<p>@2cassandra2 I’m not going to lie I’m really jealous of you right now (as I lie in bed and watch Gossip Girl) because I have always wanted to live in NYC. Ya that club seems to match the description exactly, I just found it a little weird because it just seemed like the percentage of people that have done that would be pretty small but then again how would I know? </p>
<p>@nerdfighter23 ya the scholarships are really competitive and I have a feeling they are only going to get more competitive this year. I’m still deciding whether or not I want to run on the Vanderbilt cross country team because I don’t know if I want to do the whole SEC sports thing or just be a regular college student, but if I did then I would be a walk on and wouldn’t get scholarship so that’s why academic scholarship would be so awesome</p>
<p>@rebeccaAnn literally lying in bed watching that right now lol. But ya if you want to do the xc thing, you don’t necessarily have to be on a team if you don’t want to deal with the SEC stuff. You could just run wherever, whenever, with or without friends, and I bet you’d enjoy it the same if not more. It’d be less stress too, going into an already over the top hectic freshman year</p>
<p>Ya thats true! I was hoping that I could figure it all out after I get accepted. Running has always kind of been my thing and lol I didn’t even know what a “hook” was until I found this website a few days ago. But I think that track is my hook because the Vandy track coach wrote me a recommendation letter that she put with my application. I’ve visited the team and I really love it! I honestly think I would be happy either way!</p>
<p>@rebeccaAnn haha yeah i would presume not many people have that at their school. i was never apart of it, i’ve been on yearbook (a different major club, since you can only choose one) since freshman year and i was senior editor my junior year and high ranking advisor this year. I wish i could have participated in something cooler like the Quaker student club or the community service club. I’m seriously banking on my ECs because i went through a rough patch the last few months with an issue i’ve been dealing with and one of my grades went down but i hope thing things that make me happy will make up for it!!! (im sorry if that made no sense it’s seriously late here!!)</p>
<p>oh and PS, i watched all of gg and although they got a lot of stuff down, i go to a private school and there are SOOO few people like the ones on the show. But the show was absolutely amazing. I miss it like crazy. </p>
<p>@2cassandra2 hahaha ya I’m obsessed with it (I’m one of the weird people that read all of the books beforehand). And its cool I think I understand. I don’t know much about what goes on behind the closed doors in admissions but I’m pretty sure that one grade dropping your senior year won’t have a very big effect. In fact…is anyone else curious how they even regard GPA? because when I look at the Chance me posts I’ve noticed people with amazing SAT and ACT scores with GPA’s in the mid 3.5-3.7 range getting into really competitive schools. Those GPA’s at my school wouldn’t even put you in the top 10 percent. I just feel like GPAs are so subjective to the rigor of the school and they all carry different meaning…</p>
<p>Ya that’s what I’ve heard. Of course I’m banking on my GPA balancing out my not so great SAT score at least a little. I wouldn’t say my school is extremely rigorous, considering most people don’t ever end up taking an AP class, but there’s only 3 offered to begin with so that get’s a bit hard. Personally, I’ve taken just as many AP classes as I have dual-enrollment college in the high school type of classes which are just as difficult, if not more so at times. There’s just no test at the end. I’ve had the most rigorous schedule possible, but compared to crazy good private schools where tons of people get admitted to top 20 schools, it’s not that spectacular. I think that’s why they say they look at your GPA and the classes you took and weigh that against what you could have taken. Otherwise I’d be at a serious disadvantage.
Oh and a significant portion of the junior and senior classes at my school do Running Start…is that a big thing at your guys schools?</p>
<p>Ya that’s what I’ve heard. Of course I’m banking on my GPA balancing out my not so great SAT score at least a little. I wouldn’t say my school is extremely rigorous, considering most people don’t ever end up taking an AP class, but there’s only 3 offered to begin with so that get’s a bit hard. Personally, I’ve taken just as many AP classes as I have dual-enrollment college in the high school type of classes which are just as difficult, if not more so at times. There’s just no test at the end. I’ve had the most rigorous schedule possible, but compared to crazy good private schools where tons of people get admitted to top 20 schools, it’s not that spectacular. I think that’s why they say they look at your GPA and the classes you took and weigh that against what you could have taken. Otherwise I’d be at a serious disadvantage.
