<p>hey guys. i’ve been busting my rear all my life in the acedemic field and extracurriculars so that i could get into UGA. I came to find out that my dad was in UGA’s honors program and he’s urging me to do the same and i’d love to. i’m just wondering if i can make it.</p>
<p>I’ll be graduating NEXT YEAR (high school class of 2008)
as of right now, i have an unweighted 4.0</p>
<p>by the time i graduate, i will have taken AP Chemistry, AP English, AP Language, AP Biology, and AP Calculus.</p>
<p>Extracurriculurs:
Football in high school all four years (currently Kicker)
Boy Scouts (achieved Eagle Scout at age 14)
4H (been to camp every year since 5th grade)
Beta Club
National Honor Society
Karate</p>
<p>SAT: i’ve been taking the Kaplan SAT course and the best i’ve done in the practice tests was
Math: 730
Reading: 580
Writing: 760
I took the actual SAT May 5th and will be getting my scores back May 30 or 31 and I think i did better on Reading this time… I’m hoping I can get about 1380-1420.</p>
<p>Now, i have a few questions…</p>
<li><p>Do colleges care how many times I take the SAT?</p></li>
<li><p>Do I have a GOOD chance at getting into the honors program?
I’m looking for honest opinions and ways to maybe improve my chances. If you think i wont make it, i would REALLY appreciate some advice to enhance my chances</p></li>
<li><p>If my school offers AP classes to take up 2 semesters, will UGA count that as a 4.5 for each semester?</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Booman, congratulations on all your hard work thus far. Your stats are pretty impressive. UGA will like your course rigor, excellent GPA, and extracurriculars. Your chances for the Honors Program would be stronger if your SAT was in the range you mentioned, about a 1380+. Good luck with finding out your scores at the end of the month! As for your questions, colleges will consider how many times you took the SAT. I haven’t found this as much with UGA, but still, I would say try to take it no more than twice. More than this is pushing it and leads admissions officers to think that improvements in your score are due to you learning the test.<br>
As far as your chances for the Honors Program, I would say you have a pretty good shot. I would encourage you to apply early though. The later, the less spots open. I entered the program by Collegiate Entry, which is an excellent option if you don’t succeed in gaining entrance right after high school. I applied for Honors and did not get in right out of high school, and I had a high SAT (upper 1400’s) with a 3.7 GPA. Admission into Honors is primarily based, it seems, on your GPA (most important), SAT or ACT score, extracurriculars, and strength of your application (a.k.a. good essays).
Keep that 4.0 if you can, try to raise that reading score, take the application seriously, and I think you’ll reach your goal!
Best of luck to you, and enjoy this summer and senior year! :)</p>
<p>By the way, I did not answer #3 because I was uncertain of what you meant. Do you mean that your school offers year-long AP classes? Do you receive just one grade for the year or one grade each semester for a total of two? If it’s the latter, I would say UGA factors it twice as separate scores, but weighting it as a 4.5 seems high to me. I don’t think UGA would count it quite that much.</p>
<p>ya, our AP classes are year-long. we get a grade each semester. and that’s just what i heard about UGA calculating high school GPAs… makes sense with all these people from central atlanta with GPAs like 4.2 and such. i’m not sure, thanks for the advice so far and i’d love to hear some more from ya</p>
<p>wow, pretty good stats! now on to answer your q’s:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>depends. my friends have taken the SAT multiple times (~3-4) and have gotten into schools like harvard and upenn. just be wary that different colleges have different policies on counting SAT scores. i applied to berkeley this year, and they only took the highest scores from one sitting, as opposed to uga which combined all my highest scores.</p></li>
<li><p>i’d say you have a very good chance. EC’s look excellent and diverse, SAT’s are looking pretty solid, and AP rigor is pretty good. i got in this year, and i can say that the biggest difference b/w our stats is b/w SAT scores and AP classes. i actually got below the Honors’ SAT average (1400 something? i had a 1340 :P), but i’ve taken 11 AP courses. i think either factor works to your advantage, so you’re pretty set just remember to write your essays really well. from looking at your stats, you probably qualify for foundation fellows, so go ahead and apply for that, since it will also count as both your foundation fellows app and your honors app.</p></li>
