 |
| Register | Login | |||||
 |
Main
| Memberlist
| Active users
| Calendar
| Chat
| Online users Ranks | FAQ | ACS | Stats | Color Chart | Search | Photo album |
|
| | ||
|
| Register | Login | |||||
|
Main
| Memberlist
| Active users
| Calendar
| Chat
| Online users Ranks | FAQ | ACS | Stats | Color Chart | Search | Photo album |
|
| | ||
| 0 users currently in General Chat. |
| User | Post |
| neotransotaku Posts: 1192/1860 |
I made it into Berkeley with just 4 AP classes, 2 AP tests taken, one year of track, orchestra for 4 years, and a specialized community service club known as CSF (California Scholastic Federation). Oh, I took a bunch of community college classes before I entered the university.
However, I think when students apply to graduate school or higher learning, well-roundedness is key and what you actually do is finally important. |
| Schweiz oder etwas Posts: 1226/2046 |
You know what this means, right Colin...?
.....It means we need to form an "I like chess but I wasn't accepted at MIT" club. |
| Cynthia Posts: 2886/5814 |
And it also depends what clubs were offered at your school to boot. If it somehow had to come down to activities, something like working on the yearbook would probably be better than chess club.
...Yes, I was in the chess club.  |
| witeasprinwow Posts: 42/613 |
Originally posted by Colin I sorta agree, but I think the bigger problem is that no number of clubs show how diverse you truly are. If I had a choice between someone with perfect marks who was just going to drone through life like a log floating down a river, and a person with lesser marks who might actually go and do something, I would take the second person. I agree with the IDEA of it; but it all breaks down when you try to quantitize loosely defined concepts like "diverse" or "well-rounded." The number of clubs and sports you were in become just another number on your trascript, next to your GPA and SAT. It stops being something meaninful and become just another statistic for the 4.0 GPA 2400 SAT kids to fret about. I lucked out, as I never joined a single club or organized sport all high school and managed to get into my 1st choice. |
| Cynthia Posts: 2883/5814 |
Exactly. It's sad that some people HAVE to take part in a few clubs/sports/etc. to get accepted into an university. I'm not saying that people are forced into it; I mean, if you like the photo club then join the photo club. But if you're pretty much being forced to volunteer for something you might not want to volunteer for in order to get into a good university... blech. I mean, honestly... one spot left in a program, 2 people. You going to take the person with the 3.9 GPA or the person who only has a 3.4 GPA but was in 4 different clubs? If you take the latter...
Here, it's simple. If you have decent marks, you're in. If you don't, you're out. That's as competitive as it gets. |
| witeasprinwow Posts: 41/613 |
Originally posted by Colin American businesses (And a college is at its very core a business) have to act like they care about the people who buy their services. It's supposed to find "well-rounded" people, but it's all bullshit in my opinion. Some people are extremely well-rounded and don't join any clubs or anything, while a lot of one-dimensional people will join some random club or sport just to put it on their transcript. |
| Cynthia Posts: 2881/5814 |
And yet here, extracurricular activities pretty much mean NOTHING when it comes to getting accepted by universities.
I never got why they looked at so many factors. Here it's basically send in your transcript and cross your fingers. |
| Skreename Posts: 840/1427 |
I just have to say... if people who did ALL of that still didn't get in, I don't feel so bad about having not gotten in myself. Not that I'd go, anyway... I rather value my AP credits, and MIT is INSANELY INSANELY expensive compared to where I'm going. |
| Schweiz oder etwas Posts: 1216/2046 |
Yeah, he did most of that too, plus was captain of the Boys' Cross Country team. Huh. Funny how that works. I guess he should have played me in chess more. |
| Ninetales Posts: 219/894 |
I was president of our Chess Club, treasurer of National Honor Society, arts coordinator in Student Council, a member of the Academic Quiz Bowl and Decathlon teams, a member of the varsity golf team, a member of the county Teen Court (in which juvenile offenders are sentenced by a jury of peers), and I participated in the OU math competitions (of which I won one division). Also, I was a National Merit Scholar, Scholar-Athlete of the Year, and winner of the school's highest citizenship/scholarship award, the Hugh Bish award.
