Advice for Sophomore in HS?

Parents Forum
1

<p>Hi, I'm a sophomore, British Indian (although born in USA), and in the top 5% of my class (a class of about 400). I will have taken about 6 or 7 AP's before I graduate, and all other classes as Level 1 (Honors, highest) or Enriched (even higher than Honors for only math classes). I attend a somewhat highly-ranked public high school (top 10 in state). I currently have a weighted 4.3 GPA, unweighted of 3.7.</p>

<p>I'm hoping to bring that up my junior and senior year, which will be a challenge because of APs.</p>

<p>I took the PSAT and scored a 201/240 first try (rough equivalent of 2010 on SATs). I'll be taking the PSAT again and then SAT I in the Fall most likely. Any studying suggestions/ ways to do well? Also, do colleges look at the essay section?</p>

<p>FYI: I will be applying Financial Aid to probably all colleges...</p>

<p>EC's:
-Piano for 10 years- Master Classes and competitions
-I have rowed crew and been in track for the past two years in HS (JV crew, JV track)
-Heavily involved in Mock Trial and Debate Club- invited to opportunities within Town Government, shadowing state officials, I'm now applying to my State Youth Council chosen by the senator.
-Participate in MIT Splash program, take science classes- lab assistant
-Show Choir for past two years (Varsity)</p>

<p>Community Service:
-I live right next to a very impoverished city, so I am part of a tutoring program where I help students with their schoolwork, teach them music, etc.
-Volunteered at a senior home where I helped out, and also played piano for them.</p>

<p>-Total Hours: Around 200. I hope to be doing more this summer.</p>

<p>Misc:
-fluent in Hindi (can read, write, speak, understand)
-hobby of mine is scuba diving- I have been certified for 2 years now.</p>

<p>I know I'm only a sophomore, but I understand that I need to start thinking about college early. My dream school would be Cornell A&S because I am passionate about writing, government, etc., but I also love science and chemistry. The combination would be a great environment for me I think. My plan would be to apply ED.</p>

<p>Other colleges I'm interested in are:
UC Berkeley
UChicago
UNC Chapel Hill
Northwestern
Rice
UMich
Boston College
Safety schools: UMass Amherst, UMass Lowell</p>

<p>Again, since I'm a sophomore, I'm not too sure of exactly where I want to go, but I just want to know how I'm doing to be a contender for top-tier colleges. Please tell me what I should be doing more of, or changing. Please don't be afraid to be harsh. Also, the reason why I am posting this on the parents forum is because I know many of you have been through this process before, and have valuable advice. </p>

<p>Thanks for your time!</p>

2

<p>Go on CC threads and see the stats for this years “accepted” and “rejected” applicants for Cornell and other schools you are interested in. Have safety schools you will be happy going to. It is great you are starting early and good luck!</p>

3

<p>RE: Raising SAT score … find The Xiggi Method here on CC. You’re disciplined enough to make it work for you.</p>

4

<p>Another year of HS will likely raise your SAT scores due to an improved knowledge base. Take the free practice tests and work on areas of weakness. </p>

<p>Junior year is the last year seen by colleges so make sure it is your best year- improving grades can help a slow start the first two years but lower grades junior year will hurt you as colleges wonder if you can handle it and know how to study. If you haven’t had to study much to get good grades learn how to study- be sure to learn as much material and different skills as presented by your teachers.</p>

<p>Be sure to also enjoy HS- the last years of your childhood. Take advantage of the various activities available to you that you enjoy. Do not become obsessed with colleges.</p>

5

<p>Don’t want to discourage you, but here is what I have observed. My kids also attended what is considered a very good public school. Here is who got into HYPS:</p>

<p>the top 1% of the class (maybe the top 5 out of 600)
the top URM in the class (ranked in about the top 5%)
recruited athletes in the top 3-5% of the class</p>

<p>There were URMs in the top 10% with great local ECs who didn’t get into Duke, Vanderbilt, etc. Unhooked caucasians and ORMs needed to be at the very very top of the class to get in to the most competitive schools, even with great local ECs and 10-15 AP classes. It’s brutal out there.</p>

<p>It’s horrible to say, but from a public school (that doesn’t have GCs who “know people”) without a hook (like the ability to play a DI sport), you really need to get yourself into the to 1-2%.</p>

<p>Does your school give extra weight to AP classes? At my kids’ HS, freshmen and sophomes can only take one AP class a year. But junior and senior year, some kids take 5 or 6 year. With the extra weighting (and great grades, of course), they leap over the kids who only take one or two AP classes. You might be able to do that.</p>

<p>Any chance that you will be recruited for piano?</p>

<p>The state youth council sounds good. Try to think of things you can do at the state or national level. </p>

<p>

</p>

<p>Try to bulk up on the ECs that will relate to your eventual major. For example, the debate and government ECS will be more impressive if you apply as a government major. The science ECs will be more impressive if you aply as a science major.</p>

<p>Best of luck to you.</p>

6

<p>Bump bump!</p>

7

<p>

</p>

<p>Re: classes/grades, keep doing what you’re doing. It’s working. take some SAT practice tests and raise your score to be in the mid-50% or above for the schools you want to apply to.</p>

