I’m not sure if this is the right category so I am sorry if it isn’t.
I’ve just started senior year, and I’m more worried than ever that I didn’t perform well enough in high school to get into a university. I have taken honors courses, but I worry that I just didn’t take enough. Anyways, I’m new here, so I’m not sure how to format posts and the like…
Cumulative Unweighted GPA: 3.67
Weighted: 3.91
Year 1: Honors English (B+ Average)
Year 2: Honors English (A), Honors World History(B-)
Year 3: Honors World Geography (A+), Honors French (A+), AP English Language (4 on the exam)(A), AP US History (3 on the exam)(A)
Year 4: AP French Language (Exam TBT), Physics Honors
Current Class Rank: 61/424
SAT
-Math: 470 (Sad, I know, but I’m retaking to get at least 500 in October)
-Reading: 520
-Writing: 640 (Figures I score best in the section that doesn’t even matter)
Intended Major: Foreign Language
I’ve got a good deal of community service under my belt but I’ve not been in any clubs… ever.
I was in AP Literature this year, but had to drop out because of the difficulty and the fact that I just hate literature. I wanted to take Honors Government, Economics, and AP Psych, but my school does not have Honors classes for Seniors (the only reason I got Honors Physics was because of a fluke), and AP Psych doesn’t fit into my schedule. I went to a different school my Freshman and Sophomore year that didn’t have nearly as many Honors and AP courses as my current school, so a lot of students are waaaay ahead of me in the rigor in their course loads. I’m definitely not trying to get into an Ivy League, but the schools in my state are extremely competitive and I’m worried that my transcript does not contain enough rigorous courses to be good enough for a 4 year university. I want to go out of state as well, but I know the standards for out of state students are much higher and have the same fear that I’ll be rejected everywhere I apply.
Sorry for the rambling if anyone actually read this. I know people on here are blunt and I want some of that bluntness right now because I’m honestly terrified that I am not good enough for a university. I’m the only person in my immediate family that plans on going to university, so it means a lot to me that I succeed and get admitted to one. Feel free to be mean because I don’t want to get my hopes up about college only to have them crushed when I get rejection letters one after the other.
I think you could definitely get into a good college. Just remember that colleges don’t just look at your grades and academics, they also take a good look into your essays, extra curriculars, rec letters, etc. Out of those three, I’d have to say essays are the most important. If you have a strong essay and present yourself well, then you have good chances of getting in.
Your own GC should know very well what you can be accepted to as far as you own state. You should also be familiar with the typical profiles as they are easy to look up, I don’t think you mentioned so we can’t comment. But there are many colleges you could go to.
What State do you live in?
What’s your parents’ budget?
On your latest practice tests, what’s your CR+M score?
I assume you’d major in French and perhaps minor in another language (Spanish? Portuguese?)
Yes, you will get into a good 4-year college. Obviously, not the Ivy league, but since it isn’t your goal you won’t be crushed by reading this
Are you first gen (neither parent got a 4 year college degree), live in a rural area or a lower-performing urban district?
A college for you to look into - fill out the request info questionnaire, etc - is Drake.
Once you’ve answered a few more questions from above parents here will be able to suggest more colleges.
Of course you are good enough to go to college. Your test scores may not reflect your potential as a student, but there are many test optional schools out there. Even with low test scores, there are schools that would welcome someone with a strong B+ average and a commitment to community service. Google some threads on CC and on the internet for a list of schools that might be a good fit. Here’s an example of schools that would be matches:
If you see a school you are interested in, google the Common Data Set for that school and go to Section C to compare your stats to those of the admitted students for the most recent year available. Then check how the school weights various factors for admission. Grades is usually #1.
And yes, go see your guidance counselor. If he or she has been in their job for any length of time, they have talked to many many students with your background and can provide you with both encouragement and a list of possible schools for you to consider where classmates with your stats have found their niche. Good luck!
I live in Texas with my mother, who has been unemployed for most of the year. Last year, her income was 16,000$ after taxes, but this year she has only made about 6,000$. We struggle with money, and she cannot help me with tuition at all.
The most recent PSAT I took was last year before the real one in March, my scores were; 440 (Math), 550 (CR), and 590 (Writing). I did better on the real SAT, thankfully.
I plan to major in Japanese Language, actually, with a minor in perhaps International Relations and Business or Asian History. I’m not sure, yet. All I know for sure is that I plan on becoming an interpreter because of my skill in Foreign Language. I like French, but Japanese is more useful to me.
I am first generation college student and live in a very poor urban area.
I will look into Drake!
Wait, you’re in Texas and you don’t plan to learn Spanish?
(okay, never-mind) Stay in-state to get your instate funding. The government funding programs don’t give a lot for your education.
What do you hope to do with your degree?
I know of several interpreters who work for court systems, hospitals, and universities.
They only interpret and do not make a whole lot of money, but they really didn’t need a degree, it just helped.
I moved to Texas last year. I never had an interest in learning Spanish.
I would like to stay in state, but limited schools offer Japanese. The only one I know of is University of Texas at Austin, but I seriously doubt I will be able to get it because it’s a very competitive school.
I don’t know what specific work I’ll be doing with my major. I would like to be a medical interpreter or work for the court systems. I know a friend of my family that makes excellent money interpreting Japanese at a call center in Houston, about 40,000$ a year. It’s probably not a lot to most people but it’s like 3 times the amount I grew up on.
Since you’re in Texas, a key element is your rank: you’re not top 8% nor top 10% so your odds at UT are practically nil (apply if you want to see, but… don’t hold out hope).
