<p>Hey I would like to know what you all think my admission chances at are. My test scores are low for I know and it absolutely kills me that I cannot get them up, but here is the rest. I am Indian also</p>
<p>Academics</p>
<p>GPA- 3.7 (unweighted), 3.9 (weighted)
Has taken 5 honors courses and AP Lit, AP Bio, AP US His, AP Macro, AP Micro, AP Euro
Took Advanced Physics and Pre-calc at Oxford University in England where I was accepted into a summer program there.</p>
<p>Scores: ACT- 25 composite
Subject Tests- Us History- 580, Math 1- 580
SAT- 1200</p>
<p>Essays
-Very strong essays. I feel that this is a strong point of my application, especially for supplements and recommendations.</p>
<p>Extracurriculars</p>
<ul>
<li>Resident Advisor- I go to a boarding school and was chosen as 1 of 8 from a pool of 50 boarding seniors to be a resident advisor in the freshman dorm of my school. One of the school highest honors.</li>
<li>Editor in Chief of School Newspaper</li>
<li>Founder and President of schools 1st Cultural Diversity Club</li>
<li>Habitat for Humanity Head of Fundraising. Must be elected by students and faculty</li>
<li>Amnesty International secretary
-Chosen by headmaster of school to organize the annual Susan B. Koman Cancer Walk
-Drama- held supporting and lead roles in plays. Cast as an extra in a movie and short film.- Sings in 5 different choral groups. 3 of these require auditions and are very selective. Recorded a CD.
-Plays piano and has been for 11 years</li>
<li>Junior Varsity Tennis</li>
</ul>
<p>Honors</p>
<p>National Honors Society
Faculty Recognition List- teachers must nominate you for this.
Honor Roll
-Keo Kio- Elite Senior organization
Selected as East Tennessee Science Fair winner for Physical Science category</p>
<p>Summer
Went to India and volunteered for 4 weeks, working in remote villages, teaching children how to read. I worked with an organization called Pratham Inc. and raised money for this group.
Selected to attend Tennessee Governors School for International Studies- 80 students out of the state of Tennessee are chosen
-Selected to attend Oxford Advanced Studies Program in Oxford University</p>
<p>What do you all think? I know my test scores are a little low for but I am hoping that my extracurriculars will help. I have taken a good amount of AP’s and Honors, but have taken a few regular classes also because I changed schools as a sophomore and it kind of messed up my schedule.</p>
<p>I’d take you. Everything looks great aside from your SAT’s. What everyone seems to say is SAT’s count big. I am worried about this. My profile is strong in all other regards. It’s amazing the number of schools that do NOT consider the SATs or ACT. Hampshire, WPI, SO many…</p>
<p>standardized tests are starting to have a lot less consideration at a lot of schools, but unfortunately because the range of public/private high schools is so large they use it as a way to “standardize” the population; they count your gpa much more than your sat/act but they want to see that you can at least reach some minimum on your standardized test scores. for example, the national average on the mcat is a 28, but most schools want to see that you can get at least a 30. that being said, if any of you have low test scores, 1. take the test again 2. explain that you’re just a bad test-taker or something in your supplement, or 3. (and most important) make yourself look good in all other aspects in your application. when applying to college, treat yourself as a commodity. for example, there’s no way they’ll turn you down if you have a 900 sat but you found the cure for cancer (lol couldn’t think of another example). do SOMETHING to make yourself stand out and be different, like the fact that you, vishaal, did that program in india for a month. play that up, maybe focus your essay on it, because that’s definitely something that most high-schoolers don’t do.
-here’s my point: a friend had a 3.9 gpa graduating college but got a 29 on her mcat (which actually isn’t a bad score by all means, but when acceptance rates are b/w 0.5-3% she was worried). but she really wanted to be an opthamologist and did unite for sight in india for a month. low & behold, she was accepted to medical school.
-don’t stress and just do the best you can in your essay. everything happens for a reason, and chance thread people, don’t forget that if you don’t get accepted for your first semester freshman year, you can always do a semester of community college and transfer in which is a lot easier than applying with 25,000 other people. if you want something bad enough, you’ll get it. you just may not be getting it the “conventional” way which is totally okay.
alright im done my spiel, sorry for all that lol.</p>
<p>There could be many reasons, i.e. if english is a second language. I have always done really well in standardized tests, especially in english. That is because I have always read. I read anything and everything and I think it is too late if you wait till your sophmore year to focus on aptitude tests. The only way to do well is to read. I received an 800 in the CR portion of the SAT. Math is also aptitude and I have to admit I am not really interested in Math so I dont do as well. Either you know it or you don’t.</p>
<p>I also think that people saying they are poor test takers are just making excuses unless they have poor attention spans.</p>
<p>well the problem with standardized testing is exactly what i said above-they want to see how everyone compares to each other and the sat is the only way to do that, but if you come from a crappy public school where you did really well and were valedictorian but they didn’t teach you SAT material, or you’re like me and suck at analogies (when they had them), your score can really suffer. and both of you posting above should know very well that taking a high school test from 2 weeks of lecture over a 45 minute period is a lot different than taking the SAT on a saturday morning at 8 am over a period of 4 hours.</p>
<p>I still believe that reading as an integral part of your life will result in good CR scores. It really comes down to either you know it or you don’t. If a school doesnt teach the material then that would be the cause of the poor scores. It sucks that there are schools that don’t prepare the students but that is why colleges want a standardized test, to measure what the student knows about the fundamentals.</p>
<p>BU is my number one choice. I toured it early in my junior year, talked with a rep at a college fair, went to an info session over the summer, emailed them a few times, and a rep is coming to my high school next week. I know my name is in the system, so I really hope that it looks really good that I’ve shown an intense interest.
I’m VP of SADD (3 yrs)
VP of INTERACT: Rotary Club (2 yrs)
Co-Leader of Peer Outreach (2yrs )
Member of Spanish club (2 yrs)
I’m not in National Honor Society yet, but my GPA was bumped up to a 3.68 (from a 3.58 last year)
2nd decile
3 AP classes.
Went to Spain for the month over the summer. I earned one credit through my school, so I will have 5 yrs of spanish.
I got a 21 composite on my ACTS
My total score for the SATS was a 1480.
I’m taking a spanish and math 1 subject test next week.
My recommendations are very good and one teacher has a connection with BU.
I’m hoping that when I speak to the BU rep coming, I am able to explain that my transcript looks very strong but I’m not the best test taker. I want the university to judge me on my 3 years of work rather than a 6 hour test. If I’m showing a high level of interest, can I be accepted?</p>
<p>So much cheating goes on at my school, and in some classes grades have a price tag. I have never stooped to this level but I am also sitting at a 3.5 in 9-11 grades.</p>
<p>That is why I believe SAT’s can be a better indicator in some cases (I have a 1970).</p>
<p>Dude, I’m Indian too. Just applied ED at BU. I did horrible on the SATs, but got a 29 on the ACT. Hope that I get in :)</p>
<p>BTW, good luck. Play up the volunteering in India in your essays and application. I’d say if you do a solid job on them, you’re probably in. I wish had the chance to do something like that… never thought about international community service until I started looking at people’s “chance me” posts on CC</p>
<p>I think schools understand that not everyone does great on tests, and there is so much more to being a smart person than just doing well on the SAT. A high GPA is a much bigger reflection of things like consistent study habits and long-term efforts to do the best, the SAT is kind of a one-time thing. I have ADHD, and I can’t really help that tests are tough for me, but all one can do is show their strength in other areas.
I’m applying RD and my stats are pretty similar. I know I hope I get in and I wish you luck too!</p>