<p>Im just about to begin my sophomore year, but i have my whole schedule and activities planned out.</p>
<p>Freshman(can't take any ap classes):
Hon Bio
Hon Mordern World History
Spanish lll
Hon English
Hon Alegbra( i am lacking in math)
Symphonic Band
Health/gym(required)</p>
<p>Sophomore(only allowed to take one ap class):
Hon Alegbra 2
Hon Geometry
AP US History
Hon English
Hon Chem
Wind Ensemble
Stretching and Toning(required) one semester and Financial Literacy one semester</p>
<p>Junior Year:
Ap Bio
Ap Bio lab
Ap English
Ap Government
Wind Ensemble
Ap Psychology
Honors Pre-Calc</p>
<p>Senior:
Ap European History
Ap Calculus
Ap English
Business Law
Wind Ensemble
Ap World History
Some computer class i have to take</p>
<p>Ive done 25 hours of community service and plan to do more than 100 hours.
Ive done marching band my freshman and currently sophomore year; i plan to continue it my junior and senior year.( maybe drum major my junior year)
Im on the tennis team; i hope to become captain.
Im also joining JSA, O Ambassadors, FBLA and National Honor Society this year.
Next summer ill be interning at a law firm.</p>
<p>So far im a straight A student and have a 3.8 gpa. I can play two Instruments fluently.( Clarinet and Trumpet)
Ive only taken the pre sat but plan to take the actually sat this year. I'll probably score around a 2000( just speculation though) but plan to retake in till i get at least a 2250.</p>
<p>Any suggestions on what i could do to improve my chances would be GREATLY appreciated. If i dont have any chance of Ivy League please suggest one i could possibly get into. Btw i want to do something involving politics but im not sure extactly what though.</p>
<p>Meh… judging you based solely on what you’ve done during your freshman year is very iffy. Many people grow or are shot down during sophomore and junior year, so try your best. </p>
<p>Speculations abut GPA and SAT are definitely iffy, and posting “what ifs” are really of no use in CB. However, you do not have seem to have developed specific hooks by now, nothing critically unique. Fortunately, you have time to create that and to make yourself eye-catching to the admissions officers.</p>
<p>In addition, why are you bent on getting into the Ivies? Is it that prestige? You’re still young, and I suppose you’ll find out more about the admissions as you get older. In any case, prestige is a horrible reason on applying to any highly selective colleges. Each of the ivies are so different and come in a variety of traits, such as class size, academic disciplines, environment, etc. Don’t sell yourself out, just for a name brand.</p>
<p>But there are some critical things that I must mention. </p>
<p>1) Everyone does community service. 100 hours are really nothing special. What would set yourself apart, however, is leading your own specialized project.
2) Everyone plays instruments.
3) Virtually everyone who applies to selective instutitions have incredibly high GPAs. Remember, there are more than 20,000 valedictorians each class, and according to the New York Times, Princeton is known to have rejected many, many valedictorians and people with perfect SAT scores. Your GPA, as of now, are slightly low.
4) The clubs that you are joining next year is very common in many applications. Unless you could do superbly, admission officers at highly selective institutions probably won’t care. Instead, you might be hurting yourself by having width, but not much depth.</p>
<p>Do you have any chance? Yes. Are they high? No. Can we elaborate? No.</p>
<p>It’s really pointless to post a chances thread when you don’t have actual SAT or ACT scores. By the way, does your school offer Spanish IV? If it does, you’re going to be at a huge disadvantage not having taken four years of a foreign langauge. (If it doesn’t, you’re excused, however.)</p>
<p>You can play two instruments “fluently”? Bull. Have you made any honors bands? All-county? All-state? To play an instrument fluently implies that you have achieved technical and musical mastery of it. I highly doubt this. Unless you have any distinguishing awards at the musical level, then the whole instruments thing is not that big of a deal, as the poster above me pointed out.</p>
<p>Big deal. Don’t take any offense to this, but kids applying to Ivy Leagues who emphasize their music constantly make all-state or other honors bands of that level.</p>
<p>Do you really want to do something in politics? You haven’t shown it at all.</p>
<p>Hope hope hope, blah blah blah. You hope to be involved with local elections. You hope to be captain of the tennis team. You hope to get at least 100 hours of community service. You hope to get a 2250 on your SAT.</p>
<p>Don’t take this the wrong way, but you haven’t given us anything to chance you with. You should come back during your year or once you have test results, whichever happens first. Then we can actually chance you. There are a million posts here where you can find ways to improve your application, so pay careful attention to those until you’ve actually taken your SAT.</p>
<p>To put what Keasbey Nights said in more civil words:</p>
<p>You can hope all you want but you have to be able to carry that out. Even if you do accomplish all that you say you hope to accomplish, you would still lack a hook that many highly selective institutions look for. Trust me, your views will change drastically over sophomore and junior year.</p>
<p>tennisplayer21 - I’m glad that you’ve realized this. A lot of people come on here and never do. Don’t be concerned with self-studying for APs (I know you didn’t mention that, but I’m just saying). Live an interesting life. That’s what gets you into college. Best of luck.</p>
<p>What everyone else said, also: don’t underestimate the power of taking an AP class. Many people can’t handle the 2 1/2 hours of studying per night that some of these courses require.
Taking a course load and expecting to do “Everything else” just doesn’t cut it. Do something you WANT to do.</p>