Average Girl with Expectations That Are Too High?





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College Discussion Forums: What Are My Chances?: October 2003 Archive: Average Girl with Expectations That Are Too High?
By Ughstinkysocks (Ughstinkysocks) on Wednesday, October 01, 2003 - 10:52 pm: Edit

ahhh... in need yall's [yes i live in the south...georgia] help... where can i get in... i was lookin at out of state like brown, cornell and in state like uga emory or agnes scot... any suggestion... yes i know my sat score STINKS!!!

heres my stats....


ACTIVITIES

X Columbia County Youth Leadership Board (2003): presents programs that acquaint youth leaders with community needs, issues, resources, and leaders in diverse aspects
X Augusta Chronicle's Xtreme Teen Leadership Board (2003): provides opportunities to excel in journalism and leadership through the city's most prominent newspaper
X Young Republicans (2002-2003): Vice President; emphasizes the important role of politics and encourages youth to participate in the community
X Students Against Destructive Decisions (2001-2003): secretary; helps individuals make the right decisions and avoid harm from drugs and alcohol
X Latin Club (2001-2003): highlights the significance of language, history, culture, and the classics
X Junior Classical League (2001-2003): sponsored by the American Classical League; covenants to hand on the torch of classical civilization in the modern world
X Family Career and Community Leaders of America (2001-2003): vice president (2 years); emphasizes the role of students in taking leadership in every aspect of life
X Math Team (1998-2003): connects math into life
X Junior Beta Club (1998-2001) emphasizes the importance of character, achievement, attitude, and academics
X Beta Club (2001-2003): emphasizes the importance of character, achievement, attitude, and academics
X Memoirs (2001-2003) editor, reporter; accentuates the importance of literature via publishing the school literary magazine
X Lakeside Live (2001-2003): reporter, anchor; emphasizes the need of media in a community
X Lakeside Newspaper (2003): writer, layout
X Muslim Youth of Augusta (1997-2003) highlights the value of religion and moral in one¡¦s life and service to the community
X Debate (2001-2003) promotes questioning, evaluating situations, arguing while supporting one¡¦s views, and philosophical thinking
X Student Council (1998-2003) homeroom representative, secretary of the school; links the role of leadership and government
X National Honor Society (inducted 2003): connects scholarship, community, leadership, and character
X LHS Literary team (2003): girls extemporaneos speaking representative; allows students to compete at different literary roles
X Bake Club (2002-03): baker and seller
X Senior Project Timer (2003): volunteer after school to assist judges in evaluating projects of local high school seniors
X P.A.W.S. (Pursuing Achievement With Success) Board (2003): Student Representative
X Knowledge Bowl for Family, Career, and Community Leaders of America (2003)
X Augusta Urban Ministries (2002-03): mentor, tutor, volunteer; provide urban children with positive after school activities
X Poll Worker for Columbia County Board of Elections
X Volunteer Augusta (2002-03): Coordinates volunteer throughout the area and offers a plethora of volunteering opportunities
X Pakistani-Indian Women¡¦s Class (Summer of 2002): taught cooking, sewing, and other roles of women
X Coordinator of the 2002 Taking a Kick Out of Violence: A Self-Defense Session: community wide effort on techniques to thwart the progression of violence in the area
X Activities Coordinator of the Islamic Society of Augusta¡¦s Biannual Open House (2001-2003): event in which the community is provided the opportunity to further educate itself on the religion of Islam


