I'm a junior in high school and I'm rather worried about whether I'll make it into a college or not. I want to hear from people who have made it into college or have some knowledge about college admissions to help me out. I get mediocre grades (B's + some A's), but I was told that strength of schedule is important as well, and I've taken 4-5 honors courses each year, 6 next year. I haven't taken the SAT or ACT yet, but I'm going to in April. I'm just really worried because I've heard that they pay a lot of attention to people's extracurricular activities, which I have none of except for Symphony Orchestra. I'm afraid I'm not competitive enough as a student to be considered by any decent schools, and I'll just end up going to a community college and living with my parents for the rest of my life.
EDIT: Also, do you have to write an admission essay for a lot of colleges?
From what you say, you seem in fairly good shape. I had no extracurricular activities outside of Gaming Club, and that ended sophmore year when the school closed the club down. I did work part time during the school year, though, so they may have taken that into account. A's and B's are fine, you may not get into Harvard, but you'll get into a decent school. That's still Honor Roll, I think. If you're that worried, though, it wouldn't hurt to work harder, then. Find some extracurricular activity that you like, and maybe try more for A's than B's.
I go to community college right now, but that is by choice. I was accepted to Penn State, University of Pittsburgh, and Temple University in Philadelphia, but they were all too expensive and I didn't get enough financial aid. Community College, at least my college, is ridiculously easy, and it's a good way to get credit for some of the crappy core classes you have to take, and then you can transfer to a four year school. SAT's do count, though, be sure to do well on that if you want to start at a four year school.
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but I was told that strength of schedule is important as well, and I've taken 4-5 honors courses each year, 6 next year.
Strength of schedule is definitely a factor in admissions. In fact, a B in an honors course probably looks better than an easy A in a regular course. It shows that you are willing to challenge yourself.
I'm just really worried because I've heard that they pay a lot of attention to people's extracurricular activities, which I have none of except for Symphony Orchestra. I'm afraid I'm not competitive enough as a student to be considered by any decent schools, and I'll just end up going to a community college and living with my parents for the rest of my life.
It will all depend on the schools that you are considering, but yes many top colleges and universities tend to gravitate towards well-rounded individuals who have both decent grades and some extracurricular involvement. I wouldn't obsess over this too much however. I had only had NHS, Computer Club and Marching Band on my schedule of after-school commitments and I still managed to get into a good university. Your involvement in music will look very good, trust me.
I know this can be a pretty stressful time in your life, as I went through the exact same thought process. Just prepare well for the SAT/ACT and focus on finishing high school on a strong note. Be sure to apply to every college and/or university you might have an interest in going to, including at least one 'reach' school, two or three you're fairly confident you will get into and one or two 'safety' schools, just in case.
Aye, yeah I know I need to do that more... I struggle a lot forcing myself to do the work. I ace all my tests, but I barely do my homework I have a lot of issues with depression and whatnot and I get into these stupid mindsets where I just think that no matter what I do, it won't matter, and I have no future, so I just sleep.
By the way, I intend to go to college to major in Computer Security and minor in Programming. I'm looking at three colleges right now. One called Davenport that's in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Another that I forgot the name but it's in Rochester, New York. Heh, forgot the other one's name but it's in Pennsylvania, I believe it is a tech branch of Penn State.
I'm attending a JC right now and I plan to transfer to San Diego State in two years. I didn't even take my SATs or ACTs.
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You could transfer to university from a community college. I highly doubt you need to write admission essays unless it's some prestigious university or med school.
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Noticed your comment about not doing your homework. That's got to change. There will be a lot more work involved in college than in highschool.
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Sounds like grade and class wise your definatley ok. A few more A's wouldn't hurt, but your not in a bad shape either. Band/Orchestra always looks good, and maybe one or two other clubs would be good. Key Club (Community Service) or the like is a pretty easy thing to do and looks really good to prospective employers and colleges.
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Noticed your comment about not doing your homework. That's got to change. There will be a lot more work involved in college than in highschool.
seconded!
With some much work in College you need to train yourself to get used to a heavy outside of class work load. I also aced tests and said f--- u to homework, but I was in for a shock in college.
