Questions about my high school career and college.?

Question

Okay so I am going to be a freshman in high school starting on the 2nd of September. I've been stressing a lot about what I should do in order to keep ahead of the game and have what colleges look for. I'm a straight A/A+ student and for my freshman year I'm taking Algebra 2 Honors, English Honors, Chemistry Honors (it's not considered a freshman course), Mandarin 4, regular history (there are no honors classes for history as a freshman) and I'm trying out for the basketball team. I'm taking all the highest classes I can possibly take...I'm also planning to run for ASB or class council. If I run for an ASB position and make it, then it'd take up one of my class periods so I'd drop Mandarin 4. Is is a better idea to just finish my foreign language this year, or does it look better on the transcript that I was in ASB? Or would it be the same thing if I just stated that I was a member of the class council? Does it look very good that I took a leadership role in my high school? I'm not only running for student leadership because it's good for my college transcript, but also because I've done it EVERY YEAR since 3rd grade.

I'm Chinese and taking Mandarin as my foreign language because my parents don't think I'm very good at it (neither do I) so they think it's best if I finish my studies in the Chinese language because it'd also be very useful. Will colleges think I'm trying to take an easy road out of my foreign language classes even if I'm not majoring in anything that really has to do with foreign language? Could that make or break my chance of being accepted?

If I make the basketball team and don't do basketball for all 4 years, would that look bad? Would it be much better if I kept playing throughout highschool?

I'm planning on taking every AP science course they offer by taking some courses during the summer...would that make me look very good if I was majoring in science? What if I wasn't majoring in science, would that also look very good?

I'm still not sure of what I should major in since I get good grades in every subject, but I still think I enjoy language arts more than science...are there any career paths that REALLY incorporate both language arts AND science?

How many hours of volunteer work do I need to have completed throughout highschool? Are there any special things I could get involved with that don't have to do with school directly, such as science competitions, etc? I know that colleges don't JUST look at my GPA and grades/SAT scores, but my extracurricular activies. Am I fulfilling that with basketball and student leadership? I'm also planning on joining some clubs but I'm not sure which ones. Would it be a good idea to make my own club if I come up with some idea for one?

I want to get accepted into at least UC Berkeley, but I'm aiming for ivy league schools. Usually, what do they look for the most? Do they want 4.0 students that are insanely exceptional in their studies, or would they rather take students with very high GPA's that take role in many other activities? I know I need to have a passion for something...but I don't know what that may be yet, I'm still young.

I'm very into music but I don't think I want to have music as part of my career in the future and I'm not going to be part of any music things in the high school. I heard that for piano, colleges only count it if you pass level 10 when you already in high school. I've passed level 10 in the middle of 8th grade...will they still count that? Or would they ignore it if I don't continue it and taking Panel tests and stuff?

ANY suggestions for high school / SATs / preparing for college would be MUCH accepted!

Sorry for so many questions.

:)

Answer 1

I think you are putting a lot of unnecessary pressure on yourself. Universities care about GPA, SAT / ACT scores, and to a lesser extent extra-curriculars.

If your goal is a competitive university then you will need at least a 3.0 GPA in high school. Furthermore it is important to have a challenging schedule. What is challenging?  Usually this means taking courses like math, sciences,  and english courses beyond what your high school requires while avoiding as much as possible courses like introduction to basket weaving or art.

At university I knew students from Mexico who took Spanish as their foreign language and it was not held against them by the university. A lot of students who have parents from another country take their parent's country language in high school in order to connect with their parent's culture and historic culture

In regard to SAT scores you need to be above the 50th percentile and the higher your percentile ranking the better schools you can be accepted.

Extra-curriculars in the scheme of things do not matter as much as grades and test scores. Extra-curriculars become important if you are looking towards an ivy-league school or your application is marginal. By marginal if your profile (test score and grades) for a particular is boarderline having extra-curriculars on your application may help with you being accepted.

My recommendation to you would be as follows. Avoid putting unnecessary pressure on yourself. Do not worry so much about the details but see the larger picture. I would recommend this year begin to research different universities and their entrance requirements. Pick a few that you are interested in and use them as a guide of what you need to do in order to be accepted. In your junior year I would recommend preparing for your ACT / SAT with a look at taking them in June between your junior and senior year. Finally I would recommend right after your senior year begins to start your college appications.