[JahJahBinks]

Somehow I think your class standing is more important than your GPA, unless your high school is known to be sub par.

 

[Azure]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ATAT /img/forum/go_quote.gif Meh. SATs are worthless, what matters is what envelope you get on december 15th

Huh? What happens on December 15th?

 

[litlharsh]

CHRISTMAS OF COURSE.

 

[wanderman]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jbloudg20 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Yeah College.... I'm talking about the REAL world. If you happen to think college is liek the real world, boy you are gonna have a heart attack.

oh noes college is not like the real world bah. I thought it was all the same after preK.

 

[The_X]

This was me..

SAT:
780 math
800 writing
800 reading

SAT II:
770 chemistry
800 math IIC

AP:
5 Physics B
5 Calculus BC
5 Stat
4 Computer Science A
4 English Lit

I was only one question away from a perfect score on the new SAT. I had a GPA of 4.1 (which is an A- weighted). I also was really, really involved with humanitarian groups and environmental groups - Amnesty International, ONE, ConnPIRG. Helped raise $4000 over the summer through a benefit concert to help African villages. Raised several thousand for ConnPIRG and helped get clean air legislation + certain hybrid credits passed in Connecticut. Also worked in a neuroscience lab one summer. These are the schools I got rejected from:

Cornell
Harvard
UPenn
Duke
Washington University
Carnegie Mellon

The only somewhat competitive schools I got into were Case Western and McGill University, and both aren't that hard.

College admissions is BS, I'm still scratching my head why I didn't get into at least one of those schools. It certainly wasn't my goal to ever go to those places but at the same time I feel a little screwed over. I know several people from my high school who had worse grades and scores than me, did very little meaningful extracurriculars, and got into those schools. Whenever people find out about my scores they wonder why I didn't get in either. There must be some secret I'm missing. I'm at the engineering college of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign now which I love, except it's too damn far from home.

 

[MrSlacker]

Quote:

Originally Posted by The_X /img/forum/go_quote.gif This was me.. SAT: 780 math 800 writing 800 reading SAT II: 770 chemistry 800 math IIC AP: 5 Physics B 5 Calculus BC 5 Stat 4 Computer Science A 4 English Lit I was only one question away from a perfect score on the new SAT. I had a GPA of 4.1 (which is an A- weighted). I also was really, really involved with humanitarian groups and environmental groups - Amnesty International, ONE, ConnPIRG. Helped raise $4000 over the summer through a benefit concert to help African villages. Raised several thousand for ConnPIRG and helped get clean air legislation + certain hybrid credits passed in Connecticut. Also worked in a neuroscience lab one summer. These are the schools I got rejected from: Cornell Harvard UPenn Duke Washington University Carnegie Mellon The only somewhat competitive schools I got into were Case Western and McGill University, and both aren't that hard. College admissions is BS, I'm still scratching my head why I didn't get into at least one of those schools. It certainly wasn't my goal to ever go to those places but at the same time whenever people find out about my scores they wonder why I didn't get in either. There must be some secret I'm missing. I'm at the engineering college of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign now which I love, except it's too damn far from home.

nice score man. and congrats on the fundraisers

 

[retic3nt]

Quote:

Originally Posted by The_X /img/forum/go_quote.gif This was me.. SAT: 780 math 800 writing 800 reading SAT II: 770 chemistry 800 math IIC AP: 5 Physics B 5 Calculus BC 5 Stat 4 Computer Science A 4 English Lit I was only one question away from a perfect score on the new SAT. I had a GPA of 4.1 (which is an A- weighted). I also was really, really involved with humanitarian groups and environmental groups - Amnesty International, ONE, ConnPIRG. Helped raise $4000 over the summer through a benefit concert to help African villages. Raised several thousand for ConnPIRG and helped get clean air legislation + certain hybrid credits passed in Connecticut. Also worked in a neuroscience lab one summer. These are the schools I got rejected from: Cornell Harvard UPenn Duke Washington University Carnegie Mellon The only somewhat competitive schools I got into were Case Western and McGill University, and both aren't that hard. College admissions is BS, I'm still scratching my head why I didn't get into at least one of those schools. It certainly wasn't my goal to ever go to those places but at the same time I feel a little screwed over. I know several people from my high school who had worse grades and scores than me, did very little meaningful extracurriculars, and got into those schools. Whenever people find out about my scores they wonder why I didn't get in either. There must be some secret I'm missing. I'm at the engineering college of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign now which I love, except it's too damn far from home.

ouch, I feel for you. Hopefully that doesn't happen to me.

 

[SysteX]

Quote:

Originally Posted by The_X /img/forum/go_quote.gif This was me.. SAT: 780 math 800 writing 800 reading SAT II: 770 chemistry 800 math IIC AP: 5 Physics B 5 Calculus BC 5 Stat 4 Computer Science A 4 English Lit I was only one question away from a perfect score on the new SAT. I had a GPA of 4.1 (which is an A- weighted). I also was really, really involved with humanitarian groups and environmental groups - Amnesty International, ONE, ConnPIRG. Helped raise $4000 over the summer through a benefit concert to help African villages. Raised several thousand for ConnPIRG and helped get clean air legislation + certain hybrid credits passed in Connecticut. Also worked in a neuroscience lab one summer. These are the schools I got rejected from: Cornell Harvard UPenn Duke Washington University Carnegie Mellon The only somewhat competitive schools I got into were Case Western and McGill University, and both aren't that hard. College admissions is BS, I'm still scratching my head why I didn't get into at least one of those schools. It certainly wasn't my goal to ever go to those places but at the same time I feel a little screwed over. I know several people from my high school who had worse grades and scores than me, did very little meaningful extracurriculars, and got into those schools. Whenever people find out about my scores they wonder why I didn't get in either. There must be some secret I'm missing. I'm at the engineering college of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign now which I love, except it's too damn far from home.

