[JJL24]

Hey guys, I'm in dire need of some help.

The main criteria I was looking for in schools were:

Nice campus (although I can't know everything about this just from word of mouth and pictures)
Close to home, but far enough away to make me feel like I'm not still there
A plus would be having a Sports Management program, but I'll take business as a backup.
Relatively easy to get into because of my grade situation

Now, the main reason my grades were so horrible, mainly my 7th grade through sophomore years, was because I was diagnosed with severe depression. I had family problems, deaths in the family, etc. that I was dealing with, and I didn't do nearly as well as I wanted to. I no longer deal with the effects of the depression and look forward to getting back on honor roll in my senior year. I'll probably write about this while applying.

Anyway, here are my stats and college list:


White guy living in Pennsylvania...

Academics:

GPA - Unweighted: 2.5

Scores:

SAT I Math: 530
SAT I Critical Reading: 500
SAT I Writing: 560

Taking ACT in September

Extracurriculars:

Significant Extracurriculars: FBLA
Leadership positions: student council representative (10th and 11th)
Athletic Status - list sport and your level: basketball (9th grade team, JV 11th, Varsity 12th)



And my list:

Ohio University
Towson University
Bowling Green State University
Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania
Monmouth University
Millersville University of Pennsylvania
Penn State-Harrisburg (will try to transfer to PSU-Univ. Park after first year)


Any help would be great, and I'd really like to see how I match up with OU and BGSU. Thanks.

[akenon]

JJL24, you're a senior right? To be honest I don't know any of the colleges on your list... I'm from the west coast .__.;

What's your GPA weighted? A lot of schools take that into consideration. Also, if you bring your grades up this year it will be really good! Because, colleges look for improvement. So yeah.. it will also be good to write about in personal essays how your depression affected you and how you grew from it.

Try taking your SAT's again because you still have October and November. Have you taken your SAT Subjects yet? Because I think most colleges require subject tests as well. So, I would recommend taking Subjects in October and SAT Reasoning in November? There's also a test in December and I think it still counts for most universities, so if you don't do well in either of those then you can take one again. Also the ACT is good to take and if you score well enough on the ACT you won't have to worry too much about your SAT.

Sports and student council will look good for the application. Are you planning on joining student council again? That would be good too. :]

[piQ]

Not all colleges require an SAT II. But I'd take one or two just in case. Let's say you and this other person are applying to the same university with very similar stats and clubs. If you took the SAT II while the other guy didn't (and scored decent, around 650-700ish), then the colleges will want to choose you more for taking one step further. That's from what I heard. SAT II's are fairly easy though. Choose a subject that most interests you. Maybe you are good at a science or language. I chose the mathematics fields and did well on them ^^

Well here are my stats. I don't remember exact numbers for my GPA.

I am ranked 135ish out of 342ish. ^^;;

For the SAT I's, I got a total score of 2370. 800 M 770 CR, 800 W (Writing and CR might be mixed).
SAT II's I got a 740 on US History, 800 Math IC 800 Math IIC

Clubs I did Marching Band and basketball

I think it's my ranking that hurts me. Ouch ^^;;
I plan to apply to the following:

UIllinois and Boston College

[akenon]

lol everyone on soompi has like godly SAT's and stuff. :/ I didn't know that about the SAT II. All I know is the UC system and they require at least 2. So thanks for the information :]

[IATEYOU]

thank you akenon and avex!
right now im leaning towards just retaking the SAT II's and leaving the SAT I's because i feel like im going to do worse <- this is BAD, right?

current SAT score, 2220 and i took it once.
on the SAT II's i got:
bio 690 T___T
math iic 760
lit 700

so, if i keep 2220 SAT I score, but get like...bio 800, lit 800 and stuff, do you think it'll be ok? would i have a change of getting into an ivy like harvard with those scores?


im sry that im kind of repeating the same question....its just that this is a really important decision for me, and all of you guys give really good advice. i really appreciate it. thank you!!!

