<p>Good luck from a fellow (part) iranian! Insh’allah all will work out for you!</p>
<p>aghast: I am not “that” broken or disabled in English, or I wouldn’t be abel to get an A in IB English and A+ in IB history of Americas. I am used to read 200 pages of hard written English over night-- i mean im sure everyone will hit a word that they dont know anyways—that’s when a dictionary.cambridge come handy, dont u think? As far as placement goes, there it would be on me to accelerate. Sure who goes to College to just get a degree and show off; im going there to be challenged.</p>
<p>Dathan: hahahah merci mamnom! insha’allah!! lol</p>
<p>What impresses me about Reed is its percentage on PhD production. In biology, physics, and simply sciences Reed is up there with Caltech and Mudd. As far as humanities, it also is very strong. Its freshmen class is only 330! which I ABSOLUTELY LOVE! smaller classes means more learning as a group. Hopefully it isnt too competitive adn is more cooperative!</p>
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<p>A small comment: depending on what you meant by “impresses,” I should clarify that percentage of undergraduate populations going on to do a PhD is based on both adequacy of preparation for PhD programs and also (largely) on student interest in pursuing graduate studies. One doesn’t know * which* PhD programs the students end up at, and it’s hard to say from such statistics what the strengths of an undergraduate school as a grad prep environment are. </p>
<p>So for instance, an Ivy League, which is probably full of plenty of preprofessional majors and others who don’t want to go to grad school, may not have a great “percentage of students sent to grad school” statistic, but may have the best resources for *you<a href=“generally%20speaking”>/i</a> to succeed and make it to grad school. You need to ask yourself what resources you need to succeed, and how those align with what’s necessary to make it into graduate school.</p>
<p>Those interested in advanced grad schools may appreciate the undergrad schools with high future PhD percentages because of being in an environment of like-minded students where professors are teaching with this goal in mind. These undergrad schools are often considered grad school prep colleges.</p>
<p>If you’re not interested in later earning a PhD, don’t be so impressed by such numbers.</p>
<p>My goal is to get my PhD in neurophysics as soon as possible so I can spend as much time researching and reseaching lol, so Im down for PhD</p>
<p>I am sort of confused here and need serious help: how do science majors in undergraduate schools choose their graduate school? I’ve heard scientist tend to work with scientist interested in their own field, so they end up working with one another, even if an undergrad scientist does not like a school. I know that is free will, but how likely is it that I go to Reed and then end up at schools like MIT, Caltech, or Berkeley? </p>
<p>I konw im talking way ahead of me, but I wanted to see the path clearer.</p>
<p>Right, Vossron brings up a very good point. Well, as I am claiming that one should look into what works best for one’s own personal tastes, I should qualify what it is that I think could appeal to students from both sides.</p>
<p>Small schools with high number of students going on to get a PhD: Professors may be paid specifically to be great at prepping students for a PhD, or otherwise academically; probably characteristic of professors to mentor undergraduates in research more closely. Untrue, probably, in the case of Caltech, which is in some ways in my eyes a small school only in size, and has the features of a large research school in many other ways (grad students around, professors chosen primarily to research) – please, Caltech students, call me out if this isn’t accurate of course. Anyway, another positive – possibly like-minded students’ company can be a huge motivating factor. </p>
<p>Large school that is otherwise very reputed: Usually offers many more courses, often may be in fact more of a graduate school than an undergraduate school, which means undergraduates who’re fine basking in on the high-profile research atmosphere on the sidelines and learning from the graduate students and the professors are likely to absorb a lot. Big school atmosphere can be positive, just for those who feel otherwise claustrophobic. Usually only for heavily independent-minded PhD-seekers, however. For those who like the idea of socializing with a wide array of people (academic, less academic and more professional, this and that), but are good at finding a small percentage of the relatively large undergraduate population which likes to think about the same things they do. For those who don’t mind if professors are usually star researchers, but not necessarily the absolute most gifted lecturers, and for those who’ll go find some of the good lecturers and take classes from them.</p>
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<p>The math PhD program at my university contains both students from schools like MIT, Berkeley itself, Cambridge, Yale…and smaller schools. Ask Vossron about Reed – he is a Reed parent. He should be very knowledgeable. He seems to indicate that Reed is a graduate school prep environment, so obviously then they must be focusing their efforts on making you successful. How they do that, you’ll have to find out from someone more knowledgeable about Reed.</p>
<p>At the bottom of [REED</a> COLLEGE LIFE AFTER REED](<a href=“http://web.reed.edu/ir/success.html]REED”>Life After Reed - Institutional Research - Reed College) is a tabulation of grad schools attended by Reedies.</p>
<p>I had the privilege to sit in on a freshman quantum mechanics class (well they were doing thermodynamics with quantum mechanics) in my junior year, and so much stuff went over my head (the quantum stuff).</p>
<p>You really need to be able to ace the SAT math with no trouble, if it is stupid mistakes like not thinking and integrating on a simple problem, then just retake it and focus.</p>
<p>If you aren’t extremely interested and good at physics and Math, you will have to work a lot harder to get in.</p>
<p>I think if you get 800 on the SAT math and SAT Math II’s that will be a good start, though.</p>
<p>I think you have a good shot. Schools should look at how quickly you have improved rather than simply at the test scores that you currently have. I think college admissions officers probably expect those born in America to be good at English. You, however, were not born in America and started this “race” pretty late; if you can improve your test scores, I daresay, you are a very, very quick learner–and that, I believe, shows much more intelligence and dedication than scoring 5 on tests that a person has been given the opportunity, classes, and money to learn. Time is of the essence.</p>
<p>haha I’m pretty sure Caltech doesn’t really care that much about how good you are at English no matter where you’re from.</p>
<p>lizzardfire: Caltech doesn’t really care about english that much?</p>
<p>I said that I was pretty sure "Caltech doesn’t really care that much about how good you are at English no matter where you’re from. "</p>
<p>This is different than not caring about English. My point is that Caltech often accepts people with SAT Reading scores far below their Math scores (and in many of these cases, I would also not consider those students particularly strong writers, but this is purely based on my own anecdotal experience–I worked in the writing center for a short period of time). </p>
<p>Caltech most certainly cares about raising the proficiency of written and verbal communication of its students (and therefore, English) once they have arrived at Caltech–hence Caltech’s 12 required terms of H&SS, etc.</p>
<p>take TOEFL and see if u do better with that.</p>
<p>Someone suggested the OP apply to a school such as Stanford. It is true Stanford does not weigh SAT scores as heavily as extracurricular accomplishments. And there, of course, is no way of telling for sure who would or would not get accepted to Stanford (or any other school for that matter). </p>
<p>However, some realistic advice would be more helpful than blind optimism. The odds of getting into Stanford with a SAT verbal score in the “500’s” (I assume that means the low 500’s) and a math score of 660 along with typical ECs is unlikely. I assume the OP did not state a score for writing because it was too low to even consider here. </p>
<p>I accept at face value what the OP has claimed. However, I would also observe that it hard to comprehend how someone with limited skills in the English language can be a valedictorian in an American high school. In order to be first in one’s class by weighted GPA, a student must take all or almost all of English and History classes as either Honors or AP classes. These classes are heavily intensive in writing papers and essays. An English learner, no matter how brilliant, would not be suited for these classes at a typical high school and would struggle just to get B’s and C’s.</p>
<p>As others have stated I applaud your ability to overcome many obstacles. This is surely a country where dreams can come true. I just think that CC is not a good place to get realistic advice (including my own).</p>