Minor dilemma here. I signed up for the June Math 2, Chemistry, and U.S. History subject tests months ago. However, I didn’t have as much time to study for Math 2 as I had hoped with the stress of AP exams and finals. I’m still sketchy with some of the topics and math will likely be my worst score.
Should I take it this week or study over the summer and wait to take it until August? I’m sticking to the ACT for good (I think), so I don’t have to worry about scheduling another SAT test date.
@Hamlon Do you need 3 subject tests? Unless you’re applying to Georgetown (seeing that name thrown a lot here for requiring 3 subject tests lol), you’ll probably only need 2.
@Hamlon Ok so ik you are a CPS, so I am assuming you are on a fee waiver. Based on that I’d say take Math 2 Saturday and then look at your score and then take it again in August. You never know, you might do really well and not have to worry about it in August. If you do not have a fee waiver, I’d prob cancel.
@acomfysofa I think she said she was going into STEM earlier somewhere. In that case, Math 2 is really crucial.
You guys, I just realized I forgot to go to a college info session I signed up for! They don’t consider demonstrated interest but do you think they’ll still hold it against me, especially for scholarships? Ahh whoops
@acomfysofa @kassh4 Thanks y’all! I decided to take a practice test and got a 740. Not my goal exactly, but definitely better than how I thought I’d do. Barron’s made me think the test would be impossible. Guess I’m taking it after all.
Just finished reading REA APUSH Crash Course! It was this pretty new edition released this year (2017). Spoiler alert: it ends with some comment on Trump.
Unlike my Math 2 where I barely touched on the subjects, I feel a lot more confident with US History :D! Even though I only spent 4 months reading the American Pageant, AMSCO, and now REA APUSH Crash Course (unlike you APUSH people that learned in a normal one-year course), I feel like I know everything in US history inside-and-out.
Also looking forward to only worrying about the SAT I. People I know said that applying to a well-known US university compared to a Canadian university would be too difficult for me because there were 3x SATs to take. Soon I’ll only have 1x SAT to take!
@snowfairy137 I don’t think so especially if they aren’t tracking interest in the first place. Maybe for the scholarship they would prefer that you visit, but it probably doesn’t matter. I would email their admissions office to be safe. I can only speculate.
WashU is the only college ik that really values/tracks interest.
So funny story. Apparently the guy who’s going to be our SAT/ACT prep instructor at SAMS found CC and commented about what we’ll likely experience. I did some “detective work” to see if it was legit and turns out it was. He linked me to the page we’ll be using to submit assignments which also had some great info as well as our class syllabus. The guy’s been doing test prep for the last 9 years and was a former English teacher.
So anyway, I’m pretty confident now that I can get my score up to a 1400+ now, which, as I promised myself, means I’ll likely start thinking of applying to more prestigious schools, but still not Ivy’s.
This morning I spent some time exploring the Common App to avoid studying for my finals. I am not excited to write essays this summer. Writing is already difficult enough for me and now I have to write about myself. As of now, I’m thinking about doing my Common App essay about my family or Mock Trial but I don’t want to sound cliche. Mock Trial really is a large part of my life but I’m not sure how I can connect it to my ethnicity. Maybe I can work it into a supplemental essay? The University of California’ Personal Insight questions will probably be easier for me to answer because they are more specific.
I read some “Essays That Worked” from the past two years at John Hopkins. There is one from the Class of 2019 called “More Than Thick Eyebrows” that is extremely similar to what I wanted to do in my essay about my family. Great.
@dietcig I’ve been reading some of those “essays that worked” too, particularly the ones on the NYTimes about money because that’s what I want to write my essay on. One trend that i’ve been seeing is that all of these touted essays seem to either be about a profound lesson they learned from 1 personal experience (ie. how they reacted to an act of racism), or either 3 personal experiences that exemplify what they’ve learned in general (ie. 3 examples of how they felt inequality going to a boarding school). My essay’s about wealth, but my main struggle is about making it feel more “real” without sacrificing the flow of the essay.
Sidenote: would anyone be interested in a youtube video about the lessons I’ve learned going to a private school (targeted towards lower-income students)? I’ve been thinking about making one that would cover topics like standardized testing, extracurricular activities, and community service. Being the oldest kid in my family and going to public schools for a while, I’ve kind of just figured out this stuff from my friends
@dietcig I feel you about the essays!
Summer is going to be dedicated to agonizing over Common App potential essays and getting the baseline of my UMich app together, and somehow pulling it off before Nov 1st. I’m decent at writing (much more of an English/History person than STEM) but I’m worried they’ll be mediocre. Common App is going to kill me - all of my potential ideas read as cheesy to me.
My current front runner for essay topic is going off of five but really more of a seven: how I went into hs completely terrified of trying anything new at all due to fear of judgment etc but I went on the snowball retreat my freshman year and how that changed me completely and where i am now etc. i get really emotional about this topic but idk it still sounds so cheesy to me
discoveries I made while exploring the Common App:
Yale’s application has a LOT of questions. I think I prefer that over colleges that don’t even have a supplemental essay available (I’m looking at you Fordham).
Kalamazoo is free to apply to an test optional! This really would be my perfect school if it were on the West Coast instead of Michigan. I think I will apply to their diversity fly-in program.
@oPhilippos I’ve noticed that too! I grew up thinking colleges essays had to move readers to tears. When I started reading some last year I thought, “Oh that’s it?” …and then I became a junior and tried to write one and gave up after one paragraph lol
I’m not active on YouTube but that seems like a great idea. You could also make a tumblr/blog to reach a wider audience. Make sure to tell sophomores to study for the PSAT. I wish I did.
Just finished my research paper!!! That was my last major thing for this school year. Now I can finally rest.
So me, being the pestering busybody I am :)) , decided to email my future SAMS Physics professor about questions I had about our Physics Seminar and whether or not it would prepare me for AP Physics C. He instead sent me a copy of the syllabus and it looked really intimidating. We have 4 exams, one at the end of each week, and a final exams as well as daily homework that will not be accepted late. I’m going to hope I do well because I don’t want Physics to kick my butt like Chemistry.
Our programming class is also likely going to be based around Python as well, so we’ll see how that goes.
@oPhilippos The video sounds interesting to me. I didn’t know private schools that targeted low-income students were a thing. :0
I’m not as worried for my essays and supplements compared to the rest of my application, but apprehension is starting to settle in as summer approaches.
@LeopardFire oh i didn’t mean that i went to a private school that targeted low-income students. I meant that the culture surrounding private schools teaches you a lot of things about the college process that a lower-income public school wouldn’t. The video would be geared towards those who haven’t had the same opportunities and exposure that I have been lucky to have
@LeopardFire They do exist though! There’s the Milton Hershey school in Pennsylvania and a boarding school in East Palo Alto. A lot of charter schools functionally work that way too. I think I would have liked to go to a school like that, but it’s too late now to wonder