How much will a summer research internship help?

Pre-College Issues Summer Programs
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<p>I'm currently a sophomore in high school, and was admitted into George Mason's Aspiring Scientists Summer Internship Program!!! It is a very competitive program that accepts high schoolers and undergrads, and only 7% of applicants were admitted this year, so of course I am super excited!! I will be working in a bioinformatics lab, basically all summer, and will have the chance to get my name in a publication + connections with professionals. I may get more research experiences/internships out of this for future summers.</p>

<p>How much will this affect my chances of getting into colleges like Virginia Tech, UVA, William and Mary, WPI, or UC Berkly? Will it make up for my expected SAT score (see below)?</p>

<p>My scores/grades/EC's:
I currently have a 4.1 GPA, and when I graduate I will have 7 AP's (almost all in math/science)</p>

<p>By the time I graduate I will have 5000+ hours of volunteer hours (I work at a therapeutic riding stables).</p>

<p>The only thing that isn't that great was my PSAT score (a 1720 with no studying :( ) but hopefully I can change that for the SAT, at least to a 2000!</p>

<p>Thanks!!!! </p>

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<p>anyone? </p>

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<p>@Gruber3 Congrats! To answer your question, I don’t think a science internship will “make up” for your test scores, but it definitely helps you stand out in the college process. I was an intern at a national science lab last year and that’s what someone told me. What I’ve learned from standardized testing is that it sucks, but if you take a bunch of practice tests you can bump your score up by A LOT. I didn’t take the SAT, but just from practicing I bumped my ACT score from a 24 to a 30. So just keep trying!</p>

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<p>@engineering2015 Thank you, I plan on doing a lot of prep before I take the SAT, and I probably will also take the ACT. Do you think that my psat score will reflect my sat score, even though I didn’t study for that and will study for the sat? </p>

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<p>No, my practice score on the ACT was a 24 without practice so I was in the same situation as you. You are obviously smart since you got this internship so I’m sure you will do much better on the real SAT! Also, I highly recommend taking the ACT. I personally find it to be way easier than the SAT.</p>