<p>Too many new users come to this board to ask the same questions, over and over again. So this is my shallow attempt at a list of questions someone might have when visiting this board.</p>
<ol>
<li>I got a(n) [insert perceived to be poor grade] in [insert class here]. Are my chances at [insert prestigious university/college here, usually along the lines of Harvard, Yale, Stanford, etc.] ruined?</li>
</ol>
<p>First of all, if you're applying to a school with a sub-15% admission rate, your chances of being admitted are slim. No matter who you are, you're chances will be slim unless you've done something actually quite amazing, such as winning Intel/Siemens or starting a wildly successful business. So no one in the world can answer your question. If YOU think you have a bad grade, only YOU can motivate yourself to fix it. So don't come to College Confidential asking for what to do if you get a B in Algebra II. We can't tell you, and we sure as hell can't tell you whether or not your chances at Princeton are ruined now. In most cases, a C/B won't ruin your chances. In some cases, a D/F could, because these schools have enough kids with perfect GPAs applying that you don't have room for that much error. But, please, refrain from asking these questions on the board. No one can accurately answer them, and you should spend less time worrying about your admission to Harvard and more time worrying about how to raise your grade in AP Biology. </p>
<ol>
<li>Should I take X AP class over Y AP class? </li>
</ol>
<p>Again, no one can answer this for you. If you want to be a business major in college, and you're deciding between taking AP Studio Art and AP Macroeconomics, you should probably take the latter, as it pertains to your interests. But if you really believe a college admissions council is going to nitpick your AP classes and hold up some of them as "greater APs" and the others as "lesser APs," you're kidding yourself. They don't have the time to do something as mind-numbingly stupid as that. AP classes are AP classes. Don't worry about which you should take. Just take as many as you can (colleges are looking for the rigor of your education in high school; taking as many APs as you can shows that). But if you're losing sleep at night because you can't imagine the "horror" the admissions officers at Harvard will have when they see you decided to take AP Psychology, you need to re-evaluate your life.</p>
<ol>
<li>I only got a [insert perceived to be poor score here] on my SAT/ACT. Do I have no chance at [insert prestigious college/university here]?</li>
</ol>
<p>This is perhaps the easiest question in the world to answer. Say you want to see Harvard's admissions statistics. Google "Harvard Common Data Set" and go to town. They have a lot of useful information in there (every school publishes a Common Data Set as far as I know; just google the name of the desired school and then "Common Data Set" after it). If your SAT/ACT score falls in the middle 50% range, you're a competitive applicant in that aspect. If you're in the 75th percentile, you have a better chance than most (but, for schools like Harvard, those chances are still depressingly low). If you're in the 25th percentile, you might want to work on (a) raising your test scores or (b) focusing on other aspects of your application that you feel might make up for the test scores. However, test scores and GPA are the first hurdles in the admissions process; if you don't clear those, you might have no chance at all. </p>
<p>So, basically, test scores and GPA come first. But no one here can tell you if your scores make you competitive. Just look up the Common Data Set and get the facts. </p>
<ol>
<li>I want to go to [insert brand name school here, as in Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Princeton, etc.]. What do I have to do?</li>
</ol>
<p>First of all, go read gibby's post here: </p>
<p>This is incredibly enlightening for people with questions. But the gist of it is, no one can tell you the "magic formula" to get into these schools, because there isn't one. </p>
<p>And secondly, I'd suggest for most of the starry-eyed freshmen who come here who only know Harvard's name and nothing else, please research these schools. Know WHY you want to go there. Don't just look at the U.S. News rankings and decide "oh, well Harvard and Princeton are number 1. I'll apply there." Prestige is just one of many, many factors that should influence your decision on where to apply. </p>
<p>Thanks for reading, I hope this helps some of you. I might add some questions later on.</p>