Don’t worry - the way colleges see courses isn’t necessarily how your HS classifies them; I “translated” some things (you said Introductory Calculus included precalculus+basics of calculus aka Analysis, and is appropriate after Algebra2. For many curricula, that’d be precalculus honors. Now, evidently, your HS has a different class called Precalculus Honors, which, I’d wager, prepares students for AP calculus whereas yours is a terminal class that does not lead to AP Calc. All this to say there’s some uniformity among courses and some specifics.)
So, your rigor is not bad at all.
BTW: College admissions may or may not use weighted GPAs.
There are lots of good colleges where an 86-87 average and a 1250-1300 SAT will lead to an admission and scholarships
You need 2 colleges where you’re sure you’ll be admitted and can afford.
Then about 3 where your odds are 60% and affordable and 3 more where your odds are 40-50%.
After that, you can apply to any reach you wish!
*If I went into Neuroscience/Neurobiology I’d possibly study the cognitive abilities of learning disabled students w/non-LD students because I’ve been really interested in performing such an experiment. BTW: I would NOT go Pre-Med, that’s a little too long for me to get started on such a career…
BTW I can’t share my NPC results yet, as I haven’t run it. Will probably run it over the long weekend.
Yeah, the progression for juniors who already took Algebra 2 their sophomore
year typically take Intro to BC Calculus H before taking AP Calculus BC in their senior year.
If their Algebra 2 grade is not Honors Policy (92+ or 90-91.99 upon appeal & a strong recommendation) then they take Introductory Calculus junior year and can transition into Calculus 1H. If they do well, they can possibly progress into AP Calculus BC.
But Calculus 1H is NOT a replacement for AP Calculus BC, and it’s targeted towards graduating seniors who completed Introductory Calculus in their junior year.
Thanks for the detailed explanation.
The fact your HS is a high performing school will help you because colleges will know of it and will know you received an excellent education.
Neuroscience and CS would be offered at all colleges.
In “additional information” on CommonApp you can have a quick note about doing research on Neuro divergent issues.
What about WPI (reach)? They don’t meet need but have solid scholarships for girls they want to attract.
Agnes Scott has a STEM reciprocity agreement with GTech or Emory to increase women’s representation in tech fields (you can take one class there per semester, or you can enroll in a full Dual degree program whereby if you have the designated Math&Physics grades at ASC you automatically continue in Engineering at GTech or CS at Emory - though only Emory covers the FA and it’s longer than a typical 4-year degree but it provides a transition to a nationally famous Engineering/CS degree); of special interest to you, ASC offers a solid Neuroscience major (well-defined and not just as a premed substitute.)
Think of it as an easier-to-access Wellesley in a lovely area of a hopping metropolis that has way less snow than Boston
How would I write that quick note? Like how many words/sentences do you feel like is sufficient to explain such a goal?
I know about the Additional Information section but should I use all of the word count to describe that? Probably not.
BTW I’m really going to check out Agnes Scott’s website and see if it’s appealing to me. Thank you for the information:)
Let me talk to my parents tonight and see what they think, Agnes Scott is definitely really appealing at first glances.
This space is for you to detail things that don’t fit into the rest of the application, highlighting positive things that aren’t obvious. I’ve seen it used effectively to detail one EC, the purpose/extent of which wasn’t clear from the 10 words allowed in the EC space, for instance. It should NOT be used to draw attention to ‘bad’ grades.
Yes
If the individual colleges have a “why us” question, you can develop a bit for each, explaining how CollegeX has designed it’s major/the freshman class for the Neuroscience/Neurobiology major/ the xx-yy sequence (etc) looks especially interesting to your goals of doing z ; or how interested in Pr.X’s research you are (bonus if you can say something like “I’ve been in contact with Pr.X about his/her research and how s/he integrates undergraduates into his/her lab so I can learn by doing, and s/he has mentioned … which really motivated me to apply early” - you get the idea.)
Essentially using “why college X” to match your aspirations and strengths with their offerings, including how your academic interests are so well served by their major.
Seconding the suggestion of Agnes Scott (with the dual degree option and ARCHE consortium). It seems to check all the boxes.
As I mentioned in PM, MYOS is providing excellent guidance. I always learn something from their informative and insightful posts. I’ll enjoy following your journey and am excited to see where you land.
Some colleges I suggested you look into will have this question (like St Lawrence, Hobart&WS…)
It’s less common for large public universities since the “why us” is generally obvious - they’re your in-state public university
Where do you typically find the information on what research professors are doing? This may sound like a stupid question, but I don’t know where to find that.
I’m sorry that I keep leaving things out, sorry all for your excessive notifications.
I meant to tag on Geometry support and Algebra 2 Support, but those went over my head while typing that out.
BTW ACS stands for Academic Class Support, sorry I didn’t say what it was.
Each department will include names and biographies for the faculty, including their research.
For instance, if you look at the link for Neuroscience at Agnès Scott, at the bottom you can see various professors’ pictures, click and access their profile or personal website.
Scroll down till you see “Faculty” and click
It’s more complicated at WPI but you’ll see examples of research and will find the professors name in the short report linked to the major.
Hi CC!!
UPDATE #4:
I may be taking an online, self-guided course on AI at Northeastern! If I complete it, I get a certificate and can put it on my certifications for my resume!
(totally not worried about the fact that you have to do it for 4-6 hours a week)