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Would the college in Rochester be RIT (Rochester Institute of Technology)? I do have a friend who goes there, and his grades were about on par with yours. I'm not sure what he got on his SAT or ACT, but I know he didn't do much in the extracurricular area.
Anyways, as long as you get a fairly good grade on your SAT/ACT, you should be fine. Most colleges do require an essay, but you can use the same essay for each college you apply to. Just a hint for your essay topic: Try to write about some sort of challenge you faced (preferably an academic one). The admissions people seem to love those.
Another that I forgot the name but it's in Rochester, New York.
RIT (Rochester Institute of Technology), perhaps? I'm from Rochester, and that's the big techy school around here... I have a few friends that go there... With your grades you should be able to get in there as long as you keep it up. If you start doing your homework, and get above like a 1200 on the SAT's, I'm sure you'll stand a pretty good chance ;-)
Writing this, I see Green Kamahl had the same guess...
As far as extracurriculars go, I don't think that it's THAT big of a deal (I'm sure they help though). I did only a few.. Math League, NHS, and had part time job and I got into Cornell... The people I know who got into RIT didn't really do much. One did school plays, one played soccer, another was in NHS (but was close to being kicked out lol).
I have found that extracurricular activities can be just as important as strength of schedule and GPA when applying to notable universities (things like writing for the school paper, sports, clubs, alliances, etc).
I think your in good shape besides your lack of commentment to HW. A community college isn't the end of the world though. I, and many others, was also screwed on finacial aid, and ended up going to a CC for a couple years before transfering. In a way it was better, but if you can afford the expense of going full-time at a 4-year, then by all means go for it
Realistically, there is generally little reason to go to a University straight out of high school anymore. You can save a lot of money getting your general ed requirements out of the way at a community college and most Universities are very accomidating to transfers. Even Ivy League schools accept transfers from community colleges. Assuming you can get past your propensity for ignoring homework and receive excellent grades at the college level, your high school record will be irrelevant (or close to it).
I am Valedictorian, 2-4 Honors Classes each year, 2-4 Extra Curriculars each year. I got accepted into each college I applied to with pretty good scholarships. I didn't have to write admissions essays for the ones I applied to, just had to write about a page about myself, grades, activities, etc. It's not so much whether you get accepted, but rather the scholarships. Honestly, so simply set your expectations at a reasonable level and do what you feel is right.
By the way, I intend to go to college to major in Computer Security and minor in Programming. I'm looking at three colleges right now. One called Davenport that's in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Another that I forgot the name but it's in Rochester, New York. Heh, forgot the other one's name but it's in Pennsylvania, I believe it is a tech branch of Penn State.
As a matter of fact, I am majoring in Computer Science. [Programming and Computer Security (huh?) are not majors.] The reason I bring this up is because I have heard of Davenport, but am going to either University of Detroit Mercy or Lawrence Technological University, if not Kettering University.
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my friend fluncked out of highschool with less than a 1.0 gpa, took some time away from school and then went to community collage for 2 years then went to asu and has like a 3.0 gpa now. so yeah your going to be fine.
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There are so many colleges and universities today that basically anyone can go to college.
This is true, though the majority of colleges can tell you that it's not about getting in, (which in reality is the easiest part, the start of a 4 or more year battle), but staying in. Keeping up with your work and getting good grades, etc, is what really counts.
As I said before, and many other people, your doing fine, just work on your HW habit and you'll be fine.
I'm a junior in high school and I'm rather worried about whether I'll make it into a college or not. I want to hear from people who have made it into college or have some knowledge about college admissions to help me out. I get mediocre grades (B's + some A's), but I was told that strength of schedule is important as well, and I've taken 4-5 honors courses each year, 6 next year. I haven't taken the SAT or ACT yet, but I'm going to in April. I'm just really worried because I've heard that they pay a lot of attention to people's extracurricular activities, which I have none of except for Symphony Orchestra. I'm afraid I'm not competitive enough as a student to be considered by any decent schools, and I'll just end up going to a community college and living with my parents for the rest of my life.
