@ak2018 I think going to a prestigious school helps you in some majors but in other majors, it comes down to how talented you are. For example, IB is notorious for recruiting from top schools like Wharton so if you go to a random school your chances of making it to Wall Street are very slim. On the other hand, prestige doesn’t seem to matter if you are in CS or Engineering as much. Of course going to MIT is going to help but it is not a make or break thing and in the end comes down to how talented you are.
@ak2018 I believe where you go to college has some weight in post-college opportunities. I know alumni from particular schools actively seek out to employ graduates from that school, so that’s when the alumni network at your school becomes extremely important. But I also believe that if you consistently seek out internships all throughout undergraduate years, your future in your desired field will be bright.
Huh. I didn’t find the Math 2 too bad. I answered all but 3 questions and felt good about my answers. The physics test was ok too, I had a bit of time left over, but I had 7 questions I wasn’t sure of. I’ve been studying/cramming the last two weeks tho.
@acomfysofa Just curious, why * did * you take the US history subject test?
@snowfairy137 I read on reddit that the first 1 - 30 questions were easy, but then 31 - 50 were as hard as Barron’s. Do you think it was that way?
Math was already done. English (Literature) was waay to hard for me. Biology and Chemistry, I thought, would take too long for me to learn for an acceptable score. Physics was too hard. Languages, I didn’t think I would be able to learn a new language and become bilingual in ~4 months. World History had too little resources and not many test dates. So, US History.
If there wasn’t US History, I probably would’ve went with Biology E or World History. After dealing with the Math 2 which involved a lot of thinking, I just wanted my next test to be where I just circled the right answer and that was that.
I haven’t done any math in close to 3 weeks. I was so thrown off when I opened that Math 2 test. Why does CB take so long to return scores? We don’t get results back until July 12. The ACT is so much quicker.
Took the SAT with essay today. It went better than I expected, but I have no way to know for sure until July 12th… orz I hope everyone who had the SAT or Subject Tests today did well!
@ak2018 Besides the Ivies, Stanford, MIT, and a few others depending on location, I think a decent amount of schools that are considered impressive by prestige-chasers aren’t universally recognized. If someone gets into an Ivy, there will be connections and opportunities available to them that others won’t have. On the other hand, if someone who goes to a competitive school in the northeast (besides the Ivies) and then looks for work in a different region, their school’s name won’t be as well-known, and by extension won’t matter as much.
On a kinda related note, sometimes I think location is undervalued compared to other factors. I would rather go to a lesser ranked school in Boston than to a semi well-known school that’s an hour or more away from a city, solely due to internship opportunities. Maybe I’m overhyping it and they are super competitive, though.
Oh yeah, my admission ticket had the wrong building on it. I came 30 minutes early to the test center just to be able to run to the building across the street and get to the “new” test room before the door closed lol
I believe colleges do matter in that they facilitate connections. However, very good connections will outweigh a school to a certain extent (although sometimes that brand name will get your foot in the door to make those connections).
However, once you are talking about lower than Top 20 or 50, connections are what really matters (as opposed to the school).
I took the SAT w/essay today. Two to three kids thought the free response questions for Math No-Calculator were their own section and didn’t fill them out. Ahh poor guys. My favorite moment was when the proctor said, “Five minutes left,” and the dude next to me loudly whispered “Oh s***”
My friends and I have very different scores and we all felt that it was pretty easy. Now I’m worried about the curve. I only studied for about two hours so my goal is to score better than my PSAT (1360). A score above 1409 would be great. Now to study for the ACT. It wasn’t the best idea to take both in June but my mom thinks I need to take both??? I finally convinced her that I only need one for colleges. I’ll probably stick to the ACT because my Reading scores are always much higher than the SAT.
Off-topic: Do you all think “dude” is a Californian word? Is it said in other states? My dad makes fun of me whenever I say it near him.
Well… I don’t know how well I did on the SAT. I had 20 minutes left for two sections because I found the first and last very easy. I also don’t waste time looking at a question for 5 minutes because this year has taught me that if you don’t know it then staring at it won’t make the answer come to you. I am more of an ACT person anyways so it really doesn’t matter how well I do, but I tried my best and that’s all I could’ve done.
That’s pretty much gold haha. They probably wouldn’t have scored high anyways considering they didn’t know how sections worked.
In my room, some kid didn’t bring their calculator (that must suck really bad).
I agree, the math was very easy (I realized I made 2 mistakes on the FRQ and did fix them). However, on the Reading/Writing, even though I got all the answers and thought it wasn’t that bad, I didn’t have any time to double check.
I think the college that you go to helps to get your foot in the door regarding jobs, internships, etc., but it is up to you - the student - to determine what happens afterwards. Schools can provide the opportunities, but it is up to us to decide what we do with them.
Math 2 was a disaster. It started off really easy and I was confident, but then the questions got harder and my pace slackened. I had to quickly do problems 43 - 50 in order to finish on time. I guess I’ll probably retake the exam in the fall.
I’m thankful that I was able to switch from Chemistry to Biology - E when taking the test. I was nervous that I was going to have to take Chemistry and that I would do horribly and end up having to spend more money and take Biology - E in the fall. I’m confident I did well on the Biology - E test despite not having been in Biology since last year.
The US History, for me, went well. I like how the questions mainly went in chronological order. It made it easier for me to use process of elimination on some questions. I liked how there was more breadth to the questions than on the APUSH exam.
It stinks that we have to wait so long. Now I’m going to be checking scores for both AP exams and SAT 2 tests while at SSP next month. At least we’re planning on checking them together, even if it is at 6am.
