[rawritskim]

thanks for all the feedback guys!
i'm feeling slightly more confident and ready for college apps
xDD
good luck to the rest of you guys, esp. c/o 09!!

[LUX.]

I started my college applications a week ago, and I am so freaking nervous! I am applying to a lot of colleges, but I'll group them in order of importance to me. I am going to be a senior in high school this fall, and I live in a suburb twenty minutes from Seattle, Washington and my high school is a part of the IB (International Baccalaureate) Program which is JUST like the AP program that most of you are in.


Colleges
Top choices:
Rice University (this is my top choice, I am just dying to go here)
University of Washington's Honors program
Dartmouth (although I doubt that i'll get in here)

Safeties
University of Washington (I know I'll get in for sure)
Scripps
Whitman
(i really need some more safeties)

Applying just in case the Admission officers mistakenly accept me >_< :
Harvard (I wish)
Yale (I wish)
Brown (highly doubt)
Cornell (highly doubt)

I'll state my extracurriculars first because they were a BIG focus for me.....

Extra Curriculars
Music:
-Took private lessons on flute since fifth grade, 2000
-I practice at least two hours a day, with an hour long lesson a week.
-Part of Seattle Youth Symphony since 2001, (biggest youth symphony organization in the US), we practice 5 hours a week every weekend during the school year and have a minimum of 3 concerts at Benaroya Hall.
-2nd place at WA State high school solo competition freshman year
-Attended Seattle Youth Symphony's Summer music program summer before soph. year-1st alternate for State "Music Teacher's National Association" Competition sophomore year.
-2nd place Washington State Youth Music Competition junior year
-participant of Seattle Young Artists Festival since fifth grade, winning Special Recognition for my Complete Program, Concerto Competition, and Ensemble sections each year.

Volunteer:
-4 hours a week at local hospital, junior through senior year
-2 hours a week at my korean church, I help take care of the handicapped kids during the adults' services, junior through senior year
-2 hour a week at local church's AWANA program during school year (kinda like babysitting with games), junior through senior year

Internship:
-I am currently an intern for the Washington State Democrat's Coordinated Campaign, and I am working on the Governor Chris Gregoire Campaign and Barack Obama's Campaign for Change.
-I started this summer, as the election season has started and I work at least 25 hours a week (no pay)
-During the school year(senior year), I will probably work at least 15 hours per week. (eek!)

Grades/Scores:
School:
Unweighted GPA: 3.87 (But I swearrr that it will be at least a 3.91 at end of first semester senior year!!!)
Full IB Candidate, I took the highest level classes possible for all of my high school years.

Courses, Grades:

Freshman Year
1st Semester
Integrated Math 3 Honors Pre-IB, A
Biology Honors, A
English Honors, A
Spanish 5-6 (Year 3) Honors Pre-IB, A
History Honors, A
Digital Communications (Stupid required class for my school), A
Wind Symphony (highest level band), A

2nd Semester
Integrated Math 3 Honors Pre-IB, A-
Biology Honors, A
English Honors, A
Spanish 5-6 (Year 3) Honors Pre-IB, A
History Honors, A
Health (Stupid required class for my school), A
Wind Symphony (highest level band), A

Sophomore Year
1st Semester
Integrated Math 4 Honors Pre-IB, A-
Chemistry Honors, A
English Honors, A
Spanish 7-8 (Year 4) Honors Pre-IB, A
AP European History, A
Wind Symphony (highest level band), A

2nd Semester
Integrated Math 4 Honors Pre-IB, A-
Chemistry Honors, A
English Honors, A
Spanish 7-8 (Year 4) Honors Pre-IB, A
AP European History, A
Wind Symphony (highest level band), A

Junior Year (OH GOD I FAILED HERE)
1st Semester
IB Calculus, A
IB Chemistry, B- (OMG)
IB English, A-
IB Spanish 7-8 (Year 4), A-
IB History, A-
IB Physics, A
Wind Symphony (highest level band), A

2nd Semester
IB Calculus, A
IB Chemistry, B+
IB English, A
IB Spanish 7-8 (Year 4), A
IB History, B+
IB Physics, B+
Wind Symphony (highest level band), A

So yeah, i FAILED junior year practically, BUT I am DETERMINED to get a 4.0 my senior year.


