Chances from California

Colleges and Universities A-Z Vassar College
1

<p>Ok, I've succumbed. If I could get any feedback of any sort, I would greatly appreciate it.</p>

<p>I'm a junior at an extremely small, poor public school in California. We have only a few sports for extracurriculars and a few advanced courses, but some advanced classes are available online. Most students go on to community college, state university, or the UC system. I think the most competitive school anyone has gone to in recent years is Berkeley. One girl is applying to Cornell this year. Basically, I'm looking for schools out of my area and I really like what I've heard about Vassar. I think my chances are pretty average/mediocre, but advice would be great.</p>

<p>Race: White
Gender: Female</p>

<p>SATs: 1990: 660 V, 540 M, 790 W, 12 essay (the math is abysmal, I know)
SAT II's: 550 Bio (as freshman), 630 World History
Class rank: 1/27 (school doesn't rank, but this is most likely right)
Current GPA: around 4.2 W, unsure at the moment</p>

<p>Classes:
Freshmen: english 9, geography, integrated science, biology, IMP 2 math, state requirements
Sophomore: english 10 intensive, chemistry, world history, PE (required), Algebra 2, spanish I
Junior (present): english 11 honors, AP U.S. History online, spanish II, art
Projected second semester junior: english 12 honors, AP U.S. history online, physics, trig/pre-calc</p>

<p>Extracurriculars/Activities:
Varsity Volleyball - 2 years
Varsity Basketball- 3 years
Varsity Softball - 2 years ( could continue, but not going to)
Boys' varsity soccer substitute - 1 year
Private piano lessons - 3 years
Youth and Government - 1 year
I'm looking to start a school debate club and a swing dance/jazz club, but lack of funding is a problem. Making progress, though...
120+ community service hours</p>

<p>Regional Science Bowl team 2005- placed 9/25 teams
Quiz Kids game show - team won first round, waiting for next
Summer: volleyball camp at Stanford</p>

<p>Awards/Leadership:
Best Student in English 9
Best Student in State Requirements (9)
Best Student in World History (10)
Best Student in English 10 Intensive
PE excellence awards (one of four people)
Two scholar athlete awards
Cabin leader at week-long children's camp - soph.</p>

<p>Class president sophomore year
Student council secretary junior year
Several published poems
1st place (English) in poetry contest with cash prize</p>

<p>I know my scores are pretty low, but I took the tests without prepping. Bad decision on my part, yes, so I'm planning to take them again. I'm also considering taking the Princeton Review class. I seem to choke on math tests, so any advice on that would be great. I also plan to take a more rigorous courseload in senior year. I'm trying to do the best I can at my school of limited opportunities and become competitive enough for Vassar. </p>

<p>Any feedback, tips, or advice would be fantastic!!!</p>

2

<p>Advice for math: Practice, practice and practice.</p>

3

<p>i'd say given your background (tiny school), you have pretty good chances. just make sure you keep it up. and yeah, the math i'd say you should just keep practicing. Just do timed practice tests at home in free time and then go over all the stuff you got wrong. Very objectively speaking, it would'nt be the WORST idea to get the verbal and your SAT II's up a bit as well, though they're still strong enough to give you a good chance. Your EC's are pretty impressive i must say. Best of luck in future endeavors and I hope to see you on campus someday!</p>

4

<p>thanks archit - i really needed the advice! and about the timed practiced tests at home - would you say they helped you just as much as you think a Princeton Review course would? i'm thinking of taking the class, but it's super expensive and i would have to pay half. does studying on your own intensively help just as much? i don't know if you ever took a class, but it sounds like you're at vassar now, so maybe your strategy is the best! thanks for the reply again.</p>

5

<p>i never took a single course. i was on the old SAT so i just got the "10 real SAT's" book from my library over the summer and just did that with my best friend. having someone ese is definitely a good idea but courses, i find, are a rip. Another good book for verbal (and like OK for math) is "Up Your Score". the vocab section is great with the BEST definitions that'll stick in your mind. I got a 1420 on the old test, so you judge if my strategy was alright.</p>

6

<p>hey, i'm in a very similar situation as you Jackson! My high school is tiny (<250 kids) with very limited opportunities and classes. I still have taken as many AP classes as possible, and did alright on SAT's (2010). Like you, my writing was high but math not as good. I have been active in sports and community service too. Anyways, just thought that was interesting. Good luck and definitely go for Vassar! Plus you have a whole year to improve SAT's, etc.</p>

7

<p>thanks heatherly! are you looking at vassar to, or are you there right now? i'm quitting a sport i don't really enjoy, so hopefully I can take some time to improve the SATs. I'm getting a new math teacher, so hopefully that will help too. Our old one was pretty incompetent. The class average was a D-! anyway, thanks for the advice. good luck with college too!</p>

8

<p>Yup, I'm a senior and applied ED II to Vassar as my first choice, and some UC schools as back-ups. What part of California is La Honda in? Yeah sports definitely take up time that you could be using to study, but then again it's better to be well-rounded. Our old math teacher sucked too! The math program at my school is just terrible in general. This year we have a new teacher so I decided to give it a shot and try to learn pre-calc again...he's a bit better it seems. Thanks for the wishes, see ya!</p>

9

<p>La Honda is about 45 minutes from San Francisco and 40 from Santa Cruz. The only high school is in Pescadero, where I've been playing three sports a year since I was a freshman. I'm dropping softball, which I don't really like, this year; I have other activities, but do you think that skipping a usual sport will look bad? I'm trying to start a debate club instead, so I hope it will balance out. Anyway, good luck with ED II! Let me know how that goes for you.</p>

<p>p.s. I realized I did my own pet peeve with my mistake in my other post - wrong kind of 'too'! It's really annoying me right now, but it won't let me fix it...hahaha.</p>

10

<p>Oh Santa Cruz is nice, I might go there if I dont get into Vassar or Berkeley. I hate softball too, especially with our crappy coach! Definitely not doin it again this year, instead I'll do track or nothing at all! I figure at least a third of senior year should be semi-relaxing...</p>