College... - Page 3

On September 28 2008 22:29 StarN wrote:

College currently attending: Bowling Green State University
major/minor: Music Performance
Year graduated high school: 2008
High School GPA (unweighted or weighted): 3.4?
Stats (SAT/ SAT II/ AP scores/etc): SAT - 680 Critical Reading / 750 Math / 510 Writing (shit haha)
Things that you think helped give you the "edge" in getting in: Haha... nothing, an idiot with a 1.5 GPA could get into my school. Although the Saxophone program here is AMAZING.

Things you wish you knew before college: I could write a book on this section.
I wish I had taken WAY more AP Courses. And I mean, depending on which school you go to your school won't take any of your credits. But one of my friends in high school (who was the valedictorian) went to UNC Chapel Hill and had taken like... 10ish AP Tests, and he already had 40 credit hours, meaning he could graduate in three years (two if he really wanted to). It saves you so much time and you won't have to take some of the bullshit classes that your school might have in store for you.
I also wish I had not failed at being a student. I had manic depression my junior year, which was also my hardest year, and my work ethic was terrible and I ended up with two D's my first semester. It made my GPA drop from 3.7 to a 3.3. I mean, I did everything I could to bring it up, but you pretty much have ONE shot at high school. And colleges will only offer you money for what you do in that high school cumulatively, which is sort of sad because I worked hard my senior year (ended up with a 4.0) and did fairly well on the SAT bringing it up 300 points from the previous two times I took it.
I almost feel like being a music major was like a backup plan to me. I only got into it because I was good at it, and my dreams that I had as a kid to go to Harvard were shattered my Junior year, which is one of the reasons I transfered to the Music Conservatory my senior year. But now I realize that even though I failed my junior year in academics I could have still gotten back on my feet and I sort of regret that. I may not have gotten into Harvard for Undergrad, or even UNC Chapel Hill (My local college, pretty strong academic ranking), but I could have gone to a lesser school and owned it up there and transferred to UNC and then maybe gone to Harvard for graduate school. It's never too late. I didn't understand the value of hard work a little too late, and made a bit too many mistakes so that I'm on a different path than I originally intended. But I'm content with where I am, I'm one of the best undergraduate Saxophonists here and I am practicing very hard so that I can win some competitions in the near future.
So in short, I kind of wish I had realized that there are ways to get back onto your feet when you fail as a student. Hard work always pays off. Even if you don't get into the college of your choice this coming year, you can just look at the results and make it motivate you to work harder. And getting into the college of your choice is just a means to an end, you want to be something great, find your niche and bring it to the highest level you can.

On September 28 2008 16:06 shavingcream66 wrote:
Hey guys, I'm a high school senior right now and as many of you may know...college apps are just around a corner. Just out of curiosity I wanted to see what some of you college kids had to say. Post your stuff in this format

College currently attending:
major/minor
Year graduated high school:
High School GPA (unweighted or weighted):
Stats (SAT/ SAT II/ AP scores/etc):
Things that you think helped give you the "edge" in getting in:
Things you wish you knew before college:

yay!

Edit

On September 29 2008 01:02 randomKo_Orean wrote:
this is such a "brag about your academic achievement" thread

On September 29 2008 00:43 caelym wrote:

Things you wish you knew before college: Appreciate the 8-10 hours of sleep you get in high school because sleep is really the only limit in college. College is also fucking huge, so learn how to approach random strangers.

On September 29 2008 01:02 randomKo_Orean wrote:
this is such a "brag about your academic achievement" thread

On September 28 2008 16:51 Cobalt wrote:
I'm applying to college as well, but I'm pretty worried.

Colleges applying to: MIT, Harvard, CalTech, Carnegie Mellon, others

Major: Computer Science

Year Graduating HS: 2009

HS GPA: 4.07 weighted, 3.97 unweighted.

Stats

SAT 1 - 770 CR/780 Math/740 Writing
SAT II - 760 Math 1, 730 Math II. Still need to retake both of those as well as Physics

AP Calculus - 4

My schedule isn't nearly as challenging as it should be for a college-bound student, but not due to poor selection on my part. I've taken the most challenging classes my school has. We only have two AP courses, and I finished AP Calc last year. They had to invent a math class just for me. It really sucks knowing that my school is crap in terms of academics, and that I'm being stifled by it.

Also, to give some perspective on how crappy my school is. The Chemistry subject test for the SAT is supposed to test the knowledge of a general CP chemistry course. My honors class did about half the material on the test.

On September 29 2008 01:23 Pyrrhuloxia wrote:


I hope you have safety schools.

On September 29 2008 01:29 Cobalt wrote:


What exactly is a "safety school"? Now I'm really worried.