EPTI don't even know how hard it is to get into those programs, but I'm guessing not too hard as my unweighted GPA is like 3.8 (weighted a bit over 4.1, not many AP classes offered at my school) and I'm not too involved in extracurriculars except for a little tutoring and sports. I guess my essays were okay, again I don't really have anything to compare to.
College Admissions - Page 7
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inkblot
United States1250 Posts
I don't even know how hard it is to get into those programs, but I'm guessing not too hard as my unweighted GPA is like 3.8 (weighted a bit over 4.1, not many AP classes offered at my school) and I'm not too involved in extracurriculars except for a little tutoring and sports. I guess my essays were okay, again I don't really have anything to compare to. | ||
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WhatisProtoss
Korea (South)2324 Posts
On March 30 2006 17:22 lil.sis wrote: unless you're a sweater vest wearing national fencing/oratory champion or movie star harvard and yale are hard to get into On March 30 2006 17:22 lil.sis wrote: or a president's son -_- Not really... Well, the application process is really simple. Everybody thinks it's luck or whatever. You just can't overthink it. Who cares if you get perfect SAT scores. Who cares if you get a perfect GPA average. Who cares if you're a National Merit etc etc. I've worked in an admissions office before. The people who read your applications are college students. They're young, just a bit older than you all in high school. They see THOUSANDS of kids with perfect everythings. So those are somewhat insignificant now. Sure you need high marks, but they aren't the things which set you apart from the rest of the crowd. Here's a word of advice to some of you guys who will be applying to the US's top colleges this fall. MAKE YOURSELVES STAND OUT. These students who read your applications are bored! They read thousands of applications, with nice SAT scores, and little endearing essays about how somebody learned the greater meaning of life through being a varsity sport captain or whatever. The thing is, that's what everybody says... Okay, here is where you should stand for schools like Harvard, Stanford, Yale, MIT, Princeton, etc. --SAT Math = 700-800 --SAT Verbal = 650-800 --High school GPA = 3.7-4.0 (unweighted) --SAT IIs (Math IIC/Writing/Science) = should all be really high, 750-800 [The thing about SAT IIs is that they're easier than SAT Is. People should shoot for higher marks on these exams, because everyone else gets really high marks on them too. Don't take a language exam. I always see Korean students taking the Korean SAT II exam, or Spanish kids taking the Spanish, etc. That's saying: "I am a pansy. I just want to BS my way into college."] If you're going to fucking take Korean/Spanish/Chinese SAT II, get 800 on it! It should be easy! If you get like 780 on your own native language, what the hell is that?? I did poorly on Writing and Biology, but I only took 1 biology course in high school and I did fairly well with my basic knowledge. Writing and Verbal I suck at because I'm Korean -_-;;  Activities: --It's better to do a few activities and do WELL in them instead of trying to tackle 10+ clubs at once. It shows better dedication. Try focusing in music, or a certain school club, or leadership programs, or a sport. ---- Okay, on the College Application: Exam Scores/GPA Basically, all your GPA, standardized exam scores, AP courses, are all mushed into one pile. These credentials are skimmed over, usually because they're all high, and similar to each other. Unless somebody's scores are extremely low, they won't mull over something in this area. Essays Essays will pull you apart from the crowd without a doubt. Write about something you can relate with easily. Don't ever write about something just because your parents told you to write about it. Don't write about something because that's what you THINK the college will want. Write about something that tells them about YOU! And that's something that you WANT to write about. When I started writing essays back in high school (2003-2004)... I started to write an essay about being awesome in tennis, and showing how practicing hard and learning through mistakes of losing matches showed me how to become a better person. Yes... probably a million other students wrote this. You have to be careful when you write essays on sports or music or some accomplishment you've done, because it's what everybody does. I changed all my essays to being about music and about my life with my grandpa. Those are the things that are most dear to my heart. I love grandpa and I love music. These application readers LOVE narrative