<p>Of course I wouldn’t qualify for the Shipman scholarship at this time, I’m not applying for colleges yet and I haven’t taken the ACT or SAT xD
I was just curious about the scholarship - nothing wrong with being informed. I don’t know my exact class rank, but I know I’m in the top 10%. Freshmen and sophomore years give me a cumulative GPA over 4.0 (took AP and honors classes). I am a year ahead in math and science. I am part of NHS, and was in Key Club freshmen year (40+ volunteer hours). I take part in annual poetry slams, and even started my own writing club for which I hold meetings.</p>
<p>WallFlower – just for comparison, the average student at one of my local high schools has a gpa of about 4.0 with weighted grades because of AP and honors classes. 4.0 puts a student there right in the middle of the class. Lots of colleges look at (or calculate on their own) your unweighted gpa; Shipman likely candidates will have unweighted gpa’s of 3.9 or higher in many cases, and ACT scores (or comparable SAT scores) of 33 or better. </p>
<p>@arabrab My unweighted GPA is 4.0</p>
<p>There is nothing wrong to collect information. If you are aiming at Shipman, you do need to work up your EC a lot besides academic. It is right now not thing really stands out. It is too early to calculate your GPA for college application. Everything is possible at this point. Have you practice for PSAT? What is your current practice score?</p>
<p>I only have two extracurriculars because my school has low funding. There are only a handful of clubs and after-school activities. My school is so sports oriented it makes me sick. I don’t care for the people in band or choir, and I’m not good with a camera so yearbook is out of the question (there’s also a class that goes along with that and I don’t have room in my schedule for it). That leaves computer club…but I’ve only taken a semester of a technology class and it was more engineering than anything. What do people even do in computer club?</p>
<p>For those top students, they will create a club if they cannot find what they want. Also, EC is not limited to within the school. There are plenty of things to do in the community or elsewhere such as a Summer research project at a university. These are the common things that show up on the CVs of top candidates all the time. It seems you have not discovered your passion (if you have one) on anything yet. This is what the college looking for. It does take time to cultivate and to demonstrate a passion. If you cannot find anything you are interested in, the school is probably not interested in you either and would not grant you a large scholarship.</p>
<p>I’ve never taken any practice tests for the SAT (don’t plan on taking the SAT; see my other thread if you want more info on that), but I did take the Explore, which is from the same company that creates ACT tests. The Explore was out of 25 points, and we were not told that we were taking it until about two weeks prior. I didn’t take that too seriously as it did not count towards anything so I didn’t study. I still got a 23/25 (also was excused to use the bathroom during one of the sections).</p>
<p>ECs also don’t have to be connected to school. You really SHOULD take the PSAT. If you do well on that you could make National Merit.</p>
<p>I would be surprised that anyone interested in scholarship not aware of PSAT. It seems OP does not know what we are talking about.</p>
<p>The Explore test is for 8th graders. The PLAN test is the precursor to the ACT. Did you take that sophomore year? And yes, you should prep and take the PSAT this fall as Erin’s Dad said.</p>
<p>@billcsho You must not have read my earlier posts in this thread. I started my own club - a writing club. Its members and myself take part in the school’s annual poetry slam. We’re also working on a poetry troop to travel to slams elsewhere.</p>
<p>I know what the PSAT is -_-
Testing is in October.</p>
<p>So you are not interested in scholarships? It is confusing as you are asking about scholarship here but do not plan to take PSAT. National Merit Status will help you to some extend in college application and open the doors o many scholarships. PLAN and Explorer just do very crude prediction of your potential interest and range of ACT scores.</p>
<p>“It is too early…”
“Everything is possible at this point.”</p>
<p>Maybe I’ll change my mind. Besides, even if I were to take the PSAT, I can’t get much info from my school because their website has been under construction and I doubt they’ll pick up the phone. I’d have to wait until September to sign up.</p>
<p>My suggestion is to do some practice test for PSAT. It is actually funny that when I asked if you have practiced for PSAT and you said you are not going to take SAT. That makes me think you don’t know what PSAT is. Go to college board’s website to learn more about PSAT. Your school probably have nothing more than just the schedule on their website.</p>
<p>I must have misread PSAT for SAT earlier (idk what hell the blushing emoticon is)
A good enough score on the PSAT can qualify one for National Merit and present scholarship opportunities. But I have a ■■■■ ton of standardized testing to do this coming academic year and I still need to pick and choose which ones to take and when. </p>
<p>So excuse me for jumping from one end to the other. </p>
<p>“…officials here said the University of Michigan is not as impressed with National Merit Scholars as other schools might be. Associate Provost for Academic Affairs Lester Monts said the expectations set for merit scholars are lower than the standards the University expects its incoming class to set.”</p>
<p>From <a href=“Colleges disagree on value of National Merit Scholars”>http://www.michigandaily.com/content/colleges-disagree-value-national-merit-scholars</a></p>
<p>Yes, UMich does not give anything to NMF, but you may be able to get scholarship through NM to attend UMich. They are not impressed with those NMS, they are even less impressed with those do not get it.</p>
<p>For PSAT, you don’t have any option to pick when to take it. There is only one in your life time. Most likely, you will have all APs in May and you better to take SAT2 in June. PSAT is usually not in the way of anything unless you are ready now to take SAT or ACT.</p>