The College 1OH1 Thread

[Ron Swanson]

HS Senior and College bound here (yes I'm in high school). Any U.S. HS kids yet to apply can ask me about college process because I got 100% done with it (mentally done too) after Christmas. I'm open to share where I applied, my scores, what I did for ECs, etc.. I decided where I'm going last month so :)

 

Took AP WH last year, Princeton Review is the best. I saw you had it down so thats good. 

For AP prep books, I heard for some subjects CliffNotes = Princeton >> Barrons

 

SAT: I didn't take the revised SAT so I can't help on that. For the math section its good if you know the math, but if you're really lazy you can try downloading the programs for certain subjects. This applies to the ACT too.

ACT: Just buy the official red book, don't get the 2016 version because its literally same thing as the 2011 one. I bought the 2011 one and has improved my scores. Don't skip questions because they don't deduct points for incorrect choices. 

SAT Subject: I wasted money on getting the Barron's book for Biology. Honestly don't buy a prep book if you aren't willing to concentrate and study a lot from it. I slacked off and it showed in my subject scores.

 

General scholarships: 

Gates Millennium Scholarship (10 essays you have to write btw)

Niche No Essay (Its legit lol) 

 

Asian:

APIASF 

Edited April 22, 2016 by Ron Swanson

[Ron Swanson]

thank you!

so when you applied for your colleges, did you get into the rly good ones?

bc im worried about my grades in math

i take the harder classes... but the way it's done is just weird in my school or smth and i have like a b

rn i have a low b, including a low b last semester (precalc)

 

like i don't want a community college, but i want to go to a renowned school ya know

not those unis that are just okay

Sorry this took too long. I was trying to type this all up.

 

I applied to 13 schools. Most seemed out of reach for me and my guidance counselor even said so but lol in the end its your decision. What I went through and where I'm going in green:

[spoiler]

My background stats: I took the SAT and ACT three times each. I dont know why I did it and it was stupid lol. My stats didn't jump up alot so it was a waste of money. I don't know what I was thinking applying to Ivys with these scores but yolo  :lol:  :lol:  :lol: . Its funny looking back at it now.

Superscored ACT: 27C; 30 English, 23 Math, 31 Reading, 25 Science, 28 Writing, Essays 8/12 

Superscored old SAT: 1670; 580 Critical Reading, 530 Math, 560 Writing (MC 54, Essays 10/12)

Unweighted/Weighted GPA (100 scale): 93/100, 95/100. On a 4.0 scale I think that's 3.5 and 4.0? It confuses me..

Class Rank: 46/223

AP Classes: Junior year --> World History (4), English Language (4), U.S. History (3)

Senior year --> Biology, French, English Literature. I'm taking it in two weeks and I have barely studied.  :imstupid:  :imstupid:

Foreign Lang taken: French (4 years), Latin (3 years).

Extracurriculars: I flip flopped sports and clubs because I was trying to find the right fit for me. But the things I'm in now are Art Club, this volunteer job on OH, and Academic Decathlon. 

Volunteering: Pretty important if you want to go to a top school. I volunteered at my school's multilingual center in the summer and helped kids enroll in school. I only volunteered once, but its quality > quantity. I related to this work because I know how its like being an immigrant kid.

 

Acceptances

Boston College < Committed

Bryn Mawr (Womans college, I chose test optional choice. Surprised I got in because I slacked off on writing their supplemental essay until June lol...) 

3 In-State Schools

University of Vermont

 

Waitlisted

University of Connecticut - Storrs (Main Campus)

 

Rejected

Cornell & Yale

Stanford

Bowdoin College

Colby College (I only applied because it was free lmao)

Boston University (BC > BU, surprising huh lol)

 

When I got my first rejection from my ED school, I'll admit I cried lol. But once you get acceptances from other places it'll be alright. Its not the end of the world if you don't get into your top choice. It doesn't mean your an idiot either. Stanford's acceptance rate was 4.2% this year. I already knew I would get rejected the moment I sent my application in, but you miss 100% of the shots you don't take. If you get free fee waivers from Common App, exploit them!!

 

Essays do matter and the admissions council will notice whether or not your being genuine or trying to impress them. My essays were very personal and emotional. I didn't have to make my essays like that but its not bad to show how you feel in certain situations in your life to them imo. Put a face to your application and don't rely on the numbers to get you to the accepted pile.[/spoiler]

 

How are your grades during the 3 years so far? Have you improved your GPA or made it worse? They'll look for patterns.

 

If your schools curriculum or grading system is weird, they'll take into account what is available at your school. So if you don't have APs, they won't penalize you for it and so on. Just get high grades in the hard classes. Some schools might re-do your GPA (for example to take out gym class) so it may look different to them. 

 

Reowned school or not, you have to do well to get good job prospects and graduate school placement. Like people say its not where you go, its what you do those 4 years.

Edited April 22, 2016 by Ron Swanson

[Ron Swanson]

more like two haha

it's not bad but obvi could be better

freshman year: all A's except for math (88 both semesters, acc geom)

sophomore year: all A's except english and math (rn 86 in english, 83 in english)

i do well on the tests in english (last one i got a 97), but i just rly can't be fucked with reading so >.>

math is just hard bc it goes by such a quick pace and my teacher likes to go on about the backstories of how formulas were created...

 

pretty much worse...

:rlytearpls:

last semester i got an 83 naturally in apwh bc of this dbq i failed so badly + other county exam that required writing. dropped from an 89 > 86 > 82 and only got up a point bc of the final ;___;

now i have a 90 (dropped again 2 pts bc of test..)

 

rank: 140/1000

gpa: 3.75

haven't even taken sat or act, but i got a 1000 on psat for the new version im pretty sure

 

agh idk ik i shouldnt base grades off of having all A's but i want a rly high gpa and just go to a good college

plus i have a dbq to do that's due this monday

can you help revise it when im done pls

:rlytearpls:

What schools are you interested in right now? If its ivy leagues, your GPA isn't so bad but could be better if you raise those classes to an A by the end of this year. Class rank looks like your in the top 25%.

 

A 100 on a 160 psat seems pretty average. When are you planning to take the tests? Do you qualify for fee waivers? I would honestly try both the SAT & ACT practice tests (you can find tons of practice tests online for the ACT, not sure about the new SAT) and see which one your most comfortable with taking for real.

 

A useful website that has all of their stats (GPA, SAT/ACT, crime rate, etc.) is collegenavigator. Does your school use Naviance? If so you could check if your GPA and test scores are in line with the students who were accepted from the same school as you.

 

The world history test changed this year so I'm not sure if they changed their DBQ rubric too, but I can try to help you edit it by looking back at my old DBQs saved on Google Drive.

[Ron Swanson]

prob during the summer

i took the psat for free at my school

 

i dont think so. ive never heard of that before.

 

oH REALLY??

THANK YOU

ill send you the link when im done, though i think it'll take me awhile >.>

Kk yw