ACHIEVEMENTS

X Wake Forest National Early Bird Tournament: Junior Varsity Policy Debate- 5th Place
X School High Honor since 1996: academic performance
X Lakeside High School Academic Letter (2002-03)
X National Honor Roll (2002-03): recognizes academic performance and community involvement
X Who¡¦s Who Among American High School Students (2002-03): recognizes students who excel in various fields, such as academics and community service
X Literary Team (2003) Girls Extempt Fourth Place Winner at Regions; competition for extemporaneous speaking
X Family Career and Community Leaders of America¡¦s National Gold Medalist for STAR (Students Taking Action for Recognition) Events (July 2002): competed at regions, state, and national level via community service projects (school-wide Fitness Awareness)
X Family Career and Community Leaders of America¡¦s State Gold Medalist for STAR (Students Taking Action for Recognition) Events (April 2003): competed at regions and state level via community service projects (community-wide violence prevention and self-defense session taught by the Columbia County Sheriff Department )
X Family, Career, and Community Leaders of America 2003 Georgia State STOP (Students Taking on Prevention) the Violence Award (April 2003): community-wide violence prevention and self defense session taught by the Columbia County Sheriff Department
X Family, Career, and Community Leaders of America Georgia Knowledge Bowl Tournament (2003): First Place
X Greater Atlanta Christian Schools Math Tournament (2001) 12th Place in Algebra
X Greater Atlanta Christian Schools Math Tournament (2003) Honorable Mention in Algebra Two
X Policy Debate Tournaments: Novice (September to April 2003)
West Minister Schools: 7th Place; 15th Speaker
Evans High School: 1st Place; 1st Speaker
Northside High School: 4th Place
Chattahoochee High School: 1st Place
X Muslim Youth of North America Sports Fest: 1st place in the senior division for soccer and volleyball since 1998
X Columbia County Board of Education and Board of Elections Recognition for Student Poll Worker (November 5, 2002): acknowledges students who participated in the 2002 elections as poll workers
X Columbia County Board of Education Recognition for National Competition Achievement (September 10, 2002): acknowledges the performance at the FCCLA national leadership conference and competition and the awarding of a gold medal in the event
X Duke University Talent Identification Program: state level recognition (March 2002): distinguishes talented students via SAT or ACT scores


ACADEMIC

X High School Diploma Candidate, May 2005
X 4.0 GPA
X 98.222 average
X Rank 4 out of 408
X Currently taking four AP classes (European history, American History, Literature, Chemistry) -aiming for 10 before i graduate

PSAT
2002
Verbal: 57
Math: 68
SAT Equivalence: 1250

SAT
2002 (7th Grade) Composite: 1020
Verbal: 490
Math: 530
my practice SAT score is 1200/1300... study over the summer to boast it

SAT II
Molecular Biology: 770

AP EXAMS
Biology: 5

thanks...

By Ughstinkysocks (Ughstinkysocks) on Wednesday, October 01, 2003 - 10:57 pm: Edit

o yah.. .anyone have any info on northwestern... thats so my dream school [the seven yr med program] ... also any good sat prep books... lastly if i get a B in ap chem and then a 5 on the exam would colleges cancel out the b???...

By Ughstinkysocks (Ughstinkysocks) on Wednesday, October 01, 2003 - 10:59 pm: Edit

o yah..anyone have any info on northwestern... thats so my dream school [the seven yr med program] ... also any good sat prep books [im a junior so i have one more summer]... lastly if i get a B in ap chem and then a 5 on the exam would colleges cancel out the b???...

By Ughstinkysocks (Ughstinkysocks) on Wednesday, October 01, 2003 - 11:00 pm: Edit

oops

By Stanfordhopeful (Stanfordhopeful) on Wednesday, October 01, 2003 - 11:02 pm: Edit

You are in 8th grade?

By Neo (Neo) on Wednesday, October 01, 2003 - 11:26 pm: Edit

I hope you meant "boost" your SAT score, not "boast" it. Boasting isn't cool.

By Ughstinkysocks (Ughstinkysocks) on Thursday, October 02, 2003 - 09:13 pm: Edit

im a junior... as in 11th

oops yah... i meant boost... i dont think u can boast a 1200....

By Trojan1444 (Trojan1444) on Thursday, October 02, 2003 - 09:57 pm: Edit

Ok one thing......

DON'T EVER POST YOUR STATS IN SOMETHING SO FRIGGIN LONG!!!!!!

No one wants to read all that.

Also, don't even think about listing all that stuff on your college application.

