<p>Guys, I just need to know if Amherst College rejects ED/RD students who took regular courses and electives in high school and started taking few honors, 1 AP, and English Comp (College credit course) in their senior year? I want to know how important are Junior Yr and Senior Yr grades.</p>
<p>I want to include into my personal essay explaining how I got the punishment I deserved for not being mature to realize how important going to college is. I’m a bright boy who has the skills to demonstrate natural ability, but then I just didn’t use it well in my freshmen and sophomore year. I really have learned my lesson from my past mistakes.</p>
<p>Plus, my English teacher in 10th grade doesn’t give her students higher grades that they deserve even with an improvement.</p>
<p>I have to say, Sea.. I really don't understand your demographic. Are you in HS? If so, what grade? Are you already in College? Are you here just to draw posts and watch the comedy unfold?</p>
<p>What I mean to say is that if you read enough of my posts you can "see" who I am. I use many of the same phrases and transitions and grammar in most all of my writing. Yours is all over the map from the seemingly astute to the completely confused english as a third language foreign exchange student. The inconsistency is jarring. So before this thread takes off in a pointless direction... why don't you offer up some different information. Because as it is, your lacking HS academic career has already been discussed quite thoroughly as far as I can see.</p>
<p>Modadunn, I'm tired of you coming up to my place and flame every thread that I make. If you think I'm willing to continue dealing with your "brought up arguments", you can forget about it. I'm not going to bother with you AT ALL. I don't have time for this everytime you come here. I'm sick of your immaturity, STOP TALKING TO ME, please! Or else I will report you for harrasing me. So what I will do is let your biased, sarcastic, absurd, and pessimistic comments die right now, without saying anything. Who is rjm, is that your friend or is it an another account that you created to attack me? That's really strange.</p>
<p>There's a rule that the site posted, post things that only pertain to the topic. </p>
<p>Back to what I was saying.. can anybody answer my topic's question?</p>
<p>I received a very pointed private message from Sea.. and I would just like to point out that this is the very first time that I confronted Sea's post. In fact, I was mostly very supportive and responded to many of your concerns about your grades, class work and remedial english as a second language. But the thing is, this is the same thread in so many ways. You were taken seriously but you cannot accept the answers you've been given only to repost all over again. So I wont blow your cover every time you post if you quit posting the same question all over again, and again.</p>
<p>Can someone please help me out by answering my topic? I'm worried about whether or not Amherst will understand my issues. It's one of my top choice I plan to do ED.</p>
<p>Seachai, you can't change what you've done, or not done, in the past. You can only put forward the best application you can and see what happens. It's probably a long shot with a less rigorous high school course load, but if you want to give a big reach school like Amherst your best shot, then go for it. The admissions office has very hard decisions to make between many, many, many highly qualified applicants. Even quite a few of the very strongest ones won't get accepted, so it's nothing to take personally.</p>
<p>What you can't change, you can't change. Junior year grades are very important. For ED applicants, those are the grades they'll be seeing as your most recent ones. Senior year is more a matter of keeping up high standards, but junior year is probably the most important for setting the bar.</p>
<p>Make sure you don't fixate on one college, or even just top tier colleges. Apply ED wherever you like, but plan to apply widely in RD, including to some less selective schools and to at least one school you're assured of getting into (that's relatively affordable).</p>
<p>If you do that, you'll be going somewhere, and you can thrive wherever you go. I have one kid at Amherst and another at a regional state univ. I don't think they are having wildly different experiences, to be honest, nor do I think one is receiving an education unavailable to the other. So... put forth the best application you can. Plan to apply to a wide variety of schools. And then chill out. ;)</p>
<p>When I have the student body of my own background to match with the school's interest/reputation, this is the legal punishment I recieve for being immature with my past work experience. I hope even if they think I'm weak in this situation, they'll still take it into a consideration. Nobody in this world is perfect and everyone makes mistakes and learn from it. I want to apply to a small SUNY school or at least a place like St. Johns and then transfer into Amherst College. Thanks for the RD idea, I'll see what I can do.. even if I get rejected on ED, with good SAT scores and ECs. (Oh and did I forget, make sure I get As in Liberal Arts courses and they'll know I can handle the school even if I transfer!)</p>
<p>Telling people not to advice other people isn't going to get others to actually listen to you.</p>
<p>P.S: You're probably Mudadunn or one of his friends. I'm here to get help, not troll ok? Remember that. Getting help and Trolling mean very different.</p>
<p>The problem is you present a somewhat confusing picture. From reading all of your past posts, we learn that you are a Junior in high school living in the New York area, with a brother who graduated from Rice. Your SAT's are.. I can't recall right here if you said what you actually got, but you were hoping for 2060. Your GPA is around 3.3 or 3.5. You regret your grades from freshman and sophomore years and want to know if that will be held against you, or if you can say you've come to understand this as a maturity issue and plan to do better once at college.</p>
