<p>colgate could work, don't know anyone from there, but my councellor in HS recommended it for a few people. </p>
<p>so i just read in one of your other threads that you got 600s flat in all three sections of the SAT 1, that totals to 1200/1600, and 1800/2400, if this is the case (i might have read wrong) you might want to apply to less competitive schools. you are probably incredibly smart, but you definitely don't want to end up like denzera and get rejected by all your schools, or by applying to many reaches end up in U delaware which you don't want to go to. I would suggest aiming lower, because an 1800 would get you a bunch of rejections if you aim as high as you currently are. swathemore, chicago, georgetown, tufts, brown, vassar, middlebury, wesleyan, all become big reaches, the 25% percentile SAT scores for these colleges would be around 1900-2000, colgate could work, as could the safeties i suggested, consider applying to boston college, boston U, american university, colby (rural but very international). you should go on to collegeboard and find universities where your SAT score falls within their middle 50%, at these schools with your gpa and activities you should stand a decent shot.</p>
<p>i hate to be doing this, but while the sat isn't an elevator if you do well, it acts like a bit of a wall if you perform below par. This is unfortunately magnified for you, because you have grown up in an english speaking environment (no official excuse to do badly on the writing and CR sections) and also because you come from a little known town, so colleges would not know the standard at your school, and rely more on the SAT to judge your capabilities. i mean how else can they can they have a standard to compare you academically to candidates from very competitive schools.</p>
<p>C02, do you know the a<em>a (academics</em>anon) community at livejournal? It's a huge snidefest, and when everybody hurls insults at each other, so much so that there is a side community (anti a_a) that is specifically designed for people to be snide about other people being snide. </p>
<p>I respect your message and the envelope it's put in, but I also think it's a tad inappropriate using towards high school students who have just experienced a loss. When everybody's on your playing field and talking about relatively minor things in academia, it's a bit different.</p>
<p>OP, definitely check out schools in "Colleges that Change Lives" by Loren Pope. There are some completely droolworthy colleges in there that would be happy to have you, and most of them accept applications on a rolling basis (so you can apply after January 1). Getting into a superelite school is getting harder and harder these days, but so is getting a date with Paris Hilton and so is winning the lottery. Don't despair!</p>
<p>yes barnard is all girls, but it is also RIGHT across the street from columbia, and you can take classes at columbia and even get a diploma cosigned by the columbia and barnard presidents. from what i hear it is as close as you can come to going to columbia without actually going to columbia (if you are a girl, us guys just have the one shot). i would suggest giving barnard a look.</p>
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because an 1800 would get you a bunch of rejections if you aim as high as you currently are. swathemore, chicago, georgetown, tufts, brown, vassar, middlebury, wesleyan, all become big reaches, the 25% percentile SAT scores for these colleges would be around 1900-2000,
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<p>I totally agree. The other schools OP has named -- Barnard, Swarthmore, UChicago -- on here are very selective.</p>
<p>I also don't think it's not <em>just</em> the SATs holding OP back. She says she took 3 APs -- what were the AP scores? And where's her passion among the ECs -- just seems like she did a little bit of everything. All these varsity letters -- but any regional/statewide success? 75 NHS hours, being in a couple leadership positions, etc. aren't going to turn heads.</p>
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Did you know Dan Rather always sat the bench in baseball and his coach threw him in the right field during the last innings as a joke? Look at him now.
yeah, good point, he really kicks ass at baseball now</p>
<p>Look, this and the Bill Gates point miss the mark. The admissions process in this country is designed to find the next Bill Gateses, and funnel them towards the Harvards. The fact that Bill Gates dropped out of Harvard, as opposed to community college, should be evidence that the process works.
