Extracurriculars vs Courseload vs GPA?

Lily1985
Wed, 25 Feb 2015 23:11:06 +0000

Honestly, your class rank matters much more than your GPA. That is something you should consider. If you are in the top 10% of your class, you’re doing well, keep it up! Your course load matters as well. It is important to try to keep a balance. Do what you can to stay in the top 10% of your class while still taking AP classes (especially ones that will be relevant to your intended major!).

You will want to have extracurricular activities, for sure. This does not necessarily mean you need to take something through your school, if none of that interests you. Find a couple of things that interest you outside of academics, and immerse yourself in that in your free time, whether it is associated with your school or not. For instance, when I was in high school, I took a lot of AP classes and didn’t want to spend another minute in the school after I was done studying, so I joined other clubs. I was part of a local poetry club and we participated in a lot of open mics in the area. I did that because I love poetry, so it didn’t seem like so much more work to me. It was something I actually enjoyed, and I ended up getting some poems published because of it, which looked really good on my application as well. The point is, you need to have extracurricular activities if you want to get into a top 50 school. You need to either have a couple that you really put time into and can excel at, or a bunch that you just kind of get into.

Hope that helps!!