What else should I be doing!?

Pre-College Topics High School Life
1

<p>Posted this in the "Chance Me" forums, but I think I can make use of it in another way. I want to know, aside from what I'm doing now, is: what else could I be doing to build my repertoire and get ready for university? Also, am I on the right track?
I have a list of most of my achievements down here. </p>

<p>I'd love to go above and beyond UCs, but right now I'm just trying to see if I can at least get into them.</p>

<p>Transcripts (Will not show minuses or pluses):</p>

<p>Key:
Class Name: Score Semester 1/Score Semester 2</p>

<p>9th Grade (2009-2010):
Algebra 2 P: A/B
Biology P: A/A
English 1 Honors P: A/A
Geography: A/A
PE/Gym: A/A</p>

<p>GPA (Weighted): Sem 1: 4.1
Sem 2: 4.0</p>

<p>10th Grade (2010-2011):
AP World History: A/A
Chemistry P: A/A
English 2 Pre AP P (Honors): A/A
PE/Gym: A/A
PreCalculus P: A/A
Spanish 2 P: A/A</p>

<p>GPA (Weighted): Sem 1: 4.2
Sem 2: 4.3</p>

<hr>

<p>Volunteer & Community Service:
Key:
Organization (Description): Grades/Avg Hrs/Weeks/Total Hrs</p>

<p>-Church (Being the Pianist for the Hymns as well as creating and managing the Powerpoint Presentations, as well as managing Vacation Bible Schools): 8th, 9th, 10th/2.9 Hrs/24 Weeks/70 Hrs
-Nursing Home (Visting Residents, Playing Bingo, etc.): 10th/3.6 Hrs/13 Weeks/47 Hrs
-Library (Organizing Books and Activities, as well as helping in Programs): 10th/5 Hrs/3 Weeks/15 Hrs
-School (Taking Out the Trash and Setting Up Tables): 10th/2 Hrs/1 Week/2 Hrs
-The Ronald McDonald House (Cleaning Rooms, Toys, Trash): 10th/3 Hrs/1 Week/3 Hrs</p>

<hr>

<p>Extracurricular Activities:
Key:
Activity (Description): Grades</p>

<p>-Church Youth Group Treasurer (Manage fundraisers, money, etc.): 9th, 10th
-Church Choir (Sing sing sing!): 8th, 9th, 10th
-Spring Track Team (Long Distance; 800m, 1600m, 3200m): 10th
-Operation Smile Club Member (This small club create fundraisers for the organization Operation Smile that help kids with cleft palates to be fixed): 10th
-Homecoming Float Committee (Design the float for the Freshman): 9th</p>

<p>Planning to Extracurricular (These are all confirmed to be happening, no, ifs, ands, or buts):
-Student Council Treasurer (Manage Fundraisers, Events, money, etc. Already have been having meetings during summer): 11th
-National Honor Society Member (It's finally coming to my school and I also vouched for it to come): 11th, 12th
-Spring Track Team: 11th, 12th
-Operation Smile Club Vice President/President (I've been doing some duties already. The current president has also stated I'm probably going to be President as well): 11th, 12th
-Church Youth Group Treasurer and Choir: 11th, 12th</p>

<h2>-Homecoming Float Committee: 11th, 12th</h2>

<p>Awards/Honors:
Matholympics (Placed 1st) (8th Grade)
Principle's List for Achieving GPA 4.0 or Higher (9th, 10th Grade)</p>

<p>Other Miscellaneous Skills:
-Piano (for ten years)
-Bilingual (Fluent in English and Indonesian, soon to be Spanish :P)</p>

<p>I would have more stuff if my school was bigger, definitely, but I go to a small private Christian High School that started less than 6 years ago and currently has only around 260 students IN TOTAL, so will colleges look at that factor as well? </p>

<p>Thank you!</p>

2

<p>Bu-dump-bump.</p>

3

<p>Why do you guys hate me. :frowning:
j/k</p>

4

<p>Keep up your ECs, you’re doing well there. Take honors/AP classes whenever you can. You’ll be a junior? Start studying for the SAT and/or ACT. Take at least one junior year.</p>