EDIT: Also, do you have to write an admission essay for a lot of colleges?
Well let me share my personal experience with you, which im sure will make you feel a lot better bout your situation.
To begin, I am now 22yrs old, and am in my last year at college. In highschool, I had, literally, ZERO extra curricular activities. I didnt play sports, I wasnt in band, I didnt join any clubs, and I wasnt on the Student Senate. I took the SATs and got a 1180 (a decent score, but nowhere near amazing). Regardless, I applied to several schools in-state, and was, surprisingly, accepted at one 4-year school, and 2 different 2 year community colleges. I decided to go to the closer of the 2 year community colleges and got my Associates Degree in Liberal Arts in 2005, and then decided to immediately transfer to a 4 year school to finish my Bachelor's Degree. I applied to 4 different schools (including Rutgers and The College of New Jersey) and was accepted to all but 1 of my choices. I am now about to begin my final 2 semesters and finish my thesis and finally get my Bachelor's Degree in History. All this from a kid who really did poorly in highschool, had ZERO extra-curriculars, and really had nothing outstanding academically in my records, and generally drank and partied way too much in highschool, but I was still accepted and am now graduating.
Basically, what Im trying to say is, If I can do it then so can you thats for sure.
And yes, you will have to write an essay to most colleges you apply to, but they mostly want to know about you, so dont feel like you have to write them War & Peace.
It sure can seem like it is a huge drastic change, and it sure can be frightening to think you will not be able to get your foot in the door, but trust me, you will be fine.
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There are so many colleges and universities today that basically anyone can go to college. Personally, i go to UCSD, if u want to go to a really prestigous school u need communtiy service as well as good grades and good test scores. Also, being a minority helps a hell of a lot too. No one really knows how college admissions work because they look at the "whole" person and nit just score so it is good to be well rounded.
In my opinion freshman classes in college are way easier than highschool AP classes becuase there is almost no homework and only tests, also class is not even mandatory.
Just as a caution, not all colleges are the same in every way (including difficulty of freshman classes), and in the UC's being Asian is actually NOT being a minority.
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Getting B's and A's are merely mediocre for the colleges. Why? This is because even though classes in college are graded on a Bell curve, the middle of the curve is rarely a C. Usually, it is a C+ or B-. This means C's and B's are average, B's and A's are mediocre, and 75% of college students think they're in the top 10% whereas in reality it is the administrators making the professors grade this way to boost up the average GPA of the college. In High School, getting B's is almost unacceptable. In High School homework actually counts, etc. In college there is hardly any homework in science and engineering classes.
Rather than taking "honors" courses, I would recommend AP/IB courses. They will boost your GPA more (an A in an AP class is weighted as 5.0 in college GPA considerations, whereas honors classes have no such guarantees) and also qualify you for college credits. This means when you enter college, you won't have to take classes you already took that correspond to the AP tests you passed (for example, if you pass the AP Calculus exam with a good enough score, you won't have to take freshman calculus 1, etc.) This will save you time AND money, seeing how AP classes are free and the tests are less than $100 (compare that to the $2300 for four classes per quarter tuition I'm paying). Colleges also look favorably on achievers who take AP classes as opposed to merely honors classes.
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SAT/ACT are important. It would really help if you also do some studying (there are a lot of free resources online) before you take the test. AP tests are also important, but those are tied in with AP classes so your aptitude in those classes determine your grade more than studying. My friend's high school GPA was hovering around 2.0 when I took the ACT for him (he had access to the ASB and could print fake ID cards), got an awesomely high score, and he was accepted into UC San Diego. (However, I do not recommend this illegal activity.)
You should not be afraid to write an essay. If you have good writing skill and something to offer, an essay will let you demonstrate that as opposed to the acceptance administrators just seeing you as statistics. Also, in college, writing papers is an important skill. If you can't write an admission essay, how are you supposed to survive college? If you have money to waste, you can pay professional essay writers on the Internet to do it... or you can just ask some English-savvy friends for help. Right in college a ton of my old high school friends are asking me to write/edit/revise their essays for them, including the valedictorian. Essay-writing skills will help you later in life and in quite a lot of situations. It is better to start developing them now and put that to good use in your college application.
