@kristin1501 As for me, I need to go to IMSA because I luck opportunities at my home school. I am taking seniors and AP classes at my home school right now since 9th grade classes are so slow and boring a basically a waist of time… so I will run out of classes I can take in a year or so. Also, my school do not have robotics club, no science/math clubs competitions as well… no research opportunities. I do all things on my own… taking classes online, learning things on my own… alone in a box… Just want to go to a place where I can be surrounded by people just like me who are passionate about math and science, so I can have someone to talk to.
I know IMSA will be a good place for me; however, I am not sure if I will be accepted since I am competing with people who won state or so in all this science Olympiads… as well as people with jaw dropping SAT and GPA… Mine are very modest, not because I am dumb but because of circumstances out of my control affected me during last year…
I hope I was able to express myself well enough through essays but who knows…
I feel like moving to IMSA would save me…
How about you, can you answer the first and the second question? How was IMSA experience for you? Was it as you expected, worse or better? Or anything you would like to share with applicants for class of 2020? It would be really interesting to hear about IMSA experience from a sophomore…
@javascript Don’t stress too much over the SAT and GPA!! I had a near perfect GPA going into IMSA (I say near because I once got a B in art), but that was because the classes I was taking were way too easy for me to pass. I know people who had lower GPAs and SAT scores than me, but they still got accepted! What the admissions committee is looking for is someone who has taken advantage of the opportunities available to them at their school. The first round of reviewing doesn’t even include your scores, because IMSA really wants people who are passionate about math and science. You seem like you’re super passionate about going here, so if you showed that in your essays, you have a better chance of a person with a 4.0 GPA and really good SAT scores who only wants to be at IMSA for how it will look on a college app.
I wanted to come to IMSA for some of the same reasons you do. The only AP classes available to me were in history, and I hated the way that classes were taught at my old school. Coming to IMSA made me realize that there is a lot more to school than getting good grades and getting into college. There are so many cool classes and people here, and although it’s a lot harder than my old school, I feel like I’ve been learning and succeeding much more now. Being able to talk about really nerdy science and math stuff with my friends is really great, and I love being surrounded by people who have similar interests as I do.
When I was accepted into IMSA, it really surprised me because I wasn’t expecting to get in, and I had been prepared to accept my rejection. I had already come up with a list of reasons why I was happy at my old school. The acceptance letter made me face one of the toughest decisions I’ve had to make, but I’m so glad that I decided to attend because it has already been life-changing in the short amount of time that I’ve been here. I hope that you get the chance to come too, because you seem like you would be really happy at IMSA. If you have any more questions, feel free to ask!!!
@kristin1501 It would be a miracle if I get accepted… Thank you for giving me a hope anyway 
I was just wondering how many students at IMSA maintain 4.0 GPA at all times? I know most of students getting lower GPA at IMSA than they had before, at their home schools.
Basically, people who choose to stay at their home school should have better stats while applying to college.
I do not have 4.0 GPA anyway so I am not afraid of getting a “B” sometimes… but I can imagine someone`s perfect GPA will be ruined by going to IMSA… How people managing it to become a “B” student after coming to IMSA?
@javascript Maintaining a 4.0 at IMSA is really hard to do. For sophomore year it isn’t impossible to do, you just need to work pretty hard and manage your time well. I only know of a few people in my grade who still have straight A’s, though, so it’s kind of uncommon. Any upperclassman will tell you not to aim for a perfect GPA, because it won’t happen. I was totally fine losing some of my A’s, because the classes are a lot more challenging than what I was used to, so it’s natural that I won’t automatically do as well.
Colleges typically won’t be concerned if you don’t have a perfect GPA at IMSA, because it’s IMSA! As long as you don’t fail classes, and maintain at least some A’s and B’s, people will be more interested in the fact that you came here and what you did than your grades.
@kristin1501 many colleges offer a totally free ride for students with 4.0 GPA…just a remark :-B
How much time per day/week you spend doing homework? Any boring homework are assigned (such as solving similar math problems countless number of times until you get really bored…, or write a long paper on a topic that you have no interest in) ?
How many hours for sleep on average do you get?
@javascript Most papers for me are really difficult, and not always interesting, but that’s because I have never really liked writing essays. There have definitely been interesting topics, though. Math homework isn’t super repetitive. A worksheet might have a couple of problems from a recent lesson in one section, and in the next section might be a couple of similar problems, but with a new concept involved. There are typically 3-4 similar/repetitive problems per worksheet, but they don’t get boring. On a typical school night, I can spend anywhere from 2-4 hours on homework, depending on the day and how well I can focus. I’ll admit that I can be bad about sleep sometimes, but who doesn’t have nights where they stay up way too late on their phone/talking to friends? I usually get at least 6 1/2 hours of sleep/night, but I could get more if I tried to. Since the internet shuts off at 11:30 and lights out is at 12, staying up much later isn’t really useful to you, so if you go to bed at 12 then you could get at least 7 hours of sleep/ night.
@kristin1501 I think I could survive with 7 hours of sleep for a while I-)
Do you know by chance how many people of class of 2019 dropped IMSA this year or going to drop? What about upperclassman?
@kristin1501 Is it true that it’s harder to get into some colleges (ex. U of I) because you have to compete against other IMSA students?
In addition, how hard is it to really be engaged in some of the clubs/teams there? For example, obviously if you go out for robotics team or math team or something, it’s going to be harder to actually be the main robot person or get placed in math team events simply because so many other students are doing it and so many other students were at the top of those clubs at their old schools. I don’t know if I’m really making sense here, but I guess what I’m trying to say is is it better to be at the top of a small/regular school or be average at IMSA?
