Hi,
My Name is Sara, I will be a 2025 High School Grad.
What do people recommend for things to do over the summer/during the school year leading up to college/college admissions to help your chances? I am already a bunch of after-school clubs and sports but I feel like there is more I could do.
Good Afternoon Sara,
I would recommend planning to take the PSAT next year as a sophomore, and possibly the SAT/ACT. This will help you prepare for your junior year when taking these standardized tests truly matter, as it gives you experience with the test format under little pressure. Also, that's great that you are involved in lots of extracurriculars. However, I would start narrowing your after-school activities down based on your interests and the rigor of the extracurricular. For example, participating in Prom Committee won't look as good on your college application as winning a state competition in DECA (or whatever you're interested in). Community service and internships also look good on applications. In addition, try adding AP/Honors courses to your schedule, especially ones in fields that you are interested in. If you're looking at Ivy Leagues, I would recommend taking 8-10 AP classes and all honors. Finally, if you haven't already, I would highly recommend CollegeVine's chancing calculator, as it looks at your GPA, standardized test scores, extracurriculars and other factors to determine your chances at your dream schools!
Hopefully, you found this helpful, and I wish you luck!
I would try talking to your counselor to see if they offer summer school to get ahead and try to do AP/Honors Classes. Also volunteering will definitely help!
Hello,
Some good options are volunteering, and probably working. You could try for AP/honor classes, but please make sure you're not wearing yourself out.
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