Am I cooked?Answered
Hi! I'm currently a sophomore at a super large and competitive high school in Texas, and I really want to know how I can improve my application. I want to major in something in the business field.
About me:
- South Asian
- Household Income is roughly 170k
- Freshman Year GPA: 4.0464/5 (not top 10%)
Ec's (Current along with what I'm Planning to do as well):
- Principals Advisory Committee (pretty selective): 10-12
- DECA: 10-12
- Model UN: 10-12
- Peer Mentoring: 10-11 (Maybe 12 if I have room in my schedule)
- Internship for Congressman (decisions for it come out tomorrow on 10/11 so this isn't 100% promised)
- I have my own non-profit with a friend of mine that is supposed to raise awareness for mental health for kids in our school. We haven't done much to it as of early October but we are planning to work on it extensively.
- Credit Union of Texas Internship: 12 (Again this isn't guaranteed but it is something I want to pursue)
- NJHS/NHS: 9-12
- Student Council: 9,11, and 12
- Some other small clubs relating to the business field (like Young Investors Society and stuff like that) that I'm thinking of doing in junior and senior year.
- Writing in my free time (I like to work on short stories and poetry, I have been told before to try and create a spike in writing because it is an EXTREMELY strong suit of mine)
- Working at the school spirit store in my senior year
- Speech and Debate: 11 and 12
Awards (I know it's not a lot):
- Regional Honorable Mention in Scholastic Art and Writing (for Poetry): 9th grade
- Outstanding Effort in Biology: 9th grade
Academics:
- Only 1 B on my transcript last year (1st semester AP Human Geography, everything else was 90+)
- 11 or 12 PLANNED AP classes (1 freshman year, 1 sophomore year, 4/5 in junior year, and 5 in senior year)
- Only CP/On level classes are Freshman English and some electives
- Currently trying to see if I can take Pre-Calculus over the summer and do AP Calc AB in my junior year
- 3 years of Spanish
- Attempting to see if I can do independent study with a few AP classes, but maybe not.
That's pretty much it. Also, will colleges really care if I'm not top 10%? Texas has a thing where in most state schools, you are automatically admitted into them if you are in the top 10% of your class (with the exception of UT Austin which is 5%).
Thank you so much for taking the time to read this I'm sorry I yapped.
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2 answers
Hi there! (Junior here). I don't think you're cooked, I think you're cooking! You have a lot of achievements and extracurriculars to highlight on your application and transcript. I think once you get the nonprofit worked on and if you get the internship it'll help strengthen your application. The awards for poetry and your work ethic in biology show that you're a determined student who values hard work and creativity. You seem like a very ambitious person and colleges will see these qualities reflected in your transcript. I also think you have a very diverse workload with your honors/AP classes, as well as three years of a foreign language and MUN and SGA, which highlights leadership. In addition, the remaining features of your application show your dedication as a student to your school and community. As for self-studying for those AP exams and trying to take pre-calc over the summer, please take my advice as an upperclassman and don't burn yourself out!
You're doing so much already and please don't burn yourself out. Colleges will not care if you're in the top ten or not. :) As long as you show them that you're a driven student you will be ok! Also, please remember that colleges review your applications from a holistic viewpoint, meaning that they will factor in everything from your essay(s), letters of rec, test scores (depending on each school), course rigor, and extracurriculars (which you are doing WONDERFUL in!).
Keep up the hard work and please remember to take a breather sometimes. You have nearly three years left to figure things out. You will be ok, regardless of if you're in the top ten of your high school class or not. You got this! <3
hey there! I think you're doing pretty well for your sophomore year, you're definitely not cooked. being in ECs that are related to what you want to go into works out really well, but having a variety of ECs (like your writing) is a good way to be well-rounded (which colleges like).
being in the top 10% can help you. it shows that you are doing better than your peers within your ability at your school. I would say it's good if you want to apply to those auto-admit schools (which you should) because they're good safety schools, and it may help you get into your desired school. but top 10% isn't everything, so you could aim for it but don't worry too much about it, as a lot of things go into acceptances and you seem to be doing REALLY well already
hope this helped!
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thank you so much! I'll definitely consider this throughly