As for extracurriculars, I've played some sports in high school, had affiliations w/ low maintenance societies/club, etc. You can also do volunteer work (my high school required 12 hours of volunteer work for each year you attend the school, so that's 48 for me) and put that on your application. Internships or attending community college in high school (in some high schools you can attend community college classes such as Calculus in high school) will also make your application look good. A good way to pad this up (if you still have time) is to create your own club. The salutatorian and some friends and I created our own AP club for a few AP classes and made ourselves officers. However, if your academic credentials are impressive enough, extracurriculars or lack thereof will not matter.
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I would recommend a community college only if you are not planning on going to graduate/med/pharmacy/etc schools. If you are, you are better off enrolling in a 4-year university and getting a bachelor's degree (which actually will only take 3 years or less with AP credits and a bit of hard work). I entered into UCSD in Fall 2005 with 72 AP credits (from passing/acing 15 AP tests) and now have 140 credits. I will be able to graduate sometimes in early 2008, earlier if I bother to take a higher courseload (but I won't because I'm lazy). Even while attending a 4-year university you will be able to take many GED classes in a community college (for a much lower rate than the money asked by a 4-year university). If you are low income, you will be able to get financial aid everywhere. If you are not, then you won't get financial aid... anywhere. Thus, it doesn't really matter which type of college you go to if financial aid is a decisive factor. The bigger schools will offer bigger packages, and the smaller schools correspondingly smaller financial aid packages.
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As for actual college life itself, community colleges are basically High School 2.0. These will probably not prepare you for real colleges, where the competition is harder (especially in prestigious ones such as UC B/LA/SD, Ivy League, etc.) In upper division and sci/eng/math classes, grades will be based 90%+ on tests, midterms, and finals with little or no homework. In GED social sciences and humanities classes, grades will usually be based on a few essays and a final test/paper. There will be very little pressure to do homework and read, but a lot of pressure to study for the tests. In my experiences, I did not need to buy books for 50% of the courses I took because I never read the books or do the recommended HW. I just studied my lecture notes and aced the tests.
Speaking of which, always attend class and discussion/review sections, even if they are not mandatory. These will help you a lot more than book studying, because book studying is 100% your own efforts, whereas lectures are a much more passive experience. Also, sit in the front rows if possible. This way, you can make friends with and even date other people sitting in the front rows (like I did) while absorbing the professor's lecture more easily (a nice bonus as well).
I'm a junior as well, with generally a range of B+ to A (and A+ in stuff like pe), taking all honors classes (AP U.S. history, AP English, Honors Chem, Honors Pre-Calc), with some extra classes thrown in (anatomy, band, Latin IV). I also will be an Eagle Scout by the time I apply and do Crew and am Vice President of our Student Council, in addition to playing Piano fairly profeciently, and guitar, oboe, and clarenet well enough. I'm getting kind of nervous about college as well. My biggest flaw is I can get distracted out of school, so I tend to procrastinate on studying and papers, etc, although when I get interested in projects, I can get really into them, usually overdoing the assignment.
My primary interests are Computers (as in Computer Science/Programing), Animation, and Politics, and I like math a good deal as well.
My concerns are as follows: I'm not really sure what schools to focus my attention on, as I'm currently bombarded by advertisments (never check that "allow colleges to contact me" box on PSATs!), to the point where I can't go through them all. What are good colleges for my interests?
Furthermore, I'm concerned that I won't be up to snuff for solid colleges, and although what you have said so far seems to discredit that fear, it still remains. What should I do to increase my chances of getting accepted at good colleges? Furthermore, what are the primary keys to success once at college? I mean, out guidance councelers tell us tons of ****, but I want some info from people who are in, or recently out of, college to give me a better perspective.
I plan on going to college for at least a PhD, although I'm not sure in what right now, and then maybe going in to graduate college for law or medicine, depending on where my interests lead me.
If you have solid high school GPA (more than 4.0), you will get accepted into almost every public school. For the Ivy Leagues just tack on a few extracurriculars (look like you have that down with the Eagle Scout and mucho musical instruments thing) and you'll be fine.
