Well, if I’m not studying, I’m either working at my job, doing service projects for a club, or relaxing. I do have art skills that I could put to use, but I haven’t had time and haven’t done in a while. Is there anything I can do with that that would attract colleges? Maybe, take AP studio art drawing, create animations for a YouTube channel, or find a way to make profit from them? These are ideas I’ve had but haven’t executed yet due to upcoming exams.
I plan to join a couple more clubs next year. Im currently in one called the National Honors Society in which I often do projects or purchase things for. Any clubs or hobbies you recommend?
Do not join more clubs. Find a way to transform the ones you have joined already work for you.
You need to lead a project (could be through NHS) where your skills or hobbies are used for a positive impact in your community (outside the school).
Let me think about it!
Let me know if you have any ideas.
I have a further question. I’ve been studying intensively for the ACT math, but I am still falling behind on comparison to the other subjects. I remember filling out a list of colleges in which my score would be sent to on the application sheet for the ACT, Vanderbilt being one of them. If I do in fact score lower than what they require, will they keep that score on record when it comes to my profile? Will it be a negative first impression held against me if I take it again in July and score better due to more time studying?
I haven’t had a good memorable math class since freshman year, and the majority of the material I have forgotten. With the test on Tuesday, I don’t see myself studying enough in time to score adequately on math, and it worries me deeply.
Highly selective colleges require you to send all scores anyway, so they can track progress and how often you took the test (otherwise some students would take it 10 times and only submit their best score).
I see, good to know. I hope I can at the very least score a 33 average. I felt pretty confident about everything after testing today, but I’m worried I’m being led into a false sense of security. I don’t have an estimate for my score upwards of 30, so who knows where I’ll end up.
Do let us know 
I have to ask, in the meantime, do you have any recommendations for AP classes to take in my senior year? My schedule has most of my Cambridge classes in my spring semester (they cannot move). I wanted to take one or two to round myself out more. Should I take U.S. History? Maybe Studio Art: Drawing (I’m a passionate artist except I’ve fallen out recently due to work)? Maybe French Language if I can take those dual enrollment courses over the summer? What do you think I should do?
What would the Spring AICE classes be?
Will you be able to complete college French1 over the summer (typically covers HS French 1+2 so prepare for super intense courses).
My AICE spring classes will DEFINITELY BE Math 6, Literature, and Global Perspectives. Math 4 is in the fall. I don’t know of I’ll be able to do Environmental Management because the school board is being very stubborn about moving it to a more appropriate block at school. It’s currently in the same block as Math 6 and a lot of us are trying to move it.
I still haven’t asked about DE French but I will most likely Monday.
Don’t you need Math 5 between Math 4 and Math 6?
So, DE French both semesters.
I forget: are you on block scheduling (4 classes per semester)?
Yes, I am on block scheduling.
I had math 5 this year.
We don’t have DE French at our school but I can ask about over the summer.
Would your school let you Dual Enroll during the year so you can catch up wrt Foreign Language? Ie., dual enrollment at any sort of CC or university, that they cover on your behalf, and they count the credits?
I’m back again, hello.
I have not asked about dual enrollment due to a problem I’m experiencing.
I’ve narrowed myself in on Stanford as a college I want to attend, as they had sent me a letter regarding attending their Summer Session.
After doing some research, a common conclusion authors make about an article is that being well rounded isn’t a good thing.
Instead, they recommend excelling in a subject you’re passionate about. Well rounded applicants don’t seem to differ from other equally well rounded applicants. This has been a fear of mine for many months now, and I’m getting increasingly more worried that I’m fitting the bill for “jack of all trades, master of none”.
If you look at about any article on PrepScholar about getting into the best schools, all of them emphasize the mistake of being well rounded.
With this knowledge in mind, is it too late to change my course of action and try to excel at something particular? I have a few passions and strengths (writing, art, and cellular biology), should I really strive and look for college opportunities in these?
I apologize for all of my epiphanies. I just want to trim myself up and try to be acceptable for Stanford.
Don’t be sorry, it’s good you’re asking questions.
First you shouldn’t set your sights on Stanford, it’s basically the most selective college in the country. Your odds, just like anyone who isn’t Bill Gates’ kid nor an Olympian, are close to zero (literally: about 3% for unhooked applicants, it’s a lottery. Don’t stake anything on Stanford just like you wouldn’t stake your livelihood on winning the lottery.) There’s nothing you can do about it. Just be yourself and see if you have the stamina to complete all the essays they require
The way you build your college list is by visiting or finding colleges where you’re sure you’ll get in and which you can afford AND AS IMPORTANTLY, that you like. You need more than one. Typically, it means your state flagship’s honors college and another university or LAC.