Colleges don't care (and probably look down upon) things like:


X Greater Atlanta Christian Schools Math Tournament (2001) 12th Place in Algebra
X Greater Atlanta Christian Schools Math Tournament (2003) Honorable Mention in Algebra Two
Who¡¦s Who Among American High School Students (2002-03): recognizes students who excel in various fields, such as academics and community service
X Bake Club (2002-03): baker and seller
X Junior Beta Club (1998-2001) emphasizes the importance of character, achievement, attitude, and academics

.....and ALMOST ALL THE OTHER THINGS YOUR WROTE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I mean, did you seriously think they care that you got 12th place in an Algebra competition as a freshman??????!!!!!!!1
And colleges might even be offended if you write things like "Math club - connects math to real life" because they know "math club" is BS.

By Uncchlocalmayor (Uncchlocalmayor) on Thursday, October 02, 2003 - 10:17 pm: Edit

says who? it shows she was doing something with her life during high school...

By Cmaher (Cmaher) on Thursday, October 02, 2003 - 11:49 pm: Edit

Way too many EC's and Awards.. choose the significant ones that are relevant to your interests/passions or the presitigious ones and leave it at that.

If you have a 3 page list, it will only look like padding and the admissions officer wont want to comb through it.

X School High Honor since 1996: academic performance
X Lakeside High School Academic Letter (2002-03)
X National Honor Roll (2002-03): recognizes academic performance and community involvement
X Who¡¦s Who Among American High School Students (2002-03): recognizes students who excel in various fields, such as academics and community service
X Greater Atlanta Christian Schools Math Tournament (2001) 12th Place in Algebra
X Greater Atlanta Christian Schools Math Tournament (2003) Honorable Mention in Algebra Two

X LHS Literary team (2003): girls extemporaneos speaking representative; allows students to compete at different literary roles

.. there are too many to list

Do not list any EC's that are GPA or SAT based, they can see your GPA and SAT, they don't need to see rewards you recieved for them.

Do not list Beta Club or NHS etc and especially not Who's Who which is just a scam.

Don't list things you came in 10th place in at the local or county level.

Don't list things you had minor roles in.

Don't list something that you were only in for one year, if you could have been in for four.

By Hertish (Hertish) on Thursday, October 02, 2003 - 11:56 pm: Edit

trojan,
why is math club "BS"

By Clickspring (Clickspring) on Friday, October 03, 2003 - 12:05 am: Edit

List Beta Club and NHS...don't listen to people on this board who tell you not to.

Don't list National Honor Roll or Who's Who because they are scams.

By Rubenizm (Rubenizm) on Friday, October 03, 2003 - 12:18 am: Edit

my chem teacher says y'all all the time and we live in maryland, so it's annoying.

By Mike (Mike) on Friday, October 03, 2003 - 01:20 am: Edit

Don't panic about your SAT Scores. I got 1240 on the PSAT and my best practice was 1270. The real one was 1370.

By Cmaher (Cmaher) on Friday, October 03, 2003 - 02:51 am: Edit

NHS is worthless, why do so many people defend it?

Face it, if that is your best EC, you are out of luck, like me.

By Jamimom (Jamimom) on Friday, October 03, 2003 - 10:44 am: Edit

Some good advice though brusque. I usually have kids laundry list their ECs as an attachment but have the big stuff highlighted on the application with a "see attached for more". I suggest that because you never know who likes to see something and I am not so presumptuous to believe that I can cull out what is not important. However 1 year experiences as a freshman are pretty safely disposable unless it is a truly big accomplishment on the national or international level.
As you know, you need to bring up those test scores and that should be your focus. Get a tutor if you can. Your grades and courses are great-keep it up. You still have time and my kids all did dismally on the PSATs but managed after at least 2 SAT sittings to get scores to put them into the running for selective schools and programs.
Just to let you know, any of the BA/MD programs are super dream schools. I know kids who got into Harvard, many ivies, all sort of perfect scores and did not get into any of these combined programs. The ones I know who did get in not only had the very top credentials, they also had unusual research experience or national science awards that made them truly the creme de la creme in the medical research field. Either that or a super compelling reason to go into medicine along with again stellar stats. These programs are truly the hardest to get into. Take a look at the premed bulletin board; there is a lot of info on these programs especially on Northwestern.