essays because they can be so well written and be a shining beacon of light in the late sleep night that they are reading a thousand college essays. Start your intro with some color to capture their attention! Don't focus on being ASB president or tennis captain. That's boring old stuff. Eccentricity is good. We're talking about being different from other people. One of my friends talked about being able to lick his nose with his tongue. He got into Stanford University. He is an idiot. A clever idiot with nothing to lose... Interview If you have bad interview skills, don't take this option. It will only hurt you. If you are GREAT at talking with people and making a good impression, do it. It can only help you. A shitty interview, however, will bring your points down. Yes, lots of colleges have point systems for applicants -_-;; Recommendations Your college lives depend on these. A bad recommendation will discredit everything else on your application. You don't need mediocre ones either. You need shining recs from teachers you can gush on and on about how wonderful of a student you are. I'll give some tips on how to receive recommendations: Give the teacher plenty of time. At least 3 weeks in advance to write it. Three weeks is pushing it. I gave my teachers 2 months. 1) Write out a big list of accomplishments. Just like a resume (curriculum vitae), but a bit more in detail. 2) Go talk to your teacher, give him/her a list of all the schools you want to apply to. Give him/her a resume. Talk to him/her about what you did through high school. This is so that the teacher has a good idea of what to write. Talk about what you want to do in the future, and what activities and awards you have done and earned up til now. 3) Visit the teacher often, chat a bit... Put on your best behavior. Remind him/her to write it. (Teachers are forgetful) 4) Ask for extra copies. If you don't have enough guts to do this, then tell him that you're applying to 7 schools (if you're really applying to 6) so you have one rec to look at. This is to ensure that you don't get screwed over by a teacher. If the recommendation sucks, then throw it all away. You should have had 4-5 teachers write recommendations for you. Usually teachers are easygoing about this and will gladly give a copy for you to read. THOSE teachers will write amazing recs for you. The teachers who are not willing to give you their recs are a bit suspicious. -------- Okay, for people complaining about students being published for some scientific breakthrough or something... That doesn't happen often. They didn't take YOUR spot. They deserved that spot. That case is rare, so blame students who were on par with you if you can't get into a school. -------- Okay, a word on what Standardized exam to take. SAT I is always better than ACT. ACT is usually somewhat easier for students than the SAT I. Supplementary Materials If you're an amazing musician, you SHOULD send in a tape of yourself. Practice like crazy to prove that you are a kick-ass musician. It is definitely impressive. If you're on the border on getting into a school, a greedy music professor will nudge you into admission if your tape is impressive enough.  Other exams AP exams, International Bac. exams, etc. If you got like a 3 on an AP exam, DON'T list it! Writing nothing is better than writing something that will hurt you. If you got 5s, then list it like a mo-fo. Optional This is an awesome opportunity that most students fail to take. Take a 8x11 page and do whatever you want to it! Make a poster! Make it interesting and colorful! When I applied to places, I wrote out a huge complicated math algorithm connected to the alphabet, inputting the words "Yale" or "Massachusetts Institute" into it and getting an output of my name. "Dear Stanford University... this is why you should accept me!" That kind of stuff. Creativity runs free! 70% of students FAIL to take this option when it can do no harm! Even if you think it's stupid, admissions officers will get a kick out of it and will definitely remember your application later on when making decisions. That's all I can think of for now. Goodluck everyone~~ ---- On March 30 2006 21:54 SMiLE[bwd] wrote: are u two being serious? or just kidding around? cause i see that overu1's nationality is zimbabwe. ? >< Um, that's a good thing. Being a good student from some small out-of-country place is unique and cool. I have a couple good friends here at MIT from the Trinidad. ---- By the way, this is what my stats were when I applied to college: SAT I: Math=800, Verbal=670 SAT II: Math IIC=800, Writing=680, Biology=660 GPA: 4.0 (high school unweighted), 4.78 (college, weighted) Activities: -Tennis varsity singles #1 (ranked in Northwest USTA) -Piano [3x state championships, 2x regional champion, national qualies (Bach)] -Violin [Theatre productions: pit orchestra, Messiah performance, Youth Orch. concertmaster] College Courses: -Math [Vector Calculus, Multivariable, Differential Equations] -Physics [General, University Physics with Calculus I, II, III, General physics laboratory] Applied to: Harvard, Yale, Columbia, Oregon Univ, MIT, Northwestern, Washington Univ. in St Louis. Rejected from: Harvard I received a full academic scholarship from MIT and Northwestern. Currently attending MIT as a math major (2nd year). Received presidential pre-acceptance letter from Stanford University President Hennessey. | ||
