<p>I forgot to add: in the meantime, write to Syracuse how they're your top choice (they are now, but they don't have to know about your rejections), and why you'd be a benefit to the student body. Focus on what you can do for Syracuse, not on what Syracuse can do for you.</p>
<p>Try your best to get off the waitlist. It'll be tough, but it's not a lost cause.</p>
<p>I got rejected from Georgetown, today. There letter was really nice though. I have decided that I am taking a year off, and getting an internship in D.C, and trying to gain permission to take one class at night.</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>I'd follow up with all the schools and see if there was something wrong in your application.</p>
<p>Also, I am Jewish, very true. And I have only exsperienced anti-semistism that one year in my life. Not another time besides that. </p>
<p>I really like the Jesuit mentality is why. I think it's a great thing. I love the way they look at things. And those schools espically, Georgetown, embrace all religions, which is really cool, they are all about your own spirtual journey. Which is something very important to me.</p>
<p>My SATs have a HUGE range between Math and Verbal, on Verbal I got in the higher end of the early 700s, and Math was in the higher end of the mid 500s </p>
<p>Ironically, I've been offered a job, already. And I got a perfect score on the civil service exam, in my state, lol. </p>
<p>I did look at St. John's it does look like a very nice school, and someplace I would probably like, however they just offer degrees in Libearl Arts.</p>
<p>And thanks MomWaitingForNew!</p>
<p>As a mom I find these posts disturbing. By all means you should be extremely proud of all that you have accomplished in such a short while. I worry about your psyche though. You have such high expectations of yourselves, you are bound to be letdown and to burn-out. Life isn't always about having the highest numbers and colleges realize this. Relax, chill out, have fun. Sometimes God has another plan for your life. This self-imposed pressure to be the best is unrealistic and as you can see is back-firing. I think you need to find a balance in your life, so glad you are looking at the Spiritual path. I am sure with that year off you will be a new person with a new perspective. Be well & God Bless.</p>
<p>Do try to find out about what recommendations the schools that didn't take you can make about your apps - just a good way to put this chapter to rest, learn from it, and move on. Try to figure out how to balance the math/science and the writing/humanities sides of your presentation. That may involve working on your verbal SAT and getting some strong non-math, non-science SAT IIs. It might involve looking at small schools that don't require SATs.</p>
<p>More than anything, work on your health and on learning about yourself.</p>
<p>Good luck.</p>
<p>The thing is, I couldn't afford an SAT cource, they are a lot of money for my family, and I am certain I would have benifted from one. However, now that I have taken Calc. I should be okay, on the SAT, also I figured they would weight them less since I had been in college for 2 years and all. </p>
<p>ALSO--The second time I took them, was two days after I found out I had a brain tumor/serious health problems. So yeah, it sucked,and I was obviously distracted. I only explained this to one school</p>
<p>hehe dude. taking college classes at a community college in HS isn't always the best idea. For state schools like mine that have an agreement with colleges around town to transfer credit, it might be acceptable. However, for schools like say MIT, they will look down on you for doing that because they think you're a slacker trying offloading hard classes at a CC so you don't have to take them at MIT. I know somebody in high school who took classes at a local university which has a good name but when he got to MIT they made him take them all over again.</p>
<p>Lots of kids take community college courses (or courses from other universities) while they are still in high school. They are used to create "the toughest course load available" and to show that they are capable of college level work. Few students expect those credits to transfer. My own d. took three university level courses prior to applying to colleges; she didn't expect any of them to count as credits, although she expected for them to give the knowledge for advanced placement.</p>
<p>Improvements: Calculus won't help with the SAT, since the math section barely touches on Algebra II. Also, when you apply again next year, you need to highlight how you've grown through facing the difficulties of your health problems; why the Jesuit philosophy and style of education attracts you (unless you aren't applying to one); and how your gap year solidified your goals for the future. If you do this, and improve that one section of the SAT, you might find better results the second time around. Make sure you include schools where you didn't originally apply.</p>
<p>The thing is, I didn't want a SINGLE credit for any class. I just wanted to take the toughest classes i could.</p>
<p>improvements--
to which MA state schools did you apply?
have you heard from all of them?
