<p>Hahaha, @Johnson181, I love how your tl;dr was about half as long as what it summarized.</p>
<p>Anyways, NCHARI, if you do wish to apply to Washu, even though you can’t do civil engineering, I’d say you’re a borderline case - not a clear rejection, nor a clearly qualified applicant.</p>
<p>Hey there, I got in this year from FL with a 31 ACT, 4.75 weighted and 3.7 unweighted. My extracurricular a weren’t spectacular… I think what really made a difference were my amazing essays!</p>
<p>Adcoms will not penalize you for freshman year grades so much as they won’t be happy you blew off test prep. </p>
<p>You are making the right decision to prove yourself by taking the SAT Subject Exams and aiming for high scores. Please let me assure you that the books are necessary to prep for these exams, these exams are shorter and sweeter than APs but do not correlate to them, and there are pools of students who score this way or that way on each exam…think Chinese and Spanish for students whose parents are natives, and think Math level 2 for engineering and science reaching students…and you need to be astute and study the scores and their ranges which are all on the website to review. Some exams are harder than others. Some exams penalize you more than others. Be test smart and strategize. You have to use every testing time left to you starting this month and using your June dates. Don’t forget to aim high on a foreign language exams as each college has unique cut off scores (to test out of some courses) and language in college is usually a five day a week course with homework daily task. </p>
<p>Vanderbilt is a school that rewards students who are serious test takers, and there is no bottom quartile in most classrooms either. You should also study the Red Book ACTs and practice practice and the Blue Book of Real SATs and practice practice. One of my son’s gained 200 points between junior and senior years as he matured and got into reality re admissions standards. That was a fluke but I wish the same boost for you.</p>
<p>If you can succeed in bringing that SAT up, I’d say that your class rank will get you in with a Singer/Stamps interview. Also, have you tried the ACT? I took both and ended up doing better on the ACT than on the SAT, so that may be something to consider.</p>
<p>Sounds like you have the stats to get there.</p>
<p>Personally (seriously, IMO. This is an opinion), the essays are what make you stand out to the AO. Write essays about what you’re passionate about and make yourself…sound human (?) I guess. Looking at this thread will give you a good idea of what Stanford is looking for in a student.</p>
<p>You have the stats. Now’s just to put yourself out there.</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/stanford-university/1497673-what-does-stanford-want.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/stanford-university/1497673-what-does-stanford-want.html</a></p>
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<p>True but when the COA is 1/3 of PSU, it should be. There isn’t much difference between UF and PSU to pay that much…</p>
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<p>So ? That’s doesn’t make you in-state for Pennsylvania. You might get into UPenn.</p>
<p>You are definitely in at Penn State with some merit aid.</p>
<p>Just some suggestions no matter where you apply.
<p>If you didn’t try your Fr. year (reason for lower gpa), why is your gpa going to go down after this semester?</p>
<p>It seems you are going to improve in everything - picking up 200 points in SAT, getting high SAT II scores, getting straight As next year. Improving 200 points on the SAT is a very big jump.</p>
<p>All of your scores are low for WashU - SAT I, SAT IIs and APs. </p>
<p>I don’t think you would get in WashU.</p>
<p>WUSTL doesn’t require SAT subject test scores- unless your scores are much higher I don’t think that submitting them will help- they could hurt.</p>
<p>Show interest if you are truly interested in attending WashU. How? By visiting school or attending the fall discovery events (not sure if I use the right terminology here). WashU has one of the easiest applications, along with Duke and Harvard, in that they don’t require additional essays. That doesn’t prevent you from writing a short, succinct “why washu” essay using the additional document section on the Common App. But, if your writing skills are not really strong, or you don’t have anything (relatively unique) to say, don’t take this advice. If WashU is really your first choice, apply ED.</p>
<p>Edit: Don’t spend too much time on chance postings ;). It won’t give you admissions; we are not admission folks. But do spend time researching the schools, coming up with a primary list and narrowing it down as time goes by.</p>
<p>Would ike to add one more thing that many kids don’t do too well: if WashU visits your high school, make sure to attend the info session and try to have a little chat with the rep afterward. Do this even you have personally visited the campus or gone to one of the fall events.</p>
<p>Standardized tests all seem low for Stanford. Does this mean you can’t get in? No. But it’s unlikely.</p>
<p>Yeah my st scores are really low but i can get within 2200 after studying alot. My subject tests in math and science should be fine</p>
<p>yes but i want to stay close with my family. After one year of living there i should have in state</p>
<p>yes i am taking math subject test for the may date and my sats on june. I have studied hard for each and i have the science ones on a later date.</p>
<p>You definitely have a lot of work to do if you’re aiming for MIT. Most admitted students have SAT scores of 2200+ and most of them didn’t study (not that that matters, as long as you get your score up there). And if you’re best at math and sciences, why didn’t you take any math/science APs before your senior year? Does your school not offer them to non-seniors?</p>
<p>EDIT I misread your post. If you’re taking them this year and doing well, that’s fine, you’re on the right track! Good luck on your exams next week :)</p>