SAT Math 750
SAT II Math II 740
Calc B/C taken junior year: Grades: B+, B-
Calc B/C score: 3; A/B subscore: 4
Previous math grades: Pre-Calc A,A; Advanced Math: A-, A-; Algebra II: A, A
ECs/Awards: Several High Level math awards/honors; invited to Intl math competition
AP Biology junior year: Grades: B-, A-
AP Bio score: 4
SAT II Bio: 640 (Will retake senior year)
Previous bio grade: Honors Bio: A-, A
ECs/Awards: Nothing really related to bio. Indirect relation: Started non-profit to help poor children in India (mostly raising money); trips to India to help bring medical supplies, food, clothing, etc. to poor children
No–I’m trying to help a young lady figure out which possible major would match her strengths better (both profiles are her), since she’s really not sure what she wants to do or major in. Both areas are strong options.
The first one is stronger, albeit not terribly strong. The second one sounds fishy. Raising money is one thing but traveling to India to deliver the supplies is quite another.
I suspect that Admissions Officers are growing weary of the many non-profits people claim to have set up as they know it’s usually an attempt to game the admissions process and not an attempt to help others.
Thanks for your feedback, @Troyus. That was my thought, as well-that math is stronger, though agreed, not terribly strong because of later grades and test scores.
She really does have a heart for helping the kids she’s seen. She’s very bi-cultural and really has been affected by what she’s seen, and does want to make a difference. However, as you say, it’s something admissions officers have seen before and might look upon as a “yawn”.
Not so much “yawn” as “BS”. If she cares so much why not work through the many already operating charities who have the infrastructure to do more than she can and will continue to operate even after she goes to college?
You don’t need to answer those questions for me (I don’t actually care) but anyone who uses their setting up a non-profit in their applications better be preemptively answer those questions in their applications or face great skepticism from the admissions office.
She’s applying to colleges, and many of them ask for a major (UCs, etc). The selective schools, while they tell a student she’s not applying to a major, still ask a student to list preferences of major.
Interesting, Troyus. I don’t know the young lady well, but she does not at all strike me as someone that set up a non-profit for applications…but I don’t know anything about setting up non-profits. It sounds like you are saying kids do it all the time for college applications?
How does Person 1 have a bunch of math awards and honors when she got B’s in AP Calc, a 3 on the exam (which half of the people taking it get 5’s) and a 740 on Math II (60th percentile?). If I were an admissions officer, I would question that, as a person who is doing well on math competitions (even on the international level) should do well on school math as well.
That’s a great question. I wonder about that, too. However, I can possibly offer two reasons: waning interest in math (all of this student’s math achievements were in 8th-10th grade, I believe) and lack of rigor in the AP Calc class. Though the school offers a lot of APs and there’s a pretty high % of students that pass them (with a 3 or better), her SAT is way above the average SAT for her school. It’s possible the rigor just isn’t there. However, I do see that there are plenty of students each year that get into selective colleges.
I know of a case where a young student began calculus at the community college at age 9, and took all other math classes there, getting straight As in all of them. When it came time for the student to take the SAT at age 15 or 16, the student’s first attempt was a 690. The second attempt was a 770. I think this student was just a poor standardized test taker, but I can tell you he is very, very smart.
My own “math whiz” son took Calc I, II and III at the local community college in 8th and 9th grade, and then took the Calc B/C exam without studying in 9th grade. He got a 3 that year (subscore 4 on A/B). I made him take it over the next year and actually study (using Thinkwell videos); as a future math major, I knew it was important for him to get a 5. He took the Math II and Physics SAT II exams in 8th grade, getting 760 on math and 800 on physics. He retook the Math II in 11th grade to get that 800. Again, I felt it was important, and it wasn’t a big deal for him as he is a good test taker if he is familiar with the test.
In the case of the original student, I don’t have the answers for the discrepancies, but I have communicated with the family that these are definitely areas that admissions might wonder about.
The answer really depends on interest. I’d toss the application into the bin unless there was some expression of interest in a particular area: the applicant seems to just be playing bingo hoping that a number like “750” or “640” will get one or two people excited enough to let them in. This is pretty dangerous. It will help much more if the student has some idea of what s/he wants to do.