[XtremeNuisance]

lol everyone on soompi has like godly SAT's and stuff. :/ I didn't know that about the SAT II. All I know is the UC system and they require at least 2. So thanks for the information :]

Gosh. I was wondering why so many people were taking SAT IIs.... It confused the crap out of me because it wasn't required for the school I got into if you took an AP Calculus exam. Otherwise, an SAT II Math was required. But yeah. Kind of makes me wish I took an SAT II test... then maybe I would have got into Duke. =D

[akenon]

@pinkieboox3
Wow o__o; Usually people do better on their SAT I the more they try and the highest they get on their subject test is the June after they take that class. At least that's how it is over here. But I'm probably doing my SAT subjects over again rather than my SAT reasoning since.. I'm not aiming too high? haha and also my SAT subjects were really low .___.;; You're going to be a senior right? Well, you have 3 tests left before its too late for application: October, November, December. You can take your subjects again in October and if you get a high enough score you have enough time to take the SAT Reasoning again! :]

@XtremeNuisance
lol for me its exactly the opposite! I thought that everyone had to take SAT II no matter what~ And that the only reason you wouldn't take it is if you go to community college or something like that XD;

[JJL24]

JJL24, you're a senior right? To be honest I don't know any of the colleges on your list... I'm from the west coast .__.;

What's your GPA weighted? A lot of schools take that into consideration. Also, if you bring your grades up this year it will be really good! Because, colleges look for improvement. So yeah.. it will also be good to write about in personal essays how your depression affected you and how you grew from it.

Try taking your SAT's again because you still have October and November. Have you taken your SAT Subjects yet? Because I think most colleges require subject tests as well. So, I would recommend taking Subjects in October and SAT Reasoning in November? There's also a test in December and I think it still counts for most universities, so if you don't do well in either of those then you can take one again. Also the ACT is good to take and if you score well enough on the ACT you won't have to worry too much about your SAT.

Sports and student council will look good for the application. Are you planning on joining student council again? That would be good too. :]

I haven't taken any Honors/AP courses, so my GPA is the same weighted. I'll be taking the ACT in September, but I probably won't take the SAT again. I don't plan on joining student council, the only new things I'll be doing are probably FBLA and maybe baseball. The only thing I can hope for is to get a 3.5+ the first quarter and hope that that's enough to get me in.

[abviolinplayer]

k so here's my scenario...I'm a senior, have a 3.8 GPA and mostly As, (1 B so far) and I've taken/am taking ~8 AP courses in high school. I've been in a school orchestra for 6 years as well as 4 years in a youth orchestra. that's about as far as my extracurriculars go...so I'm wondering if my lack of community service and extracurricular activities will hurt me when colleges look at my transcript. My mom says it will...but it's really too late to do anything about it ><;; I'm really worried I'll get rejected from a college b/c I haven't done enough...is that true??

[Avex]

Hi, abviolinplayer, it's a lot better devoting time to just a few ECs rather than a whole bunch like lots of people here. One reason is because they know, for you, it's not necessary about numbers (unless you suddenly decide to add some ECs, which you should not do AT ALL) When you write down your college application essay, you want to be able to have the admissions officers remember who you are based on what you write down.

Here's some examples people have brought up in this link. I know I bring up my source from another forum, but the truth is, a lot of people here seem to believe whatever is written down in a forum, therefore it doesn't seem wrong to trust what a forum says. However, you should always be aware that there are a lot of myths regarding the infamously dubbed "ECs":

http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showpo...p;postcount=151

[akenon]

JJL24, good luck on the ACT! I heard it's a lot easier than the SAT. Don't forget to study though ;D Uhm maybe you can get in touch with admissions officers at the school you want to go to and see what type of grades they expect? Or check their website and search for freshman profile of 2006. Then you can get a general idea of what you need.

abviolinplayer, your orchestra will probably look good :] As for other extracurriculars, I think that it might look bad to just join a club to join a club... because colleges know that people join clubs just so they can say they were in clubs haha. As for community service it would have looked good to do some in previous years but I don't think it would hurt to do some this year~! I think as long as you have good grades and SAT, your orchestra should pull you through :] All the AP courses will help as well.

