Building up my transcript

Colleges & Universities Columbia University
1

<p>Right now I’m a freshman in highschool but one college that has really drawn my attention is Columbia. What intrigues me most about the school is how diverse the school is and the location in general. I feel like New York is full of many oppurtunities especially for someone like myself who is interested in the field of business. </p>

<p>I can’t really comment on my grades mainly because I’ve only been through the first quarter of the school year. Right now my GPA is a 3.98 unweighed and a 4.4 weighed but it will obviously change throughout the course of four years. I’m kinda far from taking the SAT or ACT so I can’t really comment on that either. As far as EC’s go, I think I screwed up on this part by not joining any clubs but I do have to do volunteer work later on. For sports, I haven’t joined any yet but I’m contemplating on whether I should do track or softball in the spring (i’m not really big on sports though).</p>

<p>I’m basically just looking for advice on how I can build up my transcript for a college like Columbia. How can I make up for being uninvolved for this first semester ? Are there things I can do over the summer to help my chances of getting in and making me stand out? I know I will need to sign up for AP classes and anything else challenging my school has to offer. I also know ofcourse that I will need to ace these classes and do good on testing. I’ve met with my counselor about it and we will meet later on about the topic but I’d also like advice from many others.</p>

2

<p>Chances are you’ll change your mind a lot – I know I did. </p>

<p>It’s freshman year. The first semester isn’t even over! </p>

<p>Don’t sweat it too much. My advice to you is to have something you really like and take a lot of it. For me it was Spanish and history. I took three years of AP history and two years AP Spanish, along with other courses in Spanish, too. </p>

<p>Don’t joint a ton of extracurriculars, join some you really like and maybe start a club for something you guys don’t have. I started my school’s GSA and I am a very involved member in Mock Trial and Drama. While it’s not a lot of things, I showed depth by focusing on what I liked. You see a lot of people involved in a lot of clubs and great academics… They skimp somewhere. There are only twenty-four hours. Colleges aren’t recruiting the next son of god. </p>

<p>Remember, it’s better to be a mile deep than a mile wide. Not to mention, it’s not too late to join clubs (unless your school has a weird policy), so go out and do that! </p>

<p>When you’re submitting your application do it early and make sure it’s at its best. Once you send it you’ll start saying to yourself, “Oh, I should have done that… I should have done this…” Just ignore it! It’s done and out of your hands. Ditto applies when looking back.</p>

<p>Enjoy being a freshman, junior and senior year are when things start wrapping up and you look back and say, “Wow, I wish I did this differently!” Like I said… it’s out of your hands by then. It is what it is.</p>

<p>Finally, looking back, unless you’re a multi-millionaire or a genius, you’ll probably end up like a lot of your peers that maybe aren’t as smart as you. So while college is huge, it’s not everything. I tell myself that when things get intense and then I slow down. </p>

<p>Final advice (I promise)! SLOW DOWN. You’ll be excited to get to college but high school is fun! Enjoy it, I sure did, and now I’m sad, but also a bit happy, it’s coming to a close and I’m moving on.</p>

3

<p>Thanks Orange,
I appreciate your advice and response. Part of me feels like I have to work hard now to get what I want later on in life.</p>