I'm a sophomore in Highschool, and I want to get into a good school.?

Question

but I have some a-'s from last year and this year, i'm not doing so great either. I havent gotten a B yet, but I'm close. Does this mean I'm totally out for getting into an ivy league? My dream schools are cornell and UC Berkeley, but my parents are convinced I wont make it.
Btw, I have crazy asian parents...

Ahh! I'm Asian and I don't live in California!
;ladjf

but I do have a lot of extracurricular activities, and I'm planning on doing a lot of community service over the summer (but it'll be hard, because I'm planning on studying for the SAT's as well)

I'm taking 3 AP courses this year as well.. two of which I'm having trouble in (Human Geography and AP US History.)
[I'm also in AB calc]

Thank's for all of the help, and I'll probably contact you for further info.

Answer 1

First, 9th grade usually doesn't count. Second, most schools don't report the minuses, they just report the letter grade (don't know about yours). Anyway, if you have all A and A- you are in good shape. Just do your best at getting As through 11th grade, and make sure to take advanced classes (honors, advanced placement, etc) where possible. For Berkeley I think you get an extra grade point for a maximum of 8 semesters of advanced classes. 12th grade usually doesn't count so once you get to 12th grade it is smooth sailing.

But here's what you really need to do -- study for the admissions tests (SAT, SAT II, ACT, whatever you plan on taking). Many students will spend a really long time making sure to get an A, but make the mistake of studying only a night or so for the SAT and SAT II. When I applied you could get a maximum of 8,000 "points" -- grades counted for 4,000 of that (your GPA times 1,000), and the SAT/ACH counted for the other 4,000. Things have changed a bit since then though and the school has talked about dropping the SAT.

You can do clubs and volunteer work and so on, but don't let it hurt your grades. If you DO want to do volunteer work, you might try to use your summers intelligently; like do volunteer work during summer so it doesn't hurt your grades.

Berkeley is very lazy about reading applications, most students are accepted or rejected purely on grades and test scores. I'm not sure about the ivy league schools, but if you got 30,000 applications imagine how tough it would be to read all of them. So the extracurriculurs don't always help, but if you apply for scholarships the committee will often ask about things other than classes.

The other thing to remember, if you don't get in, is that you can always do the community college route.

Drop me a note if you need more info.

I see you edited your question -- a couple more things

if you are a sophomore and having a tough time, you might look into delaying the second semester of AB calculus till next year. You can finish AB in your junior year then do BC in your senior year.

Technically Berkeley can't discriminate on ethnicity but I think it bends over backwards to let in Hispanic and African American students. Don't worry though, 90% of the school is either Asian or White so this doesn't matter much in the big picture. Believe it or not, some Asian American students come to Berkeley and have culture shock, because there are so many Asian kids esp from Taiwan.

BTW I think some students go to Berkeley even when they have the grades to go to other schools that are better. Berkeley is great for a PUBLIC school, but it has some drawbacks too. Classes in your 1st and 2nd year are enormous and the staff is what you typically expect of government employees. When you see Berkeley ranked highly a lot of that is because of the graduate school programs, which you might get a taste of but won't be your day-to-day experience.

Also if you are planning on going to grad school or medical school, Berkeley might not be the best choice. It's very competitive, which means your grades might be lower than if you went to another school.

Answer 2

Neither your parents nor we can know if you will make it or not, or if those would really be the right schools for you, even if you do get in. Do the very best that you can and get help early if you have trouble. The schools you mention are extremely hard to get into, but even if you don't, there are a lot of other good possibilities out there. UC Berkeley isn't Ivy League, and there is nothing magical about the Ivies.

Answer 3

Getting a B does not disqualify you from getting into ivy league schools or UCs, such as UC Berkeley. Take extra math and science classes, this shows that you are determined to get into college. Do community service hours, more than your required share, and when you write those admissions essays, make sure you leave an impression... a good one.

Good grades aren't all that schools look at. Various factors add up to you getting admitted into a college of UC. When I graduated senior year and got an offer from UC Berkeley, I was surprised I was chosen over other classmates who had higher g.p.a's than I did, but had either lower ACT or SAT scores and less service hours than I did. Your ability to demonstrate how you will bring diversity to their campus is much more important that 1 B.

Hope this helped. : )

Answer 4

Is Cornell really anyone's dream school? It's in the middle of nowhere and it's freezing cold.

Anyway, Berkeley is virtually impossible to get into from out of state - if you aren't a California resident, and if you're Asian, good luck because you're going to need it.

Ivies are more likely depending on your extracurricular background, though obviously you've still got a long way to go to put together your Ivy League app resume.

Good luck!

Answer 5

Just keep working in school. Some schools depend more on SAT's rather than GPA but a solid GPA helps. Look at the statistics of grades of students admitted to the schools. Take a look at Princeton Review books of best 350 best Colleges or something titled like that to get a range and understand what schools offer and are like.

Answer 6

You must have a four year Bachelor degree and take the MCAT exam before you can apply to Medical schools. Med schools are not going to want your HS transcripts, they are not going to care what you did in HS. You do not go to medical school to become a nurse.

Answer 7

A- is the same as an A, and an A+ on your report card

Answer 8

WOW! i just posted like the exact same question! how funny!