<p>I just finished my junior year in high school. Today, I received my SAT scores from May. I got 640 for reading, 600 for math, 580 for writing -honestly, i think i will retake it again in october. and my GPA is around 3.9
but what i don't know is..how do i apply to college? it all seems like such a confusing process.
for example, when should i apply?
this summer? or is that too early...how about the beginning of senior year.
when i went to collegeboard and clicked the little apply button at the yop of my selected university..they took me to website called the commonapp. what is this..?
are you supposed to apply to all colleges electronically? i honestly do not understand.
i'm either thinking about going to boston u or pepperdine..and probably more on my list, although with these SAT scores i don't think i should aim any higher.
and do sat scores honestly matter that much??
let's say a colleges require that you get 620 on writing, but i only got 580...would it be possible for them to still accept mE?</p>
<p>If you’re still in school, I suggest an appointment at your career counseling office ASAP. They’ll give you the full run down – especially since you’re probably one of the school’s better students, they’ll take the time to walk you through everything.</p>
<p>i wish i had thought of that earlier…my school is already on summer break. i’ll try to check with the guidance counselor though. hopefully i can!!</p>
<p>spidergirl - most colleges accept the commonapp.</p>
<p>If you are a senior in the coming year, the commonapp will open up on August 1st or so for next year. If you create an account now, they wipe it out in July and you will need to start over. However, you can get an account now and review all of the different requirements.</p>
<p>Here is what the form will look like for 2011-12.</p>
<p><a href=“https://www.commonapp.org/CommonApp/Docs/DownloadForms/2012-11CAO_Highlighted.pdf[/url]”>https://www.commonapp.org/CommonApp/Docs/DownloadForms/2012-11CAO_Highlighted.pdf</a></p>
<p>Print it out, think about what to say about different sections, read current instructions on filling it out.</p>
<p><a href=“https://www.commonapp.org/CommonApp/DownloadForms.aspx[/url]”>https://www.commonapp.org/CommonApp/DownloadForms.aspx</a></p>
<p>Next you need to figure out what you can afford for going to college, talk to your parents about it. </p>
<p>Then you need to create a list of colleges based on what you can afford, and also break them down into reaches, matches and safeties. Reaches are schools that you hope you can get in but your current stats do not reach up to their middle 50% applicants. Matches are those schools where you fall into the middle 50% and safeties are those where you exceed the middle 50% in all areas. This is an area your counselor can definitely help in identifying schools for you.</p>
<p>Ha, I remember being just as confused as you… basically, most if not all of your schools will likely accept the common app. You fill it out once, and then you can send it electronically to whatever college you want. SAT scores and transcripts need to be sent through collegeboard and your school, though. The most confusing part is the teacher recommendation section; you’ll need to talk to teachers in your free time and they can either mail the recs or send them electronically through common app as well. The deadline for MOST schools is Dec 31 / Jan 1 but you’ll probably send most of them in the fall of your senior year.</p>
<p>There’s not much you *need *to do over the summer other than maybe look over the common app and get started on writing your essay if you want.</p>
<p>
I can’t think of any schools that literally require a 620 for your application to be considered; you’re talking about their average score, I’m guessing. If 620 is their average, there are still people who scored lower than that and got accepted, but they generally make up for it by having particularly impressive extracurriculars or a higher gpa.</p>