Why are you even reading college ads? Choose one based on your own research. The ads they send are never personalized and don't offer you any more chance of admissions than you just going to their websites.
What universities are you trying for? It all depends on that.
This quote isn't getting nearly enough attention. If you're aiming for a state school or community, then you can practically asleep through your next year of high school; if you're aiming for Harvard, then you neeed to get more involved in the community, in the school, get better grades, show more initiative, etc.
It entirely depends on which college you want to go to and/or what you wish to major in.
Seems like your pretty set. Apply to 3-4 schools. I was C average, had a good essay, 1220 on my SAT, was only in a couple of school groups. Got accepted at Rowan and NJIT in New Jersey. You should be fine.
Rather than taking "honors" courses, I would recommend AP/IB courses. They will boost your GPA more (an A in an AP class is weighted as 5.0 in college GPA considerations, whereas honors classes have no such guarantees) and also qualify you for college credits. This means when you enter college, you won't have to take classes you already took that correspond to the AP tests you passed (for example, if you pass the AP Calculus exam with a good enough score, you won't have to take freshman calculus 1, etc.) This will save you time AND money, seeing how AP classes are free and the tests are less than $100 (compare that to the $2300 for four classes per quarter tuition I'm paying). Colleges also look favorably on achievers who take AP classes as opposed to merely honors classes.
EDIT: Also, do you have to write an admission essay for a lot of colleges?
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I go to community college right now, but that is by choice. I was accepted to Penn State, University of Pittsburgh, and Temple University in Philadelphia, but they were all too expensive and I didn't get enough financial aid. Community College, at least my college, is ridiculously easy, and it's a good way to get credit for some of the crappy core classes you have to take, and then you can transfer to a four year school. SAT's do count, though, be sure to do well on that if you want to start at a four year school.
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You call A's and B's "mediocre"? That's well above average, you should be proud of yourself.
Strength of schedule is definitely a factor in admissions. In fact, a B in an honors course probably looks better than an easy A in a regular course. It shows that you are willing to challenge yourself.
It will all depend on the schools that you are considering, but yes many top colleges and universities tend to gravitate towards well-rounded individuals who have both decent grades and some extracurricular involvement. I wouldn't obsess over this too much however. I had only had NHS, Computer Club and Marching Band on my schedule of after-school commitments and I still managed to get into a good university. Your involvement in music will look very good, trust me.
I know this can be a pretty stressful time in your life, as I went through the exact same thought process. Just prepare well for the SAT/ACT and focus on finishing high school on a strong note. Be sure to apply to every college and/or university you might have an interest in going to, including at least one 'reach' school, two or three you're fairly confident you will get into and one or two 'safety' schools, just in case.
Good luck! I'm sure you'll be fine. :):cool:
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Aye, yeah I know I need to do that more... I struggle a lot forcing myself to do the work. I ace all my tests, but I barely do my homework I have a lot of issues with depression and whatnot and I get into these stupid mindsets where I just think that no matter what I do, it won't matter, and I have no future, so I just sleep.
By the way, I intend to go to college to major in Computer Security and minor in Programming. I'm looking at three colleges right now. One called Davenport that's in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Another that I forgot the name but it's in Rochester, New York. Heh, forgot the other one's name but it's in Pennsylvania, I believe it is a tech branch of Penn State.
Thanks for the replies.
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seconded!
With some much work in College you need to train yourself to get used to a heavy outside of class work load. I also aced tests and said f--- u to homework, but I was in for a shock in college.
Anyways, as long as you get a fairly good grade on your SAT/ACT, you should be fine. Most colleges do require an essay, but you can use the same essay for each college you apply to. Just a hint for your essay topic: Try to write about some sort of challenge you faced (preferably an academic one). The admissions people seem to love those.
Hope I helped in some way.
RIT (Rochester Institute of Technology), perhaps? I'm from Rochester, and that's the big techy school around here... I have a few friends that go there... With your grades you should be able to get in there as long as you keep it up. If you start doing your homework, and get above like a 1200 on the SAT's, I'm sure you'll stand a pretty good chance ;-)
Writing this, I see Green Kamahl had the same guess...