EDIT: Is it okay if i put my profile up again? No one answered me .___.;;

General Statistics:
GPA: 4.0 unweighted / 4.3(?) weighted
Rank: Unknown (My school doesn't do ranks, but I think I'm in top 4% because I got the letter from UC system saying I was guaranteed a spot in one of their campuses..)
School Type: Magnet school (California Academy of Mathematics and Science)

Testing:
PSAT: 211
SAT Reasoning Math: 750
SAT Reasoning Reading: 730
SAT Reasoning Writing: 680
SAT Reasoning Composite: 2160 / 1480
SAT Subject Chemistry: 690
SAT Subject Math IIC: 700
SAT Subject Math English Literature: 630

I plan to take SAT Subjects again this October and depending on those scores I might take the subjects again in November, or retake my reasoning. But best case-scenario, I won't have to because my mom says it cuts it too close to the application deadline. I don't know if I can raise my SAT subjects by a lot but if I can get at least 2 of them over 700 I'll be happy .__.;

Classes:
Freshman Year:
-Integrated Mathematics Program 1-2
-Japanese 1-2
-Engineering
-Integrated Science 1-2
-Health/Computer Skills
-Computer Science (Elective)
-English 1-2 Honors
-Physical Education 1-2

There were hardly any honors in this year because at CAMS, everybody takes the same classes. There's only one teacher per subject, so if they don't teach Honors then you have to take a non-Honors course .___.;;

Sophomore Year:
-Integrated Mathematics Program 5-6
-Japanese 3-4
-Integrated Science 3-4
-Biology
-English 3-4 Honors
-Physical Education 3-4
-AP Psychology (5) (Elective)
-World History Honors(?)

I'm not sure if Biology was honors or not, because everyone said that it USED to be honors before our class, and then the state told us we had to make it not honors? I don't know why, but I think it had to do with the fact that since EVERYONE takes it, then it can't be honors? I forgot what they said.

Junior Year:
-Integrated Mathematics Program 7-8
-Art 1-2
-Drawing Fundamentals (College course)
-English Honors 5-6
-US History Honors
-Chemistry Honors
-Japanese 5-6

I was supposed to take more classes but I thought that our school didn't have art anymore, so I took it at community college to fulfill my visual/performing arts credits. However.. that made it so that I had to drop some of my classes (Anthropology and precalculus). 4 months after school began we hired an art teacher, but it was too late to drop my class by then. When I came back after that semester the Anthropology and precalc class was closed so I thought I would just get more A-G credit if I joined the school art class.

Senior Year:
-AP Calculus BC
-AP Physics
-AP Statistics (Elective)
-AP English Literature
-Government and Economics Honors
-Art 3-4 (Elective / After school class) My counselor says I have too many classes.
-Yearbook (Elective)
-Japanese 7-8

-Introduction to Chinese (Adult School class)

I thought I wanted to be an artist since Freshman year so that's why I took so many art classes in high school .__.; But now I want to be a business major. (haha) Instead of Yearbook I probably should have taken Anatomy and Physiology, but ever since middle school I've wanted to try yearbook so it's my last chance! D:


Extracurriculars:
Key Club: 2.5 years, continuing senior year, no leadership positions .__.;
Study Group Club: 1 year, was not renewed the next year, treasurer
SAT Prep Club: 1 year, continuing senior year, co-founder and president
Japanese Club: 1 year, merged with Asian club last year, no leadership .__.;
Asian Club: 1 year (they started the club last year), not sure if the club will be renewed next year, no leadership .__.;
Art Club: 2 years, not sure if club is being renewed next year, no leadership .__.;
Work Experience: Worked at a craft fair for the past 1 1/2 years
Tutoring: Every summer with my mom's math class? :/ I don't know if it counts. Also, I had a job tutoring a girl in elementary school this summer.
Volunteering/Tutoring: Tutored students at library for 2 years / 60+ hours recorded.. would have recorded more but the library couldn't find their binder when I needed it D:
Volunteering/Web Design: 2 years / 20ish hours recorded? It didn't take long to work on websites haha
Church/VBS: Helped every summer since sixth grade
AMC (Math Competition): 2 years, no awards .__.;
Math Modeling Competition: 2 years, continuing senior year, last year we got honorable mention
Art Contest (painting): Didn't get anything :/
Class of 2008 Website: Co-founded, worked for 2 years / might work again on it this year if the spots for it haven't been filled

Overall I think that my extracurriculars are kind of weak. :/ Hoping to get something in Math Modeling this year and maybe try tutoring more.

