@thetsaria Thank you!! And congrats on Columbia! That’s amazing!
@panther2016 Thanks!!!
@college2021 I just want to add a bit onto OP’s alright insightful comments, especially about the Ivies and other top tier schools which I have the most experience with. Most of the top of the top schools will grant full need tuition: they take your family’s tax and income statements and determine themselves how much they think your family can afford to pay per year without going into debt. This is also known as a ‘no loans’ policy. Since I come from a lower income family, I am going to an Ivy on nearly full ride. Basically, the idea is that if you’re good enough to get into a top 5 or 10 college, they don’t want money to be a problem once you’re in. However, if your family can afford full tuition, no merit based aid is granted. The only top school (that I know of) that contradicts this is Stanford, which gives out athletic scholarships.
@panther2016 - You say you didn’t “prepare” for college admissions at the start of HS, but don’t sell yourself short. There are hundreds of posts on this forum from students who say their freshman year grades were bad and they’ve been trying to make it up ever since. By choosing a rigorous schedule and doing well in them, you did “prepare”. Students need to hit the ground running! (Not making themselves nuts, but doing their best.)
Thank you!
@phoenixmomof2 That is very true! I just meant that, while I was maintaining good grades and getting involved in clubs and such, I hadn’t already started thinking about how that would affect my chances of being accepted into colleges. I was more focused on just performing well in school than on consciously bettering my chances of acceptance, if that kind of makes sense.
@ultraviolet56 I live in Florida, which actually has an online high school called Florida Virtual School (FLVS). It is free for all Florida residents and many students choose to take courses on there if they don’t have enough room for certain classes on their schedules or if they want to take classes that their schools don’t offer. I’m not sure where you live or if your state would have something like this, but I think it’s something worth looking into.
I’m a junior trying to decide my future. I can either have a hard senior year that will help me get to the school of my dreams or have a somewhat hard senior year and leave it to chance. I may be thinking about it too much. Any thoughts? http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/high-school-life/1888320-do-i-need-to-take-ap-to-get-into-college.html#latest
@lessonwitch2 Hey there!
Just checked out your thread. As far as I know, in Texas class rank is very important. In my opinion, I would take the GPA boosting class. However, I would discuss these options with your parents and school guidance counselors.
All the best!
I made a similar thread. Great idea!!
@lessonwitch2 I would do what thetsaria recommended. I don’t know too much about Texas schools, but if you know that your dream school requires you to have a harder course load, that is what you should be doing. Trust me, it won’t be easy. I had a whole bunch of APs and IBs this year, plus a Dual Enrollment course, but I was able to manage it all because I organized myself and set a schedule for myself that I would stick to. However, do NOT take these courses if you think you won’t be able to maintain the grades. The last thing you need is to take a whole bunch of hard courses thinking it will get you into your dream school and not be able to do as well because of the intense workload. Talk to your parents and guidance counselor, like thetsaria said, and try to see what would be best for you.
Congratulations on the acceptances!
I have a question regarding Ap Statistics. I am planing to take that as well as precal/trig honors. Will that be difficult? Also do collages look for all around balanced students, with subjects like art, as well as high academic classes? Or would they rather have no art and replace it with another Ap class?
@courtburn21 I personally think that if you did well in geometry and algebra Precal isn’t hard (except Identities) so taking stats won’t be too hard.
for your 2nd question, it depends on the school. But generally schools would prefer you taking some kind of fine art for 3- 4 years in high school instead of an extra AP.
@courtburn21 I took AP Stat and Pre-IB Precalc at the same time and I thought it was fine, but math is one of my stronger subjects. so I think it really depends on if you are a strong math student and how difficult you thought some of your prior math classes were. AP Stat is also very different from other traditional math classes, so I don’t think you will feel overburdened with the amount of math.
In terms of your other question, you should probably consult your school as to how many art credits are required to graduate. My school only requires 1 semester of some sort of art, so I took a band class for one year and stopped with that. I played the violin outside school because my school does not have orchestra, but I decided that taking art classes at school was meaningless for me because none of them were interesting to me. But again, it totally depends on you. If the arts really interest you, go ahead and take a few courses at school! Colleges just want to see that you are doing what you love. So, for me, this meant I took a lot of science classes. For others, it meant taking a lot of English classes. That being said, art and AP are not mutually exclusive. You could always take an AP art or art history class if your school offers those or if you are more interested in music, I think there is an AP music theory class as well. I think it would be in your best interest to talk to a guidance counselor or someone else who could help you determine what is required and offered at your school.
Thank you! I’ve decided to drop art and take Ap statistics. Thanks for the help!
I really want to work as a research assistant in my local college but I don’t know how to start. How did you get your position? Did you do any independent research?
@Cookiesandcreme I’m so sorry for the late reply. Hopefully, I’m not too late. So, I’m not sure if your question was aimed towards thetsaria or me, but I also got involved in some research the summer before my senior year. I worked at the Moffitt Cancer in Tampa, FL (near USF) and I am currently working at Mayo Clinic. I basically reached out to tons of researchers, professors, etc. in several different institutions (colleges, hospitals, the NIH, etc.), both applying to organized programs for high school students as well as just reaching out to people whose research I thought was interesting. Let me just say that it takes A LOT of time and effort. I reached out to close to 300 researchers spread across approximately 10 institutions and heard back from maybe 40 or 50, of which most of them said no. I had a total of maybe 4 or 5 people say yes, but only one was actually able to offer me a position as a high school intern because the rest of the institutions had rules against having students under the age of 18 intern there. You having a local college there might be helpful because you could potentially meet with the researchers face to face and talk to them.
What would be around the perfect time to start taking SAT’S and ACT’s?