i am having trouble understanding why you received a deny decision from them, given your SAT scores and the fact that you were in college coursework.</p>
<p>i also work in the field and i can offer some perspective--
the A.S. degree you did in criminal justice probably did not include the kinds of academic "solids" most top privates are looking for. for example, if you took practical courses like criminal evidence and criminal procedures, rather than academic "solids" like physics and calculus, then you might have come in short on the number of academic solids they wanted.</p>
<p>you sound like a terrific person and student, and i admire the fact that you will not give up. the fact that you have a job offer at this point in time shows that you have a lot to offer to the field and a gap year might work to your advantage. however, if you plan to take courses part-time in the interim, it would be important to take courses like political science, history, literature, math, and science, rather than more practically geared courses, during your gap year.</p>
<p>Admisscouns- I applied to UMass Amherst, Westfield State (to Criminal Justice program only, its the 2nd best program in the state public and private), and Umass Boston. </p>
<p>Yes, I did take "non-geared" corses, however, I took these during the Summer and Intersession. I took a Western History, Biology, Astromony, English Literature, Statisics, College Calc 2, and Death and Dying in the Modern World, so I doubt that was the problem. I took 7 classes this semester, and 6 in the fall. 1 over the intersession and 4 in the summer, those 5 classes, were the extra ones I took so I could get the degree in something I loved. </p>
<p>Thanks for the help.</p>
<p>I just got waitlisted at emerson. i applied to some rolling schools. and i called about my job offer, ill be okay, i think.</p>
<p>hundreds of thousands of people go to college parttime and work, it is hard, but I think you are more than capable</p>
<p>contact close schools and ask about extended learning programs....you might be surprised</p>
<p>Improvements, did you hear back from George Mason? If you want to work in DC then Mason is a great choice, it's only a 20 minute drive from DC. Mason has a pretty nice campus too, both my bro and sis went to Mason and they liked it. :)</p>
<p>I heard from George Mason, and they rejected me at first, but it was only because they did not get my College transcript, they NEVER told me this though, so we appealed, and i havn't heard back yet.</p>
<p>Improvments-</p>
<p>I am extremly worried about my own academic future after reading your story, for I fear I will be in almost the exact same situation.</p>
<p>I am 15 years old and homeschooled. Since I can't take AP courses at the HS, I've been fulltime at the CC for two years now. I was accepted into all of my in-state universities (just ASU, UA, and NAU) on merit-scholarship, but I am considering staying another year at going to a more presitigious school. If I apply next year, I still will be applying a year early. How closely does my record correspond with yours? Although I will have earned an honors A.S., my courses will be high school requirements. I will meet all the requirments for university first-year acceptance, and my highest level of college academic acheivments will be as follows:</p>
<p>Math: I will finish Calc 1 this semester
Science: HS level chemistry (at the cc) as well as two semesters of General Biology for Biology Majors (both will be honors as well)
Foreign Language: I won't be fluent, but I'll have 4th semester proficiency (which is the highest level)
SBS: I'll have my homeschooled American and World history with one semester of college level Western World history. I've also taken comparitive governments
Humanities: ENG and American lit. ( the American is honors). Also, a year of college level fine arts</p>
<p>I also have a good college GPA. Mine is a 3.8. As for my standardized tests, they closely matched yours. I sat as a freshman, and I'll have to retake, but I have an 1890. I got 710 for CR, 630 for W, and 550 for M. </p>
<p>I have an extensive community service record like you, but I have a feeling I'm a bit more extroverted. I look like I'm 20, and my friends are all college students (several are upperclassmen). I'm a geek at heart (love the History channel and reading), but I know how to blend in. Does ur EC record resemble mine?</p>
<p>Youngest student body president in the history of my community college (we have 8,000 students so that's saying something)
Founder of Student Honors Advisory Board
2 years as president of Art Club
2 years as public relations chair for the largest chapter of the homeschool honor society in the nation
member (and next year captain) of the Phx College Model UN team (we are somewhat recognized as we've been known to compete against the Ivies)
VP of Fundrasing (and next year advisor) for Phi Theta Kappa (we're a 5 star chapter).
