<p>Okay so i've just completed my freshmen year of high school with all B's in all honors classes. I know that UC's don't look at freshmen grades since its considered a transition year but the classes i got recommended for sophomore year are: regular american history, honors english, honors algebra 2, and regular bio (but i am taking honors science research which is a 3 year elective class in my school). My extracurriculars are Orchestra (ive been playing the violin for 6 years), Interact Club (a volunteer club at my school), Public Forum Debate, and i do vocals/violin for parties at this well known mansion in a local park (i get a lot of volunteer hours for that). In addition, next year i'll be on the PF debate team again, the student congress team, the mock trial team, orchestra, science research, interact, and i'll still be doing vocal/violin performances. Okay so to get to the point, i really really want to go to UC Berkeley and i know its competative but still. I want to start preparing now so i was wondering if im on the right track and if not taking honors bio or AP unites states history is going to hurt my chances????????. P.S. i know i still have the SAT and ACTs to go but i did take the ACT at 12 and my score was a 23 which is bad but it is above the nat average. Is it possible for me to get into berkeley in a few years?? Am i doing anything wrong?? Thanks so much!</p>
<p>Well, at this point, here’s just no way to tell what your chances are. To be sure, you will need mostly (if not all) A’s in honors/AP classes to have a solid chance, but that doesn’t mean you need to give up if you don’t have them. Also, being in state makes a big difference (berkeley is a state school), so if you’re in state, that would help. In any case, you will need good if not great sat’s/act’s and multiple leadership positions to have a shot, so if you’re serious about getting into top schools, you need to get started on that. Good luck!</p>
<p>Getting all B’s might actually help you. If you get all A’s for the next two years, you’ll have a great UC GPA and the improvement will benefit you. </p>
<p>Bypass as many of those recommendations as possible. Take the highest possible class in every area unless doing so would cause you to skip a prerequisite (i.e taking Spanish II before I). So instead of on-level American history, take AP. Yes this will give you a course load heavier and more difficult than what you’re used to, but the key phrase here is “used to”. You will grow accustomed to an AP courseload and learn to manage your studying and homework. In fact, I much prefer AP homework to on-level or honors homework. Its mostly studying or reading and there is far less busy work. Also, most of the assignments will have due dates longer than 24 hours. All in all, AP homework gives a student alot more freedom in planning his study schedule.</p>
<p>As for your EC’s, I recommend developing one of them very solidly. Colleges prefer to see one strong passion rather than a bunch of application fillers. For you, orchestra looks like a bright spot. Try to find several areas for you to put your violin skills on display. Enter a few competitions. Maybe go to an orchestra camp one summer.</p>
<p>Oh, and a 23 on the ACT at that age is actually pretty good.</p>