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High SAT but low GPA = Lazy/smart person OR Tough courses.
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<p>That's my category and, although I am lazy, I don't consider myself very smart. I didn't study for SATs of course, being the lazy one I am. It kills me to be this lazy, but it's become a force of habit, unfortunately.</p>
<p>Also, i did really poorly on the SAT but got a decent score on the ACT. Most schools accept both, so I'd try to take both tests. Some students do a lot better on one or the other.</p>
<p>What's considered a low GPA? I have had a 3.7 for the past two years, but this year I have 3 APs and that may drop to maybe a 3.2-3.4 UW.</p>
<p>Well, mine is less than a 3.2, and with an easy schedule, too. Yikes, how the hell am I gettin into college?</p>
<p>OP, my daughter got lower than you...my son got a 2340. Guess which one has ADD?</p>
<p>^ wow. I bet she's a brilliant kid though :)</p>
<p>This is somewhat related, although his problems are WAY worse than ADD...has anyone seen the documentary on Kim Peek??? If you haven't, Youtube it right now!</p>
<p>You may not measure yourself by your SAT scores, but the world around you does, unfortunately. I'm not saying that it's fair, or necessarily the best policy, but no amount of willpower is going to make the truth go away.</p>
<p>I know extremely intelligent people that get sub-2000 scores on the SAT. I know lazy, arrogant you-know-whats that breeze by with 2300+. The SAT doesn't test how deserving you are, it tests how well you can bubble in a couple of circles. Colleges try to tease these details out, but it's human nature to work with the numbers instead of the intangibles, and adcoms are rumored to be composed of actual human beings.</p>
<p>People see Harvard and they fall for the hype like any gullible consumer. Contrary to popular belief, Duracell batteries do not last any longer than CVS brand, A Mercedes can't get you to work any faster than a Chevy, and an Ivy education does not make you an instant millionaire CEO.</p>
<p>The lazy Ivy grad will end up working at McDonalds while the motivated University of never-heard-of-it grad will be going places.</p>
<p>If you have low SATs and no compensating hook, then you're not going to get into a competitive university. Most selective schools have a cutoff: if your score is lower, they don't even look at your application. Sorry for the slap-in-the-face, but 1380 is definitely below this level for pretty much any top school. You say that it's not the end of the world, because you even "applied" to a couple of ivys, but you should be more worried about getting in, since that's the only benchmark.</p>
<p>You're a motivated kid; you'll go places like I said before, but it won't be at an Ivy.</p>
<p>^ and I agree with everything this person just said.
My thoughts exactly.</p>
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^ wow. I bet she's a brilliant kid though
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<p>she is...wants to be a biomedical photographer...thankfully, rit is not so competitive :)</p>
<p>The problem with your post, zapakovex, is that it's not possible to get into an ivy league while being "lazy". SAT Scores do not translate to an automatic acceptance, you have to be very involved and have good grades and be a good person overall.</p>
<p>And your assumption on lazy people, I don't think of myself arrogant or a you know what, but I guess I'm not the one to make that call.</p>
<p>bballaz=jerk. and NepEpisteme dude ur dumb, they can compensate but seriously not every one at top school has great scores, like usually 10% dont. And you dont need a hook, some people at bad at SAT's but are extremely brilliant? Refer to my harvard thread on my brother.
<a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/harvard-university/622129-read-all-harvard-applicants-might-give-you-hope.html%5B/url%5D">http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/harvard-university/622129-read-all-harvard-applicants-might-give-you-hope.html</a></p>
<p>are bad at*</p>
<p>app. im bad at typing : )</p>
<p>Foreman, that's not true.</p>
<p>One of the laziest kids I've ever known got into Yale and a bunch of other top schools. He's smart, but incredibly unmotivated. He did tons of great ECs, but didn't push himself in them. He got As, but he could've made A+s easily if he had tried. He had a 2380 on his SAT and a 2340 combined on his SAT IIs, when he could've easily made a 2400 in both. He just didn't care.</p>
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He did tons of great ECs, but didn't push himself in them.
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Um, I don't consider that lazy (by my lowly standards). I've done four years of a varsity sport (football) and that's it.
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He got As, but he could've made A+s easily if he had tried. He had a 2380 on his SAT and a 2340 combined on his SAT IIs, when he could've easily made a 2400 in both.
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Well getting A's means he does his work. I bet you he was a "closet studier". One kid I knew was like that. And please don't say "he could've easily made a 2400 in both.", because that's just hog****. For starters, you can't just be smart and ace the SAT Subject Tests, you actually have to learn the info, by doing the work.</p>
<p>Michael Phelps has ADD. Doesn't seem to be much of a hindrance for him does it? Nope, not at all.</p>
<p>^^ my brother has dyslexia...went to st johns univ...now on faculty at yale</p>
<p>^ Foreman, I don't think you've personally met or befriended very many "smart" kids.</p>
<p>I have straight As, and I rarely do the homework. If it's graded and they take it up, I'll take a zero on it. I can ace tests and in-class essays without studying for more than five minutes right before the test. I memorize information the first time I hear it, so why review it? My friend was the same way, but even more so, so him getting As is like a normal person getting Fs. </p>
<p>About the Subject Tests, same thing. You obviously haven't met many people like my friend and me. I took the SAT II Lit test completely cold. The only information/preparation in my head was the 3 years of English class I had taken. No test prep/practice tests whatsoever. Did the same thing with the regular SAT and got a 2270. Could I have done better? Sure, but, to me, studying would be a waste of time.
Once again, my friend was exactly like me, except to the *n*th degree.</p>
<p>I'm not trying to brag; I'm just saying it's possible. Not everyone with good grades/scores studies to get them :/</p>
<p>Of course there is a <em>chance</em> OP will get into an Ivy. The chance is about one tenth of one percent with a score like that. That's called a Longshot.</p>
<p>Life is about trading probable outcomes against the time and energy required to pursue those outcomes. Is the time and energy well spent? </p>
<p>Let's suppose OP takes 15 hours to complete an application to a HYPS school. Then another 15 to a second one. and so on. Will OP maximize his/her outcome by investing day after day into 1/10 of 1% probable outcomes, or using those days to create quality applications to schools where the odds are more like 25% to 75%?</p>
<p>What if OP spends 120 hours preparing applications to schools of <5% chance and those 120 hours prevent OP from working on applications in the 25% - 75% category? Life is not comprised of unlimited hours, especially in first semester of Sr. year of high school. Time spent on LONGSHOTS is time not spent on higher probability outcomes.</p>
<p>There are MANY stories on this board of applicants with no safeties, and few matches, and 10-15 reaches who were accepted at NONE of the schools. Why? Because the focus was on reach schools and not schools of match or safety.</p>
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I'm not trying to brag
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Well, you failed on that note.</p>
<p>And no, I'm not friends with many pompous, self-righteous dickheads, so sorry I can't relate, nor do I hold intelligence standards for friends, like you clearly do.</p>
<p>For the record, I'm not impressed with any of your scores, or your laziness in achieving them. Great disguise for posting your stats, though. Job well done.</p>
<p>hookem, you sound like my son...I've never seen him study, altho he does do the reading for AP Lit...drives his friends (and sister) nuts</p>