– don’t do everything…pick one thing and dedicate your time and energy into it. colleges want to see that you have some passion/interest in ONE thing. oh, and it also makes for a good essay topic.

– as for school, do this: figure out which classes you can slack through but still can get a good grade in it. then put more effort in the harder classes. that way, your grades will be close to perfect.

– write great fantastic essays. distinguished ones that aren’t boring. more importantly, DON’T BE TYPICAL.

but the whole thing comes to what the college is looking for THAT SPECIFIC year and chance…honestly, it’s chance. but by the looks of it, you’ve got a great advantage when it comes to the UCs. oh, one more thing: with your academic achievements so far, try for the private universities…you never know what could happen.

I’m just curious as to what a UW GPA is and what’s a W GPA. Is that weighted and unweighted? Cuz if you’ve calculated your UC GPA to be 3.96, than your other GPAs don’t really matter too much since we’re talking about UC schools.

Also, just curious as to how you determined Troy was the #3 high school in CA? Normally, you use the API scores. 2006 are the latest numbers. I just checked SF, LA, and Orange counties and found 4 other schools ranked higher than Troy. Not that being #5 is anything to sniff at.

check out http://talk.collegeconfidential.com under the “What Are My Chances” topics, Many students who apply to UC’s and top schools use this forum, you’ll also see your competition

Write a good essay. Nothing too plain like, “I studied hard for my classes…”

Dazzle the reader. :] Make it interesting.