<p>I voted letters of recommendation because those are the only things out of your control. The rest I can work on, study for, or improve. I don't like that there are things being weighed in my app which I have no hand in making.</p>
<p>Good point mwnivek, but you can at least talk with your recommending teachers and participate actively in their classes.</p>
<p>I would change my SAT's: they seem to divide the accepted from the qualified at the top colleges.</p>
<p>MY ACT</p>
<p>Period </p>
<p>I have excellent grades and EC's, but my ACT was only a 25</p>
<p>How about my nationality? It sucks being an "average" international student.</p>
<p>I agree with whoever said it on the first page--my extracurriculars, because until recently I had no idea it was possible to do most of the stuff I've seen on here. I mean, I'd never even HEARD of RSI until this summer when I started seriously reading the boards.</p>
<p>Maybe my GPA, because I had a lot of trouble with math my first two years and it screwed me over, but I figure that I tried my best, and my grades are what they are. <em>shrug</em></p>
<p>This probably makes no sense but ... my personality. I'm more of a listener than a talker and I'm extremely shy. Whereas some people naturally spout off, I have to consciously tell myself to talk in certain environments (like class). But seeing as how that isn't an option, I'll go with extracurriculars. Because those kind of suck too :D</p>
<p>Three letters...............G.........P..........A</p>
<p>AiLove, i wish i had your problem. I talk way more than i'd like to.</p>
<p>I wish I had taken the standardized tests more seriously. I did well on the ACT my soph year then kind of blew them off after that. I probably could have gotten a better score if I had studied.</p>
<p>I also wish I had gotten into some kind of research. I didn't even realize that it was possible to do something like that in high school.</p>
<p>Dirt McGirt, same here. I hear about all this research stuff high schoolers have done and I'm like "what? You can do that in high school?"</p>
<p>...Oh well.</p>
<p>Yeah totally grades i was such a slacker last year and this year</p>
<p>I'm sorry but the thing about this is in the end, the colleges are still obsessed with SAT and ACT scores. Take my friend H. He barely does any extracurriculars or anything extra period. I have a higher GPA than he does and I do a lot more than he does. And yet he gets a 790 on the verbal and a 750 on the math on the SAT so Harvard etc immediately contacts him.</p>
<p>that doesn't mean he'll get in... SAT can only do so much on their own.</p>
<p>Test scores are overrated. I have great test scores and academics but extracurriculars are just impossible. Everything seems like a popularity contest: Student council, check. NHS elections, check. Book awards, check. Selection for school nominations to programs (Governor's School, etc.), check. It's sickening to have to excel in school but be stuck under the radar--because in high schools it's not considered politically correct to reward the kid with perfect test scores and way more AP classes than his/her classmates. You have to reward the teacher's pets or the popular kids who get elected to Student Council and thus get way more visibility and pats on the back from faculty.</p>
<p>I wish SAT/ACT scores were the only thing colleges looked at. Then I'd be relaxing right now with my 1530 (Math & CR).</p>
<p><em>Not being sarcastic</em></p>
<p>I wish i could have gone to a filty-rich prep school</p>
<p>I Love The S. A. T.</p>
<p>Definitely my ECs... I worked so hard my entire life to do well in school that I gave up on a lot of things I was interested in by 9th grade and don't have that many impressive ECs... it's sort of ironic, the stuff I would have loved to do and gave up could be one of the things that could keep me from going where I want to go. I would definitely try to dedicate more time to them if I could do it over. </p>
<p>It's a little humorous for now until I actually don't get into these school haha.</p>
<p>I'm going to be a sophomore, so i'm not really sure what i'll regret in the future. Not much i hope.</p>
<p>But, I have a feeling it's going to be my GPA. I was very lazy this previous year. I got three B's. :( It's like having a perfectly white dress with three big ink spots. (That is if i get straight A's in the future, if not the white dress will be a polka dot one.)</p>
<p>Do you guys have any tips for the e.c. problems? Unfortunately I've given up a few things to study also, but now i'm reading that you guys regret doing that. I'm still in a few things, and I'm thinking about joining the club I dropped my senior year.</p>
<p>sophmore gpa...</p>