At my school the class ranking system can make people be obsessive about staying in the top 10% (and tbh I’ve got caught in the obsession too). It’s mainly because we’re a small class of 244 people and people are determined to take harder classes to rise in the rankings. I don’t think it’s necessarily bad because it allows colleges to compare where you rank with other students in your class. In my case my gpa has gotten lower but with the hard and challenging classes that my school offers, they’ll see that very few people in the top 10% have a 4.0 gpa.
Graduation will always be a high accomplishment in my opinion as high school increasingly becomes harder each year for students.
I like my in state schools such as UF but the problem is the student population. I mean the public state schools in Florida are huge and have 30,000+ students and UCF for example has 60,000+ students. Coming from such a small middle and high school, I would never want to to immerse myself in that kind of environment. I would be a lost puppy. So although UM is private I prefer that it’s midsize with around 16,000 students and the campus is not huge. Also, I’m content to attend the best HBCU in my state(FAMU) due to its small size of around 10,000 students. Overall I’m content with my smaller state schools but I would prefer to attend my out of state options as merit aid is my favor.
I’m annoyed at my class rank because even though I’m taking a harder course load than most of even the top kids at my school they aren’t counting my dual enrollment credits as weighted so my class rank is suffering. I’m hovering at the end of the top 10% but I’ll probably drop to top 20% and next year they’re reporting in increments of 10% only. Oh well.
I live 2 miles away from my state flagship, LOL. I think I would only be interested in going to grad school if I ended up going to it because I’ll live at home, and programs for what I want to study aren’t great.
I’m so sad I’ve been getting fewer As each year, but honestly I’ve been making really bad elective choices.
I am applying to three state schools. Two are very competitive and the third one is a safety. I think I’d be happy at any of them because I would have family about and hour away.
My class is very small so class rank would not be accurate. If you were ranked #10 you wouldn’t be close to the top 10%.
I think I am going to add American University to my list because of its location. I really love D.C. so I would like to have one more option to go to school there. The campus was nice and the students seemed relaxed but nothing really grabbed my attention. The recent racist incidents on campus strongly pushed me toward UMD College Park (I didn’t know about the issues there). After that poor student was killed at UMD College Park, I realized I can’t run away from these things.
Reach:
Harvard
Yale?? (I’m trying to convince my mom that it’s not worth it to apply since I prefer cheaper schools but she’s an optimistic alumna)
Northeastern
Low Reach / High Match:
UC Berkeley
UCLA
Match:
George Washington
American University
Fordham
Safety:
UC Santa Cruz
ASU or Cal State LA
So my total would be 9-10 schools. My list is long but I can’t stop worrying that everything will go wrong. At least I have a full tuition scholarship waiting for me at ASU.
@snowfairy137 Same, I am #5 in my class, but I feel like I am not gonna get any higher though I know that at least two of the people ahead of me are taking easy classes that give them a higher GPA.
@julia35002 I’ve heard of people applying to 20+ schools using that logic. You may get an unexpected acceptance, but the likelihood of wasting a ton of money is much higher. Besides, Ivies (and top schools in general) all earned their reputations for different reasons. What’s the point of vying for acceptances to colleges that don’t even have what you want?
Some people will do anything to get accepted into an Ivy even if they don’t have their major it’s crazy because there are some schools that are better than some ivies ex. Stanford, MIT, etc.
I wanted to apply to multiple Ivies, but basically none of them would be a good fit for me. The only one that would be a good fit is Harvard. I don’t have a chance of getting in but I’m applying anyway. The same goes for MIT. MIT would be a good fit but I doubt I’ll get in.
Shotgunning is an option – and some people can afford to do it – but I don’t think that it’s a good way to get into many schools. I think that if you put more time and effort into a few applications (say less than 8), you’ll have a better chance than if you spend little time on each of your applications to apply to many schools.
