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To all those hard-working seniors in high school working for a shot at a top school, I will answer any questions you may have about the college application process!
Even if you have extremely common questions like:
How many schools should I apply to?
Can I get in if I only have a 2390?
Which schools should I apply to?
What should I write my essay about?
What if I can't afford college?
How can I improve my SAT score?
What is College Confidential?
What if I'm asian?
What is this deal with SCEA, EA, ED, RD?
But I haven't won the Nobel Peace Prize!
What do rankings mean?
Or less common questions like:
My cat died, how can I work that into a solid essay?
I'm applying to college X/Y but don't know which better suits my interest?
Common App or school-specific app?
How can I tie together my unquenchable thirst for knowledge and my prowess in the MMA ring in a thought-provoking essay?
If the college asks for a picture, should I go topless/ shop it?
How do I dig up dirt on my interviewer so I know how to play to his/her interests during the interview?
I will try to answer ANY questions!
But since this is RL, if I don't know the answer, I'll just be straightforward and admit my inability to help you. Philosophy #1: First, do no harm.
Ask away! ^_^~~
 
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On average what grades do you need to enter a good univiersity? I wanna enter some sort of science courses (cause that's where I want my career to be headed) at a good Canadian university like WAterloo, Queens, or Mcgill. Not sure if my marks are up to scratch though (low 90s in history, english and math, but only only 86 in Chemistry and 84 in biology).
Also, what grades do Canadian universities look at? Does the first term of grade 12 matter as much as your grade 11 marks? I'm in grade 12 this year. Basically, if I can get 90s in Chem and Biology this year will universities still accept me or will they go "na, ur grade 11 marks sucked for the sciences and you're trying to enter a science course....GTFO"?
And yes, how many schools should I apply to?
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... What if I'm Asian.... T___T
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How much does college cost in the US?
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United States24698 Posts
On September 05 2010 01:18 Catch]22 wrote:
How much does college cost in the US?
This obviously will vary a ton. A top school could cost you like 50,000 dollars a year tuition I bet. Can someone confirm this?
If you go to an in-state public university it will vary by state but be more on the order of magnitude of 8-10k tuition per year I think.
If you commute to a community college or something like that then it's probably significantly less.
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I'm traveling a but right now but I'll definitely return to ask a ton of random questions! 
I have this compulsion to ask my elders (not old people, but more like older high school students/college students) for random advice on life and academics ><
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On September 05 2010 01:16 SubtleArt wrote:
On average what grades do you need to enter a good univiersity? I wanna enter some sort of science courses (cause that's where I want my career to be headed) at a good Canadian university like WAterloo, Queens, or Mcgill. Not sure if my marks are up to scratch though (low 90s in history, english and math, but only only 86 in Chemistry and 84 in biology).
Also, what grades do Canadian universities look at? Does the first term of grade 12 matter as much as your grade 11 marks? I'm in grade 12 this year. Basically, if I can get 90s in Chem and Biology this year will universities still accept me or will they go "na, ur grade 11 marks sucked for the sciences and you're trying to enter a science course....GTFO"?
And yes, how many schools should I apply to?
I was wondering this as well. My grade 11 marks were terrible, but i plan on working my ass off this year. Do they look at grade 11 marks at all? ( I want to apply to the BioMedical Science program at University of Waterloo ) I saw on their website that the entrance averages were high 70's but somehow i don't believe that XP seems quite low.
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On September 05 2010 01:16 SubtleArt wrote:
On average what grades do you need to enter a good univiersity? I wanna enter some sort of science courses (cause that's where I want my career to be headed) at a good Canadian university like WAterloo, Queens, or Mcgill. Not sure if my marks are up to scratch though (low 90s in history, english and math, but only only 86 in Chemistry and 84 in biology).
Also, what grades do Canadian universities look at? Does the first term of grade 12 matter as much as your grade 11 marks? I'm in grade 12 this year.
And yes, how many schools should I apply to?
Ok. I'm admittedly a product of the American university system, but I had a friend who was accepted to McGill from an American University. I will use her example to answer your question, but please take it with a grain of salt (since "international" admits might be judged by a different standard).
So are you good enough to get in?
So this friend had ~2200 SAT from a large public high school. Her marks were superb, essentially a 4.0 (which is the highest possible), but the school itself was not particularly competitive...
She did band and had >=6 AP tests (presumably all 4s and 5s) and was involved in a lot of essay-worthy extracurricular activities.
If you want a larger sample, I encourage you to go to go to http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/mcgill-university/ and scour some recent admit pages to see what their stats looked like for domestic students.
