your transcript. Your courses look challenging, but be sure you schedule in enough time to do well in your classes.</p>

5

<p>you seem to be fitting the myth that the more you do, the better you’ll look. That is not the case at all. Choose the few things you enjoy the most and put all your effort into those activities. Ivy leagues dont want to see applicants do as much volunteering and activities as possible simply to get admitted. Cut out the things you don’t want to do as much and focus on the others. Colleges care more about hard classes, grades, and test scores than ECs anyway.</p>