<p>The first thing that jumped out me was your lab assistantship. Take it to the max – really get involved in the summer, and build up your momentum in the work place. Take charge of any project, no matter how small, that’s given to you. Do it well, go above and beyond, and you will move on to bigger projects after a certain point. Your involvement will be noticed, and this will open up opportunities you don’t even know exist right now.</p>

<p>This is assuming you like assisting in the lab. Pick the activity you like best, and apply everything that was said above to that. Become so good at it that you can’t be ignored, and drop all the other fluff activities. Laundry lists impress no one.</p>

8

<p>Apply ED to Cornell if it’s your dream school. Your SAT scores will improve in Junior year. Don’t stress!</p>

9

<p>Be aware that most out of state public schools do not give too much financial aid (Virginia and North Carolina are said to be exceptions). However, some out of state public schools have relatively low list prices (e.g. Minnesota, NCSU, SUNY schools, Virginia Tech, Iowa State, Cal Polys, regional tuition discount schools if applicable to your state of residency) and others offer big merit scholarships for stats (e.g. University of Alabama campuses in Tuscaloosa, Birmingham, and Huntsville).</p>

<p>Run the “net price calculators” at each school’s web site and show your parents to see if they are able and willing to pay the expected family contribution. No sense in applying if you cannot afford it, unless there is a big merit scholarship to shoot for (which has a higher standard than merely admission).</p>

<p>Make sure that you LIKE your safeties and that they are affordable.</p>

10

<p>Since you already do service work and personal growth activities such as piano, enroll in the Congressional Award program. There aren’t very many kids who bother with this program. If you win a medal (which is purely through effort and record keeping), you may stand out compared to others.</p>

11

<p>Bump bump…!</p>

12

<p>I think your list of schools is lopsided: A bunch of super-selective schools and then two safeties. How about some target schools? Schools that have many of the characteristics of your favorites but are just a little easier to get into, and that may offer need-based financial aid as well as merit-based scholarships. Find schools where your projected test scores and GPA put you in the top 25% of applicants. Work with your guidance counselor to enhance your list.
You may well get into some of these top schools you listed, but if they don’t offer enough financial aid, then you will be forced to go to your safeties. If you read CC enough you will see plenty of posts from families where this has happened. Make sure you have plenty of options to choose from.
Other than that just continue to do well in your courses and do some prep work to prepare for SATs and/or ACTs. Get a test prep book or use one of the online prep services, you can also borrow books from the library to get additional sample tests. Don’t make yourself crazy trying to guess which activity will get more approval from colleges. Focus on those activities you enjoy the best.</p>

13

<p>(1) Study for the PSAT you’ll take in October of your junior year, to try to qualify for a National Merit Scholarship. Some people just study for the PSAT and SAT together. But they are actually pretty different tests (e.g., with different levels of math, and different ways of assessing writing skill), so you might be better off studying for each test separately. Use the College Board PSAT book to specifically study for the PSAT.</p>

<p>(2) Take a sample SAT and sample ACT (there are free sample tests on line, or use the ones in the the College Board/ACT prep books, or maybe your HS will offer sample tests that will mimic actual test conditions) to figure out which test is likely to work better for you.</p>

<p>(3) Set up a separate email address to use for college email. You’ll get bombarded with a ton of email once you take the PSAT/SAT/ACT or if you visit colleges and get on their mailing lists. You don’t want that mixing in with your regular email, because that makes it too easy to miss stuff. Also, use a “reasonable” email address
bad: fallingdowndrunk@**********
good: firstname.lastname@**********</p>

<p>(4) Visit a variety of schools (it’s OK if it’s just local colleges that are convenient for you) to get a feeling for characteristics that you like/dislike. Keep a notebook to jot down your reactions, so you can refer back to these ideas when it’s time tor write your college application essays.</p>

<p>(5) Use the college guide books/websites (e.g., the Fiske Guide) to research schools and find ones with characteristics that you like, where your stats compare favorably so that you are likely to be admitted. These can become safety schools on your list.</p>

<p>(6) Talk with your parents about paying for college. Run the college calculators on the websites of colleges you think you might be interested in, to get a read on costs. Make sure you understand terms like COA (cost of attendance) and EFC (expected family contribution).</p>

<p>(7) Don’t be so focussed on getting into college that you forget to enjoy HS. You only get to do HS once, and the time passes quickly. So try to make the most of it and enjoy each day as it happens!</p>

14

<p>Just for the record, colleges do not recruit for piano. The orchestra uses one pianist, if that, and pianists are a dime a dozen.</p>

15

<p>Most colleges do look at the score of the Writing section of the SAT, if that is what you are asking. If you are asking whether they read your essay, the answer is probably not - unless there is some major discrepancy between your application essay, your English grades, and your writing scores which lead them to believe that your application essay was ‘severely edited’ or written by someone else. A quick look at your essay section on the SAT will resolve that question pretty quickly.</p>

16

<p>Junior grades will be the most important, so really work on those grades next year. And if you are positive about Cornell as your first choice, apply ED. It can help alot. According to Naviance at our public HS, we had 3 kids accepted to Cornell this year, all regular decision, average UW GPA 3.9 and SAT of 2190. Good Luck!</p>