Texas a&m chances with low class rank

RMNiMiTz
Tue, 09 May 2017 02:01:33 +0000

@monclays

To calculate the value of the SAT prep would honestly be kind of difficult. The quality of prep programs varies from place to place.

When I took the SAT in 7th grade (as a part of duke TIP), I score a 1550 (out of 2400 at the time). My equivalent (from Jan 21st of this year) would be around 2000 (if converted to out of 2400). However, it was me taking the test on a really bad day (hence why my score was so low). Going up by 500 points is certainly nice, but at the same time going from Pre-Algebra all the way to Calculus probably played a bigger role.

I would say that my SAT prep class probably only improved my score about 60-70 points. This may not be worth it for you (5,000 for 60 points), but my parents are in a decent financial situation. However, prep programs could vary in price. The 5,000 was a 4-year program (for both SAT and ACT, which had new lessons each week, unlimited practice tests, essay grading, daily vocab drill opportunities and all that good stuff), and a shorter prep program would no doubt be far cheaper (maybe 500 to 1k).

A free prep program that is pretty highly regarded would be Khan academy’s SAT prep. It’s easily accessible on the internet and is a fine tool for getting better. Local libraries also usually have SAT prep books for you to study with.

If you don’t want to attend a prep program (which depends on the circumstances), I would say that you can go to a discount bookstore or something along those lines and spend $100-200 on a couple prep books (you can’t write in library books, and the books directly from collegeboard are usually overpriced). Studying them rigorously for 2-3 months before the exam could really help your scores. If you can, also sign up for multiple tests; you never know when you could have a bad day and end up scoring substantially lower than you should have.

If you are still a sophomore (as it appears from your comments), you still have a chance to get your grades up. Finding a leadership role as a junior in a club would greatly boost your EC’s. It’s also not too late to get your grades up (TAMU takes the first 6 semesters/3 years).

If you take mostly AP or Pre-AP classes and score perhaps a 4.2 weighted GPA (not too difficult, especially if you are dedicated; for instance, I raised my 3.76 up to a 3.94 in a single year), you could bring that 3.6 up to a 3.8, and maybe raise your class rank high enough to qualify in the top 25% (I have found that scoring just a point or two higher on your GPA above the average will raise your class rank a lot, due to the way that most kids are somewhere in the middle of the bell curve). I did terrible my first 2 years (3.76 weighted GPA, 55% class rank at the end of Sophomore year) to (3.94 weighted GPA, 20% class rank at the end of Junior year).

If you can at least get a 1400 on your SAT, I would say that you definitely have a solid shot at a transfer/summer program.

Btw, be sure to ask about Blinn at

http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/texas-m-university/

which is the TAMU forum here at CC, and there are people who know more about blinn and summer programs than I do.