<p>Good luck.</p>

5

<p>Would you advise doing both of them this year? The SAT and the ACT, or is that too much?</p>

6

<p>Do whatever suits your ability best. Don’t do both.</p>

7

<p>Really? A lot of my friends are taking both.</p>

8

<p>You don’t need both, trust me.</p>

9

<p>I’m sorry, but I hope that it is understandable that I would want more evidence in order to trust the advice of a random person on the internet that could determine whether I go to college or not than just “trust me”. :)</p>

10

<p>Well, if you’re posting here, ALL of the responses you get will be from random people on the internet. But, if you want more detail,</p>

<p>Class of 2011 stats in my school</p>

<p>12 people got accepted into Penn in my school. None took the ACT.
1 person got in Yale in my school. No ACT.
1 person got in Princeton. No ACT
Several students got accepted into Cornell. No ACT.</p>

<p>And that’s just Ivy league. For the Class of 2011, there were over 300 students in my school who will attend a top 65 school. Only three of them took the ACT. Stats courtesy of Naviance.</p>

<p>Search the entire site. You’ll find people who took both, and then you’ll find many, many more who will say that you only need one.</p>

<p>Search the colleges that you’re interested in. I’m 99.34287% sure they will all say that they require only one of the two and you will not be penalized if you don’t take both.</p>

<p>Honestly, if you’re going to waste time studying for two standardized tests when a) one is necessary and b) you could spend even more time on ECs, you’re doing it wrong.</p>

<p>Last year I was in the same position, asking myself if I should take both the SAT and ACT. Fast forward to my 2340 on the March SAT. If anyone would like to step up to the plate and challenge that I have to take the ACT as well, or my admission chances will be hurt, please attempt to do so.</p>

11

<p>The only reasonable time you should take both the SAT and the ACT as well is if you officially test in one of the two, realize that you can do better on the other one, and then officially take the other one. I don’t know where you live, but I’m confident that most, if not all, colleges weight both equally, and taking both just because you think it’ll get you ahead isn’t the best idea.</p>

12

<p>Hmm, I see. Also, do not take the “random person on the internet” thing personally. I meant to put more emphasis on wanting more evidence other than just “trust me”. Lo and behold, you gave evidence and convinced me. </p>

<p>But what I’m afraid of is that I’ll do mediocre in one test, and then colleges will look at me and be like “Hmm, this guy only tried on one test and only got a 1900. Not accepted!” I feel like a 1900 coupled with a 30 on the ACT might look better than just the 1900 alone. Am I wrong? '</p>

<p>Do you mind if I ask you how you studied for the Math section of the SAT? I’ve been really struggling with that. That’s one of the reasons I don’t feel too confident on the SAT.</p>

13

<p>You can always send one or the other, like you can choose to send only the 30 ACT and not the SAT at all (unless the school requires it). Check the policies for wherever you’re interested.</p>

<p>Math I was always good at, I generally scored around 710 before grinding for the SAT. It’s really just two things: learn what’s tested, and practice. Check the SAT forums - they’ll give you twice the info I ever could. But in the end, it’s really about knowing what possibly could be tested, studying your butt off, and watching out for silly mistakes. I did that and brought my score to an 800, so that should work for most if not all people.</p>

14

<p>Alright, that’s some pretty sound advice. What university are you going to!?</p>

15

<p>^That was very sound advice from Tenors :). There’s no need to take both, unless you didn’t well on one and think you’ll do much better on the other.</p>

<p>–from another random poster on the internet.</p>

<p>What else should I be doing!?</p>

<p>Try new activities, join causes that matter to you, explore, innovate, do something meaningful that no one else has.</p>

16

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<p>Oh no, I’m applying this year. Good luck on your junior year. I definitely enjoyed mine, that’s for sure.</p>

17

<p>What if your school requires the ACT…and science isn’t your strong suit?</p>