Your rank will affect your options at public universities.
A good match for your would be UTDallas, and they have both French and Japanese. In addition, they have an excellent Honors Program - apply to the McDermott.
Check out the following colleges (fill out the “request info” form)
Lawrence University, WI*
Linfield College, OR
Willamette, OR
UPuget Sound, WA
Austin College, TX
St Olaf, MN*
Earlham, IN
Gustavus Adolphus, MN
*= reaches.
Howard could be a good choice, because it’s in Washington DC and offers advanced classes in Japanese but also has automatic merit scholarships if you could bring your SAT scores to 1170 (full tuition) or 1300 (full tuition + room costs). It’s an HBCU so you may want to think about whether it may work for you.
Is your SAT score due to being ELL, or are you a native speaker?
If you’re a young woman, Spelman College (my alma mater) has an excellent Japan Studies minor and a year-long exchange program with Tsuda College in Japan, as well as several Japanese clubs and cultural activities on campus (cherry blossom festival, anime club, etc.) If you have a lot of community service you might be eligible for the Bonner Scholars program, which is based on community service (and comes with a scholarship). IT is an HBCU like Howard, but I thought I would suggest it anyway.
You don’t have to major in Japanese to learn it well; you just need a university with good offerings in the language, and maybe a minor. Texas A&M, Texas State, and Texas Tech all offer a minor in Japanese language. University of Houston offers Japanese classes up to the intermediate level; that’s not enough to get fluent, but after taking two years you may study abroad or do the JET Programme or something to increase your fluency.
A friend of mine went to Agnes Scott for undergrad, took all their Japanese classes, studied abroad in Japan for a year, and then completed the JET Programme (which is a teaching fellowship for at least one year in Japan) and developed fluency in Japanese. She was conversational before she did her year in JET.
Other test-optional schools that are excellent and have offerings in Japanese are American University, Bard College, Beloit College, Brandeis University, Bowdoin College, Bryn Mawr - I ran out of time to make it through the whole list but there are some truly great colleges that are test-optional and probably have Japanese.
There’s a Japanese Consulate in Houston you may want to write an email to explaining your situation. Japan offers various scholarships for students who want to learn Japanese.
Do you know any Japanese? I took three years of Japanese at a little Japanese language school in San Francisco. It’s a very difficult language to become fluent in. I learned enough to pass Level 4 of the Japanese Language Proficiency Test, which at the time was the lowest level, but even after three years my knowledge of Kanji was only equivalent to a Japanese second-grader’s. And while I know enough to be comfortable engaging in basic conversation in Japan, I’m not anywhere close to being fluent. To learn the language well enough to be an interpreter, I’m convinced someone needs to spend at least a year or two in Japan.
This may seem like a drastic suggestion, but when I was in the Air Force they had a program where if you enlisted, you could be guaranteed to be based in a country of your choice. That could be Japan, where all the bases will offer Japanese language instruction. You’d be able to go off-base and practice every day. You’d also have college tuition money when you got out. In addition, there’s a school in California called the Defense Language Institute where the military trains interpreters, and one of their languages is Japanese. The only issue with that back when I was in the Air Force was that you didn’t get to pick which language you learned - the military picked which language you learned according to its needs. Maybe that policy has changed, and you get to pick your language now.
There are literally hundreds of colleges that you could go to, you scores are actually average, not below average, but now that you add the income problem, paying for it is going to be your big hurdle. You are going to have to be very flexible and open minded.
If you are not already prepping every day without fail for that test better start. Go to khanacademy for free SAT prep, make sure to pick the current test and not the new one. Don’t bother to prep any writing, awards are based on M + CR. There are also test prep forums here but they can take awhile to read. Get some of the math concepts down. You need more than a measly 30 pt jump. You also should be doing better on the CR if you are good at languages, take the practice tests and check why you are getting answers wrong. This can get you some financial offers, drop everything else but essentials.
@jinglebelles98
“Sorry for the rambling if anyone actually read this. I know people on here are blunt and I want some of that bluntness right now because I’m honestly terrified that I am not good enough for a university. I’m the only person in my immediate family that plans on going to university, so it means a lot to me that I succeed and get admitted to one. Feel free to be mean because I don’t want to get my hopes up about college only to have them crushed when I get rejection letters one after the other.”
Well to tell you the truth you just have to do your best especially when taking up examinations. If getting your hopes up means getting yourself ready for every entrance examinations you’re going to take then so be it. But you should just be mindful that rejection is always there and so what?! If you didn’t pass one university, try the next one. If it just so happen you emptied all colleges and universities in the country then try the ones overseas! With a lot of schools offering programs for international students, education is almost limitless
Thank you so much for all of the recommendations, I will look into all of them. I know I’m not in the top 10%, but I thought my class rank was pretty good all things considered, especially because the IB program is at my school and I’m not in it but still managed to have a decent rank. My SAT score is just because I’m not the brightest and everything I studied flew out of my brain on test day!
I didn’t know I could directly email a consulate, I will have to look into this because I’m very interested! I know a beginner’s level of Japanese; basic conversation in speaking, and I can read a good deal of hiragana. I lived there for 5 years because my dad was in the military when I was a little kid. I know it is a difficult language, but I’m very determined and confident in my ability to learn it fluently and quickly. I have actually been considering Agnes Scott as a college I would go to, but I don’t know if I want to teach English, as English teachers have sort of a bad rep in Japan from what I’ve read. I have thought about joining the military but have concluded it just isn’t right for me. Thank you for your help!
