High SChool Question?
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Answer:
It depends on what you mean by a "good college." If you mean the top 50 colleges/universities in the country, then you aren't on that track at this point.
If you're talking about a good, though not top top level, school...then perhaps you're in the ballpark.
Either way, here's my advice:
To give yourself the most options when the time comes, buckle down on your schoolwork and really try to get the grades up. But do not misunderstand me...it isn't all about the grades. It's about learning, setting a good foundation for what you'll study later. DO NOT CHEAT to get a good GPA, for example.
Definitely get involved with some community service and stick with it straight through to graduation. Pick something you're interested in. Become a leader in it or innovate something (ie fundraising project.)
Get involved with clubs at your school and similarly, if you can take a leadership role, do so. And/or win some academic or club awards (e.g. Best School Delegate for Model U.N., etc.)
Stay involved with sports, and try for varsity letters, or captain's positions, if you can. Stick with it through graduation; colleges like to see passion and commitment.
Make sure you get to know a few teachers very well, as you'll need a couple of solid letters of recommendation from teachers...and they'll want to be sincere in their praise and assessment of you.
STUDY STUDY STUDY for the SATs, and SAT Subject Tests if you are going to a shoot for colleges that require those. Do the same for the PSAT, particularly the one in junior year. That's the year that counts for the National Merit Scholarship awards...and colleges LOVE accepting National Merit Scholarship Finalists. It isn't that there's a lot of money attached, it's a prestige thing and schools like it. If you don't do well on the SATs, consider taking the ACT. Read up on that option...it's becoming more prevalent these days. Measures different things than the SATs.
I don't know anything about consumer math, so will leave it to someone else to answer that part.
BEST OF LUCK TO YOU!
did you say MATH?? NooOoOoOOoOOO!!!!!
Well... You may want to start spell checking what you write for one. Just teasing. It depends on what you mean by "good colleges." Ivy League? Because you'd need to raise your GPA considerably. There's a guy at my school, number one in the senior class, taking 6 AP courses this year, and didn't get accepted to Princeton. He did get into Brown and Cornell, but still. It all depends on how you appeal to the college. If your SAT scores and GPA are high enough, and you have a personality that they're like to see on their campus. I can't really say much more without knowing what you mean by "good schools."
I am in Canada and from what you have said, I think you have a very good chance at getting into a good college. It does depend on what you want to do though. Some programs have higher entrance requirements (these requirements are mainly minimum GPAs).
For example, at my university, if you want to do engineering, then you will need an average of about 85%, but if you want to do something like um psychology, then you need an average of about 70%.
So depending on what you want to do, you might need to increase your GPA a bit. Also, different schools have different entrance requirements too. So business at one school might have an entrance avg of 70, but it could be 80 at another school. This usually depends on how good the program is and how competitive it is.
For the courses, they have certain requirements for which courses are compulsary to take, so if you have those, then the other courses don't really matter too much. As long as you don't fail any of them or do really bad in any of them, you should be fine.
As for the extra-curricular stuff, they do look at that and it is important in their decisions but not as important as your courses and grades are. Although, if they have to decide between 2 people for 1 position, most likely, the one with more extra curriculars will get the position.
The extra curricular stuff is really really good for scholarships though. I would advise you to apply for as many scholarships as you can. It is also really really good when you want to get a job. Try to keep involving yourself in extra curriculars when you are in college too, because this will help a lot when looking for a job.
Since you are still in your sophomore year, you still have a few more years to go so you should try hard and increase your gpa. I'm not saying its bad, but higher GPA will increase your chance of getting into whatever program you want. I think 3.0 will let you get into MOST programs easily, but I'm sure that there are some programs that it isn't like guaranteed that you'll be accepted. Honestly, I really don't think that colleges really look at your grades in the first few years. It is mainly your last year that they look at, but also your second last year.
Anyways, I think you have a good chance of getting into good colleges, so don't worry too much. Good luck.
1 more thing, I would advise you to relax and enjoy your time in high school and don't spend all your time worrying about the future and stuff, because once you're in university, you'll be very busy and then after that, you'll work and you will not get much time to do whatever you want and enjoy yourself and stuff.
GPA is an important component in the college application process. Higher education institutions also look at your record in community service, extra-curricular activities, leadership and recommendations from faculty and employers. Your score on the SAT or ACT will make a difference in the GPA you will need. Higher exam scores allow the institution to grant somewhat more grace in GPA.
If you do not qualify for the top several choices in schools, there is still an opportunity. Many students opt to begin in a community college and by maintaining a high GPA there, they may get into a school as a junior that rejected them as a Freshman. Finding a school that suits you is more important then the reaction to a college's name.
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