<li><p>like green7 said, i don’t think they would count APs as high as 4.5, but i am pretty sure that they will count each semester as separate scores.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Hmmm you’ve got a shot, but as others have said you’ve got to raise your SAT score. I know people with 7+ APs, 4.0 averages but not quite 1400 on the SAT who didn’t get in to Honors.</p>
<p>If you manage to qualify for FF with above a 1400 I would suggest applying just for the heck of it, but realize that most people who get it have far higher than a 1400…in fact at least 6 people applied to it from my school, 4 of us had above a 1500 and were ranked in the top 10 in our class and none of us were even finalists. These are people who got into MIT, Cornell, Duke etc. and also got full rides at schools like Michigan…yeah what I’m getting at is that FF is very very competitive.</p>
<p>My DD will be starting UGA in the fall. She applied Early Action, was accepted and was invited to be in Honors (she did not apply - she got a letter telling her she was in). She took the SAT at least 4 times. UGA takes the highest scores Verbal and Math from each test and combines them. (they did not look at the Writing portion - not sure if they will next year, though). Her SAT was 1430. She took all gifted or advanced classes in HS (her HS doesn’t have Honors classes). Her GPA was 4.07 weighted (can’t remember the unweighted). She took 2 AP’s in junior year and 4 in senior year. Definitely apply Early Action - all they look at is SAT, rigor of schedule and GPA. They don’t look at EC’s for Early Action. No essay for Early Action either. Good luck!</p>
<ol>
<li><p>how does UGA calculate your GPA as far as APs go, and do they count each semester separately?</p></li>
<li><p>as a guestimate… what SAT score would you guys think i would need to get into the honors program?</p></li>
</ol>
<p>btw… i’m from a rural county with 20,000 residents, 1400 students at my high school, with an average sized graduating class of about 200. i think that counts for the diversity factor in the application but i could be wrong. i heard that people from private schools and near atlanta have lotsa trouble getting in.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>An extra .5 is added for AP classes…ie an A is a 4.5, a B is 3.5, etc. Each semester is counted separately.</p></li>
<li><p>1400ish</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Ruralness could help you…I go to a school where at least 50 people go to UGA every year so they definitely aren’t going to give us advantage in scholarships to encourage us to apply or anything. A lot of people also don’t get into honors that seem qualified.</p>
<p>i’d say probably 5 people or so got into UGA from my school. none of which applied for honors. so mello…</p>
<p>if i had 2 semesters of AP chem, 2 semesters of AP bio, 1 semester AP Calc, 1 Semester AP Language, 1 Semester AP Literature… i count 4.5 into my GPA 7 times?</p>
<p>Hmm… those figures vary a lot from year to year depending on how many people apply. I would venture to guess a 100+ apply after 1st semester, and about that or a bit more after the first year. As far as what percentage get in, Honors accepts the strongest candidates of the pile, looking at GPA, course rigor, extracurricular involvement, and essay. The percentage fluctuates because Honors limits the number of students they allow in the program, but they always save room for students to enter through Collegiate Entry. I would say maybe between 15 and 20% gain admission after each semester application process, sometimes more, sometimes less depending upon how strong the students are academically. It’s definitely possible, I’ve met lots of people who enter this way. Good luck and shoot for a great first year!</p>
<p>The only thing that they care about is your GPA and your coureload that you took that semester.</p>
<p>They require a 3.75 and above to apply, but I haven’t met anyone who had a below a 3.9 and got in. I had a 4.0 gpa with 2 science classes(one upper division) and I got it in.</p>
<p>booman587, i would recommend taking the SAT again, just to get it a little higher, school don’t care how many times you take the SAT but like someone said before some school might only take the highest score that you got on one sitting, luckily UGA combines the score. The main thing about getting into honors is the SAT. Most of the EC stuff that you might have everyone in the school also has done it, thats y the SAT and GPA are the main things. u have the GPA but now you need to work on teh SAT a little, and if all else fails then you can try to get in through Collegiate Entry although with the new plus minus system it might make the GPA requirement a little bit harder. good luck</p>
just remember to write your essays really well. from looking at your stats, you probably qualify for foundation fellows, so go ahead and apply for that, since it will also count as both your foundation fellows app and your honors app.</p></li>