Sophomore worries about college

Applying to College
1

<p>Recently I decided to take the SAT I test because I felt well prepared for it. Previously, I had taken many practice tests that all put me at over 2100 (about). However, when I took the March SAT I, the scores came back to be (in my opinion) extremely mediocre at around 1820 =[. If I prepare super hard over summer vacation (SAT class and self-study) and somehow increase my score to at very minimum 2200+, will colleges partially ignore the much inferior score (meaning, the 2200+ score would bear much more weight when it comes to applications)?</p>

<p>If it helps at all, my other information (will) include:</p>

<p>Golf (possibly Varsity in the coming years)
Being a helping part of a new committee at our school to help our school's energy efficiency and cleanliness
Volunteering at a vocational school in China to help educate disabled people in English
Debate team
We The People
and perhaps some other sort of extracurricular if I can think of it.</p>

<p>Also, I'm planning on taking rigorous courses over my high school years.</p>

<p>For example:</p>

<p>Freshman year: All possible honors (3)
Sophomore year: 1 AP, 3 Honors
Junior year: 4 APs
Senior year: 4-5 APs</p>

<p>Currently my grades aren't so stellar (4.0UW Freshman year and 3.4UW Sophomore first semester <-- yeah, I had the hardest teacher in English math and I screwed up in other subjects too), but as of 2nd semester my grades are returning to the A range.</p>

<p>Sorry about putting up so much (possibly useless) information regarding my question, but I'm really worried that I won't get into my dream schools of UCSD, UCLA, UC Berkeley, Stanford (long shot, but hey, I can dream, right?), and UPenn.</p>

<p>Any response is greatly appreciated!</p>

2

<p>dont sweat it, i went from an 1830 -> 2120</p>

3

<p>Did you end up getting into the school you wanted to go to?</p>

4

<p>stephennn, what did you do that made your SAT score jump up that much?</p>

5

<p>

yes, i wasn’t rejected from any of my schools and will be going to my #1 choice in the fall (NYU)</p>

<p>i didn’t really do anything crazy. no crazy study sessions. most of the points came with just growing up i think. i did do some review in the blue book for the month of november (right before my december test)</p>

6

<p>So how did your colleges choose your SAT scores?</p>

<p>Did they pick the best test overall? Best score in each subject? Or some other method perhaps?</p>

7

<p>all my schools superscore, but it didn’t matter. my best score was a single-sitting. </p>

<p>the only schools i know of that don’t superscore are the UCs.</p>

8

<p>Starting this year, you can pick and choose which score you send, so you can take 4 and just send 1. However, you can’t superscore with this option.<br>
Don’t worry, you’re only a sophomore. You still have two more years to go. I didn’t even worry about this stuff until… senior year :o.</p>

9

<p>I understand your worries I’m a sophomore. However, an 1830 is never mediocre compared to most people who take the test and I’m pretty sure you can raise it after taking it again junior year.</p>

<p>To make you feel better;
I got a PSAT score of 153 and I have to bring it up to at least a 2000 b/c I want to apply to USC and maybe Duke. Crap!</p>