rising senior, bad start, but a strong finish. chancing plus advice is welcome
Freshman and sophomore year I had 0 direction. my old counselor gave me a schedule with almost no honors and no APs. I honestly had no idea what to do so I decided to just go with it.
Junior year changed things. I taught myself to code and found something I actually cared about. I realized how much time I'd wasted.
Demographics: white, middle eastern male and low income
GPA by year:
Freshman: 3.55 unweighted, 3.87 weighted
Sophomore: 3.67 unweighted, 4.22 weighted
Junior: cumulative sits at 3.59 unweighted, 4.04 weighted. Junior year alone landed around 3.99 weighted.
Honors and APs so far:
Honors Spanish I and II, Honors World Literature, Honors Modern World History, Honors American Literature, Physics with Lab (honors), AP Macroeconomics.
Senior year:
APUSH, AP CSA, AP CSP, Honors Calculus 1 (dual enrollment for NJIT and Rutgers), Web Development I, and AP Stats online but if a spot opens up I'll get into the actual class. another thing, I'll also be asking my counselor soon if I can go take Calc BC as well instead of Calc 1 dual entrollment
I got a new counselor this year. He's actually friends with my dad, so we're close. He told me to retake Algebra 1 and Geometry through an online course this summer to replace my old 86% and 83% with 100%s. He straight up told me to use AI on it. Both courses cost $500 each. It feels like a shortcut, but the GPA math works, so I'm doing it right now.
Outside school, I taught myself Python and built a paper trading bot on Alpaca that trades leveraged ETFs using signals like moving averages and volatility filters. I'm learning C now too. I run a branded drop shipping business with a friend. I handle the store build and product side. I did an accounting internship as well. I'm also doing a Harvard CS50 course (I'll be getting the certificate for it as well).
I have about +250 hours teaching kids Quran at a mosque.
In August I'm going on a humanitarian trip to Brazil with a few friends. We're helping build schools and deliver medicine for the poor.
I'm also going to be the leader of my stock market club as well
I'm studying for an SAT retake right now. I'm targeting 1300+. My current score doesn't reflect where I'm at.
I'm eyeing Rutgers New Brunswick and NJIT as a floor and Baruch as a real target for applied math.
but my reach would be Rutgers honors college, NYU, Georgia Tech, and Cornell
Tell me where you think I stand given the freshman and sophomore dip and the junior year turnaround. tell me if I'm also able to get into better schools. Tell me what to prioritize this summer and senior year. SAT score, extracurricular depth, something else. I want a straight answer.