<p>Hi. I am new to the College Discussion and I've been here a couple of times reading posts about college and people's concerns and questions. As the title says I am an uprising sophomore in high school. I know I still have a year and a half to worry about college, but I would like to know what I can do right now until end of Junior year since I don't want to regret anything. </p>
<p>So, my question is: What can I do from now till end of Junior year so my application is very strong? Also what things can I do now for the SATs and ACTs and all those other tests?</p>
<hr>
<p>For anyone's inquiry:</p>
<p>My grades from 9th grade:
Adv. Algebra 1: Avg. of B
Mandarin Chinese: Avg. of A
World History: Avg. of B-
World Literature: Avg. of B (the next grades there is no avg because it was one trimester long)
Physics: B+
Chemistry: B+
Biology: B</p>
<p>I have done about 28 hours of community service at a park that my school donates money to and supports.
This current summer I am taking Chinese Mandarin immersion language classes. I played Soccer first trimester. </p>
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<p>I would appreciate all advise! If you need some other information from me just leave the question.</p>
<p>I took Adv. Algebra in 7th grade and got the highest grade in a class with mostly 8th graders. You may want to see if you can raise your math skills. By the way, have you taken your PSATs already? You learn what your weaknesses may be on the actual SATs and you sort of get used to the format. </p>
<p>Besides that, I’m also a rising sophomore and I’m looking at clubs to join and the whatnot.</p>
<p>coolsteven2,
try to improve your scores, no B please. stay in all honor classes.
try PSAT at sophomore, prepare it at summer if you want.
boost your community service hours to 200+,
get into school varsity team.</p>
<p>My grades are (these are the averages of the year, except science and art which rotates):</p>
<p>Adv. Algebra 2 B- (Logic really messed up my last trimester grades)
History C+
English B
Chinese A
Chemistry A-
Dance A</p>
<p>This year I will be in Adv. Chemistry and Adv. Precalc/Trig. Hopefully for my first trimester english elective i hope to take Fierce and Fabulous: Feminist Women Writers, Artists, and Activists and for my social studies elective hopefully American Culture and Ideas. </p>
<p>This summer I went to China for a month and I traveled to many places. It was with the group EIL (Experimental in International Living). It was an amazing experience.</p>
<p>Now that you are getting closer to actually applying, it is time to find out how your parents expect you to pay for your education. Will they pay it all, some of it, none of it? How much college debt are they willing for you to take on? How many hours each week do they expect you to work during the school year and during vacations so that you can earn money to help pay for your education? If they haven’t already done so, encourage them to run the EFC calculators at [FinAid</a>! Financial Aid, College Scholarships and Student Loans](<a href=“http://www.finaid.org%5DFinAid”>http://www.finaid.org) and at [College</a> Calculators - savings calculators - college costs, loans](<a href=“College Board - SAT, AP, College Search and Admission Tools”>Calculate Your Cost – BigFuture | College Board) </p>
<p>Lots of parents (and students) don’t think about the financial aspect until very late in the game. Please don’t let your family make that mistake.</p>
<p>Thanks! I have experience with financial stuff since i go to private school. </p>
<p>My counselor has recommended 2 colleges so far to talk to. I talked to Bard College and he wanted me to talk to Dartmouth, but sadly the day Dartmouth came, I had obligations :(. </p>
<p>So I used the college search from CC and the top 20 matches that they selected from my interests are (excluding GPA and test scores):</p>
<ol>
<li>Yale University</li>
<li>Brown University</li>
<li>MIT</li>
<li>Carleton College</li>
<li>Wesleyan University</li>
<li>University of Chicago</li>
<li>Oberlin College</li>
<li>Bates College</li>
<li>Clark University</li>
<li>Bard College </li>
<li>Skidmore College</li>
<li>Emerson College</li>
<li>Grinnell College</li>
<li>Princeton University</li>
<li>Kenyon College</li>
<li>Sarah Lawrence College</li>
<li>Barnard College</li>
<li>Mount Holyoke College</li>
<li>Swarthmore College</li>
<li>Columbia University
(The top 8 were ‘perfect’ matches)</li>
</ol>
<p>A lot of the kids from my school go to 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 9, 10, 11, 14, 16, 18, 19 and 20.</p>
<p>I don’t know if I’ll like Yale or MIT, my friend who goes to MIT was telling me about it. I really like Bard. I think I’ll really like Oberlin and Vassar(which is on the list past the top 20). I don’t want to go to Columbia, I’m tired of living in the city haha. </p>
<p>Actually, I made a couple Bard friends on my trip to China in the airport from China. Many of my high school friends that graduated go to these colleges so I guess I could ask them as well ^_^. What do you guys think of these colleges?</p>
<p>Your counselor is being optimistic if he or she thinks you can get into Grinnell, Bates or Oberlin with a B average. 90% of their admits were in the top 25% of their high school class, in terms of GPA. Unless your school is well known for grade deflation, these are reach schools. That said, 9th grade GPAs tend to get discounted, especially for boys, so if you can pull up your grades, you may have a decent shot at these schools.</p>