<p>^Hahahah (:</p>
<p>So I just finished my ACT. </p>
<p>Dear God I’m scared that I’ll get like a 33.</p>
<p>haha ^hope your score comes out good!</p>
<p>y’all are way too obsessed with ivy admissions. jk.</p>
<p>i’d like to go to columbia university, city of new york, but obviously i have to keep my options open.</p>
<p>i am re-taking my chemistry sat II this december. i got a low-mid 700 freshman year, and i would like a 780+.</p>
<p>this year, i will be taking sat biology and sat math II in june, and a practice SAT in may. junior year i will be taking my PSATs in october, SAT in november or december, and sat latin and sat us history in june.</p>
<p>ummm… retaking a 700+ seems obsessed to me…</p>
<p>^Yup.</p>
<p>Why so many SAT IIs?</p>
<p>Eh, I’d definitely retake if I didn’t have a 750+. </p>
<p>Catsby, I think you’d only need like 3 SAT II’s to be competitive for the Ivies. Spend the time you’d spend prepping for the SAT II’s on something more productive like a meaningful EC.</p>
<p>I have a question for you guys, actually. I’m self studying AP Calc BC and Bio, and I’m scheduled to start APUSH in January. I’m also prepping for my two other SAT II’s and USABO and USNCO while doing research, debate, and mock trial. Do you think I should drop APUSH to leave more time for my other pursuits? I hear it’s pretty work-intensive, and I’m more interested in STEM than history/humanities.</p>
<p>You have a lot going on for you so I think you should definitely drop it if you need to. The only reason I can think of not to drop it is if you need the extra points for your rank or gpa or whatever.</p>
<p>I’m starting to get obsessed with Cornell. I like the location of the school and it’s not as bad as I originally thought it was but I keep hearing mixed reviews about the social scene there. Some people say the greek life is over the top others say it’s not that bad. Eh, I probably shouldn’t even be worrying about stuff like that this early on.</p>
<p>To be quite honest, I would retake anything 750 and below too. If you retake and get a higher score, can colleges still see the lower score?</p>
<p>@TeamRocket - You’re doing A LOT…I would definitely drop APUSH. I heard that it’s a lot of details and I wouldn’t be able to get a 5 if I had that many things going on plus the pressure of school. How many hours of sleep do you get?! :0</p>
<p>If I revise my essay after it is submitted, will it change for the colleges that already received it?</p>
<p>@jrpfisher - We’re all class of 2016 here, so most of us wouldn’t know any of the Common App technical stuff. But if I were to wager a guess, no, since you already submitted it…?</p>
<p>How many APs are you all planning on taking next year (indicate self-study separately)?</p>
<p>@catchinginfinity
I have all IB classes so I don’t think I’ll be self studying any APs. Unless I take SL Psych, then I’ll be able to take ap physics or calc AB. But that’s only if I don’t take Chem HL. So anyway, I’m only thinking about SAT II’s. I’m probably going to take Bio-M, Spanish, and Chem.</p>
<p>Next year I’m taking 5: AP Microeconomics, AP Macroeconomics, AP US History, AP Biology, and AP English Language. </p>
<p>I told this to my counselor and freaked out. Nobody in the school had ever taken 5 in 1 year</p>
<p>I’m thinking about taking five as well but one of them will be online. I’m contemplating whether it’s really worth it or not. I really want to improve my rank; I’m barely in the top 10% right now. I’m at least some what interested in the classes I plan on taking but I’m worried I’ll get too stressed out early on in the year and burn out. Plus, that is a big transition from one AP to five.</p>
<p>^letmeseetheworld - Which ones? I’m taking 2 right now and I want to get the AP Scholar award thing, which requires 8…so I’d have to take 6 next year somehow.</p>
<p>@Pi - Haha same for my school! I’m pretty sure we only offer around 10 at most…I don’t think someone’s ever taken 5 together. I also feel like the counselors at my school have extremely low standards - they constantly push state schools and thinks EVERYONE with over an 80 is qualified for an AP class. (So basically, you’re getting thrown in one if you ask for it and you’re not failing.)</p>
<p>If I feel confident enough to take the AP Bio and Cal BC exams this May, then I plan to take AP Chem and AP Stats next year. I may self study an easy AP (macro/micro economics, psychology, etc.) Although, if I have BC done with a 4/5 on the exam, I can take multivariate cal next year, in which case I won’t self study any AP’s.</p>
<p>So I’ve done some calculations, and I’ve got 150 days to finish SAT II Chem prep, 180 days to finish AP Bio prep, and 180 days to finish AP Calculus prep.</p>
<p>Think that’s enough?</p>
<p>@TeamRocketGrunt - That sounds like an adequate amount of time if you’re actually working extremely hard all 180 days. SAT II should be a breeze in comparison to the other two, though.
By the way, if you were contemplating on possibly self-studying AP Stats next year, go for it. I’m taking the class right now and it’s all bs. You can find all the material online (powerpoints, self-evaluation quizzes, tests if you look hard enough) because most AP Stats teachers use this universal curriculum, and the class is ridiculous. Most of it is just punching numbers into the calculator without actually understanding how the formulas work. The only nuisance is that each question on the unit test (in my class) is worth ~10 points, so it’s really easy to drop below a 90.</p>
<p>This is what I have in mind right now.</p>
<p>APUSH
AP Environmental
AP English
AP Psych (I’m currently taking standard if that matters)
AP Art History (this one will be online)</p>
<p>AP Psych and Environmental isn’t that hard at my school but the passing rate for 5’s on the exam is low for psych compared to how many people actually take the class. Like last year only 30 something peole got a 5 compared to around 9 different class periods with about 30 people in each class. I don’t remember what it was for 4 and 3s but I just remember that the passing rate was low compared to how many people actually took the class. What I’m trying to say is that a lot of work would have to be done outside of class on my part to really prepare myself for the exam. As for the other APs, AP Eng is hard depending on what teacher you get and we’re on A-B schedule so I’d have two days to do the APUSH reading. I would have AP Art History everyday though but I don’t mind. I think this will just give me more time to do the work also. </p>
<p>@Rocket: I think that’s enough considering you already started some Bio prep for the SAT II.</p>