Next year I'll be working full time at the local congressional office too. </p>
<p>Also, I have outstading letters of recommendation from professors and my College president. How close is my case to yours? I'm kinda starting to think that I should just go to UA and graduate at 18. The schools I was hoping for were Tufts (reach), GWU, Univ of St. Andrews, Tulane, Syracruse, and Emory (reach). Improvment, I'm really sorry about what happend to you. You sound like me so you have to be a great person (jk!). But in seriousness, You sound amazing and it isn't fair. If I end up staying and land in the same boat, since I'm an IR major and D.C. is the place for me, I'll come find you and we'll party geek style in the Library of Congress. Or since you're taking the year off, we can pretend to be cool and hit up a GW frat party only to walk right out. Either way, I wish the best of luck to you, and it looks like I have some more thinking to do.</p>
<p>There is a reason why students like you are having difficulties with college admissions. A whole crop of fraudulent bastards from Korean high schools, with their falsified transcripts, ghost-written essays and recommendations, and completely made-up extracurricular activities are swarming top universities, and to the extent that their admissions to such prestigious schools are rising, opportunities are narrowing for honest, hard-working kids from American high schools, i.e. students like you. </p>
<p>This has been an open secret among Korean international students. Read the following articles for yourself and decide if it requires immediate action from American students and high schools...and the universities. </p>
<p>(1) An extremely representative case of the falsification of "translated" transcripts (in English, created liberally by school administrators eager to send their kids to ivy league schools). Exclusive report by the Hankyoreh, one of the major newspapers in South Korea: </p>
<p><a href="http://english.hani.co.kr/arti/engli...al/175976.html%5B/url%5D">http://english.hani.co.kr/arti/engli...al/175976.html</a>
<a href="http://www.hani.co.kr/arti/english_e...al/176484.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.hani.co.kr/arti/english_e...al/176484.html</a></p>
<p>(2) SAT scandal in Korea (exams leaked and then provided to students on the eve of their exam)</p>
<p>On how Hanyoung Foreign Language HS's designation as an SAT exam center privilege was revoked + allegations surrounding the incident
<a href="http://www.hani.co.kr/arti/english_e...al/176737.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.hani.co.kr/arti/english_e...al/176737.html</a></p>
<p>On how 900 SAT exams by Korean int. students got cancelled after ETS found out that serious breaches were made in the storage of exam packets
<a href="http://times.hankooki.com/lpage/2007...8123410220.htm%5B/url%5D">http://times.hankooki.com/lpage/2007...8123410220.htm</a>
<a href="http://chronicle.com/news/article/17...ecurity-breach%5B/url%5D">http://chronicle.com/news/article/17...ecurity-breach</a></p>
<p>Just to remind you: A few students from the school in question - btw, most of its peers in Seoul and South Korea did the same thing, but were never caught in their acts - still got into Wharton, Harvard and Princeton. </p>
<p>The only way to take care of this situation? Sue the bastards. Sue the universities. Tell the universities to keep, indefinitely, all the records submitted by Korean high school students and match them with official transcripts that can be provided by Korean government if requested formally. Sue the students for their falsified records. I mean.....70 for A? With that score, the student can't even get into low-ranking universities in Korea. </p>
<p>Btw, the high schools also run SAT CR and Writing prep courses during official classroom hours! This is ****ing illegal but they continue to do so secretly. Imagine this: you are guaranteed excellent recoms and transcripts, can make up any spectacular extracurricular activities at will, and are regularly exempted from standard educational curriculum whenever you want to study for SATs. Your school run SAT prep courses during classrooms, and you don't even have to bother to show up in classes. Your essays are ghost-written by professional admission consultants. Unless you are an absolute idiot, you will get into ivy league schools. It's that simple. </p>
<p>Sue the bastards.</p>
<p>Minkijohn, while this is a documented problem, it has nothing to do with Improvements or even most US students. I think it affects internationals more since most schools limit how many international undergrads they admit, and then from each country. Koreans nationals are not "swarming" into US universities; they are still a relatively small percentage of undergraduates. </p>
<p>Note to Monalisa: Improvements had no way of knowing this would happen, and you have no way to know that you will face the same. I still have the suspicion that something went wrong with Improvements's applications, especially since we know George Mason never received a critical piece of information. But let's assume that's not true, that he was rejected despite getting everything to the colleges in time, without any bad recommendations or faux pas.</p>
<p>These things happen in today's world of admissions. Improvements got waitlisted at Syracuse, which is a very good school, so they deemed him good enough to attend. Perhaps part of the problem at the truly competitive schools was his SAT scores; without a high school profile for his last two years, they may have used them to judge how rigorous the CC was. Also, I don't think he was officially home schooled, as you were, so the CC is on top of high school. Here's probably the clincher, unfortunately: Improvements may not have a high school diploma, and his unconventional approach may have thrown everything off. (Home schooled kids get a diploma, don't they?) This may have been why he was rejected from the state schools which he was using as safeties.</p>
<p>Regardless, your experience will be your own, no matter what happens. Without a guidance counselor, you may have a tough time navigating the difficulty of selecting, and applying to, colleges today. Do tons of research. I'm sure the home school association (or whatever it is called) has a list of colleges that are more amenable to students with your background. The daughter of a frequent CC poster, mini, was homeschooled, and she's now an academic star at Smith, so it can be done.</p>