@javascript You’re super passionate and that comes across even in the short little post you made. I’m sure IMSA will see that. Good Luck!
@corrjayna Thank you! Good luck to you too!
I know you did not ask me, but I just wanted to share that I researched about college acceptance.
In general, a college can accept only a few people from a single public school.
I am sure it is harder to make it to a top 1% of the class at IMSA than it would be at any regular public school.
Some colleges, such as University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign know vary well about IMSA and accept more people from IMSA. But I assume it would be really hard to compete for Ivy league colleges acceptances against other super brilliant IMSA students.
@javascript For the number of people who dropped out-- so far its been about 13, including upperclassmen who dropped this year. I don’t know of anyone who plans to drop over the summer, though.
@corrjayna I don’t know how competitive it is for U of I, but a lot of IMSA students have it as their “safety” school, essentially their top choice if they don’t get into their main dream schools. U of I accepts a lot of IMSA students every year, but like @javascript said, it’s a lot harder to get into those dream schools. I only heard of a few students from the class of 2017 who got accepted into Ivy League schools.
@corrjayna As for involvement in activities, it’s really easy to stay involved, as long as you keep your grades at a passing level. The robotics team is really popular here, obviously, but everyone on the team does important work! I think that if everyone is equally important to the team then people get along better, and work much better as a group. So, I would say it’s a lot better to be on an even playing field
… it is about 5 weeks left… a long time…
@javascript
You sound like you are just sitting there, waiting. Remember, all time spent waiting is time not spent on productivity. Your username is a name of a programming language, so I assume you are somewhat passionate about programming. Learn more about it. Do you know how to use pointers in javascript? Events? Multithreading?
How about simply practicing your programming problem-solving skills? Project Euler is an excellent one, as it combines mathematics and programming. Try solving at least 25 problems.
Don’t like solving problems? Start a new project. Make a game in Unity. Contribute to open-source projects.
Don’t like your language? Learn a new one. Python is popular. SQL too.
Was I wrong about your passion for programming? Just get involved in something. Northwestern University offers Talent Development programs. Try them out.
Try something new. If you do, these 5 weeks are going to fly by like crazy.
@romalex4 Thanks for all your suggestions! Appreciate it.
I did not mean to make an impression that ALL I am doing is just sitting and waiting for IMSA admissions results… It is nothing like this. I am just thinking about IMSA pretty often… because I believe my chances for acceptance are pretty low… I have very busy life with different activities and everything I do in addition to school work… (programming is one of it It is only 4 weeks left now…
I am looking through this thread and realizing that my chances of acceptance are basically 0. Everybody has SAT-M > 700, while I am sitting here with a 680, a few extracurriculars and awards. I guess all the fees paid toward the application were wasted. Oh well.
Plus, I am an 8th grader.
@romalex4 First of all, since you are an 8th grader, you will have another chance to apply next year if you do not make it in this year. It is not a waist of time and money to apply as an 8th grader. By applying as 8th grader you demonstrate interest to IMSA.
Also, class of 2020 applicants thread has very low activity in comparison to previous years, so you can not assume much about applicants quality from this thread…
I have very low chance of acceptance this year and had 0 chance last year as an 8th grader, but I do not regret I applied.
I learned a lot from my last year application and the interview.
Good luck to you!
@javascript Thank you.
Hey guys I’m applying to imsa and i’ve been looking but i finally made an account here. I want to know my chances
SAT: 760 math, 720 reading for 1480 total
GPA: 4.0
Essays: ok
Awards: Accelerated Geometry and Trigonometry Student of the Month
Northwestern University Midwest Academic Talent Search High Scorer - Top 5% of ACT Scores
Hawk Pride Student of the Quarter Award - for Pride, Respect, Involvement, Dignity, and Empathy (2nd quarter 2017)
Spelling Bee District 64 District Qualifier 6 years in a row, 2016 2nd place
Solo & Ensemble Gold Medalist in Solos & Ensembles 6 years in a row
Activities: Math Team - 1hr/week plus 3 hr competitions every month
STEM Saturdays Program - 3 hrs/weekend spring 2016
Electricity and Electronics Club - 2 hrs/week 2014 & 2015
Orchestra/Private Violin lessons for 7 years, 2nd chair violin, chamber orchestra in middle school - 3 hrs/week in middle school and 5hrs/week in high school, 7 hrs practice time per week
Center for Talent Development Stock Market Experience Class - 2 hrs/week Winter 2014
Badminton Lessons 2015 & 2016 - 1 hr/week, badminton is a spring sport, so I still have to try out for 2017
Illinois Summer Youth Music 3 years - 2013-2015 - 5 day orchestra residential experience
Shir Hadash Reconstructionist Synagogue Madrichim (Teaching Assistant) - teach 2nd graders Hebrew and instill Jewish moral values - 3 hrs/week, 2015-2016 & 2016-2017
Bat Mitzvah Project - volunteered at and raised money for the Greater Chicago Food Depository - 12 hrs volunteering
Various volunteering through Indian Princesses and synagogue- 2-3 hours/month
Teacher recs pretty good
White female 9th grade Chicagoland area.
There are a lot of activities but they’re all trash and non math and science related 
y’all are talking about your activities to save you but mine are trash. I’m bored in school but I have enough classes. What do you think