<p>I'm going to be a senior in the fall and I am doing a lot of college research lately. I was wondering if I have a good chance of getting in to TCNJ? I attend a public school in state.
Freshman Year: GPA weighted 4.086
Spanish 2: A ; Honors English: A- ; Algebra 1: B+ ; World History Honors: A- ; General Science Honors: B+ ; Electives: A+'s ; Gym: A</p>
<p>Sophomore Year: GPA weighted 3.896
Spanish 3: A- ; Honors English: A ; Plane Geometry: A- ; APUSH1: B ; Honors Bio: B ; Electives A+s and Gym A</p>
<p>Junior Year (I don't know what my GPA is yet, but if I calculated correctly its 3.961 weighted)
Spanish 4: B+ ; AP English: B+ ; APUSH2: B+ ; Honors Chem: B+ ; Algebra 2: B+ ; Electives A+ and Gym A</p>
<p>Senior year I'm taking AP English 2, Honors Accouting, Pre-Calc...and then electives and gym (mandatory) and being a half day senior. I don't want to slack too much but my junior year was very stressful (APUSH2 and honors chem are 2 of the hardest, if not THE hardest classes in my school) and I'm going to self-study for the AP PSYCH exam</p>
<p>SATS: total 1900/2400 Writing: 730 Math: 620 CR: 550</p>
<p>AP Exams: English Lang: 4 ; USH: 3</p>
<p>EC:
I have held an internship with the Nordstrom BP Fashion Board for 09-10 and now 10-11.
I've volunteered at the library for over a 100 hours.
I am the president of the international society (previously vp and before that historian), pres. of book club for two terms, editor in chief of school newspaper (previously assistant editor). I'm also in National Honor Society and Spanish Honor Society, and about 5 other clubs. I like to be involved...lol</p>
<p>thanks everyone :)</p>
<p>My only concern is your SAT score. TCNJ doesn’t look at the writing part, which unfortunately is your strongest score. That means they’ll only see 1170/1600, which isn’t good enough. The average SAT score is 1300/1600. I definitely recommend taking the SAT at least once more before you send out your apps. Practice Critical Reading!</p>
<p>Otherwise, your grades/GPA/extracurriculars are good enough. Just try to keep your grades up Senior year. They probably want to see more A’s. </p>
<p>I think your secret weapon to dazzle the admission officers is your essay…since your writing score was so high, you obviously have the skills to crank out a brilliant essay. The essay is so important and could really help your chances. Another note: the common app essay is the only sample of your writing that the admissions office will see. The supplement doesn’t require any extra essays. So make it a damn good essay… </p>
<p>Oh one more thought: Sometimes certain majors are harder to get accepted into. For example, biology is very competitive because it is an outstanding program. What’s your intended major?</p>
<p>Best of luck!!!</p>
<p>A 1170 definitely won’t automatically cut you out of the process but it will hurt you significantly. As the posted above said TCNJ only counts CR+M and the average score is a 1300. The fact that you won’t graduate with Calc might also hurt you.</p>
<p>I agree with everything said here so far. Yes your SATs are a little low, but the great thing is you still have time to take them again (and chances are you will improve on the second go around). Nevertheless, just as feareman said those scores will not mean you definitely will not get in. You have a solid GPA that has been consistent and good ec’s. I, too, would also be interested in knowing what you are intending to study. The strength of your stats can vary slightly depending on what it is you are looking to major in.</p>
<p>yeah, I’ve taken the sat three times and I never seem to do well in CR 
kind of ironic since i got a 4 on ap english and lang exam.
my intended major is secondary education–english. is this department one of the harder ones to get into, or will i be able to get in with my sat’s?</p>
<p>The fact that you scored so poorly in reading will hurt you for english, but the admissions counselor WILL see your writing score even though it is not considered (they said this). You’re below the 25th percentile for reading. While 25% of kids in the school do have less than 560… a low score for math on top of that isn’t helpful. There are athletes at TCNJ etc etc who make up at least part of that 25% (someone I know is like that). I’d consider it a reach, especially without taking AP Calc (or regular Calc) and SATs, the kid who applied this year from my school who was a year behind in math (pre-calc senior year) was rejected.</p>
<p>Also consider how popular the school is becoming instate. Great School + Great Value = lots of applications = lots of competition.</p>
<p>I’m a rising senior in HS, but I know several kids there and have spent a lot of time there as well as a lot of time researching its admissions policies (my #1). Your fortunate in that you’re not competing for their Bio program, because that is even more competitive than regular admissions.</p>
<p>@feareman do u know anything about how hard it is to get into their education program? im not sure if thats a seperate program or whatnot since i havent visited yet, i know that in RU its just the school of arts and sciences. is it seperate here?</p>
<p>like feareman said, if you’re going for english education your SAT score <em>might</em> hurt you. have you taken the ACT? critical reading was my lowest SAT score but i got a 34 on the english section of the ACT (it was my best out of all the sections). </p>
<p>with that being said, test scores are NOT the only component of your application. like i said before, your GPA, class grades, and ec’s are solid. get good letters of rec and write a good essay. visit the campus (if you haven’t done so already) and, if possible, try to visit more than once and speak to an admissions counselor. sometimes if you show you are really interested in the school it can help. also, keep in mind that when you apply you will be asked to select an alternate major. so even if you do not get into the english department you could get in as secondary education with a different subject and switch over.</p>