Oh and a significant portion of the junior and senior classes at my school do Running Start…is that a big thing at your guys schools?</p>
<p>My school doesn’t have GPAs and School Ranking so i basically have no idea where I am in that sense. Apparently since we don’t use the “core curriculum” or test for regents it’s different? I have absolutely no idea. </p>
<p>I’ve never heard of it, what is it?</p>
<p>that sounds amazing! All the top kids at my school are so competitive with their GPA and wind up taking stupid classes that they don’t really care about just to boost their GPA and then get a higher class rank. I can’t even imagine a school where our grades weren’t measured. We are constantly being compared to each other and it can get kind of stressful when you go to a school with 900 kids. It gets super cutthroat!</p>
<p>Everyone instead just compares their college. it’s all anyone ever talks about anymore and it’s making me sick to be around people because it’s all they bring up. Since my school is college prep, people just assume you’re going to an elite, and if you’re not it’s frowned upon. it’s gotten absolutely ridiculous. </p>
<p>Basically people can choose to take some or all of their classes down at the local community college and get both college and high school credit. They still have to pay for the classes, but it’s reallllly cheap compared to normal. And if they’re not stupid they can end up graduating high school with an AA degree and jump into actual college as a junior.
I considered doing it, but I really didn’t want to miss out on high school. Plus in this particular case, the high level classes at my hs were harder than the cc ones. I’d say 15-20% of my grade does it, and closer to a third of the grade below me does. I know just about everyone in my grade, but then I sometimes forget people even go to my school since they’re doing college full time. </p>
<p>That does sound like gossip girl! At my school its definitely not expected that we go to elite schools and it’s still regarded as pretty impressive…and the majority of the people at my school go to state schools because of in state tuition. Then there are always the few that go to the elite schools but they are usually top 20 in the class. We have something similar to running start offered at my school but since GPA is so cutthroat here and the dual-credit classes are a 1.2 multiplier and AP classes are a 1.3 multiplier no one wants to take them if they are in the top 10 because it will just bring your GPA down. It’s probably smart that you didn’t do ti anyways because I don’t think that Vandy accepts the majority of those credits anyways! </p>
<p>@nerdfighter23 if the school you get admitted to doesn’t accept college credit from other institutions, will it accept them as high school courses?</p>
<p>@2cassandra2 What do you mean? Like if the dual-enrollment classes I took would count as me fulfilling their “you must have 4 English class, 4 Math, etc”? They should, since they were taught at my high school and everything. It’s just that the curriculum is directly from one of the universities in my state and everybody has to register through that school to get credit for the class. I’m not positive Vandy will accept those credits as college credits at all, but it’s worth a shot to see. </p>
<p>I am so glad I don’t go to a super competitive high school though. No weighted GPA’s, nobody really fighting over rankings, and a strong sense of community. It’s quite nice</p>
<p>You guys all seem to have so many amazing opportunities for academics at your schools! I’m so jealous haha. Not to mention, you seem to be surrounded by students who care about school. While I wouldn’t want anything cutthroat, I would love to have more students who are actually motivated in school. (Another of the many reasons I want to go to Vanderbilt) Of course there are other students who care, but the vast majority couldn’t care less.</p>
<p>@Elizabeth1315 I know what you mean. Sometimes it feels like there’s a bunch of people there solely because they have to be and they don’t ever try. </p>
<p>15 days left though! Gah it’s barely two weeks, when did that happen??</p>
<p>Chance me?
Applied ED1 to Peabody HOD from Southern California
Asian/white male
33 ACT, 35 superscore
2 year varsity tennis captain and team MVP
12/677 class rank
4.67 GPA
heavily involved in music program throughout junior and senior years
various community service and tutoring throughout high school</p>
<p>The wait is killer…good luck everyone!!</p>