So, I’m a sophmore in high school right now, and I’m trying to figure out how best to get into some of my dream schools. As of the end of freshman year, I have a 3.55 unweighted GPA and a 4.0 weighted. This year, I am most likely going to end up with 2 B’s (Pre-calc Honors and Chemistry Honors), so I don’t know where that’s going to leave me. The other courses I am taking this year are APUSH, journalism (we have it as a course where we write for the school paper), Spanish Honors and LA Honors, in which I have all A’s. I have yet to take the SAT’s or ACT’s, but my PSAT I took earlier this year just as a diagnostic without studying was a 1350. I’m going to be doubling up on history courses next year and will be taking AP Comparative Government, AP Lang, AP Spanish Lang,AP CalcAB, journalism, and IPLE, and senior year will be taking APBio, AP European History, AP Lit, AP Spanish Lit, APCalc BC, and journalism. If it helps at all, I skipped Geo and American Studies I over the summer, so am taking 2 courses above my grade level.My EC’s aren’t phenomenal, but I do MC, MUN, National History Day, and I play field hockey, but I couldn’t this season because of a sports injury.
I’s like to go into law and my top school choices are Dartmouth, Washington Univ. at St. Louis, Bernard, NYU, Washington and Lee Univ., Wesleyan, George Washington University
My two safeties are Rutgers and Stony Brook.
I just want to know if I have even the slightest chance of getting in into any of these places. Any insight would be great
You standardized testing scores are pretty good, but your GPA, to be honest, is pretty bad for those schools (especially Dartmouth). Stony Brook is not even that safe of a safety. Try to get your grades up.
Don’t accept that you will end the year with 2 B’s… You still have half the year left to boost your GPA. I would agree, improve your GPA to have a better chance at these colleges.
Technically, all AP classes are above your class level because they are college level classes, not high school level classes. Having a upward trend in grades will give you a more realistic, desirable chances at any of these schools.
You need to look at colleges for real and not just their names and vague reputation - a student who’s looking at Washington&Lee wouldn’t be interested in Wesleyan or NYU, for instance. Buy a Fiske Guide or Insider’s Guide or Princeton Review’s best College, and start reading.
You also need to look at more colleges: what about Fordham? Manhattan? Skidmore? Bryn Mawr? Go on visits and try to figure out what you like.
For SUNYs, Bing and Geneseo would be the best choices, as well as Albany if you can get into the Honors Program.
Run the NPCs on a SUNY, NYU, and Skidmore. Show the results to your parents: what do they say? what budget were they thinking of for your college?
Don’t overload your schedule with AP’s. It’s better to choose them strategically. The law of diminishing returns applies once you hit 8 and colleges don’t like the “everything but the kitchen sink” approach.
Use the free time to sleep and to spend on EC’s. Follow an EC you like to the highest you can.
