Your grades are fine. A B grade here or there is not the end of the world. Most colleges will understand the need to adjust to high school, thus they will take your trend into consideration. Usually, freshman year grades are overlooked unless you really f***ed up that badly (as in having mostly B’s and C’s or below, which is not the position you are in).
For ECs, the important thing is to be able to speak about each of the things you are involved in. Quality is more important than quantity. It is better to have 4 or 5 activities that you are committed to and where can describe your involvement with substance, rather than 20 or 30 where you do not have much to say about the majority of them. Think about the difference between “as a part of this team, I accomplished this, and that…” versus “I showed up to this club’s meetings every other week for free pizza”. If you were involved enough in an EC, you should be able to write a meaningful paragraph to describe your involvement. You should also have roughly two activities that you can talk about in depth. For those, you should be able to write at least half a page single spaced to describe them.
First, whether Uof M is University of Minnesota or University of Michigan, should we assume you don’t live in California? This is very important because if you don’t, everything is moot because UCLA is a public university designed for the students of California residents.
Second, it’s good you care about your studies now. It’ll be more important than EC’s. Many universities don’t even count EC’s!
What classes are you taking right now? What is your plan in terms of class selection for next year?
For any kind of selective college, you need to take 5 honors every year starting next year, and get B’s or higher.
Then, your course selection needs to include:
English, Math, Foreign Language, Science, Social Science + electives you find interesting (or mandatory classes).
By the end of high school, plan to have:
Algebra1&2, Geometry, Precalculus. Preferably Honors (if you had A/A- in Regular this year you should be okay, ask your teacher)
Foreign Language up to Level 4
4 years each of Social Science/history, science (including preferably all three of Bio, Chem, Physics, + 1 extra one), and English.
When my daughter was in lower grades of middle school, her plan was MIT or Harvard because she had head those were really good schools. What I’ve done is to research and pass along information about a ton of other schools that are much less selective and have wonderful things about them. I think she realizes now that there are many, many paths to success. She is not set on any one particular college now as a freshman. She is focused on getting the most out of her high school education by taking classes that aren’t too boring or too stressful but are challenging and interesting (from her options among requirements and electives). She is also participating in whichever ec’s she finds interest in and not worrying about anyone else’s perceptions of whether they are good for college. All of that is helping her enjoy high school and decreases anxiety (and her “dream” schools are very affordable and reasonable to get into ones with honors programs that are more selective)
While it is good to be proactive in your study habits, and set high goals, GET OFF CC UNTIL 2017!!! Seriously, there is no point of just stressing out over something that is 3 and a half years away. Do you want to go to those schools because they are “good schools” or “Ivy League” schools, or do you want to go to those schools because, say, they have excellent biology department, fascinating study abroad opportunities, and great professors? You’re only a freshman so you have plenty of time to look at colleges. Don’t stress. Stressing is for Junior/Senior year when you’re in 3+ AP classes, have a ton of ECs and service activities, and consistently average anywhere between 3 and 5 hours of sleep per night
