<p>i have pretty good grades and SATs, but my SATIIs are weak and my extracurriculars are weaker.
what sort of schools are matches?</p>
<p>weighted gpa 4.02 (1.0 for AP, .25 for honors but only from junior year)
unweighted is around a 3.8 something i think, but that's just me calculating it myself real quickly
UC gpa 4.07</p>
<p>SAT
january cr 610 math 640 writing 790 (essay 10)
may cr 640 math 720 writing 780 (essay 10)</p>
<p>SATII
chem 630
math 2 690
spanish 560</p>
<p>prospective math major with minor/specialization in computer science/engineering/etc.
would go for computer engineering at a school where i had more of a shot at getting into the college of engineering without significantly hurting my chances
have taken all honors math courses throughout high school, including AP calc AB, and next year i will be taking AP calc BC and AP stat
i have also taken AP physics C N/M
(in addition to the less significant AP english language and future AP spanish language)</p>
<p>"extracurriculars", etc.
9th grade
jazz ensemble
10th grade
tutored young neighbor in math 4-5 hours per week
11th grade
job at marshalls working 15-25 hours per week (quit for summer)
spanish national honors society
national merit commended student
that scam of a who's who among honors students thing
12th grade
spanish national honors society
job at marshalls, probably same hours</p>
<p>as well as you know, honor roll</p>
<p>i live in PA, don't want to go to college there, NJ, or delaware (too close)
preferably city
nothing crazy small</p>
<p>A couple of ideas:
-if you're majoring in math/CS, etc. retake SAT II math, get it to 750+
-take ACT if you can...some people score higher
-take SAT I again, practice practice practice and make sure you only miss 1 or 2 questions on the math section. get a total if 2100 and you'd get into a decent school. 2200 puts you at a more competitive level (ex. UCLA, maybe MIT)
-any math awards? are you close with math teachers? if not, better start cozying up to them now (don't be a suck up but just...be friends with them? dunno how else to say this haha). bottom line: get good recs ! show your passion for math/CS.
-if you get 5s on your APs, i'd say you've got a good shot overall
-as for boosting those ECs, i'd recommend you start a club. do you have a American Math Competition (AMC) at your school? or AIME? if not, start it. Start a math club or something. Then you can be president. and founder. </p>
<p>UCLA is hard for OOSers..
-some schools to consider: Carnegie Mellon U (i'd still apply! even if it's in PA. its wellllll regarded); UCSD; UCI (safety); Purdue (apply to honors, you're stats are way over the avg stats for purdue, but it has an excellent math/engineering program. you might get a free/partial ride); UIUC (university of illinois at urbana champaign. excellent math/engineering/cs school. low match for you, strong alumni network).</p>
<p>well, i already do have a total of 2100.. i have 2150..
we don't really have any math awards.. i mean, we don't have a math club or anything.. so i don't really know what math award i'd have.. i'm at least decently close with my math teachers, my calc AB teacher's writing me a recommendation, although the UC's don't use recommendations.
and thanks so much for the advice. i'll admit, it's unlikely i'll start a club.. if i was that social, i'd be like, in clubs. i'm not good at that whole atmosphere... dunno. as if i don't already get made fun enough in my life.
i'm wondering more if there are schools anyone'd recommend based on my current stats.</p>
<p>I don't know much about engineering schools, but you'll definitely want to boost your math scores up. Have you studied from Math II books? I studied from a Math II book for 2 weeks and got an 800 on both SAT reasoning Math & Math II subject test. Even if you do really well in your calculus class, you might not do that well on the SATs because SAT math is just simply tricky. If you get higher math scores, you'll definitely be a much more competitive applicant.</p>
<p>i've never studied from a book. i just learn from retaking the test.
hence the 640 going up to a 720 in one shot.
i'm planning on retaking the SATs, since i only got two math questions wrong and just skipped a few. i wouldve had a 740 if i didn't make this one dreadfully stupid mistake on one of the easiest questions of the test (based on that question and answer service thing).
and i'd love a higher reading score, though that's less likely.</p>
<p>i plan to do the same with my math 2 SATII.
it's not that i didn't know how to do much, i just ran out of time, basically. first SATII test i've ever taken.</p>
<p>i'm retaking chem too. problem with that wasn't time. it was that i took it in june, and i wasn't done honors chem yet. we learned equilibrium and acids and bases the week after the test.
so i'd guess i can get that up too.</p>
<p>spanish is questionable. it depends on if i have AP spanish in the first semester or second semester next year. if it's second semester, not bothering to redo it. but if i have it first semester, i might find time to retake the test and do really well. i'm amazing at grammar, in all languages, but i did understand a bit of what the readings were talking about. you know, vocab and curriculum varies school to school.</p>
<p>Honestly, I would still consider getting an SAT review book, even if you're just studying by retaking tests. If you practice taking the practice tests, you'll probably see a bigger increase in scores. It'll help you learn how to pace yourself so you don't run out of time also. You have a really good score for not studying at all so far, so just imagine how high you can get if you spent a bit of time reviewing for it.</p>
<p>oh, i'm not against it at all, thank you for the advice.</p>
<p>and it's definitely not 'not studying at all'. well, the first time kinda was, but yeah.
i did get that collegeboard online course and reviewed math topics i was out of touch with, like statistics and probability, and tried to practice the reading comprehension questions, because they're impossible for me. i also practice by testing over my PSATs, old SATs, etc.</p>
<p>i'll probably try to find something to study for a chem retake though, since by next year i'll be out of touch with my memory of chemistry. and i'm already disadvantaged by not taking AP.</p>