College Goals:
Intended Major: Business Economics
First Choice Colleges: UCLA, UCI
In Between(?) Colleges: UCSD, UC Berkeley (My dad doesn't want me to go there), UCSC
Backup Colleges: UCR, UC Merced, CSU Long Beach

[Avex]

akenon, your stats are quite good.
but, as for your ECs, you need to find a way to stand out a bit so that you don't look like the typical college applicant. how are they going to remember you if everybody (it really seems like it) has the same stats like you? you need to stand out. i'd look at the link i posted for abviolinplayer if i were you.

I'm assuming you're becoming a senior, so I'd look at th UC personal statement prompts.
And as the topic starter said:

Oh, and after listening to the admission officers stress over and over about the essay, it really let me understand that they really just want to see who I am, and not what I perceived I should come off as. It made me realize that they want to hear some of my more ahem eccentric side, and that they already see too many apps with what I perceived as the so-called "Perfect Harvard Applicant"

This applies to every college, IMO.
Now, you do have a chance on many of the UCs listed above, but if u want to increase your chances significantly, please make yourself stand out based on who you are. Be yourself.

[courtzn3y]

General Statistics:
GPA: 4.0 weighted
Rank: not sure, but pretty sure I'm in the top 20% (not saying much, I know)

Testing:
SAT: 1900 (planning on retaking) Math and reading combined: 1290
SAT subject test: foreign lang 800 (planning to take biology)

Classes:
Don't want to list everything I've taken, but I've taken honors courses in math and english. Took AP stats, AP bio. Taking AP lit, AP gov, and AP calc
made A's and B's


Extracurriculars:
Key Club: 4 years
Spanish Club: 4 years
Track: freshman year
Biology club: 2 years
National Honors Society
played violin 7 years

Volunteered as a tutor 50 hours?
Volunteered at the public library 50 hours
other volunteer hours: 50+
and I write poetry and submit them lol?

I'm seriously so so so worried right now!
I'm not very studious and my extra-curriculars are lacking because I move a lot, in country and out, (13 times!) so never really developed a hobby
My first choice college would be University of Michigan

my backups are OSU and Michigan State

I was hoping to see more people in my situation, but everyone looks so incredibly studious and well rounded
Do I even have a chance of getting in UM? My dad is working there, and I don't want to be too far from home. Lame, I know

[akenon]

Haha, unfortunately if I were just "myself" I might look pretty flat. Even my boyfriend says I'm kind of boring .__.; My hobby is studying lol. (like.. it really is my hobby.. not just joking .___.; )

But I'll try to stand out more! I'm hoping for a leadership position in art club this year. Besides that all I really have is my little SAT club~. Maybe I'll try for Asian club too. [I was in their fashion show and multicultural holiday performance if that counts for anything??]

I'm hoping that I can get super high on my SAT scores and then maybe I can stand out a little more, since my scores are pretty average, but that's really not going to happen haha. I've been taking practice tests once a week and every week the score goes down! I must be getting discouraged XD;;

I just started rewriting my UC prompts last week *I can't believe they changed it! D:* and it's due tomorrow for my English class so hopefully it will go well~ And my teacher will edit it and stuff. I think at my school they make you edit it like 3 times, so I'll probably have a really refined personal statement by the end of it.

[Avex]

Wait, you think your SAT scores are average?
Hi, courtzn3y, try to stand out of one of our ECs based on what you already have. What about violin?

[akenon]

Well... like low-average?

Pretend this is a scale of SAT scores haha

...LOW.....AVG.....HIGH...
[=====|=====|=====]
..............X

The X is where I'd put my score if I ranked it

For SAT Subjects I know it's low though haha

[Avex]

Well, you're not so bad, really. But if you think you can give it another shot, go ahead. But realize there are better things to do rather than making your score higher.

