<p>I’m currently a high school freshman.
I recently took the practice SAT test offered at Princeton review, and received a 1430 for my first time, is that bad?
I also was recently accepted into a government offered scholarship to study abroad next school year and will be doing that.
any advice on what to do to make my college application outstanding and impossible to turn away when i apply to colleges?
Thank you!</p>
<p>A 1430/2400? That kind of SAT score is not going to get you into top-tier colleges. You’ll want at least 2100.</p>
<p>1430 is bad even as a freshman. You want to try to bring that up around 800 points for top colleges.</p>
<p>Get out of the mindset that you want to make your application impossible to turn away. There is nobody who is guaranteed to get into a top school.</p>
<p>1430 is probably out of 1600 since i doubt they grade the writing portion/essay.</p>
<p>^^
^^^
^^^^
Agreed.</p>
<p>Yeah, although it is a good thing to keep college in mind and grades and ECs, you can’t really guarentee a brilliant app. It is nearly impossible to make it impossible to turn away. First of all, pursue what you like, show passion, and don’t do this just for college, it’ll help you in life as well (I think). Also, take everything you do seriously (well school related stuff atleast). Don’t join a math club and blow off the competitions (try to win). Don’t join a book club and not read any books. Also learn to write good essays (you’ll) need them. And don’t set out asking for what the ideal quintessential top-tier app is, because most people on CC know that there is no such thing. Although excellent stats, ECs, essays and teacher recs can only increase you chances.</p>
<p>As for your SAT score - Work on it. If it is out 2400, thats pretty bad. But if out of 1600, thats pretty good. If its the former, try out the ACT maybe it will suit you better.</p>
<p>If you’re unhooked, as aforementioned you’ll need a 2100. I’d say if you’re hooked (URM, legacy) you’ll need a 2000.</p>
<p>^
Depends on what he means by top schools. If he means Ivies, he needs at least a 2200, although his chances will be much higher with a 2300+.</p>
<p>got into princeton, unhoooked asian, with a 2120, so test scores aren’t everything</p>
<p>Take it easy, you’re only a freshman. Don’t worry, you have plenty of time to bring you’re score up. Relax (not too much) and enjoy your freshman year in hs. Get involved in school activites, and remember an SAT score isn’t everything.</p>
<p>What I also believe is that your SAT score automatically increases as you learn more things. I took a practice Blue Book math test right before my freshman year, and scored in the 500’s on that section. Later, after having taken both Geometry and Algebra II/Trig, I scored a 740 on another math test. Don’t be disheartened if you don’t do as well as you’d like to on the SAT (especially at this point); give it a bit of time and then try again. 
</p>
<p>As for the subject of your EC’s, I spent most of my freshman year trying out a bunch of things, getting a taste of each to see what they were like. While I already had several passions that I’d been pursuing since elementary school (and even earlier), I joined a few other clubs and then quit some of them after I realized that I didn’t really enjoy them. So I’d second the advice to try out new things; you may very well discover something you’re REALLY interested in! Good luck.</p>
<p>You’re still a freshman, I wouldn’t worry about the SAT just yet.</p>
<p>My best piece of advice: Get off CC until junior year. This place can became a place of pracrastination and completely drain you–you think, “Okay, I’ll get a 2400 and a 4.0 and cure cancer,” and, before you know it, you realize you’ve spent two years in front of your computer instead of doing those things.</p>
<p>But a few tips:</p>
<p>-Keep the SAT IIs in the back of your mind. I recommend taking one or two at the end of your sophomore year or the beginning of your junior year to get a few out of the way. I’ll be taking three on the same day in June. Bad idea.</p>
<p>-Prep for the SAT. It is a puzzle; it can be unlocked through lots and lots of practice problems. The SAT forum has good advice.</p>
<p>-Be smart about what APs you take. You should be getting 4s and 5s (preferrably 5s) on the exams, so if your school doesn’t traditionally prepare students well for those exams, buy a prep book to review alongside your class.</p>
<p>-ECs–CC advice, I think, overinflates the role of ECs in the admission process. Few people actually listen to the advice about quality over quantity, instead picking up leadership positions and community service every which way. No. Don’t do it. I recommend taking your freshman year to ignore all advice about extracurriculars. Settle into your courseload, get to know teachers (you’d be amazed at the conversations you can have with teachers if you just have the time to chat after class), and establish yourself as a classroom star, not as an overachieving EC-whore. Don’t spread yourself too thin too fast.</p>
<p>With this extra time, you’ll stumble into something interesting. Do Wiki research voraciously–perhaps linguistics strikes you, and you pick up a few books by Noam Chompsky and actually have the time to read them. Talk to your foreign language teacher about them. Maybe write your research paper about it, using a local college professor as a source. Whatever. You need to give yourself the time to become passionate about something. And the benefit of this plan is that you have the free time to show up at random Art club, or French club, or lit mag meetings with friends. Maybe you only go once because the snacks are good. Or maybe something hooks you, and you have the time to plan a huge local international fair, or polish up your school’s crappy lit mag and get it entered in contests–whatever. The key is having the free time to stumble upon something you like and have the time to really devote yourself to. School clubs are rarely the way to make this happen.</p>
<p>I say this because I joined the debate team freshman year. I love it, honestly, but it’s a huge, huge time commitment, one I can’t shirk if I have a test in Chem (which I need all the time in the world to study for) or a lab or whatever. I miss days regularly and fall behind. Hell, I (as of now) still have a 4.0, but the workload is enormous, and sometimes I wish I had time to start that french club at the middle school or more time to devote to my writing. My friends in twelve thousand clubs have the same problem…and you know what? I’m infinitely less impressed with them and with myself than I am with the people I know who practice the piano five hours a day or do pyschology research at a local college or create lesson plans for teaching physics that they present to teachers across the state. You can demonstrate passion and aptitude without being president of French club (honestly, everyone knows French club is eating club anyway).</p>
<p>calnewport.com/blog
This guy does a much better job of explaining what I just tried to lol.</p>
<p>Best of luck!</p>