Please don't take this the wrong way, but recommendations and/or interview, perhaps?

 

[The_X]

Both of my recommendations were from teachers who really liked me and one was the Amnesty International staff advisor, so he knew about the stuff I had been doing. I know the woman who did the Duke interview loved me. The Cornell guy didn't like "tree huggers" which may have made a difference. The Harvard guy in fact originally started out as a lawyer for ConnPIRG and we found plenty of common ground there. The others I didn't have interviews for. Also, for ConnPIRG I go door to door speaking to people so I never have any problems being in an interview situation.

 

[SysteX]

Quote:

Originally Posted by The_X /img/forum/go_quote.gif Both of my recommendations were from teachers who really liked me and one was the Amnesty International staff advisor, so he knew about the stuff I had been doing. I know the woman who did the Duke interview loved me. The Cornell guy didn't like "tree huggers" which may have made a difference. The Harvard guy in fact originally started out as a lawyer for ConnPIRG and we found plenty of common ground there. The others I didn't have interviews for. Also, for ConnPIRG I go door to door speaking to people so I never have any problems being in an interview situation.

Wow. I suppose the cosmos simply weren't aligned...
That's always tough. It sure sounds like you were well qualified for any of those schools.

 

[dkjohnso]

Quote:

Originally Posted by The_X /img/forum/go_quote.gif This was me.. SAT: 780 math 800 writing 800 reading SAT II: 770 chemistry 800 math IIC AP: 5 Physics B 5 Calculus BC 5 Stat 4 Computer Science A 4 English Lit I was only one question away from a perfect score on the new SAT. I had a GPA of 4.1 (which is an A- weighted). I also was really, really involved with humanitarian groups and environmental groups - Amnesty International, ONE, ConnPIRG. Helped raise $4000 over the summer through a benefit concert to help African villages. Raised several thousand for ConnPIRG and helped get clean air legislation + certain hybrid credits passed in Connecticut. Also worked in a neuroscience lab one summer. These are the schools I got rejected from: Cornell Harvard UPenn Duke Washington University Carnegie Mellon The only somewhat competitive schools I got into were Case Western and McGill University, and both aren't that hard. College admissions is BS, I'm still scratching my head why I didn't get into at least one of those schools. It certainly wasn't my goal to ever go to those places but at the same time I feel a little screwed over. I know several people from my high school who had worse grades and scores than me, did very little meaningful extracurriculars, and got into those schools. Whenever people find out about my scores they wonder why I didn't get in either. There must be some secret I'm missing. I'm at the engineering college of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign now which I love, except it's too damn far from home.

It probably has nothing to do with your qualification (you look more than qualified). Unfortunately, the top schools in the country receive far more applications from qualified applicants than they can accept. I've heard admissions officials at my school talk about it, and basically they said out of 15,000 or so applications, 5,000 are dismissed immediately. After another round, they are left with 5,000 qualified candidates from which they can only pick 1,500. Unfortunately, they have to reject some people who would do fine at the college. I don't envy the job.

 

[wax4213]

It's also a fairly common practice for some schools to more strongly consider the applicants who have family members who are alumni, and not just immediate family members. I have a friend (don't know his SAT score), but he was a valedictorian and got 5's on the AP Calc B/C, AP Language Arts, AP Physics C, AP Biology, and... that might be it. Not sure. But whatever, his scores were perfect. Another valedictorian didn't do as well on the AP tests, but is an Eagle Scout and has plenty of worthwhile extracurricular activities. Both were flat out rejected by Stanford, while another friend of mine got put on a waiting list, despite her less than stellar scores on anything. Turns out that she had an uncle who went there. She wasn't accepted in the end, but she got farther in the process than other, more qualified people.

That being said, a third valedictorian was accepted to Olin without any hitches, and she's now attending there, free of tuition costs, cause Olin is just that cool. That first valedictorian I mentioned is attending the University of Washington with me, except he has enough scholarships that he's getting paid to come here. Scores don't go unnoticed, but they don't always have quite the effect that one would think that they would.

 

[dhp]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Azure /img/forum/go_quote.gif Huh? What happens on December 15th?

His MIT acceptance letter

 

[oicdn]

Quote:

Originally Posted by chef8489 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Yeah me also. Math 800 Verbal 780 Most people don't think I actually scored that but I do not care. I was acepted into every University I applied to but accepted UNC Chapel Hill due to my military station. My GPA was not as good as I wished but still graduated with a 3.85 from undergrad.

So, what if somebody had a barely scraping by GPA, but had those SAT scores....could they still get into any college?

 

[SysteX]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DieInAFire /img/forum/go_quote.gif His MIT acceptance letter

So they're not doing tubes this year?