<p>Hi! This is my first post. I am a current sophomore (almost junior) and this year I have become very interested in college the last year or so. My parents have high hopes that I will go to a good school (not quite ivy league). I've really been looking into urban colleges such as Loyola Chicago, Boston University, or New York University. However, I'm also looking south at USC.</p>
<p>My gpa has varied. Freshman year I ended with a GPA of about 3.6. Sophomore year I have decided to challenge myself a lot more. I decided to go into the Honors Science program. I took Honors Biology and Honors Chemistry this year. However I am having a lot of trouble in Honors Chem (it is the one of the hardest classes at my school).However, my school is on a block schedule so we change classes every quarter or term. I took Honors Bio and ended with a B and I'm working on bringing my Chem grade to a solid semester B. I ended my first semester of freshman year with a GPA of 3.4.
My school is known statewide to be a very good high school and also has tough classes. </p>
<p>Next year I will be taking AP Biology, Zoology, Creative Writing, Latin 4, Women's Health and the other core classes required (Algebra 2, Religion, US History, British Literature).</p>
<p>When I took the Pre ACT or PLAN test they averaged it out to be about a 30 on the actual ACT scale. My PSAT was about a 1900. </p>
<p>I have a very extensive list of extracurricular. I'll save you the pain of reading all of them but some examples are: Being a tutor at a local grade school, treasurer of my grade school, being a part of my parish's Vacation Bible School since 5th grade by being a leader of the camp. I am a server at mass and a Eucharistic Minister. Also in the church area, I was a co teacher for a class that teaches children about God while their parents are at church (REP) and I also helped lead the 7th grade confirmation last year. I volunteered at the Ronald McDonald House last winter (about a total of 30 hrs). I play soccer pretty much year round about 12 hours a week. I am part of the Earth club and also a leader of the Ambassador club at my school that help work events for incoming families and students. I will be a Chair of my Latin Club next year also. Along with all of that I have been involved in my school plays since I was a second grader. This isn't everything. As you can see I'm very involved in my community and school so I hope that will help in my admissions. </p>
<p>At my school, they prepare us well for the essay portion of admissions so I'm fairly confident that I will do well on the essay.</p>
<p>If you are interested in any other information let me know! My question is if I am in a good position to get into these colleges or colleges at the same level that I listed above at the beginning of my entry.</p>
<p>It’s great that you’re starting to think about college I think you are definitely on the right track seeing as you are very involved in your community and seem motivated. If you are willing to work hard, you have a good chance of getting into a great college.</p>
<p>At NYU, the average ACT is 29-32 and the average SAT scores are CR: 630-720, M: 630-740, W: 640-730. At Boston University, the average SAT scores are CR: 580-670 M: 600-700 W: 590-680.</p>
<p>If you use your summer to study a bit, you could probably improve your scores. Have you taken practice ACTs or SATs? You might want to look into SAT studying, and if so, there are some great resources on this site, or I can give you a few (not as good) tips. </p>
<p>Your number one focus, in my opinion, should be GPA. Your school is known to be tough so that’s great, but if I were you I would try to get the GPA up a little more. How many APs does your school offer and how many will you have taken by the time you’re applying? Course rigor is usually important to top colleges, so you should continue to challenge yourself. </p>
<p>Overall, I think you could definitely get into a college at the level you listed, although there are no guarantees. Keep doing the activities that you love and working your hardest, and you’ll be able to go to a college that you enjoy and benefit from. Remember to maintain a balance of enjoying high school while it lasts and working hard! </p>
<p>I plan on taking a practice ACT or SAT this summer or even the beginning of Junior year. I’ll be studying a lot over the summer too! What is the website that has some tips? I’ll take whatever I can get! My school offers a lot of APs! AP Bio that I am taking next year takes up 3 terms so almost 1/4 of my schedule. I’ll definitely be taking AP Psych whether it is Junior or Senior year. I’ll also definitely take another one or two this those. So maybe 4 APs through my Junior and Senior year. Thanks for the tips! I’ll definitely be working on improving my GPA! This was my first post so I don’t know if I have to tag you in this or not! Hopefully you see this!</p>
ECs never make up for grades (unless you are a recruited athlete).
