<p>Hi, I am a freshman in High School. I recently took the PSATs, which I recieved a 235 on, and I also took the SATs in 7th grade for CTY, which I scored a 1960 on. I am currently participating in debate, and I am also thinking about running for a position in the Student Council. Are my scores good enough so that I will be able to score about a 2300 on the SAT’s in four years? What other clubs are recommended? And what position do you think i should run for (I realize that the elections are kind of a popularity contest, so whats a position that you can get based more on merit?) I’m pretty clueless about everything, so any advice on how I can make my college application decent in 4 years would be appreciated!
Thanks</p>
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Since you scored a 235 PSAT the obvious answer is yes, depending on how you feel that day. As far as clubs and positions, do what you enjoy.</p>
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<p>I agree. Doing what you enjoy works out far better than doing things just for applications.</p>
<p>Parzival,</p>
<p>You are on track to be a solid applicant at many colleges and universities. However, the simple truth it that even with perfect grades, test scores, and ECs, you might not get into a place that is affordable for you. Sit your parents down, and ask them about the money. They will whine and fuss and say “It is too early to ask us about that!” so you must be brave and strong and keep them on task while they run the Net Price Calculators at several different college and university websites. Don’t let them just run the NPCs for the schools with lots of money (like Harvard). make sure they run them for your home-state public U and a couple of random private colleges and universities near you that don’t have a lot of aid money to spread around. If they start crying because the numbers are so frightening, hand them some tissues and an adult beverage, and point them to the Financial Aid Forum. Show them the threads on guaranteed merit-based scholarships. If your GPA is in the range for your predicted SAT score, there are a number of places that you will be able to go to for free.</p>
<p>Wishing you all the best as you begin this adventure!</p>
<p>Yes, your scores indicae that you will have very high SATs. So… just make sure your GPA stays really high as well, and you will have lots of great choices.</p>
<p>If you want to think about how to handle extra curriculars, I recommend a book by Cal Newport called “How to Be a High School Superstar: A Revolutionary Plan to Get into College by Standing Out (Without Burning Out)”. It will give you a great perspective on how to make a high test score/high GPA application irresistable to colleges. But this is the year to read it (9th grade). I, by the way, have NO link to Newport or reason to recommend this other than the fact that I thought it made a huge amount of sense given how college admissions work these days.</p>
<p>Thanks for the advice!</p>