#school applications

alright so. grades are not everything. self-explanatory. a lot of schools are looking for a "spike": essentially, something you're super passionate about & you know a lot about and/or do well at. it could be a general subject (psychology, computer science ...) but if you have something super specific and in-depth that's particularly good (psychology -> neurodegenerative diseases & memory formation, computer science -> you have an app you've been working on ...)

and it helps if you have a major (or at least a direction) in mind that you're working toward. HOWEVER, that doesn't mean you need to only focus on one subject. you can market yourself as an interdisciplinary scholar:

helping the community directly:

i'll use my own interests as an example. if you're into psychology & creative writing, you could explore personal narrative as a therapeutic tool and create a program that is specifically meant to help peers and younger students to express themselves through writing in a way that is creative and not uncomfortable. you could use your own experiences with writing and the struggles you've had in the area in order to give specific advice to the other students.

this could be shared through something like a school club that invites younger students to join (for instance, if your school is K-8 and you're a 7th or 8th grader looking into high schools, make a club that targets 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders interested in creative writing)

TL;DR: don't stress too much about having PERFECT grades. just keep yourself afloat (preferably A's, low or high doesn't matter too much, but don't use this as an entirely hard-and-fast rule) and put your energy into creating passion projects that create local change.

it's also really good if you can impact your school, neighborhood, or anything else like that, but that doesn't have to be all.

solo projects:

you can also do things like write articles, blog posts, or research papers on topics of interest. say you're into finance (and yes, this works, i do know someone who did this)—then you can create a blog that outlines the basics of finance & investment for teens, for instance. write about current news & developments in the world of finance, advice on investing in stocks, how real-life investors (for instance, venture capitalists) do business, etc. to bring more people into your field of passion.

if writing isn't exactly your thing, you can create spoken presentations! youtube videos! as long as you're fairly consistent (think maybe just one thing put out every two weeks or so) for a few months at a time (i know it can be difficult, but it can help to have another person keep you motivated & on track!) you'll very literally be unbeatable.

if you start posting in 9th grade, building up until college, twice a month for 10 months per year ...

2 posts/month x 10 months/year x 4 years = 80 posts

or you do more! weekly posts nearly every week of the year ...

1 post/week x 50 weeks x 4 years = 200 posts

as long as you're consistent, nobody can beat you.

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