<p>Your plan is to apply to several schools, including St. Johns and Amherst. I can't tell from the Rice thread if you are still planning to apply to Rice. You received some encouragement there that some with your SAT's or lower have been admitted.</p>
<p>You've gotten some advice to work hard on your SAT's, prepare for them, meanwhile bring up your GPA starting right now. </p>
<p>You wonder about taking some coursework and transferring into Amherst sometime in the future. Some have said it's wiser to focus on a range of schools (safety, match and reach) suggesting that Amherst would be quite a reach for you at this time. But nobody has said don't try. Just don't pin your hopes to it. Instead, focus on the present, bring things up, get a list of schools that includes safeties, matches and reaches. Understand that Amherst will be a big reach and is only one school on your list. </p>
<p>Do I have your basic biography correct? </p>
<p>And if so, what exactly would you like to know from others at this moment? Can you list what you want to know with bullet points. If people can answer, they will. If they can't, they won't. </p>
<p>Nobody needs to call anyone a troll. If you have advice, then offer it. </p>
<p>OP, can you please just write what is most important for you to know from the Amherst thread?</p>
<p>I'm not a Senior yet. I specifically stated that I'm still a junior at this point. I just want people to give me some additional comments or advices on if I don't have the grades to enter Amherst, can I take credits for liberal arts earlier and be easier to transfer in? Yes, I will recall that my past grades that are holding against me has lead me to understand my maturity issue. The point I'm trying to make here is that I'm falling down the hole because I DON'T KNOW IF I WILL BE ABLE TO GET INTO GOOD SCHOOLS THAT HAS MY INTEREST/BACKGROUND. In case I don't get in, I'll get some back up schools.</p>
<p>I've pulled the following information from the Amherst website (Amherst.edu) admissions page. Perhaps it will be helpful.<br>
[quote]
In reviewing your application, we consider grades, standardized test scores, essays, recommendations, independent work, the quality of your secondary school program and your achievements outside the classroom. We give the greatest weight to your academic transcript. The rigor of courses you've taken, the quality of your grades and the consistency with which you've worked over four years give us the clearest indication of how well you will do at Amherst. ...If you have taken International Baccalaureate, Advanced Placement or college courses during secondary school, we view this as significant evidence of your academic accomplishment and preparation. In addition, some Amherst departments will allow you to forgo introductory-level courses in areas in which you have already completed rigorous work. However, we do not accept such courses for credit or advanced standing.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Additionally, in the course catalog that you can view in pdf form, here is Amherst's policy on transferring credit from other institutions (which is what I assume you mean by taking liberal arts courses). </p>
<p>
[quote]
ACADEMIC CREDIT FROM OTHER INSTITUTIONS
Amherst College does not grant academic credit for work completed at other
institutions of higher education unless it meets one of the following criteria: (1)
each course offered as part of a transfer record has been completed and accepted
by the College prior to matriculation at Amherst; (2) the work is part of an
exchange program of study in the United States or abroad approved in advance
by a Dean of Students and the Registrar; or (3) the work has been approved by
the Registrar as appropriate to make up a deficiency deriving from work not
completed or failed at Amherst College (see Delinquencies).
[/quote]
</p>
<p>I think the only other person that might be helpful here is either your guidance counselor or an admission's official Amherst. But I might suggest that you wait to contact them until at least decisions for the class of 2013 are made (early April). You don't really need the specifics before then and they are swamped. Don't want to give yourself a reputation as bothersome.</p>
<p>So...there you go. I honestly believe this is the most accurate and complete information you can get without going directly to the source.</p>
<p>You don't have to narrow yourself to humanities courses just to impress Amherst.
Amherst encourages open-mindedness and diversity, even in the academic sense: that's why we have the Open Curriculum.</p>
<p>Take challenging classes you'll enjoy and excel in, and then apply.</p>
<p>Well, I'm no admission expert. But I had a similar experience to yours. I had a less rigrous Freshman and Sophomore year at high school (in my case, O Levels). I took 7 seven subjects, but there are people who take 10-12 subjects. While there were several reasons for my complacency, I regret for not being more sincere with studies at that time. But since then I've improved. In fact, I have improved a lot over the years. Also, I have given everything into the essays and the application. I know I don't have a great shot at Amherst, but I hope they would at least take my improvement into consideration. </p>
<p>All you can do is do your best at present. The only person who can help you is you yourself. If you are confident that you deserve to get into Amherst, then let that confidence reflect in your application. There is no point telling others what you could have done. "Show" them that. Give your best in whatever you do from now on, and you can say, "Hey don't judge me only by my past. I am better than that--as I have proved."</p>
<p>By the way, if you say that you hate yourself. You cannot get annoyed at others for not loving you. Be optimistic!</p>