Now regarding whether grade 11 marks are more important than 1st semester grade 12 marks: It depends on when you're applying.
A rule of thumb is that the most recent marks are always the most indicative of ones academic prowess, but on the other hand if you're applying EA/SCEA/ED, the first semester marks may not be available until after the college has made its decision. At which point, if you're admitted you need only maintain a ~3.5 (A/B average GPA, depends on the school) so that your admission is not revoked.
On September 05 2010 01:17 synapse wrote:
... What if I'm Asian.... T___T
Well you're fucked. But given that you're fucked there are a few things you can do to not exacerbate the situation. On the forms that ask for your ethnicity, be straightforward about your ethnicity. Check the "Asian American" and be specific whether it's Korean or Chinese or Japanese, etc... It cannot hurt you to do so, and in a sense, it actually helps you. It's because if you refuse to supply that information the college:
1.) Will probably assume you're asian anyway given your name anyway.
2.) Will not look kindly upon your personality, and since one of the major factors in the decisions at top universities is this abstract "personality" attribute, to attempt to hide this information will not work in your favor.
That being said, I presume you have asian-worthy academics:
That means decent AP/IB scores, with 2-3 SAT II/s over 750 and an SAT score > 2200. GPA > 3.8.
If you have these decent academics, what you should then focus on in your application is to differentiate yourself from the average Fresh Off Boat asian with comparable academics. It's an obvious strategy... if you think you're going to end up in as part of an over-represented group, try to differentiate yourself as much as possible.
Concrete ways to achieve this:
Focus your essays on some non-academic pursuits that show personality. You do dance? Great! You do a varsity sport? Awesome! You take part in some national competition/organization/event? Perfect!
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is it a good idea to get a 2 year degree at a community college then the other 2 years for the 4 year degree at a much better state college and save money this way or to get all 4 years at the much better state college (which will cost around 10k~ more)
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16992 Posts
On September 05 2010 01:32 unit wrote:
is it a good idea to get a 2 year degree at a community college then the other 2 years for the 4 year degree at a much better state college and save money this way or to get all 4 years at the much better state college (which will cost around 10k~ more)
Only if you think the extra two years at the state college in terms of environment and lifestyle would be worth your money.
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On September 05 2010 01:20 micronesia wrote:Show nested quote +On September 05 2010 01:18 Catch]22 wrote:
How much does college cost in the US? This obviously will vary a ton. A top school could cost you like 50,000 dollars a year tuition I bet. Can someone confirm this? If you go to an in-state public university it will vary by state but be more on the order of magnitude of 8-10k tuition per year I think. If you commute to a community college or something like that then it's probably significantly less.
This is actually a very complicated question that I will answer with a few points:
1.) The cost of attending school is heavily dependent on your income. If your family makes >$200k a year, the top schools, (read: harvard yale princeton stanford MIT CalTech, etc....) will not give you much in the way of financial aid, leaving your cost of attendance ~$50k a year. If, however your income <= $150k a year, these same top schools will give you a disproportionate amount of financial aid, leaving your cost of attendance potentially < $20k a year.
2.) The cost of attendance is also heavily dependent on your academics/athletic ability. State schools/lower-tier schools (I mean this as in schools that are potentially very good, but aren't quite as rich or name-brand as the ones I mentioned above) will often give merit-based/athletic scholarships. Ex: Arizona, Alabama often give you full scholarship without your even applying if you're a national merit scholar... Other solid schools have excellent merit-based scholarships as well... Ex: USC has a trustee's scholarship which is almost a full-ride. UCSD has this Jacob's Scholar for engineering majors which is in fact a full-scholarship + stipend.
So what does this mean for you? If your academics are excellent and your family makes ~$200k a year, you're going to find that public schools will be cheaper.
If your academics are less than top-notch but you can get into a top school by some other means(athletic/national competition winner/legacy) and your family makes <= $150k, you will often find that Harvard or Yale will cost you less than your local state school.
If your academics are in fact top-notch and your family makes ~200k, you'll find that a lot of lower-tier schools and state schools will be basically free.
I hope that answered your question.
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On September 05 2010 01:30 love1another wrote:
Concrete ways to achieve this:
Focus your essays on some non-academic pursuits that show personality. You do dance? Great! You do a varsity sport? Awesome! You take part in some national competition/organization/event? Perfect!
Any other tips/fundamentals to writing a good essay?
