<p>I’m smart, I really am, but I just cant crack the SAT. I’m a senior, I’ve taken 6 AP exams(AP English 1 & 2, AP psychology, AP history, AP Biology, AP Gov) and scored 4 or 5s on all of them. I’ve won 2 regional writing competitions, and I’ve had an honorable mention in a third (I live in Massachusetts, so that included places like Andover and Boston). I was secretary of my class for 2 years, I have hundreds of hours worth of community service per year over the last 4 years. I spent my last summer doing community service in Haiti, and helped another group of friends fundraise to go to Dominica for community service. I won the award for kindness at my school, I became a leader of my pathfinder club, and I am co-chair of a community service initiative I and a friend started. I am a retreat leader at my school, and an appointed student mentor(there are only 8 of us, and we need to be approved by the staff of the school), I am a student ambassador for my school(I go and talk to other middle schools about attending), I am in the chorus, and I did cross country as well as track. I have a 3.6 gpa and I just really want to get into a decent college and make my parents proud. Please, tell me all that I could possibly do! (and where on EARTH I could possibly get into with a decent name!)</p>
<p>Or should I take a PG year?</p>
<p>cost isnt a big issue, a medium sized college with a decent social atmosphere would be nice.</p>
<p>Please don’t be mean or callous towards me.</p>
<p>well, you could look at schools that don’t consider your SAT score: </p>
<p><a href=“ACT/SAT Optional List - Fairtest”>http://www.fairtest.org/university/optional</a></p>
<p>you could look at A+ schools for B students:</p>
<p><a href=“http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/rankings/national-universities/a-plus”>http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/rankings/national-universities/a-plus</a></p>
<p>There are a ton of great schools out there who want you with your personality, your 3.6 and 1700, and all your volunteer hours. They want your strengths as well as your weaknesses. They’re designed just for people like you, not people who are perfect, necessarily.</p>
<p>You can start with a screening tool like college data dot com or college simply dot com. I can’t write the website out as a url because CC will star out the domain name.</p>
<p>but as you know you need to move on this. time is running out. some deadlines are 11/30 and 12/1.</p>
<p>I do not think you should take a PG year. It isn’t like you aren’t college ready. Your transcript and gpa will be fixed and not change. More community service won’t change your chances. Only thing you could do is improve your score. So, there are hundreds of schools that will fit. How to start? Most people start with budget and see what instate publics will fit, then work from there.</p>
<p>Have you tried the ACT? Some kids find it suits them better than the SAT. And, as suggested, look at test optional schools. The college search feature here at CC can give you an idea of schools in your range.</p>