As far as extracurriculars go, I don't think that it's THAT big of a deal (I'm sure they help though). I did only a few.. Math League, NHS, and had part time job and I got into Cornell... The people I know who got into RIT didn't really do much. One did school plays, one played soccer, another was in NHS (but was close to being kicked out lol).
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As a matter of fact, I am majoring in Computer Science. [Programming and Computer Security (huh?) are not majors.] The reason I bring this up is because I have heard of Davenport, but am going to either University of Detroit Mercy or Lawrence Technological University, if not Kettering University.
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This is true, though the majority of colleges can tell you that it's not about getting in, (which in reality is the easiest part, the start of a 4 or more year battle), but staying in. Keeping up with your work and getting good grades, etc, is what really counts.
As I said before, and many other people, your doing fine, just work on your HW habit and you'll be fine.
Well let me share my personal experience with you, which im sure will make you feel a lot better bout your situation.
To begin, I am now 22yrs old, and am in my last year at college. In highschool, I had, literally, ZERO extra curricular activities. I didnt play sports, I wasnt in band, I didnt join any clubs, and I wasnt on the Student Senate. I took the SATs and got a 1180 (a decent score, but nowhere near amazing). Regardless, I applied to several schools in-state, and was, surprisingly, accepted at one 4-year school, and 2 different 2 year community colleges. I decided to go to the closer of the 2 year community colleges and got my Associates Degree in Liberal Arts in 2005, and then decided to immediately transfer to a 4 year school to finish my Bachelor's Degree. I applied to 4 different schools (including Rutgers and The College of New Jersey) and was accepted to all but 1 of my choices. I am now about to begin my final 2 semesters and finish my thesis and finally get my Bachelor's Degree in History. All this from a kid who really did poorly in highschool, had ZERO extra-curriculars, and really had nothing outstanding academically in my records, and generally drank and partied way too much in highschool, but I was still accepted and am now graduating.
Basically, what Im trying to say is, If I can do it then so can you thats for sure.
And yes, you will have to write an essay to most colleges you apply to, but they mostly want to know about you, so dont feel like you have to write them War & Peace.
It sure can seem like it is a huge drastic change, and it sure can be frightening to think you will not be able to get your foot in the door, but trust me, you will be fine.
Hope it helped a little.
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Just as a caution, not all colleges are the same in every way (including difficulty of freshman classes), and in the UC's being Asian is actually NOT being a minority.
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Getting B's and A's are merely mediocre for the colleges. Why? This is because even though classes in college are graded on a Bell curve, the middle of the curve is rarely a C. Usually, it is a C+ or B-. This means C's and B's are average, B's and A's are mediocre, and 75% of college students think they're in the top 10% whereas in reality it is the administrators making the professors grade this way to boost up the average GPA of the college. In High School, getting B's is almost unacceptable. In High School homework actually counts, etc. In college there is hardly any homework in science and engineering classes.
Rather than taking "honors" courses, I would recommend AP/IB courses. They will boost your GPA more (an A in an AP class is weighted as 5.0 in college GPA considerations, whereas honors classes have no such guarantees) and also qualify you for college credits. This means when you enter college, you won't have to take classes you already took that correspond to the AP tests you passed (for example, if you pass the AP Calculus exam with a good enough score, you won't have to take freshman calculus 1, etc.) This will save you time AND money, seeing how AP classes are free and the tests are less than $100 (compare that to the $2300 for four classes per quarter tuition I'm paying). Colleges also look favorably on achievers who take AP classes as opposed to merely honors classes.
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SAT/ACT are important. It would really help if you also do some studying (there are a lot of free resources online) before you take the test. AP tests are also important, but those are tied in with AP classes so your aptitude in those classes determine your grade more than studying. My friend's high school GPA was hovering around 2.0 when I took the ACT for him (he had access to the ASB and could print fake ID cards), got an awesomely high score, and he was accepted into UC San Diego. (However, I do not recommend this illegal activity.)