[chaoticrose]

I'm going to 10th grade this September so besides the freshman part,
this is only what I plan on for the rest of my high school years *sigh*

General Statistics:

GPA: 4.0 unweighted (for now)
Umm... in my class I should be in top 5%

9th:
Geometry
Life Skills/Health
H English
H Biology
Sociology/Psychology
Spanish 2
P.E.

10th:
Algebra II
AP Psychology
H English
AP Biology
AP World History
Spanish 3
P.E.

11th:
AP Calc AB
AP Art History
AP English
AP Chemistry
AP Spanish
AP US History
Leadership

12th:
AP Calc BC
AP Econ/Gov
AP Physics
AP English
---------?
---------?
Leadership

Extracurriculars:
National Honors Society
Volunteering at hospital
Johns Hopkins Distance Education Program
Guitar: 6+ years

...yeah, not much +_+
Oh... and my SAT I was around 1500/2400 (but I took it in 8th grade aaah)

I'll probably apply to:
UCLA, UC Berkeley, Stanford, Harvard (haha.), Princeton, Yale, UPenn, & UCI as safety

[Avex]

Good luck balancing your heavy schedule, that's if, you want to do all those in Junior Year and think you can handle it...

From an MIT admission's blog I read this morning:

On APs: http://www.mitadmissions.org/topics/before.../on_aps_1.shtml

MIT Recommended High School Admissions:http://www.mitadmissions.org/topics/before...ion/index.shtml

Now, note where I quote this from Rec. High School Admissions:

Extracurricular Activities:

Some students feel so much pressure to get into the "right" college that they want to make sure they do everything "right" - even do the "right" extracurricular activities. Fortunately, the only right answer is to do what's right for you - not what you think is right for us.Choose your activities because they really delight, intrigue and challenge you, not because you think they'll look impressive on your application. Go out of your way to find projects, activities and experiences that stimulate your creativity and leadership, that connect you with peers and adults who bring out your best, that please you so much you don't mind the work involved. Some students find room for many activities; others prefer to concentrate on just a few. Either way, the test for any extracurricular should be whether it makes you happy - whether it feels right for you.By the same token, some applicants struggle to turn themselves into clones of the "ideal" MIT student - you know, the one who gets triple 800s on the SAT. Fortunately, cloning is still for sheep. What we really want to see on your application is you being you - pursuing the things you love, growing, changing, taking risks, learning from your mistakes, all in your own distinctive way. College is not a costume party; you're not supposed to come dressed as someone else. Instead, college is an intense, irreplaceable four-year opportunity to become more yourself than you've ever been. What you need to show us is that you're ready to try.

Even though this is from an MIT blog, I think this applies to a lot of colleges in the US, if not, all.

You're pretty lucky you're becoming a sophomore. To be honest, a lot of this stuff, although I knew about, I barely thought about when I became a sophomore. I'm becoming a junior now.
But as for your ECs, stick with what you have and try to stand out somehow in something you really love the most. Do something different IF you find something really different you like.

[Alexiel]

I'm going to 10th grade this September so besides the freshman part,
this is only what I plan on for the rest of my high school years *sigh*

General Statistics:

GPA: 4.0 unweighted (for now)
Umm... in my class I should be in top 5%

9th:
Geometry
Life Skills/Health
H English
H Biology
Sociology/Psychology
Spanish 2
P.E.

10th:
Algebra II
AP Psychology
H English
AP Biology
AP World History
Spanish 3
P.E.

11th:
AP Calc AB
AP Art History
AP English
AP Chemistry
AP Spanish
AP US History
Leadership

12th:
AP Calc BC
AP Econ/Gov
AP Physics
AP English
---------?
---------?
Leadership

Extracurriculars:
National Honors Society
Volunteering at hospital
Johns Hopkins Distance Education Program
Guitar: 6+ years

...yeah, not much +_+
Oh... and my SAT I was around 1500/2400 (but I took it in 8th grade aaah)

I'll probably apply to:
UCLA, UC Berkeley, Stanford, Harvard (haha.), Princeton, Yale, UPenn, & UCI as safety

Wow, you're planning on taking AP Calc without taking Pre-calc? o_o Same with AP Chem.. maybe it's just me, but I took Chemistry Honors before AP Chem, and I'm taking Pre-calc before AP calc. Is it just optional for you guys?