And that was just senior year.  |
| neotransotaku Posts: 1191/1860 |
Originally posted by Grey ah yes, the randomness of college acceptance--scores don't tell the whole picture. I wonder what are the other things Kamek did and your friend did not do. I have heard people with 4.0s and insane SAT scores who were still rejected from places like Berkeley, MIT, and Stanford because they did not do anything else in their lives except studying. So, Kamek, what else did you do in high school? |
| Ninetales Posts: 218/894 |
Originally posted by GreyOkay, then... Old SAT (first time I took it): 720 V, 730 M = 1450 total New SAT (2nd time): 730 CR, 800 M, 710 W = 2240 total Subject tests: Math 2C: 800 Literature: 710 Physics: 700 Chemistry: 630 |
| Schweiz oder etwas Posts: 1214/2046 |
Ergh, wait! Kamek, I wanna know your scores if you managed to get into MIT! The guy who was ranked third in my entire class in high school sent in an application to MIT and they laughed at him, but I was ranked like 44th and only got a 1470 for mine (780 math, 690 verbal), and they came to me first. Needless to say, I never applied. I did a lot of stupid things back then... |
| neotransotaku Posts: 1185/1860 |
Originally posted by Yoshi Dude I got a 1250 too (on the old test 550 verbal and 700 math). That is a good score for many schools in california when I applied 4 years ago. I doubt it has gotten that much more competitive since then. |
| Shadic Posts: 192/528 |
Well, I took it, and it really wasn't that bad.
Some of the vocab was evil, so whatever. Also, there was a few math questions that I missed. Not very much though. The time limits are actually something to be wary of, I didn't expect that. |
| Skreename Posts: 813/1427 |
Originally posted by Kamek77 Ditto, except that I didn't get into MIT. (Math 2 is such an easy one... got an 800 on it. Got a 710 on the physics one, and a 700 on US history.) I never took the new SAT. It went into effect very shortly after I took the subject tests. (1410 on the original SAT, though. It's... decent.) |
| Ninetales Posts: 213/894 |
I don't have to take them anymore (thankfully), but I did really well on them. I won't post my scores unless you pester me to, though.
Regarding SAT subject tests, I had to take at least 2 to get into MIT, but they really weren't all that much more difficult than the corresponding SAT sections. |
| Yoshi Dude Posts: 1004/1408 |
I did the worst on the writing portion. If you throw that out, I got a 1250. A little nicer.
Colleges didn't consider the writing score this year, I hope it's the same next year too. I don't know why it would be, but whatever. |
| witeasprinwow Posts: 33/613 |
Originally posted by NSNick Originally posted by ||bass They rearranged the old sections and added a writing section. You can take a percentile of each score to compare them to some degree. 1360/1600 = 85% (New SAT equivilent = 2400 * .85 = 2040) 1830/2400 = 76.25% (Old SAT equivilent = 1600 * .7525 = 1204) Of course, with more questions you are less likely to luck out and get a set of questions you are familiar with, meaning that the new SAT scores will probably be a lower percentage of the total grade than the old ones, even if the people taking them are equal. Either score is pretty good, though. (EDIT: Post-script, I have realized that what I said here is EXTREMELY stupid. You are equally as likely to have good luck as bad luck. I am only not editing it out because it's much earlier in the thread than most people are looking now.) I just took the plain old SAT three times. Got an 1100, 1230, and a 1200. (My scores ended up as 600 Math and 630 Verbal.) Not stellar, but good enough to get to where I wanted to go, so I'm happy with it. Some people take all the SAT subject tests and ACT crap; I never bothered with any of that. |
| NSNick Posts: 1177/2228 |
Wait, they changed it to a 2400 point scale?  Shows how out of touch I am. |
| This is a long thread. Click here to view it. | |