Is the summer program free?
For Top 50 universities and LACs, you need to be academically well-rounded AND have an area where you’re #1 academically AND have an activity that you’ve built over time in which you excel at the national level. If you’re lower income and can’t afford to pay for such an activity, holding a steady job, taking challenging classes in a way that makes sense, pushing yourself in doing things no one has done in your school, would all help you.
For writing, you can try to have an article published in a national (adult) paper, particiate in writing contests, become the student/teen correspondent for your local paper (if one still exists), starting a correspondence with current legitimate “big names” in writing (authors, writers… people like Nick Kristof or Paul Krugman for instance), or with professors and researchers at your local university, etc.
For science, see if a professor can take you as an unpaid intern in their lab - often, it means you’ll rinse out test tubes but once they know you are reliable you’ll get more interesting things to do. Ask your HS teachers if there are contests you can prepare and join: science fair at regional or state level (read Science Fair Season), Olympiads…
The program is not free, but if I apply for aid in tuition and meet the standards, the majority of it would be paid for. I figured joining the summer session and delving into it would establish a background with the college that I could use to my advantage.
I have a few colleges in my area and a few out of state that are a definite get in (save for Vanderbilt but I would think I could get in with enough effort), but I don’t feel like they would challenge me like I want to be challenged nor press me to make a difference in the world like I wish to. I don’t want to settle for less and pay myself on the back for doing what I could, I want to strive for the best and BE among the best.
- Vanderbilt University
- University of Chicago
- University of Tennessee: Knoxville
- Lee University
- University of Tennessee: Chattanooga
As you can see, I’m in Tennessee. I might could list a few more if prompted, but these are just off the top of my head that I’ve placed on my list.
I have been doing research on scientific opportunities in my area and applications are closed for every one of them. Should I keep looking or look into a different interest, such as English/writing? And are you absolutely sure I should DE French? Vanderbilt doesn’t take DE credits “under most circumstances”.
Furthermore, if I get a letter or introductory pamphlet from a college, what does that really mean? Are they interested in me, or do they just happen to know I exist without showing interest? I’ve gotten promotional things from University of Chicago and Stanford about summer sessions and other programs on campus. Are the words on these inherently worthless? How do I know if colleges are interested in me?
EDIT: Ha, ha, ha! Just kidding, just kidding! After a few clicks, UC is infamous for marketing themselves to tons of those whom they wouldn’t accept. Stanford seems the same way. I guess they really don’t know who I am after all. So much for my grades.
This is marketing, advertising. Just like when you see an ad on social media, yes it targets you but they don’t actually know you.
These brochures don’t mean that colleges are interested in you. They don’t even know you exist until you fill out the “request information” form on their website (please do that for all the colleges that interest you - you’ll need an email address dedicated to it, which you’ll have to check twice a week at least, and click on the stuff they send because they track the clicks).
When you take a standardized tests you check you’re ok getting information from colleges. A third party (a commercial agency) is tasked with sending brochures for University of Z to all students living in a 500 mile radius and a score of Y.
“Pay for play” summer programs are money-making schemes targeting upper middle class students’ vanity.
However, programs that are selective and free/close to free are very competitive and thus prestigious. So, did you apply to Questbridge Prep Scholars? Did you apply to the Stanford program before you got the information?
The reason you’d take DE French isn’t to get the credits in college, but because they’re the expected preparation for highly selective college entrance.
BTW, Lee is good for dual enrollment, not so much for actual college. In addition, they don’t “meet need” at all so they’re typically super expensive.
http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/christian-colleges/2138343-lee-university.html
Run the NPC (net price calculator) on all the universities you listed.
Also run the NPC on Sewanee, Rhodes, Hendrix, Davidson, Guilford, Elon, College of Charleston.
Any university that ranks in the top 25 (national university or national LAC) is going to challenge you and push you in ways you can’t imagine. Feel free to add them to your list, but you need to build it from the ground up, with at least 2 affordable safeties you like, can picture yourself at. Those are often the hardest colleges to find. Then you add 5 target universities, where you’re near their top 75% for score and which offer sufficient financial aid. Once you have those, you can add as many reaches as you wish/can afford.
BTW did you talk with your guidance counselor to get fee waivers?
