I’m currently a high school junior. My test scores are good (2180 SAT) as is my GPA (4.2, weighted), but my extracurriculars are not excellent. I haven’t shown the commitment colleges profess to love so much and I’ve only done about a hundred hours of volunteering. As such, I doubt I’ll be admitted to the really competitive schools. My top choice at the moment is Fordham University. (I’ll be a National Hispanic Scholar so I’ll likely get the full tuition scholarship). I just wonder if I’m overqualified for such a school because my SAT is higher than their 75th percentile mark. Would it be a waste of all the hours I spent studying and doing activities I was only semi interested in if I went to a school I could’ve been admitted to with much less effort? And is it bad to be academically superior to your classmates? Should I be challenging myself and surrounding myself with people that will motivate me to succeed?
It kind of depends on your major…what do you want to major in? What career are you shooting for?
The reason to do all that effort in school was, in the first place, to learn that material. The kids that slacked off will bear the consequences when they take classes where it is assumed they are proficient in the science and math concepts taught in HS. Even in the liberal arts those that put in the minimum on papers and the like will find they aren’t at the same level as their peers in class and will be graded accordingly. Writing is a skill that takes time & practice to reach higher levels.
Furthermore you had the chance to actually practice skills of time management and focus. Your friends, the ones that slacked in HS but end up at less competitive colleges such as you are considering, I’m sure they are all planning to be much more diligent in college. But while people are pretty rational about plans for the abstract future, it turns out that in the here-and-now the same things that distracted us in the past will be distractions in the future. I expect your friends to show up in college and be delighted at all the things there are to do, and no parents around to boot! Why pass up parties and the other fun things they’ve done, at least those first few weeks? So they’ll plan to crack down once midterms come around. But the opportunities for fun don’t disappear, and they’ll discover the level and pace of college classes won’t let them cram it all in over a few nites. Stay on the forum for a while and you’ll see posts saying “I did bad 1st year but if I really work hard and earn A’s the next 2 years can I still get into med school?” Those that stay around posting never seem to actually pull it off. Math/science is cumulative so if you didn’t really learn the material frosh year you’ll be sunk later when learning the new material assumes you know the old.
You might be paid for your hard work in high school: Undermatching can lead to better merit scholarships.
College is what you make of it, both inside and out of class. As long as the student body is decent-sized, you will find people of all ability levels at any school.
http://www.gallup.com/opinion/gallup/176507/college-worth.aspx
You will find out in college that kids with much lower scores than you will get better grades. Doing well in college classes is very different than standardized tests.
Current, I’m thinking about psychology. If I do major in psychology, I’d probably get a PhD. But I still haven’t settled on that and will probably change my mind by the time I start college.
The better you do in high school, the better you are likely to do in college, even at one where you are “overqualified” for.
But pay attention to whether a college that you are “overqualified” for considers “level of applicant’s interest” in admissions. http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-admissions/1626043-ways-to-show-a-high-level-of-applicants-interest.html
I’m a big believer that it’s not always what school you go to but what you put into it.
I work for a major publishing company in NYC. I’ve been in the industry for 16 years and have over 100 people report to me.
Some went to Ivy League schools, others went to schools I have never heard of from the middle of nowhere North Dakota or Alaska. Did the assistant who went to Harvard do a better job that the assistant who went to university of Alaska southeast and spent most of her time at the Sitka campus? Nope. Both were well read, hard workers and I’m proud to say both are well respected in their respective areas.
Did I have a coordinator who went to Princeton and could quite Kafka but didn’t know how to use a fax machine or a copier (years ago)? You bet I did. Did this same coordinator tender his resignation by mail because he thought making copies and taking notes at meetings was beneath his Princeton education? Yup.
These are extreme examples to illustrate that you can go to a college that you think you are overqualified for on paper and really make something out of it.
And as another poster noted you could be in for some merit money.
@mikemac, that is kind of a backhanded swipe at humanities students. A student with 800 in CR and a couple of humanities related subject tests will kick the tails of plenty of other students in the college classroom. It isn’t “even” in the liberal arts – it is equally true that students who put in the effort in high school will do better in college. Anyway, math, chem, bio, physics – they are liberal arts.
But OP, the overall point that you have prepared yourself well for success in college is true.
@intparent, I believe you misread my post. I’m making the claim that kids that do as little at they can to scrape by and gets into the same less-selective school as our hard-working OP are going to be in for a wakeup. Both the kids that don’t do very much in the sciences, and the kids that don’t do very much in the liberal-arts subjects. A kid that gets “800 in CR and a couple of humanities related subject tests” was no more the slacker in HS than a kid with top scores in math/science subjects.
It was the “EVEN in the liberal arts” part that caught my attention.
How are you so certain you are so god-superior to other students at Fordham?
<<<<
I just wonder if I’m overqualified for such a school because my SAT is higher than their 75th percentile mark.
<<<
THAT is not the criteria to determine if a student is over-qualified for a school. If that were true, then at EVERY school, 25% of the student body would be over-qualified.
Soooooooooooo not true.
It seems that Fordham has tightened their award…not so assured anymore…
<<<
Semifinalist Scholarship: Full-tuition award renewable for four years. Recipients are finalists or semifinalists in the National Merit or National Hispanic Recognition Scholarship Programs who possess an A or A- average and are in the top 2-3% of all admitted students. Notification at the time of admission.
<<<<
You may not meet the threshold of being in the top 2-3% of admitted students.
Your hard work, great grades etc. certainly will pay off if they help you get a big scholarship. I have little doubt that you will be challenged at Fordham (for full disclosure my S graduated from Fordham and loved it).