Tests, Scores:

Freshman Year
n/a

Sophomore Year
AP European History- 4

Junior Year
PSAT: 97th Percentile, total was 201 (I forget the details)
SAT I: Critical Reading 710, Math 770, Writing 670--TOTAL 2150
SAT II: Math Level 2 780, US History 630 (UGH!)

Senior Year (planned):
SAT I one more time (musttt get at least 2220)
SAT II US history(? I am undecided about this....help. but if so, I must get at least a 740)



Pleaseee help me, I am stressing out sooo much =/

Hi there!
Your stats sound VERY good! I'm going to Brown this fall and I think you have a more than good shot at getting in! Your current SAT score is very solid, so retaking is unnecessary, but of course, it couldn't hurt to retest anyways
Your SATIIs are very good as well and so are your ECs. The only thing I would worry about are some of your grades, but I think your other stats more than make up for them. Plus the Bs are in IB classes, so it's not bad at all. I had a couple of Bs as well.
Also, I think it's great that you're working with the Democratic Party, as Brown is known for being very liberal and prides itself on its politically active students!

In other words, I think you're a shoe in! ^__________^

Good luck applying!

[falsesugar]

Wowwwwww people in this thread are seriously amazing.
You guys all have shots at getting into your dream universities!
I totally slacked off my freshman year but after that summer I moved to Thailand where school seems to have a little more pressure so now I'm determined to get into Cornell.
Unlike you guys I'm not an out-of-the-world extraordinary student
Hopefully I do something impressive the last two years of high school and keep my GPA up.

[kuhat]

i took SAT 2 bio and i got 460 ish
and i was just wondering is it better to take it again?
or take a different SAT subject test? like chinese

[hankyungie]

^ study and take it again.

[「Sachiko」]

kuhat
kat! (: I think you should take it again. try to score higher than 500, since you're almost there! >< I took my SAT II bio (ecology) in may.. when I was studying for AP bio, bio finals, AND SAT II for bio ><;; .. all that studying led to me getting a freaking 680 x

--

I've taken SAT II Math IIC, Bio (ecology), and US history and got 680s for all of them.. I'm retaking Math IIC in november, so should I take SAT II Chinese in November too? ._.x

[HolaIAmJustin]

I'd really like to know my chances of getting into UCSD or UC Santa Cruz.


GPA:

Overall: 3.86
I don't know how to calculate weighted, but it's complicated since my school is on block scheduling.

AP/Honors Classes:

Junior Year
Chem/AP Chem [1 on test -_____-] [B/A]
US History/AP US History [2 on test -_______________________-] [A/B]
Honors English 11 [A/A]

Senior Year
Calculus/AP Calculus
Spanish 4/AP Spanish
English 12/AP English

Extra-curriculars

Clubs:
Key Club - 1 year before it disbanded
INTERACT - 2 years active, continuing senior year
Tech Club - 2 years active
CSF - See INTERACT
Debate Club - 2 years active

Sports:
Swimming (2 years) - 1 year JV, 1 year Varsity
Tennis (1 year) - 1 year Varsity

Volunteering: 500+ hours thanks to Junior Lifeguarding


SATs

I:
Reading: 600
Math: 600
Writing: 680

II:
US History: 610
Chem: 570
Math 2: 670

EDIT: I'd like to point out I'm in the lower half of what is qualified as "smart" at our school, I guess

[Avex]

I'd really like to know my chances of getting into UCSD or UC Santa Cruz.


GPA:

Overall: 3.86
I don't know how to calculate weighted, but it's complicated since my school is on block scheduling.

AP/Honors Classes:

Junior Year
Chem/AP Chem [1 on test -_____-] [B/A]
US History/AP US History [2 on test -_______________________-] [A/B]
Honors English 11 [A/A]

Senior Year
Calculus/AP Calculus
Spanish 4/AP Spanish
English 12/AP English

Extra-curriculars

Clubs:
Key Club - 1 year before it disbanded
INTERACT - 2 years active, continuing senior year
Tech Club - 2 years active
CSF - See INTERACT
Debate Club - 2 years active

Sports:
Swimming (2 years) - 1 year JV, 1 year Varsity
Tennis (1 year) - 1 year Varsity

Volunteering: 500+ hours thanks to Junior Lifeguarding


SATs

I:
Reading: 600
Math: 600
Writing: 680

II:
US History: 610
Chem: 570
Math 2: 670

EDIT: I'd like to point out I'm in the lower half of what is qualified as "smart" at our school, I guess

Is this who I think it is?

