@ak2018 Sorry if I wasn’t clear. My school’s spanish sequence goes Spanish 1-4 then AP Spanish Language. I’m only at Spanish 3 rn and if I want to take Spanish 4 it would have to be online. I’m not interested tbh but I’m wondering if it would look bad to stop, or if it would be bad for me to take the class online.
My grades from winter:
US History: 91%
English, French, Photography: 90%
Algebra 2 Accelerated: 92%
Biology: 93%
GPA: 3.6UW
Overall GPA: 3.37UW (@freshmanyear :(()
I can’t get a flippen A+ in a class. So dang frustrating!!! :-q
I posted this to the class of 2017 and I’ll post it here if any of you should find it helpful.
This is some my journey through the college application process:
Just to start, I will tell you what my results were then I will go into stats.
Major: Computer Science
I will add acceptance rates after schools because initially this was a numbers game. Then it turns into a game of good fortune.
Accepted:
University of Michigan (CoE) (circa 10%-20% for OOS College of Engineering)
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (CS major) (8% for CS major)
Georgia Tech (CS major) (25% general, probably lower for CS and OOS)
University of Washington (General Admittance) (35%-40%)
Rejected:
Stanford (General Admittance) (circa 5%)
Carnegie Mellon University (SCS) (less than 5%)
MIT (General Admittance) (circa 8%)
UC Berkeley (EECS) (circa 5%)
Quick Overview of My Stats:
ACT: 32
GPA: 3.9UW/4.85W
AP classes: 11
ECs: Various clubs and things that were very pertinent to my major (e.g. built websites, web apps, mobile apps, etc.)
Class Rank: 4/650
How I went about applying and such:
I knew I wanted to major in CS years before I applied to college. I used rankings of CS schools (namely US News) and researched the schools in the top 10 and ended up applying to many of the top 10 schools. Now using rankings like US News’ probably isn’t the best strategy because you will inevitably neglect underrated schools and some that are just as good that didn’t make it into the top 10.
I toured some the schools I was unfamiliar with and then I had a list of schools I would then apply to. As for standardized testing, arguably the most stressful portion, I took the ACT without any prep during December of Junior year. I earned a (What I view to be) poor score of 24. With some minor self studying, I raised that score 8 points to get a 32 after a few more tests. Just keep in mind, the ACT (and SAT) don’t determine your, or anyone’s, intelligence or real academic ability. More than anything they are a cash cow for their respective organizations. If you ended up with a poor score, there is always a way to raise it. I felt the significant raise in my score just came from staying calm during the test and practicing with the timing. Timing is everything with the ACT (can’t speak too much of the SAT) and with a bit of practice and familiarity, you can surely raise your score. I felt I could have raised my even more, but I was tired of paying the money and wasting a weekend writing on that waste of paper.
Throughout HS I made an effort to partake in ECs that pertain to my interests and my major which seems to help for college admissions. But I think it is also important to branch out and create a diverse portfolio of ECs, but depends on the situation. But more than anything, just do what you love and if you are being honest throughout the application process, colleges will see your passion for whatever you choose and that, above all, is most important.
As for essay writing, I tried to focus on writing something unique, something that expressed who I was and what I was interested in. Don’t worry about what you think the admissions office wants to read, write about you, make the writing yours. I would recommend the book On Writing the College Application Essay by Harry Bauld. It is a great read.
Try to apply early, for some schools it could give you an advantage and saves you the stress.
Apply to safeties because college admissions is a unpredictable and competitive game.
Apply to schools YOU want to attend. Not ones your parents want you to go to, or ones that your friends want you to go to.
Most of all, stay positive and try your best. If it doesn’t work out, it’s that college’s fault they will never get to experience how awesome you are.
No matter where you go you can become successful, you just have to work for it.
