I am currently a junior in high school (California). As of now, I am having a very hard time of what I want to do and how my “resume” matches to how I should be for the qualifications of my interests.
My major/career interests are (in order):
Mechanical Engineering
Biomedical Engineering
Economics
Business
Political Science
Here is a “resume” on top of my head:
-25 on ACT practice test. I haven’t actually taken the official test. I took a 4-week SAT/ACT prep class, but I haven’t made effort to study on my own.
-GPA of roughly 4.5-4.7
-Eagle Scout
-Key Club Treasurer (I plan to be President next year; I have contributed over 100+ service hours between all events I’ve participated in. I won’t list the individual events I participated in for time’s sake.
-Founder/President of a long-term service project that teaches elementary/middle school kids about engineering and sciences.
-President of an organization that fundraises money to donate to USC Norris (cancer research center)
APs:
3 on AP Biology
4 on World History
Currently taking AP Chem, Lang/Comp, and US History. Might self-study psychology or environmental science just to knock out GE’s.
Next year, I will be most likely taking AP Calc AB or BC (it’s a teacher recommendation), Physics 1 (or C if I’m daring, lol), Econ (idk if micro/macro), comparative politics OR US govt, English literature. Might self-study AP Stats.
Colleges I’m interested in (no particular order):
-UC Santa Barbara
-UC San Diego
-U of San Diego
-UC Davis
-UC Irvine
Now my problem is that I feel like my ACT score is way too low for any of the schools I want to get into… I found the math sections of the ACT somewhat difficult (esp. the last 20 or so questions). Does this suggest I would be a bad engineer/not qualified for engineering? And looking at other majors, does the same thing apply? I’ve always hated standardized testing…
Suggestions?
Please ask me questions if you need to know more about me to formulate a clear answer.
If you are unsure of which high school courses are in each a-g category, or which ones are considered “honors” by UC and CSU (which may differ from your high school’s labeling), check https://hs-articulation.ucop.edu/agcourselist .
Have you also tried old released SATs?
What math course are you in now (seems like precalculus if you will take AP calculus AB or BC next year)? The ACT uses some more advanced math (trigonometry) than the SAT; if you will not have had that math content (usually in a precalculus course) by the time you take the ACT, you may find that the SAT will work better for you. The ACT also supposedly requires more speed than the SAT. Were either of these the reasons you had difficulty on the ACT?
I have tried old released SATs, but I found the ACT test easier. Currently, I am in Honors Trig; next year I will be going into AP Calc AB/BC. I think my main issue for the math questions is that I get stuck/I don’t know what to do, which is why I need to self-study. I do very well on the English and Science sections (roughly 30 on both b/w several ACT tests), but math (and reading too, which hurts my score the most), is where I have struggles.
UC/CSU GPAs tend not to get as high as 4.7, since they have a limit of 8 honors points over the 24-28 semesters of a-g courses you probably have over 10th-11th grade. As a junior without any 11th grade course grades yet, you can calculate your 10th grade a-g course GPA with up to 4 semesters’ worth of honors points to get something that looks more like a UC/CSU GPA.
Remember, with math questions, you can try plugging the answers back in; that may be faster than trying to solve the problem the usual way. If you get stuck on a question, skip it and come back to it later if you still have time in the same section. Also, think about guessing tactics. Schedule the real ACT later in the school year after your math course has covered trigonometry.