[ohcrap12345]

i'm scared to death

freshman year: 1.78 gpa (i regret this year so much)
sophomore year: 1.87 gpa (slacked my ass off, i so regret it)
junior year: 3.7 gpa (finally woke up and realized that this year was the year for me to shine or else it was the end of the world)
senior year: ???

what are my chances of getting into a regular university? by regular i mean any decent regular 4 yr university .. as in rutgers, uconn, cunys, sunys, etc (i'm from the tri state area) ... please not community college, my parents hate community college and won't send me to one EVER. since i fked up freshman and soph year, are my chances slim?

[HolaIAmJustin]

Is this who I think it is?

Sup Francis.

[SOULSTAR*]

Im wondering if i should even APPLY to Berkeley or UCLA.
please tell me what my chances are

Freshman GPA: 3.0 and 3.0 (doesnt count in GPA)
Sophomore: 3.3 fall and 4.0 spring
Junior: 4.13 fall and 4.3 spring.

Overall GPA is 3.9 weighted -__-

I had a recent grade improvement, and my school is part of the low API.
Basically if you have a good gpa (in terms of my school is above 3.9 weighted) and an okay sat (from 1600-1800) you have a pretty good chance to UCLA etc.

I have a good amount of extracirricular activites, awards, and community service

SAT Subject tests:
Korean: 770
Chemistry: 520 (Should i retake?)

SAT :
1760 (will retake on October)

[xm1chelle]

i deleted half the stats accidentally so i just deleted the rest

[zonkey]

I'd really like to know my chances of getting into UCSD or UC Santa Cruz.

Your chances of getting UCSC are pretty high in my opinion haha

STATS

GPA : 3.98 weighted (only .025 extra for ap classes)

SCHOOLS I'M CONSIDERING: (For Business)
Carnegie Univ.
Boston College.
UNC Chapel Hill.
UCSD
UCI
Tufts
UCR
Boston Univ.
UCLA
Vassar College
College of William & Mary
Bentley College

My standardized test scores are bad, bad, bad. So I have to work harder.
Oh yea, can anyone suggest what colleges I would be probably be able to get into. Much help & suggestions would be appreciated

I'm pretty sure you can get into UCI and UCR without any problems. You can also get into UCSB, UCD, UCM, UCSC easily.

[pxd]

Can anyone bother to chance me please? And give me some ideas for planning?

Hey guys getting nervous for my senior year

Semi-competitive public school in CA; taking the most rigorous classes
Ethnicity: Asian/Korean with a Canadian nationality

Stats:

SAT: CR 630 Math 770 Writing 700 Total: 2100/1400 -- will retake (aiming for 2200+)
SATII: Math II 770, Chem 790, Korean 800
May take physics if I get a chance

GPA: 3.8 UW ~4.5 W

Classes:

Freshman (was at a very competitive private school in Canada that is ranked first in the province):
Science9(credit as Bio)
Math9 H
English9 H
IT9
French9 H
Band9
Social Studies9
Art9
Career Planning9
PE9
*Math and French are the only honor classes offered in freshman year

Sophomore:
Chemistry H
Trigonometry
Literature 2
AP Euro
French 2
PE 2
Ceramics

Junior:
Physics H
AP Chemistry
AP Calclus AB
AP Language & Composition
AP US History
French 3

Senior (what I will be taking)
AP Physics C
AP Calculus BC
AP Literature
AP Economy Micro(1st Sem)/US Govt(2nd Sem)
AP French (had to choose between BC)
AP Statistics (taking just for the 5 class per year requirement)

EC's:

Math Club: three years, president for senior year
Science Club: two years, president senior year
Rugby Club: two year, president senior year
BBoy/Dance Club: two years, treasurer senior year
Played on the basketball and rugby teams as freshman
Been playing trumpet since 8th grade; will try to get a degree(?)
I also have a digital portfolio that I've been working on(not sure if it's helpful in non-art schools); worked with companies for logos and business card designing

