Does anyone know what I should score on my sat?
Does anyone know how competitive CD9 is?
@Sammmj123 I got a 1550 on mine and think that should be good enough. But NCSSM’s average score is 1390. Find out what your school’s average is and get 100 to 200 points above that. But you can’t take the sat for admission anymore. December 1st was the last one. You can take the sat however.
@Sarahhh123 Fairly competitive. Lots of good kids from there. What are your stats and extracurriculars?
I am a sophomore in the process of applying (cd8). A lot of people on here were saying to get 100 to 200 points higher on the sat than others at your school. I’m really worried about the sat and I was wondering if that point count was for above your school average or above other applicants. Thanks, and good luck to those applying.
Hi everyone. A current NCSSM senior here (class of 2019) and I’m almost done with college apps! I’m open to any questions about the school
Hi @microguy123 were you from an urban or rural district? Were you able to get the classes you wanted for the most part? Overall glad you went? Do you still plan to do something in STEM? Pros/Cons? Thanks for being willing to share!!
Hey @microguy123, was the application process difficult? And should we include our class rank in our application? I’m also still concerned about my sat score, I’ve heard different things from people I know who have applied in the past. Mine is better than my school average (1180) but a little under 1400. Some people have assured me people with lower scores have gotten in, but someone else told me they don’t accept anyone with less than a 1400. Is this true? I think I have a pretty strong application for the rest and I get good grades I’m just not a very good test taker and got really stressed out since this means a lot to me. I need ncssm and I have my heart set on residential. Any help is appreciated!
You are from cd 8 right? NCSSM only compares you to people from your district, so as long as you have a high score comparatively you should be fine my dude. Besides the SAT score isnt the only thing on your application.
@microguy123 Yeah, do you know if cd 8 is a hard district? I moved from cd 10 and I know people who got in from that district but I don’t know much about this one, all I know is cd 4 is the hardest.
@yearstogo I am from a rural district (CD5). I was able to get most of the classes I wanted but I had some of the harder teacher per subject (which was just based on luck). To be honest, if I had not gotten into any research program here I don’t think it would have been worth it because my home high school had enough AP classes for me to have something to do. But overall I am pretty glad I went. I plan to major in computer science or computer engineering.
Pros: lots of opportunities, really smart and fun people that you learn from, really unique classes, only like 3 bad teachers.
Cons: insane amount of work (I sleep at about 3 am every night), really hard to balance everything if not used to it, kinda ruins chances for top schools if you aren’t the top at NCSSM, sometimes suppressive admin, crazy number of dumb rules (level 3 if you climb a tree), food is trash.
@icantfindany ok so my CD is really easy so I didn’t stress much about it. Can you remind me how many essays there are and how long the word limit is? All I remember is that the app wasn’t terrible and the discovery day tests aren’t hard either.
I remember reading something abt how the sat is compared to you home high school’s avg sat. Also there are definitely some people at NCSSM with sats lower than 1400. SAT is compared to your home hs, everything else is compared to your CD.
@microguy123 Hi there, thank you so much for taking time out of your day to answer some of our questions! I am currently a student at Enloe who would love to attend NCSSM. I was wondering how much the application process takes into consideration the rigor of courses compared to students’ grades. I had a “B” in chemistry and pre-calculus last year, does this automatically disqualify me? Also, does one person having a 1450 trump another individual who has a 1430 or does SAT score lie in a range where anything above a certain score is good enough?
dang Enloe kids lol jk. I am not 100% sure for either of those questions but I’m pretty sure that they take rigor into account. I actually have no clue about the SAT thing tho.
I thought Enloe sends a lot of kids to NCSSM. I know one of my seniors who is currently at Carnegie Mellon who went to Enloe! He was a great TA.
Thanks @microguy123 there are about 9 essays with 1500 character limits. Currently I am over on all the character limits, in your opinion is it better to sacrifice details or one of your points? Also I found an old rubric (which is probably not used anymore), it worries me because they score the math and reading scores for the sat separately and I did really good on the math but only average for the reading. I wanted to take it again since reading scores change a lot and I did better on all the timed practices I did, but my parents wouldn’t allow it. Anyway, do you think they still use the rubric?
Grades: 10
Rigor of Program: 5
SAT Verbal and Math: 3 + 3
NCSSM Math Test: 3
Essay: 2
3 Teacher Recs: 2
Interest in Sci/Math: 2
Community Involvement: 3
Leadership: 2
Total: 35
Up to 3 points may be awarded for “exceptional circumstances.” Three readers score each applicant
independently, and their scores are summed. The maximum score is therefore 105 (or 108).
@skylark101 According to my sibling, a current senior at ncssm, there are students who they know there that made B’s in their previous schools, so to answer your question it will not automatically disqualify you, however you may lose a few points. Also are you in cd 4, because I know it is harder and therefore you may have to be more competitive. However no one thing will automatically disqualify you such as a B (it’d be different if you were failing all your classes).
I am pretty sure they use a rubric and I have seen the one you listed above before. They do not release the rubric and I read somewhere that they now weight interest in sci/math a bit more heavily than before. I think too many kids were going to NCSSM for various reasons but they were not really “STEM kids” and agree or not, it is a STEM school.
Also, I think you lose points if you do not have all As, I heard it was 3 points lost if even one B…I think that is a bit crazy as many schools grade very differently but ultimately it is up to them to make their policy…
None of the above is confirmed but I have been told by fairly reliable people…
@icantfindany Idk which one would be better to remove, it all depends on your own writing style.
I’m not 100% sure about the rubric, and I dont know anyone who actually knows. Based on what I heard the SAT is only compared to your school’s average.
For the awards and ecs do we list them or explain how we participated or what we did? Also is anyone else as nervous as I am about this, I feel like my whole life has led up to this point as it is something I’ve always wanted? (Sorry for being anxious and posting so much) Any feedback is appreciated!!!
I’d say list them and then describe as much as the word limit allows. I forgot what the format was tho.
Haha I remember when I was in your shoes. Tbh NCSSM was not what I expected. Also, I am a strong believer that personal drive and motivation is more important that the high school (or even college) that you go to.