If</a> the time you are spending pumping up your ECs come at the expense of spending time learning the material in your classes better, then IMHO is is not a good tradeoff.</p>
<p>mikemac but they can help right? I definitely wasn’t implying they could make up for bad grades. If I get my grades to where they should be, then the EC could potentially have me in a better position than someone with my grades that doesn’t have a good amount of EC?</p>
<p>mikemac I have a question you may or may not be able to answer. On the topic of recruitment of an athlete, how would you go about getting recruited by a school for athletics? One of my goals is to play soccer at the school I go to. Who or how would I contact someone I should talk to about that? </p>
<p>You can start out with no time limits, but by the third test, you should be imitating testing conditions as best as you can. Don’t let yourself go over the time limits if you want results that reflect your progress. You could do one section at a time or the whole test in one sitting, depending on how much free time you have and what works for you. Try to take the whole test all in one go at least once before you take the real SAT. </p>
<p>As you take the test, you should make small marks on your answer sheet next to the questions you are guessing on. When you go over the test, look over the explanations for the questions you guessed on and the questions you got wrong until you understand them. You could also try doing the questions you got wrong again before looking at the explanation to see if you just made a silly mistake. </p>
<p>Take note of the kinds of questions you’re getting wrong. After about 3 tests, you should be able to see the areas you’re struggling in if you’re having trouble with one specific question type or category. After you notice the patterns, you know what you have to study for and practice more. If you are acing the Writing Section but having trouble with Critical Reading, focus on practicing CR. If you got 9 vocab questions wrong on your last practice test, maybe get direct hits and study vocab. </p>
<p>You might see some improvement just by taking a few practice tests. The questions are similar and it can become easier to “see” the answer or the way of solving a math problem if you’re accustomed to the kinds of questions they ask (hopefully that will make sense after you’ve taken a few practice tests). This is the main reason why official tests are better in my opinion. </p>
<p>And I do have to agree that grades and test scores are more important than ECs. The exceptions (sometimes) are the kids who have really amazing accomplishments or are recruited athletes as mikemac said. Even if you have great ECs, you still need sufficient grades. Unless you’re looking into super selective schools, ECs aren’t that important.</p>
<p>As far as recruitment, I am assuming you are a male (correct me if I’m wrong).There are various ways to go about recruitment, but I would recommend that you first come up with a list of schools that you are interested in academically and that are a good fit for you. From that list, go to each college website and make a list of the various coaches, and general info about the team- it can really help to make a chart to keep this info on. Keep in mind that every school needs to be one that you would like to attend regardless of soccer- there is always a chance of injury, not making the team, etc. As a soph. you can contact the coaches, but they cannot initiate contact. It’s almost a must that you have a highlight video of your play as many coaches told us they will not even look at an athlete without one. Once you have your video, you can start sending each coach an e-mail that includes a link to your video as well as a link to a profile. Be sure to include any upcoming tournaments in which you will play so if they are there they can check out your play. Hopefully you are playing on a club team- the higher the level the more they will notice. The trick at this point is to get them to be aware of you. You can call until you reach someone because they can’t yet return your calls. Check out this post by KeeperDad for more info:</p>
<p>While it is written for a female there are still a ton of tips that you can use. It is a great thread. Above all, keep your grades up-we know of some great players who were not recruited easily because of grades!</p>
<p>Skedge- thanks for the advice! I plan on starting to get books and other preparation materials for my SAT soon so I can really work on it over the summer! I really want to make my SAT and ACT as high as it can be! </p>
<p>Takeitallin- I actually am a female! I have started my college list but am definitely still adding. I am playing on a club team (I’ve played club since I was around 8). We are doing two showcases this year and hopefully at least two next year (when I’m a junior) Currently, my coach is really pushing us to call and email coaches just to get our foot in the door. What exactly should a highlights video contain? What are some must have things you should put in it?
Thanks to all the responses so far! You are all so helpful! </p>
I think you are definitely on the right track seeing as you are very involved in your community and seem motivated. If you are willing to work hard, you have a good chance of getting into a great college.</p>
My school offers a lot of APs! AP Bio that I am taking next year takes up 3 terms so almost 1/4 of my schedule. I’ll definitely be taking AP Psych whether it is Junior or Senior year. I’ll also definitely take another one or two this those. So maybe 4 APs through my Junior and Senior year. Thanks for the tips! I’ll definitely be working on improving my GPA! This was my first post so I don’t know if I have to tag you in this or not! Hopefully you see this!</p>