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Locked
United States4182 Posts
well actually i don't really wish, but if you really do want to get into the top colleges, that is a fine miniguide | ||
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WhatisProtoss
Korea (South)2324 Posts
I look over colleges essays for friends every year and give tips to them on how to apply. I know lots of things can screw you over... Good thing I checked my high school calculus teacher's recommendation. He apparently hated me, because I skipped his class and still managed to pull off the top grade in his class despite my horrible study methods. I would have been rejected from every school I applied to had I used his recommendations. CHECK YOUR RECOMMENDATIONS. If anybody has questions, you can always pm me or something. I'll check essays too whenever I have time. jsslee@mit.edu | ||
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zulu_nation8
China26351 Posts
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chobopeon
United States7342 Posts
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WhatisProtoss
Korea (South)2324 Posts
 I never knew SC people talked about such things like college admissions on tl -_-;; | ||
Hot_Bid
Braavos36362 Posts
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[X]Ken_D
United States4650 Posts
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WhatisProtoss
Korea (South)2324 Posts
On March 30 2006 22:52 [X]Ken_D wrote: Holy shit, you did Differential Equations while in high school O_O Hmmm, in Korea, that's standard stuff for high school, esp. for the kids from KMLA or Seoul Science HS (서울과학). I suck compared to the real fobs straight from Korea (didn't go to high school in Korea ㅠㅠ)... but comparatively when getting jobs or such, I have a tactical edge in experience.  I wonder if any tl-ers are from SSHS or one of those big science HS's..... | ||
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MessiahCoon
United States5 Posts
My nextdoor neighbor got accepted to princeton. right now shes writing a 15 page paper due tomorrow. 3500 words I think. Have fun guys. | ||
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Judicator
United States7270 Posts
On March 30 2006 23:27 WhatisProtoss wrote: Hmmm, in Korea, that's standard stuff for high school, esp. for the kids from KMLA or Seoul Science HS (서울과학). I suck compared to the real fobs straight from Korea (didn't go to high school in Korea ㅠㅠ)... but comparatively when getting jobs or such, I have a tactical edge in experience. I wonder if any tl-ers are from SSHS or one of those big science HS's..... Thats available for some high schools as well, if it isn't its upto you get access to some, ie. advanced orgo in high school for us was available, a research seminar which you pretty much do your own research project and *try* to publish was also available. Its all about your own motivation, as for me I had none hence I am at Cornell  | ||
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naventus
United States1337 Posts
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WhatisProtoss
Korea (South)2324 Posts
On March 30 2006 23:50 MessiahCoon wrote: Whoever gets accepted into any Ivy League school I applaud you. Especially if its yale, harvard, princeton, columbia (and even tho its not ivy, mit because it has the toughest acceptance rates). Is anyone gonna study architecture? That's what I'm studying at UNLV and I wish my class would be more "elite" like the students in one of those schools. My nextdoor neighbor got accepted to princeton. right now shes writing a 15 page paper due tomorrow. 3500 words I think. Have fun guys. I've always wanted to study architecture Damn, if I could still change now..... 3500 words is like... 10 pages? | ||
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MessiahCoon
United States5 Posts
