<p>Laurgirl actually your point is not proven but thank you for trying. Let me put it this way, a 1900 would be a damn good improvement for me on this test. in fact your post depressed me more because you seem surprised that those scores could get someone into NYU.</p>
<p>Aw I'm sorry. I think I was just thinking in terms of CC standards. I'll elaborate</p>
<p>One of my friends is in the same boat as you. In fact, she's ranked 3rd out of 957, great extra curriculars, sports, etc, but her SAT score was on the lower side. She got into NYU. Her SAT score was also less than 1900. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, another girl I know got a 2240 and got rejected by NYU. So in the case of that school (which is, of course, highly competitive), SAT score was not the deciding factor, by any means.</p>
<p>^ NYU seems more about your GPA. Personally, I know people who have REALLY really bad SATs but everyone with a 95+ in my school gets in..?</p>
<p>supereagle, you have every right to be disappointed. But you have time to alter your list and still aim high. UNC Chapel Hill is a great community but it is not necessarily the best learning environment for your undergraduate years. Your GC should be advising you to have a broad list of colleges. My son altered his list many times before April of his senior year and had a hard time making a choice. You may find yourself with more than one great opportunity in a year. </p>
<p>why don't you write the parent named Carolyn who used to frequent our board? She runs a college advice website and sometimes corresponds with our students who have special concerns. Also Northstar Mom often has a lot of ideas and insights...she is Ivy educated but has a broad experience base with many other very good colleges, and she has advised URM students many times.
Do NOT let the scores defeat you. Many fantastic colleges will take a chance on a URM student with a winning attitude and a strong performance history in the classroom like yours. Maybe you are very auditory like my first son and you learn best from lectures. At any rate, you can switch to the ACT and give it all you have..or you can work on the SAT one more time. Many kids take it three times. Or both. When you get out in the work force with your college degree no one cares about your SAT score. Not only that your brain is still forming and you are no where near your intellectual peak in life. Do not judge your future by your standardized test score when you are 17.</p>
<p>My son increased his scores by over 200 points over the summer preceding his senior year (to our complete shock). I personally think his brain altered and he matured enough to get test saavy. He is a very auditory person and had been learning in class by listening and was not as strong on paper. His vocabulary actually greatly increased after he was 18 when he took up a hobby that required elaborate reading skills. Just because all of your skill sets aren't all sharp now does not mean you won't find your brain can pick it all up later. You are not supposed to be completely integrated at 17 or finished hard wiring. He did the 10 Real SATs at home when he felt rested, fed and alert. He gave up some recreation time to do this. </p>
<p>I also suggest you do an "open book" test approach where you take the test without timing it and look up the answers. Take your time. You may grow some test wisdom if you do a test and examine the answers carefully at a leisurely pace. My sons do a few "open book" tests and figure out where they are going wrong as they go along. Save a couple tests to work on speed after you feel you have Test Structure and typical traps figured out.</p>
<p>My second son improved his score on math by simply looking at the "best way" to do the problem in the book you can purchase called Official SAT Study Guide Solutions Manual: 2007-2008 Edition that goes along with the Real SATs.</p>
<p>You did see that Wake Forest is going alternate on the SAT/ACTs, yes? They will do interviews and expand the way they evaluate students. Wake is a very tough school with a very good sports life and a tight faculty. There are other top schools that also accept applications without standardized tests as well. I actually like the OOS program at UNCCH a lot but the small classrooms at Wake are very effective.</p>
<p>pray to la virgen de guadalupe!</p>
<p>Faline2: wow thanks so much. I appreciate the fact that you speak from experience and it really raised my spirits.</p>
<p>And after you pray to the Virgin of Guadalupe :), send NorthstarMom an email and I am certain she will have some avenues you have not considered. Keep your heart and mind wide open...which you clearly have been doing for 11 years since you are nailing it in the classroom setting. College is a place where only the organized and motivated stay the course and I bet you have both of those qualities in abundance. Don't be defeated, get strategic. The SATs are hideous as ways to sum up brilliance in living. My son at Duke aced his SAT at the last minute and he is not brilliant at all...he works extremely hard to survive and gets up daily at 8am to make sure he never misses a lecture (auditory person), attends all study sessions (second time is the charm on many concepts), and he works out, eats three squares a day and gave up the freshman year 2am nightly social life (freshman mono and freshman adjustment issue in the digital age.) Sometimes he still feels "defeated" at Duke although his grades are pretty good. They come at a high cost. Plenty of people in his