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<p>Exactly; I still don't get the Rather / Gates analogy attempts.</p>
<p>yeah idk. forget those analogies. i think only i understand them.</p>
<p>my school offers 7 AP classes. Spanish, i obviously am not going to take. i am a french major. chemistry ap interferes with Art AP which i am taking now. I take E110 which is a freshman English class( for college) and I have a high A. I also take European History AP now and have the highest grade in the class. I took US History as a sophomore I had a 98 average in the class. Oh, almost forgot. Calc AP interferes with accounting. I took precalc last year though, not to mention have taken honors (obviously) since like middle school. In english science, and history since freshman year.</p>
<p>I don't think my academics are a problem being that my gpa is well over a 4.0. So i am not sure what you are saying. i understand that my SAT scores should be higher. i understand. </p>
<p>and the sports i did all involved running, indoor outdoor and cross country. if that's not passion to run all three seasons through high school i dont know what is. i qualified for states in the mile, was MVP and captain for my track team, received academic all conference like 4 times. But I found a new passion for music/ drama and joined the drama club last year, so i kind of care more about that.</p>
<p>I'm a big fish in a small pond, until I get through the rest of nation. Understood. But I am happy with myself, and what I have accomplished. And if a college refuses me because of my SAT scores, then so be it. Everything happens for a reason.</p>
<p>9th grade- class secretary
11th grade- class historian</p>
<p>student leadership academy- selected to participate on a junior excursion, only eleven people were chosen. it was hiking the appalachian trail for 3 days! ahh it was soo much fun!</p>
<p>captain of indoor/outdoor track</p>
<p>i went to summer quest, an academic camp at st. andrews school ( aprestigious boarding school in delaware). its 4 weeks long for the month of july. i was one of four selected back the next summer as a junior teacher.</p>
<p>and amongst all this i need $. i have been a waitress since last january ( one year of service coming up!). i worked as a lifeguard at the smyrna pool over the past two summers. five to nine hours a day about 5 days a week! </p>
<p>and i was a school rep for Delaware Girl's State, CLEW workshop, etc.</p>
<p>i just want to push myself. i felt like i never really had to in high school and i want to be challenged in college. it's really my only chance. if i dont get into one that i like... then i seriously don't understand. (obviously pushing columbia aside, with its 10 % acceptance rate.) i am just so used to so many people not caring about school, not doing anything on their free time, and getting horrible grades. that's what doesn't get you into college. but if you want the education, you want to pursue the challenge, why should it matter?</p>
<p>one more thing:
the last date to take SATs before may is january 26. should i reatke the SAT or the subject tests? i think 600 is my # cus i got that for math and lit in the subjects. wait math was a bit lower i forgot i ran out of time.</p>
<p>^definitely retake sat 1, the subject tests are mitigated by subject specific grades in school, even though your SAT2 are below par (math is well below the global average), retake the reasoning test, and put what you love second for a little while and focus on studying for it (after you're done with college apps), and on getting a 2000/2100.</p>
<p>^10 real SATs book (do they still have those?), and any sat books that show you the tricks of the test, and teach you have to do well, and think through problems.</p>
<p>Thank you so much to everyone who has helped me out and encouraged me through this thread!</p>
<p>I found the site off of google one day in class, and it seems pretty cool, but I probably won't get on here for that much longer.</p>
<p>I wish all of the current or recently accepted Columbia students good luck with all of their endeavors.</p>
<p>Again thanks to all, if anyone wants to talk any further or has anymore suggestions, the e-mail that I use most often is <a href="mailto:A-McD@hotmail.com">A-McD@hotmail.com</a>.</p>
<p>Hi, what about applying to some of the SAT-optional colleges? I think that Bowdoin, Sarah Lawrence, Knox, Pitzer, Goucher, and several others don't require SATs. That might be your best chance at this point.</p>
<p>confidentialcoll did suggest some great colleges. I believe that you have already missed the deadline for UC Berkeley and UCLA already though. It was November 30.</p>
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i just want to push myself. i felt like i never really had to in high school and i want to be challenged in college.
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<p>Um, your high school transcript doesn't seem to reflect rigor. You're taking 1 or 2 real APs (I'm sorry, but Art AP isn't a solid AP). You chose not to take the calculus AP. You chose not to take the chemistry AP.</p>
<p>Plenty of accepted students are "big fish in a small pond" at their mediocre high schools. But they've truly challenged themselves and maximized every possible opportunity. It's doubtful that you've done that.</p>
<p>+1 point for amcd for the most recent post.</p>
<p>another point for the attitude expressed in wanting to push yourself. many people never get to the point where that's what they want, they just want whatever comes easiest, all the time.</p>
<p>When are the paper rejection letters supposed to arrive? I know they're sent by regular mail, not DHL/Fed-Ex/etc., but it's been over a week already...</p>