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On September 05 2010 01:32 unit wrote:
is it a good idea to get a 2 year degree at a community college then the other 2 years for the 4 year degree at a much better state college and save money this way or to get all 4 years at the much better state college (which will cost around 10k~ more)
If cost is a binding constraint then by all means go to a 2-year community college and then transfer to a 4-year at a much better college. Especially if you are in one of the states with excellent public school systems like California, New Jersey, Michigan, etc...
Many of my friends went to a local community college and then their 3rd year they transferred to UC Berkeley or UCLA or UofM, etc...
For the purposes of grad school/employment, people really only care where you graduated from.
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i gotta get started on my essay~
i might come back here
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On September 05 2010 01:20 micronesia wrote:Show nested quote +On September 05 2010 01:18 Catch]22 wrote:
How much does college cost in the US? This obviously will vary a ton. A top school could cost you like 50,000 dollars a year tuition I bet. Can someone confirm this? If you go to an in-state public university it will vary by state but be more on the order of magnitude of 8-10k tuition per year I think. If you commute to a community college or something like that then it's probably significantly less.
Top schools usually have need-based financial aid (that covers 100% of what you can't cover), so that shouldn't really be a problem. If you're rich, yeah expect to pay 40k+ for an Ivy League.
Ahhhh my HS gpa is terrible T.T
Had to bring it up from a 3.42 in freshman year, now I only have 3.72 
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On September 05 2010 01:39 Crisis_ wrote:Show nested quote +On September 05 2010 01:30 love1another wrote:
Concrete ways to achieve this:
Focus your essays on some non-academic pursuits that show personality. You do dance? Great! You do a varsity sport? Awesome! You take part in some national competition/organization/event? Perfect!
Any other tips/fundamentals to writing a good essay?
What is considered a "good essay" varies considerably depending on the rest of your package... But here are some objectives to keep in mind.
1.) The essay needs to be at the very least a good piece of writing. It needs to be coherent, show a mastery of the English language, and somewhat fun to read. This is universal.
2.) The essay needs to have a tight, concrete theme that runs through the whole piece. It needs to have an objective at every point. Don't write about when your grandpa died and what he taught you on his death bed. It's potentially interesting and tear-jerking, but makes it very difficult to express your personal merits without sounding like a douche.
3.) Pick the objective of your essay based on what is already in your application. If you have National AP Scholar, Siemens/Intel/USAMO, 2400 SAT, etc... you needn't spend additional time denoting the field in which you're pro. Talk about something else.... Talk about that summer you volunteered as an swim-tutor, or the trip you took to Thailand. Just remember that your application is a complete package and you want to expose as much of your awesomeness as possible in a very limited amount of space. Do not waste that space by repeating yourself.
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what are your credentials?
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On September 05 2010 01:47 Bereft wrote:
what are your credentials?
I'm not (currently) a professional, but here they are:
1.) I'm currently attending a top University, and have studied the curriculum of many "college consulting" services.
2.) I did, briefly, open up a business on this matter, but we only ended up taking free clients before we realized it was too time consuming for our student-schedules... Nonetheless, I have been paid on multiple occasions to look over college essays.
3.) I was an SAT tutor for 2 years...
4.) I was an active poster on College Confidential (lol)
5.) I'm pretty familiar with the admissions department at my college.
The basic rule here that should make things less problematic is to not take my word as the absolute truth, but to use it as a starting point to make your own judgments. Most of what I say is based on sound reasoning rather than unconfirmable insider knowledge, and can be found on the websites of the colleges people are asking about. It's just that I've already been throught the process and have looked through the information so I can save people some of that pain by getting them on the right track.
Then again, if you feel I'm unqualified to offer some helpful tips, nobody's forcing you to listen :D
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United States24698 Posts
When applying for financial aid the amount that the government/colleges assume your parents can afford to pay tends to be a bit ridiculous... loans loans loans lol
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On September 05 2010 01:54 micronesia wrote:
When applying for financial aid the amount that the government/colleges assume your parents can afford to pay tends to be a bit ridiculous... loans loans loans lol
This is true, but based on the forms you must submit for evaluation, you will find that hard assets like real estate are a lot easier to "hide" than W2 income. And even with income, "capital gains" income is also easier to hide, because you can offset it with (often fictitious) losses...
But as always, different colleges evaluate your "expected contribution" in different ways: a friend of mine was offered $30k in financial aid from the school he is currently attending, but only $12k from another top-tier school.
The simple conclusion, though, is that if you're good enough to get into a top college, don't not apply just because you think you can't afford it.
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EPT