Looking back:
Now that it is all said and done (kind of scary), I have to say that I am not surprised by the outcome. It was fairly heartbreaking to be denied by the very best of the best schools that I dreamed of going to, but the schools I was accepted to are no joke either. I like the schools I was accepted to and am humbled that they chose me in this competitive season with such a competitive major. I think it is important to make sure you stay grounded during this process. Make sure you understand that the top 10 schools in the nation are VERY hard to get into. People with perfect scores, essays, and ECs who saved babies from drowning in Africa when they were 6 can be denied from such institutions. It’s not just a number game, it (and I don’t like to say this) is pure luck. There are so many great schools out there that offer just as much and for a cheaper price. The sooner you understand this, the less painful the application process is. But by all means, if you like these seemingly impossible schools, go ahead and apply, it can’t hurt. May you have better luck than I. The am very fond of the CS programs at the schools I was accepted to and I will probably attend UIUC because it is the cheapest out of these similarly ranked options and it is ranked 5 for CS in the nation thus opening many opportunities.
There are, of course, many more factors to this that I left out. If you have any more questions feel free to ask me. After all, this is a community where we help each other to achieve success. Enjoy your junior year and I hope you end up where you want to be!
@infiniteCircle Thank you for that very informative post. I’m sure you have helped many with your advice. I wish you well at whatever institution you decide to attend.
@infinitecircle Thanks so much for sharing! Even though we’re sophomores, thinking about college can never be too early.
Also in your faces! I’m on spring break lol. Also, I start work at Wendy’s Wednesday woohoo lol.
OMG there was a promposal after school today. It was so cute, until the guy turned the sign and it said "Sike nah LLS (Laughing Like Sh*t). :)) :(( Bruh!!! I feel so bad for her! :(( This was the first ever promposal I’ve seen in person and it was fake. Have you guys seen any promposals in your schools yet? I would definitely do one for my girlfriend, IF I HAD ONE! :)) :(( Has anyone been asked to prom as a sophomore?
Also, my school’s spring pep rally is next Friday and I’ve already signed up for the tug-of-war event. I think this is my adventurous side talking, but I think I might also sign-up to be the school’s mascot: The Mighty :bz ! I would have to dance around, though. But that’s not a problem. I’m a terrific dancer. My Spanish class always compliments me on my dab and that I do it really well! I just learned to pipe it up and stab yesterday. So I would just have to dress up as bee or a shark (specifically Left Shark from Katy Perry’s Super Bowl Performance) and dance around. You guys think I should do it?
School is making me feel so weird lately. Last night I had a full-blown panic attack, this morning I just felt dead inside, and right now I feel super positive and like I can conquer the world (all my assignments). Mood swings, much???
@ak2018 There was a promposal during our last fire drill. There is a staircase with a platform outside that leads to the gym. A guy got on the platform, silenced everyone, and asked his girlfriend to prom. He saw the opportunity and ran. 
Also, you should go for being the mascot if you want to. May as well see what its like.
@Neptuna I can kinda relate, except generally I get really panicky and nervous about my grades while I’m at school, and then go home and stop caring about everything.
Third Quarter Grades:
AP Gov - A - 94%
Honors English 10 - B - 86%
Intro to Pysch - A+ - 98%
Algebra II - A- - 91.1%
Honors Bio - B - 85%
Gym - A - 94.1%
Honors Latin II - A+ - 97%
Quarter GPA: 3.96 W, 3.7 UW (if I calculated it right :s)
I don’t know my culmative GPA factoring in this quarter yet, but as of quarter two it was a 3.671 W (we don’t get our UW GPA). I hope to get it up to a 3.7 by the time I start doing college apps.
@infiniteCircle thanks you for your story! It was really motivating!
@neptuna The strange thing is that I’m going through this too. Yesterday I felt really motivated and I finished many of my assignments + did things that I put aside for weeks. Today, I feel so sluggish and I don’t want to do anything lol.
My Current Grades:
Honors World History B - 98%
Honors Chemistry B - 97%
Honors English 11A - 100%
Spanish II B - 98%
Honors Algebra 2 A - 98%
Public Speaking - 98%
GPA : 3.98UW/4.18 W so far
I don’t really like posting my grades, but this was the first quarter that I got straight A’s! I got A’s in H Pre-Calc, French 2, Project Bio, and AP Computer Science, and A-'s in Anatomy and Physiology, H English 10, and H Chem 
Really hoping I can bring Anatomy and Chem up to A’s for the semester
My grades are
Precalculus: 99
Spanish 2: 97
World History: 99
Band:100
Kind of relieved. This semester has been tough.
