Almost Halfway Through -- What Now?

tiger15
Mon, 01 Apr 2013 19:53:16 +0000

I’m currently a sophomore approaching the midpoint of my high school career, and I’m just looking for some input on how I’ve done so far and what I should improve on in the next year and a half or so before it’s time for me to fill out those apps.

Objective:

SAT/SAT II/ACT:
Have not taken yet, plan to take SAT in October and SAT II Math II in June, probably Literature sometime during junior year
PSAT:
Freshman year: 202 (77 CR, 65 M, 60 W)
Sophomore year: 222 (77 CR, 65 M, 80 W)
*Did not study for either test, plan to next year to try for NMSF or NMF
Weighted GPA: 4.07 (should be 4.125 at end of sophomore year)
Unweighted GPA: 4.0
Rank: 10/500 – should go up a little at end of year
AP: Taking Euro this year, see below for later years.
Junior year courseload (tentative): AP Calc AB, AP Calc BC, AP Lang, AP Art History, AP Psych, AP Physics B, Advanced Journalism, Advanced Journalism – 4x4 block schedule
Also planning on taking US History and an intro physics course (to cover a pre-req for AP) at a local community college this summer
Senior year courseload (tentative): AP Stats, AP Lit, AP Gov/Econ, AP Environmental, AP Human Geography, either AP Chem or a sociology course at local CC, Advanced Journalism, Advanced Journalism
I’m planning on either taking a few more community college courses (probably Calc 3 and maybe Spanish IV or something) or attending the Medill Cherubs summer journalism program at Northwestern (if I get in) the summer before senior year.

Subjective:

Extracurriculars:
Journalism (10 – co-copy editor and online editor – I will definitely be a section editor next year, if not editor-in-chief). I really, really love my journalism program, and I’m sure it will be my main EC. I set up a program for the distribution of local high school newspapers in the city’s library system, but currently only mine is a part of it. I was also running my program’s website during the judging process for the NSPA Online Pacemaker Award, which we were nominated for (for the first time ever), and I am currently working with our digital editor to design a new one, which should be better and thus should stand a fair chance of another nomination/possibly a win.
Academic Decathlon (10 – county champions for first time in school’s history, I was the highest scoring decathlete on the team at both county and state, won six medals at county). This was our team’s first year going to state, and we didn’t know what to expect – we got crushed. But I am really motivated to see us do much better next year, and I have rather lofty goals for myself. Also, I don’t know if this means anything, but this year’s captain is convinced that our coach will make me captain next year.
Future Business Leaders of America (9-10 – secretary (9), president (10) – good success at section-level, minor success at state last year, looking to place again, but probably won’t move onto national-level until junior year, if at all). I think I’ll run for president again, and I think my chances of getting it are high.
Marching Band (9-10 – no leadership). At this point, I don’t think I’m going to continue with this. I enjoy it, but the football games and competitions will interfere with journalism deadlines. The band is also rather terrible, and I myself am not that good of a musician, so I don’t think it would’ve meant much in terms of college apps. I have had some pretty fun times, though.
Small things: CSF (9-10, very little involvement, don’t really plan on getting very involved), National Honor Society (applied this year for the beginning of junior year, which is the earliest my school allows people to join – probably won’t get very involved, besides community service), International Club (not very involved right now, but it’s pretty fun, so maybe next year)

Job Experience: None, but currently applying for an internship with a local newspaper, which I’m hopeful that I’ll get.

Volunteer/Community service: Some library work (boring, I know) freshman year, thinking about getting involved with friend’s program in which band members go to a local elementary school once a week and play music with the kids to keep them interested in music – to an extent, it would be my penance for quitting.

Teacher recs: One from my journalism teacher/AcaDeca coach (same person) should be really, really good, not sure of the other at this point
Counselor rec: I feel like I know him better than most of my classmates do at this point, and he seems to like me.
Essays: I don’t know…I’ve been told that I’m a good writer, and I don’t think that I’m bad, but I’m also not sure that I’m amazing or anything.

Other:
State: CA
School Type: Public suburban, about 2000 students
Ethnicity: White
Gender: Male
Income: Too high for good aid/hook
Hooks/Misc: I’m one-eighth Spanish, so I think I can check the Hispanic box? lol
Schools:
No set list yet, but the schools I want to apply to at this point are Stanford, Yale, Northwestern, UC Berkeley, UCLA, UCSD, UCSB, University of Washington, and MAYBE Brown and UChicago.