<p>I have a couple of question that i am unsure about. Please feel free to voice your own opinion/experience in just one question.</p>
<p>1) How important are freshman year GPA? i heard some colleges dont count it. do ivies/JHU/any other good schools you know of ignore freshman year GPA. (freshman year gpa: 88, sophomore gpa:95 junior year:99.7)</p>
<p>2) How important are ap scores? is it part of the college admissions or do colleges just look to see if you have taken a challenging course and only look at the score after you have been admitted? what is the case with SAT II scores? is it the same?</p>
<p>3) Do colleges want a paper for every EC you have participated in. How about out-of-country EC's (i have gone to my country, Bangladesh, and volunteered at orphanages, while providing them food last summer) Do i need to show colleges a piece of paper to prove it? my college essay is also based on this. or is it only necessary for the interviews?</p>
<p>4) If i were to put 5 EC's, which ones should i put out of these?</p>
<p>1) Math team (4 years)
2) Science Olympiad (leader) (3 years)
3) President and founder of USABO club
4) 400 hours volunteering at tutoring center (students from 1st-5th grade)
5) Going to my country this summer and helping fight poverty/getting blessing for my father's death (it is a cultural thing) by traveling around the orphanages of Bangladesh and providing food for them (i don't really have a paper to show i did this, but i feel that this was a meaningful experience)
6) National Honor Society (2 years)
7) Contributor to Bengali/English poetry magazine Shabdaguccha
8) Science Bowl (2 years)</p>
<p>I have cut my EC's down to these 8, but i have heard that 8 is a little more than what it should be. Should NHS be in the awards/honor section? i think 2,3,4,5 are very important, but im not sure about what the last one should be. I have been in the Math team since freshman year, but im not a leader. Should i still put it? My major is going to be something science/math related. What do you guys think i should list as my top 5? or should i list them all?</p>
<p>I think that is about it. i might post some more. I think this are also common questions that a lot of people have. (well, atleast a lot of my friends do)</p>
<p>1) Although some colleges (Stanford, I know is one of them) CLAIM they don’t look at your freshman year grades, it is still on your transcript and they will still see them even if they say they don’t consider them. Also, your freshman year grades are probably also considered in your cumulative GPA, so it will affect your GPA if that’s the case. </p>
<p>2) A lot of colleges only require you to self report your AP scores and getting 5s will definitely look good, but I don’t think colleges put a lot of emphasis on it compared to SAT/ACT scores and transcript. However, a lot of low scores may raise red flags, if you are otherwise a qualified candidate. SATIIs are considered with your other standardized test scores and are just as important as your SAT and ACT scores. In fact, some may argue that they are more important because it shows how well you know certain subjects. (Harvard had an article last year about how they are/were considering not taking the regular SAT anymore and just using the SAT IIs, if that’s any indication of how important they are perceived to be). </p>
<p>3) A paper? What? No, they do not need a paper. Imagine if every applicant sent them a “paper” to prove all of their ECs. It would be mass chaos and there would be gazillions of papers to go through (as if the adcoms don’t already have enough papers to sort through!). </p>
<p>4) Choose the ECs that are most meaningful to you, that you spend the most time with and that perhaps you have been a leader for.</p>
<p>ok i think i have the answer to number 4. also, thanks for answer to number 3. i was getting worried that i would have to prove every little thing i have done.</p>
<p>if someone could answer 1, it would help a lot. i keep thinking that my freshman year GPA will prevent me from getting into a top college. </p>
<p>My sat’s are in May. Should i spend my time studying only for the SAT’s or should i study for my AP’s as well?</p>
<p>Most colleges very clearly spell out the criteria that they use to evaluate the applications. Check the college websites. Do some research. You’ll likely find the answer on their websites.</p>
<p>i tried researching, but i couldn’t find out how colleges grade. </p>
<p>also, do colleges only grade math,science,foreign language, english, and history? if i was interested in applying to a math/science college would they grade technology? (my technology grades are not so great).</p>
<p>You should try to study for both. You can always retake the SATs in June and October (though you’d have to devote one of those test days for SATIIs, as you can’t take the SAT and a subject test on the same day), so focus on APs. The thing is, you will probably have to retake the subject matter regardless of your grade, but it would help you place out of intro courses and into more advanced ones. If you’re still confused as to a specific school’s criteria/rubric, then definitely call the admissions office and ask them to explain it to you. Be aware, though, that everything counts, and everything is taken into consideration. Your increase in GPA says a lot about you, and your GPA junior year is most impressive, so an officer is likely to focus on that trend. As for your ECs, definitely put down the ones that you led and devote the most time to. You could always add a separate section for Volunteer Work (I did that), thereby freeing up another slot for one of your other great ECs.</p>
<p>As for your technology grades, if it contributed to your GPA, then it will be looked at. If the grade is really terrible, and you have a legitimate excuse as to why that is, then you’re free to talk about it in the “Additional Info” part of the Common Application. If you’re looking to apply to any Big 10 schools, though, they will take EVERYTHING into account. The weight on each component, though, varies depending on the school. Just check out their various boards on CC (click “Ivy League” or “Colleges” on the left).</p>
<p>Best of luck! :)</p>
<p>EDIT: You don’t need proof of your ECs. If something seems out-of-the-ordinary to your Adcom, then you might be asked to provide proof. Until that happens, though, don’t worry about it. Your out-of-country experiences can be noted for in some part of your resume, and if it was extremely meaningful to you, then you can devote your Extracurricular Essay (150 words, I think) to it.</p>
<p>well these are my reasons. one reason was that my mom didnt let me stay past 4 in the school because she would get concerned that something might had happened to me and i couldn’t call her because i didnt have a cell phone. (it is related to my dad’s death. when my dad died he was supposed to be in the office, but he wasnt and at that time, my mom didn’t really care where my dad was because she didn’t expect such a tragedy to occur). anyway, that is the reason she made me come home early. another reason is because it was first period of freshman year(8’o clock) and it took me an hr and 30 minutes to go to my high school because its specialized (ranked like 30-60 every year). does this count as a legitimate excuse?</p>
<p>and another question, i received a gold medal in my science fair and i was wondering if that goes into my EC section. I know that its an award, but i spent a lot of time researching for it.</p>
<p>also, does Siemens participant count as a EC? i am going to submit my research to siemens when the registering process begins.</p>
<p>Thanks for the comment on changing the volunteering to another section.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, I don’t think so. I understand where you’re coming from, but it would be wise to not say something like that, as it could easily come off as whining, thereby making your application a bit more…tinted. Like I said, you substantial increases in GPA your sophomore and junior years are certainly something they’ll focus on. So you had a GPA your freshman year of 88? No need to attempt to justify it, really, considering it will just sound like an excuse. </p>
<p>Add a Science section to your resume. I did the same thing because I did so much with research, and included the titles of other projects that won awards in past fairs. Was your research conducted in a lab? Include that in the section, too, along with the other contests you plan to enter. Also, write up a layman’s abstract (you’ll probably have to write one if you enter your paper into Intel) and send that over to colleges with your paper.</p>