I have a 92% over all GPA, and I’m trying to get into Colombia, Fordham, St. Johns, NYU, and Barnard. I am going to take the new SAT and get around 1400-1500/1600 on the practice tests.
Here are my extra curricular:
Leader of Yearbook,
Started a photography club,
Red Cross Club,
Key Club,
Respect for All Club,
Amnesty Club,
Drama Club,
Forensics Club,
DIY club, (I don’t know if I should even mention that)
Participated in a school musical
I also volunteered at a library and a hospital and worked at Target
I only took two APs (human geo and US) and did not do so well on the AP tests, but my average in those classes were a A, but next year (senior year) I’m taking 4 more aps
Do I have a shot at any of those schools?
Should I join more clubs?
Also, I know I could get a recommendation from my English and Spanish teacher, would that suffice?
Without an actual SAT score it’s hard to make any guesses. Right now it looks like you’re just a member of a whole bunch of clubs and the general thought is that depth instead of breadth is preferable (i.e. being really engaged in a few clubs is better than being a member of a bunch of clubs).
As far a recs go, generally it’s a good idea to get one from humanities and one from math/sciences. Additional recs could be from other areas.
Based on GPA I would say St. John’s is the best safety/match for you right now, but you also have the rest of junior and first quarter of senior year (if you’re applying RD) to improve your GPA. As @Lagging said, there isn’t much to predict with standardized test scores. Also if your’re applying to top schools and honestly just for any school, I would recommend taking at least three SAT Subject Tests (Columbia might require/highly recommend it, not exactly sure). Also depends on the rigor of your courses, did you take any honors classes besides those APs or any specialized STEM/IB programs or anything of the sort?
Of course a perfect GPA would be better, but colleges do place a lot of weight on extracurriculars, of which you have many. As a previous poster said, it’s better if you go more in depth with a few of your clubs, especially if you can get some kind of “leadership” role. Try to do that, even if it’s just for a short time. Also, good on you for volunteering at a hospital. They’ll love that.
I say definitely try for the good schools. You don’t have to apply for ALL of them, but choose maybe three: the hardest, the easiest, and one in between. Then apply for a normal school just as a backup. You’ll definitely get in somewhere.
GPA matters.
The following is based on my experience with my children and my students:
Quit joining useless clubs.
Show passion in your acts and in your essays.
Apply to some safeties.
Check the NPC for each school you think you want to attend.
this is a really dumb question, but what are NPCs?
My school doesn’t offer many honor classes, but I’m taking AP Lit, Econ,spanish and Gov next year
Net Price Calculators – give you an estimate of how much financial aid a school will give you