Community work:

~300 hours of community service
Volunteer at city library
Volunteer at church, acting as a teacher at junior-high ministry


Need to work on:
Leadership
*****Outstanding extracurriculars...something that will make me stand out
Expand the whole graphics/portfolio work
Research?
Essay and recommendations
Sports(I'll probably start playing rugby again but on a separate club)


Awards/Recognition:
Freshman: National Top 10% in Pascal Mathematics Contest
Gold Standard in Fryer Mathematics Contest
Sophomore: None :/ (getting used to US)
Junior: Silver medal award for academics(7 consecutive honor rolls)
Top 5% at American Mathematics Competitions
AIME qualifier


Schools applying:

Stanford
Brown(my bro goes there; not sure if gives a slight edge)
Johns Hopkins
Northwestern
Duke
Cornell
USC/ADAPT
UCLA
UC Berkeley
UCSD

Probably will apply for Biochem major except for the advanced dental program at USC.

:/ thanks guys in advance

[mojomunkeez]

kuhat
kat! (: I think you should take it again. try to score higher than 500, since you're almost there! >< I took my SAT II bio (ecology) in may.. when I was studying for AP bio, bio finals, AND SAT II for bio ><;; .. all that studying led to me getting a freaking 680 x

--

I've taken SAT II Math IIC, Bio (ecology), and US history and got 680s for all of them.. I'm retaking Math IIC in november, so should I take SAT II Chinese in November too? ._.x

Do not take SAT II Chinese unless you're absolutely positive that you can get an 800 on it. That means missing ZERO questions. The number of fobs taking the test and getting them all right greatly skews the curve towards the higher scores; so much that one missed question will send you tumbling down to a 740 or so. Now you may think that is good, but colleges not only look at the scores, but the percentile of your score, that is, how your score compared to other people's scores. A 740 would be around 50th percentile, which means you scored better than only half the people taking the test. Cast in that light, your score would not seem very impressive at all. And colleges know that Chinese people will take the Chinese test, and they know that just about everyone gets 800, so they really take SAT II Chinese test scores with more than just one grain of salt.

And naturally, you want to get 800 on all your subjects, that's the goal, no?

[Vivskies]

I'm just curious, but will colleges look at this situation differently, as in a good light, or will they look at it normally:
I took 1/2 a semester of AP Euro, instead of the full semester.
However, I was able to score a 4 on the AP Test.
:x So yeah. How exactly does that look?

[mojomunkeez]

They don't look at your AP scores until after your actually get accepted.

[Vivskies]

o_o ^ are you serious?
so my 1/2 a semster B+ with a 4 on the AP Test looks the same as mr.bob who also got a B+ yet scored a 1 on the AP Test and took a full year

[YO ITZZ JASONN]

my friend finished hs with a 2.8 gpa ... he got a perfect score in the math section of the sat's .. overall, decent SAT score .. idk what and how many extracurriculars he did but he got denied by csu fullerton ... but accepted to UCONN (which is where he went to) ... how is that possible? o_O

Also do colleges look at the overall HS gpa more or the grades by individual grade? like for example, let's say a student got:

1.8 gpa freshman year (really bad)
2.5 gpa sophomore year (still not good)
3.5 gpa junior year (huge improvement)

total average gpa = 2.6

and let's the say college's minimum gpa is 3.0 ... then is the student screwed? ... or does the junior year gpa make up for EVERYTHING along with decent SAT & extra curriculars ?? =X

i know there's a lot of people in a situation like that .. if they make a huge improvement junior year i believe a chance is deserved to get into an at least decent college .. like SUNYS or CUNYS .. or they worked their ass off junior yr + early senior yr for nothing if they don't make it to a regular 4 year university =/

shytttt

[mojomunkeez]

o_o ^ are you serious?
so my 1/2 a semster B+ with a 4 on the AP Test looks the same as mr.bob who also got a B+ yet scored a 1 on the AP Test and took a full year

Sorry to break it to you, but yeah. In fact, there is not even an option to put in your AP scores on your college application. They get automatically sent to the school you enroll in by collegeboard.