By Sooky6 (Sooky6) on Friday, October 03, 2003 - 11:26 am: Edit

NHS varies alot from HS to HS...in mine it was pretty meaningless, but I've heard of others where its very service based and very selective--people don't just get in based on GPA but must be nominated. Likewise with Phi Beta Kappa in college, though that is much more competitive--some schools nominate everyone over a certain GPA, others (like mine) only a small subset of that group. So. It varies. And there are certainly things that you should list if you only did them for one year, if they are significant and represent an interest of yours. You are now a junior, so that may include alot of activities. But overall its quality, not quanitity.

By Alimshk (Alimshk) on Friday, October 03, 2003 - 03:42 pm: Edit

What was the 'Bake Sale' thing a joke? I mean come on, lol.

By Rosiebabe5 (Rosiebabe5) on Friday, October 03, 2003 - 05:55 pm: Edit

For the common app, which has you list the most important things (about 10), should you list a club you were in for 4 years instead of NHS, or are all clubs pretty much out?

By Sostressedout (Sostressedout) on Friday, October 03, 2003 - 06:15 pm: Edit

I hope I don't offend you by saying this but I'd deff work on that SAT, people may deny it, but it is vital and it does evaluates you at a national level...and a 490 verbal score is below the national avg, not something a ivy league school(or any top school for that matter)looks kindly at

By Girl (Girl) on Friday, October 03, 2003 - 06:49 pm: Edit

Your GPA, rank, and ECs are great, but you *really* need to pump up the SAT scores for any upper tier school. If you're a junior now, you have plenty of time to work on it and I'm sure you will do great. Oh, and as has been mentioned above, definitely cut the EC list... an overload makes it seem like you spread yourself too thin.
Best of luck!

By Ughstinkysocks (Ughstinkysocks) on Friday, October 03, 2003 - 09:20 pm: Edit

ahh thanks everone... ill delete some of the stuff... all the clubs ive been in throughout my high school... NHS is different at our school... its like the most prestigious club and u can only get in with 4.0 gpa and lots of extracirrular stuff and go thorough an excruciating admission type process... i guess its different at different schools....

sostressed out: no offense taken... thanks for the suggestion ... i know i hafta pump my score...the 490 was from seventh grade... the duke tip program

thanks again everyone...

By Ughstinkysocks (Ughstinkysocks) on Friday, October 03, 2003 - 09:28 pm: Edit

o yah clarifivation purposes the GACS math tournament is a multistate math competition (i think its the states in the southeastern region plus texas).... and Beta Club is the second most prestigious club at our school after NHS... its really interesting about the variation of status of clubs in different schools... like KEY/Rotary Club is a joke at our school... the only thing they do is sell doughnuts...

ALMSHK: no Bake Club is a big club at our school... along with acting as a service organizations (tutoring/soup kitchen/habitat for humanity) we sell food to help out local organizations or families in need (cancer patients)... i think weve raised around nine thousand dollars just last yr... its a community recognized club... but i can see where ure coming from... it does sound like a joke

thanks again everyone

By Deepak (Deepak) on Friday, October 03, 2003 - 11:16 pm: Edit

We have a Lakeside Viking here? Druid Hills all the way bud!

By Shortnsweet25 (Shortnsweet25) on Saturday, October 04, 2003 - 09:16 am: Edit

I've aquired around a 3.5 GPA and a 1365 on my SATS. I'm white involved in clubs on varsity tennis-- and yes i would be applying out of state. Do I have any chance of be accepted into UCLA?? Please help and comments would be greatly appreciated.

By Ml41588 (Ml41588) on Saturday, October 04, 2003 - 10:23 am: Edit

no college will be impressed that you were a "baker and seller" and a bake sale. you really need to compact your activities/awards, bc no offense, but basically all of them are total bs that no college cares about.

By Ughstinkysocks (Ughstinkysocks) on Saturday, October 04, 2003 - 08:16 pm: Edit

MI41588: none taken.. thanks

By Lkirkla (Lkirkla) on Saturday, February 07, 2004 - 05:38 pm: Edit

Greetings all: National Honor Roll is a vanity press. You send them money; they print junk in their "commemorative yearbook." Doesn't mean a thing. Please see my posting at http://www.collegeconfidential.com/cgi-bin/discus/show.cgi?6/35760 Hope this helps.


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