So I moved from India after completing my junior year in April. I am starting senior year in September here in upstate NY. I met with my counselor in new school who told me that he could waive most of regents but I will have to take Math, English, and US History Regents. I want to finish taking them before my school year starts. So I asked him if any summer course for US History were available. Turns out, there is one available which is a 4 week course at a near school district. Transportation is an issue. I can mahesh English and Math myself but I think I’ll have to work on US History. Now, what I want to know is if I plan to self study for the same sincerely, what book should I use? What books do high schools across US use?
Common App essay in the summer and probably the first week of September I will start because of nominations for various positions will be held that week and I will be in line for many. @Ktgisgreat
Many of us in this forum took AP US history so we used the Amercian pageant book which like overprepares you for the regents, but I know that the normal class in my school uses Pearsons.
American Pageant took me two months to read, but I had to supplement it with another two months of review books to pound the information in. The textbook is good for getting a general framework of things (and know about some of the lesser-known-but-you-should-know details), and the review books are good for remembering the information. In total, 4 months. Kind of overkill for anything less than, say, an APUSH class or SAT II.
Just looked at past Regents exams in US history and I think a good read through of AMSCO and maybe REA Crash Course, along with your classes, would be all you need to do the exam in 4 weeks @Ktgisgreat
Crash course on YouTube is nice because it’s a fairly quick and easy way to study or review subjects. The regents I imagine are probably pretty easy but USH might be harder for you because you haven’t had it before unlike US educated kids who learn it in elementary middle and high school.
@bubblylaugh When I first learned about the school I was surprised as well. They did a lot of recruiting to attract potential Ivy League and National Merit students. Also since they have the NUin program, the school does not have to submit test scores from the students who enter in Spring. Those students tend to have lower scores. If cost weren’t an option I would apply for NUin but it’s way too expensive for one semester.
My test scores are low for the school and I’m aiming for lots of merit through the National Hispanic Recognition Program so it’s definitely a reach for me.
So I only have two days of junior year left and I’m so glad this year will be over, but it looks like I’m gonna be pulling some all nighters between now and Friday.
My AP Lang teacher decided to make our research papers due by Monday, but since Friday is my last day, she said she wants it on her desk by Friday, no email. It’s not that much, but it’s adding up with all the other projects I have. I took my Pre-Calc final yesterday and I’m pretty sure I passed since the test was mainly multiple choice and we were allowed to use our calculators. I got a 78% on my engineering final, but I literally reviewed 30 minutes before. Didn’t really affect my final grade though. I could also decide to take the AP Lang final too, to raise my grade, even though I’m exempt. I have to take my Spanish reading final in the summer because I missed it, but it’s no big deal since I’ll take it the day after I get back from the NOVEC Youth Tour. I have an 89% for the year in POE and my Marble Sorter project just might save my grade and turn it into an A. I have a really stupid project due for US History that is pretty much pointless for me. And I have a AP Chemistry project due on Friday. So yeah, what a hectic way to end out the school year, but it least it will all be over. I’ll end the year standing!
Also, all my summer program stuff is being finalized. I’m going to DC for the NOVEC Youth Tour on Sunday and I’ve already met my roommates. One of them is a guy I met at the Lockheed Martin Minorites in Engineering Day field trip last year. I’m really excited, we’re going to be on Capitol Hill, tour some museums, meet some congressmen as well as potentially see “The Donald” live (I don’t know how to feel about that last part, but at least it’ll be fun).
After that I have a one week break, from June 16th to 23rd, to do anything I want. I’m probably going to do some summer assignments/writing college essays/actually have fun. Speaking of which, I now have summer assignments for AP Lit, Physics C, and Calc BC, which include do packets and reading and annotating the Poisonwood Bible. I’m also taking Econ and Finance online over the summer, so I’m definitely going to be busy. I’ll probably write more essays once I get back from Carnegie Mellon.
I’m also taking Econ and Finance online over the summer, so I’m definitely going to be busy. I’ll probably write more essays once I get back from Carnegie Mellon.