Secure My Future

Chance Me / Match Me
1

Hello everyone! I am currently a high school sophomore with a 3.1 GPA. I’m looking to get into a very good school such as Cal-tech, U Mich, or U Chicago. Clearly my GPA isn’t very reputable, I understand that. I have not taken my SAT yet and plan on attending study sessions. I’m on my way to becoming the vice president of an Eco-friendly club at my school, playt a school sport, and I’m in 2 AP classes right now (Both with As in AP Psych and AP Com Sci Pri.) and the rest is honors which include Government, Algebra 2, Chemistry, and English . The point i’m trying to get across this thread is: Will I be able to make it? Yes I messed up and I completely take the blame for it. If I can at least show a growth trend starting by my second semester of my sophomore year will I be able to get into one of the colleges listed above. Even if I don’t get accepted by my senior year can’t I just go to a regular college and perform extraordinary with a 4.0 GPA and a bunch of activities?

I understand that these school aren’t everything and getting into a school like ASU is just as good, but knowing that I could have put in a ton more effort in my school life would make me feel like a failure. I’ve been told my whole life that my brother was better than me academically and that I was just “not that type of person”.

Other questions: How do I discipline myself effectively? Any study habits that may have helped you guys? How do I keep myself motivated?

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if knowing youre going to be a failure is not enough motivation i dont know what is

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None of those three schools are realistic for you. Take the SAT and/or ACT. Use the SuperMatch tool on the left panel of this page.

You need to stop fixating on the “reach” schools and instead, form a list of schools that will likely admit you.

When you go out to shop for your first home, you don’t tour the multi-million dollar mansions. Everything else will look shabby by comparison. You’d be wasting your time. You look at homes in affordable neighborhoods. And then narrow down to what really works.

Your continued need to self-validate (by achieving a trophy college) and improving vs. the comparisons to your brother needs to be killed. Focus less on your ECs and more on your GPA and test prep. At this point ANY boost in GPA is 10,000 times more important than your clubs/sports. A one point difference in ACT composite will open many more doors than every listing of your club “leadership”

HS students think that ECs are very important. Most colleges do not. You shoud focus on what colleges value rather than HS student myths.

Good luck

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Thank you for the comment.