<p>Hey guys, so I'm new to this forum but I created an account to see if I could get some advice from other fellow students. I am just about to start my last year of high school and have unfortunately just started to realize how close college is and how stressful it can be to choose a career path, let alone a college to attend/apply for. Another thing that worries me is that as of right now I have a 3.0 GPA which I know isn't fantastic, but it's a B average. I also got a 20 on my ACT which I'm really disappointed about, but am taking a prep class in the fall to make it go up. What worries me is that my parents are really starting to pressure me about where to go and how my grades are and I just don't know how to take it. It's like they're making decisions for me when I'm not even sure where to go from here. Another thing I'd like people to know is that I am not simply a student that has had it easy in high school. I've taken really challenging honors, advance honors, and AP classes which for me helped but also lowered my GPA due to overstressing and making a few lazy assumptions that not studying every now and then or putting something off at the last minute would be okay, which now i realize it probably wasn't a good idea. Any advice? I'm terrified.</p>
<p>Did you take the SAT?</p>
<p>No, I haven’t</p>
<p>Ok Then. First, what Colleges are you looking at and what do you want to major in?</p>
<p>Yeah you really need to up that score, maybe give the SAT a shot. Even Arizona State’s bottom 25% is 21.</p>
<p>I’m thinking about majoring in either radiology(x-ray tech, or ultrasound) or physical therapy. I’m looking for a college in my state(Tennessee) and one that I really love is the University of Tennessee which is well-known obviously for sports and education. What really sucks though is that I went a few days ago to an orientation and they said that on average most incoming students have a 27 on their ACT and a 3.4 gpa, but I’m not close enough to that as you can see. There are also local schools that I have found interesting, such as MTSU which is middle tennessee state university and they have a great program. It’s definitely not as popular or well known but its local and I’ve heard great things about it. Their acceptance rate is a lot better so I know that I could likely get in if I have no other option, but I really have no idea where I’d like to go just yet.</p>
<p>Ok. Try to get a better score on your ACT (30+ would be great and would probably get you into Tennessee). Do you have any Extracurriculars? Or SAT 2 tests?</p>
<p>I haven’t taken any tests, and my parents have been harping on me about it also. There’s not much you can do during the summer though</p>
<p>I’m about to be in my 4th year of chamber choir, which is known as the “best” choir in high school and we are one of the best in the state so I do hope that this can help me get into a college. I’ve also had a few lead roles in our musicals, but just to let you guys know I don’t want to major in music. This year though I’m looking to join a few school organizations and do a bit of volunteering as well</p>
<p>That should be good enough. If you get at least a 30 on the ACT you should get into Tennessee.</p>
<p>Well thank you for your advice, it really helps!</p>
<p>Just go to a community college and save money.</p>
<p>Take this last month to: [ul][<em>]Study for the ACT
[</em>]Research colleges so you have an idea of 3-5 match or safety schools, with a couple of reaches if you so choose, so you feel confident that you’ll end up in a college that will meet your needs. Since your parents are so eager to know, I’m sure they’d be willing to help you with this part.
[<em>]After the above, start filling out whatever you can in the Common Application or the individual college applications. Make a note of important deadlines and any essay prompts you need to answer and start working on those. [/ul]<br>
During the school year: [ul][li]Keep extracurricular involvement to a minimum. Those first few months will be a very stressful time.[/li][</em>]Keep at least the first semester GPA up, but don’t let your second semester GPA drop too much. You know the mistakes you’ve made. Really try to stay on top of things, because now it’s more necessary than ever while you have so many things to do.
[<em>]Finish filling out college applications
[</em>]Re-take the ACT (Most schools will take the ACT, but make sure your schools don’t require the SAT or Subject Tests unless you can plan to take those too)[/ul]</p>
<p>Don’t stress too much. You can do this. By the end of this year, you’ll be so relieved about how much less you have to do/worry about. And then you can really enjoy the rest of your senior year. But start now; you control how these next months will go.</p>
<p>No school requires the SAT instead of the ACT! Do not waste your time. Only study for the one test. </p>
<p>There is no reason to think about the SAT2 tests. I doubt any school you are interested in them require them. I don’t know why this is even mentioned.</p>
<p>What subjects are giving you trouble on the ACT? All of them? What is the breakdown? If you are taking honors and AP classes, I wonder how your ACT can be so low. </p>
<p>The advice that the OP should study and jump 10 points on the ACT might be a bit unreasonable. The OP can probably do better, but this seems like it’s asking too much. It’s more important to figure out what where you could get in if you do a little bit better, like a 24.</p>
<p>Do you have any opportunity for one on one ACT tutoring? Or a practice test where they will score it for you and tell you which areas you need to work on? I hope you requested this information from the first test you took (it was an option).</p>
<p>Best of luck!</p>
<p>Keep extracurricular involvement to a MINIMUM? I’m going to be president of a new club this fall! I’m really nervous now.</p>
<p>1.) Find adderall.</p>
<p>2.) Acquire adderall.</p>
<p>3.) Ingest adderall, no more than 10 mg a day.</p>
<p>4.) Immediately proceed to study material.</p>
<p>5.) ???</p>
<p>6.) Profit </p>
<p>After all, high school learning material is just one giant memorization contest.</p>
<p>That drug will increase your learning capacity twenty-fold. But at cost of great side effects. </p>
<hr>
<p>In all seriousness, take the orientation touring material with a grain of salt. They’re only numbers tour guides spew out to appear polished at their jobs (along with whatever information they can recall). </p>
<p>And for the love of all that is holy, take your senior year one day at a time. </p>
<p>You need happy memories (and to a lesser degree, social connections) to fall back to in a few years.</p>
<p>@n1414m Haha, don’t worry. I was in my school’s marching band senior year, and we’d practice about 18 hr/wk and had 12 hr-long practices/competitions every Saturday for the first two months of the year. And let’s not even mention all the summer time I lost. It’s definitely doable, it’s just stressful. I’m sure you’ll be fine.</p>
<p>I live in Tennessee as well and know quite a few people who go to UTK. I’ve never heard of anyone with 24+ on their ACT getting rejected, and if taking advanced courses is the reason for your GPA being lower, then the university will sympathize. What school are you from? My school’s chamber choir is pretty good as well, so I should know your school!</p>
<p>Thank you so much guys for the advice, it makes me feel a lot more secure about the decisions I’m going to make and studying for the ACT. Another great thing is that if I don’t get into a top school that I prefer I can always go to the local college here in my town and transfer after a semester or two :)</p>
<p>And hardammcgee, I attend Siegel High School</p>