So you’re in high school and want to get into a top-tier, prestigious college. You’re probably wondering about questions like, is my GPA good enough? Did I take enough APs?
None of these questions are really the right thing to ask. Anybody who says they have an answer to these questions probably doesn’t know what they’re talking about.
What probably matters most out of anything that you do in an attempt to get into a good college is how much your passion for what it is that you do shows. You want to show them that you actually have passions outside of whatever major it is that you intend to pursue. What’s arguably most important is that it’s obvious in your extracurriculars and essays that you have character and heart.
Community service, sports, leadership, teamwork, those are probably the kind of things that you would want to show a deep commitment to throughout high school.
Of course, it doesn’t hurt to have a good GPA or do well in the AP and Honors classes you take. And of course, you should take the hardest classes that you can do well in. That last part is really important. Make sure that you don’t overburden yourself with just school. Although you should challenge yourself, don't overwhelm yourself with 5 APs in a single semester just because you think it will help you. Take difficult classes in the courses you’re actually passionate about. Grades shouldn’t be the central focus of your high school career. I would think of it more as icing on a cake. (But obviously, that doesn’t mean that GPA doesn’t matter. It absolutely does).
These are especially the case with the UC system. The UC system does what they call “holistic admissions,” and if you’re reading about this, worrying if your grades are good enough, there’s a decent chance you’re affluent enough that good grades and perfect scores won’t impress them, especially if you’re from the Bay Area, a tech hub. This is because in a college’s eyes, you’ve been given enough resources that performance in school shouldn’t be as much of an issue as it may be for less affluent parts of the country.
What’s most important (you’ve probably heard this part before) is standing out and showing what characteristics and qualities set you apart. The more obvious you make that, and the better you sell it in your essays, the higher shot you have at getting into a good school.
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