On March 31 2006 00:06 WhatisProtoss wrote: I've always wanted to study architecture Damn, if I could still change now..... 3500 words is like... 10 pages? Notice I said "15 page paper" hah. Architecture is great but you have to love it or you're gonna hate all of the hours you have to put into it. Plus it doesn't pay very well unless you're a breakthrough. I want to get my masters at a really good school. | ||
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Ilikestarcraft
Korea (South)17719 Posts
On March 30 2006 16:54 dronebabo wrote: yes, studying worked for me too wait you took sats. Reading from posts here im freaking scared of college now. Im fifteen and im mediocre in english and suck at korean and i live in korea. How the heck am i suppose go to collge in america T.T. Rofl at Klogans thingy: *Large international website moderator ?www.teamliquid.net (site is growing and currently has 8000~ unique hits per day) Shameless Self Promotion ^_^. Anyone want to give any help -_-;;. All you guys like got like mad good grades and good test scores and still got rejected. I wish i was 12 still -_-;;. Need to hit the books now. Hav ea long way to go. | ||
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WhatisProtoss
Korea (South)2324 Posts
On March 31 2006 00:34 Ilikestarcraft wrote: wait you took sats. Reading from posts here im freaking scared of college now. Im fifteen and im mediocre in english and suck at korean and i live in korea. How the heck am i suppose go to collge in america T.T. Rofl at Klogans thingy: *Large international website moderator ?www.teamliquid.net (site is growing and currently has 8000~ unique hits per day) Shameless Self Promotion ^_^. Anyone want to give any help -_-;;. All you guys like got like mad good grades and good test scores and still got rejected. I wish i was 12 still -_-;;. Need to hit the books now. Hav ea long way to go. Oh... dude, don't worry so much -_-;; SATs is not bad, you can do the math part easy. Verbal just takes some practice and memorization. Buy the big SAT practice books. I think the best for SAT I is CollegeBoard's "10 Real SATs". Doing those will help you a lot for SATs. If you need help on SAT IIs, buy CollegeBoard's SAT II's books. Just work hard. One step at a time... Other good companies: Kaplan, Princeton Review. I think Princeton Review makes it harder than it really is, so if you can get a decent score with Princeton Review books, then you're all set. When I took the SATs, I got a combined score of 1140. I was scared shitless, and one summer of studying brought me up almost exactly 300 points. Just old fashioned, korean style mindless memorization.  야~! 아자아자아자~~~ | ||
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PlayJunior
Armenia833 Posts
Could you classify known US collages in their authority in the respective branches of science? E.G. I know that for CS the most known universities are Standford/MIT/.., math is Princeton, maybe Berkeley, Harward is known for humanitarian things. Could someone well enough informed tell which collages and what for are famous ? Thanks. | ||
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Ilikestarcraft
Korea (South)17719 Posts
On March 31 2006 01:31 WhatisProtoss wrote: Oh... dude, don't worry so much -_-;; SATs is not bad, you can do the math part easy. Verbal just takes some practice and memorization. Buy the big SAT practice books. I think the best for SAT I is CollegeBoard's "10 Real SATs". Doing those will help you a lot for SATs. If you need help on SAT IIs, buy CollegeBoard's SAT II's books. Just work hard. One step at a time... Other good companies: Kaplan, Princeton Review. I think Princeton Review makes it harder than it really is, so if you can get a decent score with Princeton Review books, then you're all set. When I took the SATs, I got a combined score of 1140. I was scared shitless, and one summer of studying brought me up almost exactly 300 points. Just old fashioned, korean style mindless memorization. 야~! 아자아자아자~~~ Haha old fashioned korean style. 아자아자 파이팅!!! 고마워형 사랑해요 <3. | ||
Klogon
MURICA15980 Posts
On March 31 2006 01:47 PlayJunior wrote: Guys some sort of offtop but I am just very very curious. Could you classify known US collages in their authority in the respective branches of science? E.G. I know that for CS the most known universities are Standford/MIT/.., math is Princeton, maybe Berkeley, Harward is known for humanitarian things. Could someone well enough informed tell which collages and what for are famous ? Thanks. Add Carnegie Mellon to CS. Go to some ranking publication such as US NEWS for some basic rankings in certain fields... there are really too many to really list. I guess it's easier to ask "what are the best colleges for _________"? And that was a really good post, WhatisProtoss -- I'll refer some clueless juniors and sophomores to that as it is too late for me ;D | ||
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