WOW! Thank you all for motivating me lol. I am studying for my english quiz (tomorrow) and am determined to get an A+! I’ll let you all know how it went.
Thank you very much! @infiniteCircle Good luck wherever you attend, I’m sure you’ll do great things in life.
My 3rd Q:
Calc AB: 97%
APUSH: 98%
Chem H: 93%
Bio H: 92%
French 3H: 94%
English 2H: 98%
Pretty happy with my 3rd q grades. Hopefully I can get bio up to a 93 for that A. I think my GPA is a 4.0 UW? Idk I got plenty of A-'s freshman year so I’m not sure if 90+ counts as 4.0 or 93+. My school only really does weighted gpa tbh so I’m not exactly sure what’ll I’ll write on applications but I’ll cross that bridge when I get to it.
Y’all are so smart keep up the good work!!!
We did our //official// course selection today and I want to kill myself. We can’t change it so it’s set in stone.
English 20-1 IB + Literature 35 IB
Social Studies 20-1 IB + History IB
Math 30-1 IB
French 20 IB
Bio 20 IB + Bio 35 IB
Chem 20 IB
Theory of Knowledge 25 IB
Sports Performance 25 (might drop and get a spare but who knows??)
Hey, I’m popping over from the Class of 2016. My sister is in the class of 2018, and one of my advice to her is to choose your favorite, hardest classes. Junior is going to be hard. We’ve all heard about it. What makes it survivable is the classes that you genuinely like. That’s what I did, even though I was worried it was too unbalanced on the side of math and sciences and even though it didn’t align with the focus of my top choice school. It all worked out; I didn’t die. I got in to my top choice ED and saved a shit ton of money. “Do what you’re passionate about” is becoming a cliche phrases repeated in the world of education and on CC. I’m only going to say it to help you survive Junior year. Maybe your parents want you to be a doctor, but you’re more passionate about history. Go take those history classes and get in to a good pre-med school for your parents. (I personally disagree with sacrificing your own desires for your parent’s, but we all have different situations). I repeat, Junior year will be near torturous, since most of you will be taking hard classes, but as long as those classes are subjects you like, you’ll do fine.
Getting your standardized testing out of the way during Junior year will help a lot for later, so you can focus on your applications more during Senior year. At the same time, maturity, both educational and mental, can really help boost your scores in a way that cramming or preparing cannot. Remember that you are a unique individual, but with the same time as everyone else. How you organize that time should be specific to you. Do your standardized testing as early as you can, but don’t waste too much time preparing for it. Maybe leaving it to a later date might be better for you in the long run. The SAT/ACT is only one part of a much larger application, and your time could be better spent improving your GPA, acting the leader you are, or just having some fun experience.
Which leads up to my last point. Have some fun. I don’t even mean this in the “you’re a kid, stop worrying” kind of way. I always worried. I spent Junior year spring break somewhere on a school trip, when some of my friends were preparing for the SAT (granted I had already finished my SAT1, but I did need to prepare for SAT2). I ended up including that experience in my CommonApp essay. Basically, don’t be a boring person. You could be the most perfect boring person with 1600 or 2400 SAT or 36 ACT and a 6.0 weighted GPA, be the President of pretty much everything at your school, but have nothing interesting to say in your essays. I want to both stress and destress the importance of essays. Yes, it shows a side of you that your transcript will not. No, it does not mean that it deserves or that you should spend hours agonizing over it. Remember that every part of your application plays a small part, some a little bigger than others, so you do not need to obsess over just one of those parts.
Well, congrats if you read all that. I didn’t expect to type an essay when I popped over. I really like CC because I really like to help people, and I’ve learned a lot (from CC) about the college process, so I don’t want to let it all go away. Message me if you want help, although I may be slow in responding. At the risk of sounding arrogant or narcissistic, I have been helpful in helping grade SAT essays (old SAT so nvm), finding out about colleges (the few I really researched and loved), and HS tips that include those I listed above.
@Woandering THANK YOU FOR STOPPING BY!! (lol why the caps?) This all means a lot, and congrats on getting into your top choice ED!
@Woandering Thank you for taking the time to type your post. It was so helpful. Best of luck to you at college!