classes don't have to work that hard. He was by the way in tears when waitlisted at his dream college despite the 100 times he was told a Reach is a Reach. So...for you to have a crush on one college that seems great is perfectly normal human behavior but you can't indulge in that approach. Spread out your options across the country. Give other schools a chance. Someone is going to take a chance on you, too. A fourth of Duke students were perfect on the Math SAT..and you have to ask yourself, do I want to be in class with a peer group that is test talented, and how much challenge is the right challenge. Look hard at culture for yourself. You must be reasonably socially happy in college...look at race, look at diversity, look at arts, look at options for internships nearby, look at city vs quiet lovely liberal arts college in small towns, look at medium, look at sports (some non Division One Colleges are very very sporty and have lots of school spirit...even if their games are not on TV.) I also think it is hard if you are a sincere person to develop affection for seven colleges at one time..it is like trying to date seven girls in one semester..and feels weird and risky and insincere. Make yourself develop respect for a variety of schools. Find match colleges and attend classes and you are going to find out that the faculty is generally wonderful at the top 100 schools. Wake's teachers are as good as UNC CH for instance and they just announced you can apply without test scores and be evaluated on the rest of your record.</p>
<p>Uhh dude, there is something called Wake Forest for those of you who don't want the SATs to account for admission. Thank god for Wake Forest right? (it's pretty close range to UNC anyways, distance wise and academic wise)</p>
<p>Who says I want to go to Wake Forest? are you joking or are you serious?</p>
<p>ACT! ACT! ACT! ACT! ACT! ACT! ACT! ACT! ACT!</p>
<p>I know tons of people who did horribly on the SATs and aced the ACTs. Plus colleges say they look at the 2 the same.</p>
<p>ACT! ACT! ACT! ACT! ACT! ACT! ACT! ACT! ACT! ACT!</p>
<p>Try ACT! Some students feel ACT works better than SAT(my daughter had samilar experience as you, so she took ACT and scored much higher). Or hire a private tutor to help you to prepare SAT. My friend got a private tutor to help her daughter, she scored 2300 in SAT, but her GPA is too low, so she was not able to get in the school she wants. You have prefect GPA, don't let SAT score puts you down. Good luck.</p>
<p>I think i'll take the September ACT and the October SAT. I'll study for both over the summer and im bound to do well on one of them right? Remember im a smart guy, I just dont do well on tests like these under intense pressure.</p>
<p>supereagle, why wouldnt you want to go to wake forest??? they are a top 30 school in the BCS with a top basketball and football program. They are a University with the personal attention of a liberal arts college. Best of all for you, the average SAT is a 1350 (1400 this year I heard) but it won't technically count against you if you don't have that.
if i were you that's your best shot man....
obviously Wake forest is not going to be literally be looking at people who don't submit SAT's in the same light as those who did. However, it won't count against you. they apparently, as a small small university, have the resources to conduct their intensive interview process and writing portion of the application in order to find people like you.</p>
<p>Im really interested in UNC's undergrad business school. A friend who went there sold me on it. Wake Forest is probably a very nice school but I have reasons for wanting to go to certain schools. i dont just randomly say "oh they take low SAT's, thats where i should go" without even thinking about it.</p>
<p>Well dude when you become even more selective than the school itself, I think it's fair that "life is not fair."</p>
<p>What I'm trying to say here is that you should just be more open to other options. You wouldn't be stressing so much if you were more open to other great schools around NC.</p>
<p>Why don't you redo the SAT? Prep helps alot. You might apply to some of the schools that don't require SAT as well, such as Wake Forest. There's a list of non-SAT requiring schools, but I can't be arsed to find it.</p>
<p>Hey, did you ever talk to UNC people? If the admissions office knows your interested, and you took the ACT and did well on those, then you've probably got a great shot!!</p>
<p>there's always hope;)</p>
<p>Life's not fair...because you did poorly on the SATs? And now you won't get into your dream school? There are much unfairer things in the world than what you've described.</p>
<p>rhyn0- give me a break. put it in context. I just needed a good title to get people to view my post. and it ISN't fair that some stupid test very well might negate all of my hard work. So for you, any form of complaining is wrong unless yoiu are dying of cancer or something?</p>
<p>
[quote]
it ISN't fair that some stupid test very well might negate all of my hard work.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>It IS fair for colleges to regard test scores as one element of an application, which is what they do. Getting a good score on a college admission test is mostly about reading well, and reading well is a learnable skill that results from a good high school education. In your case, you have opportunity to retake the test, so good luck, apply anyway, and make sure the other strong aspects of your application are well emphasized.</p>