You should not be afraid to write an essay. If you have good writing skill and something to offer, an essay will let you demonstrate that as opposed to the acceptance administrators just seeing you as statistics. Also, in college, writing papers is an important skill. If you can't write an admission essay, how are you supposed to survive college? If you have money to waste, you can pay professional essay writers on the Internet to do it... or you can just ask some English-savvy friends for help. Right in college a ton of my old high school friends are asking me to write/edit/revise their essays for them, including the valedictorian. Essay-writing skills will help you later in life and in quite a lot of situations. It is better to start developing them now and put that to good use in your college application.
As for extracurriculars, I've played some sports in high school, had affiliations w/ low maintenance societies/club, etc. You can also do volunteer work (my high school required 12 hours of volunteer work for each year you attend the school, so that's 48 for me) and put that on your application. Internships or attending community college in high school (in some high schools you can attend community college classes such as Calculus in high school) will also make your application look good. A good way to pad this up (if you still have time) is to create your own club. The salutatorian and some friends and I created our own AP club for a few AP classes and made ourselves officers. However, if your academic credentials are impressive enough, extracurriculars or lack thereof will not matter.
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I would recommend a community college only if you are not planning on going to graduate/med/pharmacy/etc schools. If you are, you are better off enrolling in a 4-year university and getting a bachelor's degree (which actually will only take 3 years or less with AP credits and a bit of hard work). I entered into UCSD in Fall 2005 with 72 AP credits (from passing/acing 15 AP tests) and now have 140 credits. I will be able to graduate sometimes in early 2008, earlier if I bother to take a higher courseload (but I won't because I'm lazy). Even while attending a 4-year university you will be able to take many GED classes in a community college (for a much lower rate than the money asked by a 4-year university). If you are low income, you will be able to get financial aid everywhere. If you are not, then you won't get financial aid... anywhere. Thus, it doesn't really matter which type of college you go to if financial aid is a decisive factor. The bigger schools will offer bigger packages, and the smaller schools correspondingly smaller financial aid packages.
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As for actual college life itself, community colleges are basically High School 2.0. These will probably not prepare you for real colleges, where the competition is harder (especially in prestigious ones such as UC B/LA/SD, Ivy League, etc.) In upper division and sci/eng/math classes, grades will be based 90%+ on tests, midterms, and finals with little or no homework. In GED social sciences and humanities classes, grades will usually be based on a few essays and a final test/paper. There will be very little pressure to do homework and read, but a lot of pressure to study for the tests. In my experiences, I did not need to buy books for 50% of the courses I took because I never read the books or do the recommended HW. I just studied my lecture notes and aced the tests.
Speaking of which, always attend class and discussion/review sections, even if they are not mandatory. These will help you a lot more than book studying, because book studying is 100% your own efforts, whereas lectures are a much more passive experience. Also, sit in the front rows if possible. This way, you can make friends with and even date other people sitting in the front rows (like I did) while absorbing the professor's lecture more easily (a nice bonus as well).
My primary interests are Computers (as in Computer Science/Programing), Animation, and Politics, and I like math a good deal as well.
My concerns are as follows: I'm not really sure what schools to focus my attention on, as I'm currently bombarded by advertisments (never check that "allow colleges to contact me" box on PSATs!), to the point where I can't go through them all. What are good colleges for my interests?
Furthermore, I'm concerned that I won't be up to snuff for solid colleges, and although what you have said so far seems to discredit that fear, it still remains. What should I do to increase my chances of getting accepted at good colleges? Furthermore, what are the primary keys to success once at college? I mean, out guidance councelers tell us tons of ****, but I want some info from people who are in, or recently out of, college to give me a better perspective.
I plan on going to college for at least a PhD, although I'm not sure in what right now, and then maybe going in to graduate college for law or medicine, depending on where my interests lead me.
Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks.
Why are you even reading college ads? Choose one based on your own research. The ads they send are never personalized and don't offer you any more chance of admissions than you just going to their websites.
It entirely depends on which college you want to go to and/or what you wish to major in.
Well, yeah, I meant AP when I said honors.
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