<p>I know that at least for Bio that just because you don’t get into the Bio program doesn’t mean you won’t get accepted, they just invite to select another major.</p>
<p>I would imagine Education is popular and competitive, considering it is a respected department at the school and TCNJ was founded as a normal school. </p>
<hr>
<p>I would not recommend the ACT for you. For me, I am more than happy with my SAT score, as I did really well (especially for TCNJ). But I printed out the ACT’s online practice test for kicks and scored a 34 composite without ever having looked at the test before. I’m definitely taking it now because I want to maximize my chances for the Bio program as well as merit aid. I recommend you do the same (print out the test from their site) and see how you do.</p>
<p>HOWEVER, while I think you could score better on the English and Reading sections (the ACT is knowledge based, unlike the SAT which is reasoning), I worry about the math section for you. About 10-15 of the problems are made up of Pre-Calc and concepts you have not yet studied. On the ACT, getting a single problem wrong decreases your score on a section.</p>
<p>In the end it depends on what test is right for you, some people prefer the SAT and vice versa. I find the ACT to be astoundingly easy compared to the SAT, but your lack of knowledge on Pre-Calc concepts will hurt your composite score.</p>
<p>i guess ill look at the act printout but i also want to major/minor or do somethign with creative writing, which is why i think my writing score could be helpful. and as for my CR score making me look bad for english education…i did well on the english ap exam, and i think that makes it atleast somewhat better</p>
<p>oh the AP exam should definitely make it look better. like i said before, there are so many other factors that need to be taken into consideration. you cannot rely solely on test scores to get you in (or keep you from getting in) to a college. </p>
<p>take a look at the ACT handout. no, the math section may not be the best for you, but then again you are not looking to major in math. now, i am not saying your math scores will not matter at all but at this point i would be more concerned with getting the critical reading score up. unfortunately one test that suits everyone the “best” does not exist. keep up the good work and i’d say you have just as good a shot as anyone else.</p>
<p>thanks hazeleyez 
i’ll def take a look at it and see if i do okay on the sections</p>
<p>should i take SAT 2’s? are they required?</p>
<p>SAT II’s are not required so I would not bother with them unless other schools that you are applying to require them.</p>
<p>awesome, i’ll save myself the stress</p>
<p>I say TCNJ is a reach for you, mostly because of the CR score (I hate that section too lol). I think that you should give the ACT a try since you’ve already taken the SAT 3 times, especially if u plan to major in english education. But make sure u prepare and do some practice tests. SAT II’s aren’t required but you may want to consider taking the literature one if you’re confident enough (700+) as it may offset the low CR score.</p>
<p>Also your grades were almost all B+ junior year, which while decent, isn’t too great. Do you know your class rank or percentile? Being at least 10-15% would prob help. Also why are you planning to self study psych senior year? It won’t benefit you at all unless you know you’re getting credit. If you’re interested in the subject, then go right ahead :). But I can tell you from experience having self studied four AP exams junior year in addition to the ones I was taking as classes, that it can be pretty rough and requires a lot of self pushing (thought it’d be fun, I was so dumb).</p>
<p>I’m not sure if colleges would look at being a half day senior positively as it seems as though your not challenging yourself. I recommend being a normal students, taking a few challenging classes (don’t have to go crazy) and making sure you do really well in your classes first semester to show that you’ve improved. Then you can always slack second sem lol.</p>
<p>Your ecs should be fine. </p>
<p>If you do these things (good ACT english score, semi-rigorous courseload senior year w/improvement), write a killer essay, and apply early, I think you have a good shot. gl</p>
<p>@glacius: i want to self-study ap psych bc i’m interestd in it, and its also a part of my major and i want to get a head start.
actually, being a half day senior in my school doesnt make a difference. a half day senior got into princeton while no one else in my school did, so yeah…it doesn’t affect college’s opinion.</p>
<p>A friend of mine here at TCNJ had below TCNJ standard SAT scores (she had a great writing score but didn’t fare too well in the categories TCNJ looks at). However, she wrote an amazing essay and put her all into her application. My advice to you is to avoid senioritis this upcoming year and maintain that GPA. Be involved in extracurriculars as TCNJ likes people who are involved and/or passionate about something. Put as much effort as you can into your application.</p>
<p>Good luck with all of your college applications, and I hope you’ll join us here next year!</p>
<p>The 4 years of a language (good) is offset by your math curriculum progression (not good). When looking at your decent SAT Math score, I think the admissions folk will wonder why you didn’t take Alg I in 8th grade and advanced from there. Alg II as a junior doesn’t look good when most juniors you are competing against are taking Trig that year.</p>
<p>At my high school juniors were taking Algebra II. They recently changed it so that the kids two years younger than us would take Algebra II as sophomores, but we weren’t effected. To the best of my knowledge the high schools in my area are also like this, so I’m sure TCNJ is well aware.</p>
<p>I know at my high school, if you don’t graduate with Calc you’re chances at top schools is small (the kids who take pre-calc senior year tend to be the… interesting kids). Depends on the major. I’d be willing to venture no one in the Bio program graduated without Calc. (i’m probably wrong, but if I am they make up an extreme minority)</p>