Yeah I know this, but I also just want to go for the absolute best as hard as I can. I do not think there’s anything wrong with me attempting to just go to the best university I can get to and even if that’s the case and I do find some uni I’m far more interested in, I don’t think getting a Harvard acceptance letter or something like that would hurt me.
It won’t hurt, only help if I attempt to become a good enough candidate for these schools as ultimately if I’m able to be accepted to those schools, I’m able to get to anywhere I actually want to get in tertiary education.
I have done some studying in the end and I’m going to most likely start doing more second semester of Junior year as for now I just want to see what college would be like with me taking a summer semester at my local CC. From there I’ll most likely go off and see what sort of school would fit me best. Earlier I mentioned that I liked Brown for their open education curriculum and I would like to find another school with a similar curriculum, I believe someone earlier mentioned one but I don’t recall it. I will of course find more with such a curriculum but I also just want to find more schools with such a curriculum in the future so I can keep my eye open for them
This statement is telling. Rankings are probably the most hollow reason for anyone to choose a school. There are many more legitimate reasons for choosing one school over another. You seem to be placing undue importance on rankings.
The only requirements that I can see on OxBridge’s pages are the basic minimum requirements (i.e getting a 776 or 4 AP 5s). Are there perhaps more requirements that I’m unaware of? While getting something like a 776 would be difficult, I think it is reasonable for a maths HL student to be able to score a 5 on their Calc BC exam and I will be taking 4 AP exams over the course of high school (Bio, World History, Econ, and Gov just as is, not including additional ones I might want to sit for this very reason).
Are there more requirements than just the 776/4 APs/3 APs and a 1480+?
That is what I said, the rankings are all pretty damn equivalent up there so I might as well go for a school in those rankings and go for ones that best fit my interest. It feels like you cherry picked those specific sentences and left out the last sentence that explained the reason why I was interested in the 3 specific schools I singled out. Which, while yes hollow, I don’t think is all that unreasonable.
There are lists of schools with open curriculums - a Vassar, Wake Forest, Rochester, etc that will be a reach.
Then there are other great schools, that give merit to kids like you, do well with PHD placements and seem to have open curriculums. This is just one……
You can get the app bluebook for your computer. It has 4 practice digital SAT practice tests now.
There is also an App coming out next week called Preptly that will have digital SAT practice.
Work your hardest to move up in ranking in your class. Just be realistic and know that it will be very, very difficult to go as high as you want at this point. My daughter is also a sophomore and when you average in all the semesters it’s really hard to move up much. Your biggest hope will be if you can get your current school to not average in your freshman semesters in. At my daughter’s school, they don’t average in your grades from other schools to calculate the GPA at the school.
I will keep this in mind. My school gives its students 3 GPAs, a weighted academic GPA, a weighted total GPA, and a weighted 10-11 GPA. Which one would I report within the commonapp/most applications? I know that for me it’d be best to report 10-11 as there it’d be pretty easy to bring up my grade to at least a 3.8 UW not including Summer School but I’m unsure if this is something that’s actually allowed.
Note: I made this post with the assumption that common app only allows for total GPA rather than letting me pick which GPA set I’d like to use.
Mostly because my research is mostly based on US universities. I have started looking at unis in Canada, Switzerland, and Australia (Don’t ask why those specific areas I looked at first I have no idea either) and I have taken an interest in some but I frankly don’t know enough about them for me to confidently say I’d be interested in applying and going there.
I will most likely look at my options when I start legitimately researching college options. I would still be happy to get into a U.S Uni because while I prefer many foreign nations over the U.S, I still very much do like the U.S.
I am aware of this, I’m only asking for commonapp atm because I haven’t filled one out yet (for obvious reasons).
iirc, the commonapp allows for you to enter your GPA in school right? If it does, I’m simply asking if it lets you pick your GPA or if they require you give them a certain GPA.
…unless the reasons are financial! Depending on your area of interest, some of the big merit unis have real depth in physics.
Perfectly good idea, but a summer at CC is not a good proxy for what college is like- esp for a strong, motivated studetnt. #beenthere/donethat
For physics at Oxford you also have to take the PAT, for Cambridge the NSAA (for math it’s the MAT & STEP respectively). For both there is also a subject-specific interview (you have to be invited for the interview), that is a cross between a lesson and a test.
You will use your full tenure. Weighted if they have.
None of this matters today. You can revisit all this next summer. It’s all going to take away from your academics and accomplishments in the next year.
The Common App currently allows you to enter your weighted or unweighted cumulative high school GPA (9-11). There is a drop-list where you indicate weighted or unweighted.
I was more referring to beyond the tests. The commenter implied that to even qualify for the PAT/MAT/NSAA that’s beyond the 776/4 AP 5s/3 AP 5s and 1480 on SAT.
To apply for OxBridge you only need the basic requirements (776) and the tests before you can be short-listed for the interview right?
Also how does CC differ from college? I thought that CC and regular college were the same except that one offers 4 years of education and the other only 2.
You need at least 3 APs in the relevant areas of interest for Oxford. If you want to study physics, that would be calculus Bc, physics c, and another ap science. Your history courses do not matter. Look at the subject page for each course of study.
I am aware of that, I believe I stated that I was most likely going to try to sit for the Calc BC exam and the Physics C Mechanics + Physics 1 exam (School does not offer both Physics Cs only mechanics and 1). Regardless, when it comes to applying and theoretically I do get a 776 combination + the 4 5s, would it still be in my interest to only report the 776 or the 4 5s as afaik I don’t think they let you report both.