Okay, so I shouldn’t really aim to be a part of summer programs due to the incentive of monetary gain for the organizers. So, if there’s an 8 week long research project for high schoolers at Vanderbilt at around $1000, it wouldn’t be in my best interest to attend if I can’t pay for it quickly? That seems to be something prestigious colleges like, when you delve into programs niched to your interest. Since my interest is science and my ultimate goal is to contribute to revolutionary Global research as well as effectively communicate this to the public through papers and the like, what is the best way to show colleges through action that I care about it if I cannot REASONABLY afford to attend programs that would tell them such a thing? Should I contact professors at universities and ask about opportunities? What if they all say I can’t do anything? A lot of what I’ve seen to be a research assistant requires a bachelor’s degree or high experience. Your idea of being an unpaid intern was interesting, but I could find no open positions.
Is it wrong to assume that I have ambition that only higher institutions could benefit from? I don’t have to go to ivy leagues, but I would like to attend a selective college. All of my colleagues are planning on attending the run of the mill state universities, like UTK or UTC. They regard me as “smarter”, so can I attempt to go somewhere more selective? I want to attend somewhere where I can get cutting edge education in cellular/molecular biology. I don’t want a basic education. I want to contribute to the world at large. Are there any colleges you can recommend that have this edge in biology that aren’t low in rankings or acceptance? Any advice on how to develop an edge on your college app for these selective colleges? It seems that there is more to it than scores, as niche users report rejections with 4.0 GPA and >30 ACT. I want to know what they want so I can give it to them.
I have an app called Niche that lists statistics provided by users for colleges you search. The net prices for colleges you and I listed based on stats for my annual household income (one parent, he says 45-50 a year) are listed:
- Rhodes: $13,381 a year
- kind of competitive
- kind of higher rankings
- seem a little reserved when it comes to financial aid
- Sewanee: $16,738 a year
- kind of competitive
- kind of higher rankings
- seem a little reserved when it comes to financial aid
- Hendrix: $16,877 a year
- not competitive
- lower rankings
- seem a little reserved when it comes to financial aid
- Davidson: $8,468 a year
- competitive
- higher rankings
- more gratuitous
- Guilford: $21,256 a year
- not competitive
- lower rankings
- very reserved when it comes to financial aid
- Elon: $21,152 a year
- kinda competitive
- kinda higher ranked
- seem a little reserved when it comes to financial aid
- College of Charleston: $16,616 a year
- not competitive
- kinda higher ranked
- seem a little reserved when it comes to financial aid
- Vanderbilt: $6,043 a year
- extremely competitive
- very highly ranked
- quite gratuitous
- Duke: $827 a year
- extremely competitive
- very highly ranked
- very gratuitous
- UTK: $14,905 a year
- not competitive
- kinda highly ranked
- little reserved in financial aid
- UNC at Chapel Hill: $6,164 a year
- competitive
- kinda highly ranked
- gratuitous in funds
- Wake Forest: $7,595 a year
- competitive
- kinda highly ranked
- gratuitous
- Emory: $13,730 a year
- competitive
- highly ranked
- little reserved
If you want me to go on to list some more, I will. All of this is gathered from the Niche app (they have a website too), which you can take a look at yourself if you’d like. I didn’t include UC and Stanford for obvious reasons. I picked some considerable colleges in my neighborhood states. Statistics are reported by users and may or may not be accurate. As you note, I favor competitive, gratuitous, and fairly highly ranked universities. This is not because I am egotistical, but because I want the best catalyst for research in changing the world. In fact, I would probably love to work at a university either teaching biology, english, or a researcher.
Something I noticed is that you picked out Christian colleges for me. I don’t have to attend a religious institution. In fact, I fear that religious institutions may be limited by said religion when it comes to education, something I don’t want. Is this a reasonable fear?
I will report to my counselor later today and ask about DE French. How do I ask about fee waivers and getting them applied to colleges of my choosing?
(Apologies for all the questions. I’ve been worried about my standing for colleges lately and fear my time is running short as a junior to stand out. You seem like a good source of info, so I ask said questions. If you have anywhere you would like to refer me to these questions if you grow tired, let me know.)
After going to the counselor, I got a 34 composite on my ACT. 35 english, 30 math, 36 reading, 35 science. Awesome.
Got contact info at Lee. Will email them and see where I can go from there.
Got some little flyer detailing summer programs. Only one is applicable: Jr. Entrepeneurs STEM challenge. Will look into that.