Final Grades/GPA thread/School/University Discussion

[Polis4rule]

Same with me, even though I got a 2 in Spanish

 

[Serenity]

I got Ap Scholar with Distinction since I took 5 Ap's unlike these two above who only took 4 :)

I want national too but my scores were pretty terrible this year besides Ap Psych.. I am am taking 7 AP's this year and I hope to get a 5 on most of them. I think it's very possible as my studying habits are drastically better than last year. If not.. that's cool.

 

[Black Buddha]

Thanks Imran.
I was just a bit unsure about what to do in the futurefor career and all
And I have no problem with calculators, i guess i ddint get my thing across in the correct wording

 

[Imran]

No, my point is that exams having no calculators =/= harder exams.

Basically you have a long time to decide what to do yet, do a couple of years of a degree before you start thinking about a research career =P

I'd love to do reasearch for a few years, but odds on I won't be in the top x% of people in my Uni so meh. Definitely won't get a 1st, a 2/1 will be possible if I have no social life, heh.

 

[Kay [Old]]

My top 5 Colleges would be Brown, Dartmouth, Boston College, Villanova, and Notre Dame, but in all likelihood Brown, Dartmouth, and Notre Dame are a bit out of my reach so BC or Nova would be excellent. As of now International Relations/Political Science would be my major with a couple languages to be determined as my minors.

This is the part where I shamelessly advertise Macalester College in St. Paul- as a history/international relations major, they have really, REALLY brilliant IR profs and are about the same level, if not slightly better than BC.

 

[Fabbles]

I am about to send my early decision application to Brown, I just need my college counselor to revise my essays once more and get one more teacher rec. See you there (hopefully)! I also strongly considered Dartmouth for my early decision, but in the end the whole new hampshire location and being like a 6 hour drive from home made it lose out. I'll probably apply there reg decision if Brown doesnt work out though.

Well I really do want to go to Brown, it is just that I can't go for Early Decision because if I get in I don't know how much money they would give me and my family is in a pretty bad financial situation now with two other siblings already going through college. Even though in all likelihood I would be able to attend, I don't want to put all my eggs in one basket.

As to Kay, I pretty much want to stay on the East Coast. I am applying to Notre Dame because my grandfather went there, and it is one of those cool things I can say later "I was accepted into Notre Dame." etc.

It all comes down to the October SATs for me I think. Hopefully I will perform well enough.

Cool to see others doing well on APs =).

 

[dkjestrup]

lol dude, if you get straight 'C's (or achieves), you'll do better than most people. You need 60 credits in level 2 and 3 to pass, if you pass everything you'll get around 130-140 credits :D.

Yeah, in NZ it doesn't really matter if you went to Otago or Auckland. The employers just want to see particular degrees. They don't really know how Otago psychology compares to Auckland psychology for example, it's really the same to them. We just don't have any really presitgious schools. If we had a NZ equivalent of Harvard, that would be different, but we don't, so the mindset here is "C's get degrees" :D.

I'm not doing NCEA, I'm doing Cambridge. And I'm in the top 4th form class, and we are actually doing a lot of past Cambridge papers and 5th form level stuff, so C's will be easy if I study. I'll be annoyed if I get <80% for each subject though.

And NCEA really is a joke, imo. I'll have like 9 credits by the end of 4th form, which doesn't matter for me, but you only need like 80 total to pass right? So I'll have done more that 1/10th of the course already. It's like impossible to fail.

And isn't the pass mark like 44% lol?!?

 

[Eraddd]

sort of an old thread, but......

it seems like smogon has a ton of high school seniors around. now that deadlines are drawing nearer, what are your guys' plans for college? early decision is in about a week, regular decision in about two months, the last chance for the SATs in about 3 weeks, essays need to be written interviews need to be had, there's really not a lot of time left, so i'm wondering, is anybody applying anywhere early?

Apply to as many universities as possible and pray for a lucky bounce in with financial aid. Otherwise, I'm sticking to Canadian universities, most likely U of T, with a scholarship.

I have the scores, I have the grades, I have the extracurriculars, and I'm working on the essay (no early app for me). It's just to see whether I can stand up to against all the internationals around the world competing for approximately <50 spots in a university for financial aid. My family is pretty badly off, so... yeah. Cannot afford 50k, or even 15k a year.

 

[chenman333]

I submitted my SCEA Yale App last week.

 

[icepick]

I still have 3 more essays to write for my Nov 1 deadlines for Columbia and Maryland / ___ \

 

[Stylish Interval]

I don't want to be a douche and take away from the current discussion, but I would like to ask for a bit of advice (from the oh so wise Smogon elders)

I'm planning on being a Computer Engineer later in life, so I know I want to go to MIT, CIT, or Purdue - maybe Georgia Tech if I hit some rough spots financially.

What kind of coursework should I be taking over the next two years (Currently a Sophmore)? I'm currently taking

Accounting (Had to take something other than a free period, all that was left)
French III (I love the language)
Biology (Standard)
US History (Wouldn't let me take AP like I wanted to :( )
Old Testament Study (I go to a Christian School and these classes are required)
AP World Literature (Love English)
Honors Algebra II (Love math)
Pre-Calculus (I don't feel like graduating with just Calculus so I'm teaching myself Pre-calculus with a university teacher's aide)

Where should my priorities be for getting into the colleges I want. I'm also not worried about the SAT, as the SAT I've already done well on (2310 is way better than I thought I would do), more so the ACT - my first score was a 31. I know (hope) I'll do better over the next year.

 

[tennisace]

Where should my priorities be for getting into the colleges I want.

Your rigor of study is plenty hard enough for a sophomore from what I can see, and your SAT grade is right where it needs to be. What you really need now are extracurricular activities and volunteer community service. Studying your whole life is great, but guaranteed there's someone who's taking the exact same courses as you AND is captain of the varsity swim team. Extracurriculars really make/break applications. What most engineering schools are looking for now are "Renaissance Engineers", well rounded kids who are going to participate in a variety of activities. Plus, it looks way better on an application to have great grades in AP/Honors classes with extracurriculars, so it doesn't look like you have no life.

 

[Stylish Interval]

Your rigor of study is plenty hard enough for a sophomore from what I can see, and your SAT grade is right where it needs to be. What you really need now are extracurricular activities and volunteer community service. Studying your whole life is great, but guaranteed there's someone who's taking the exact same courses as you AND is captain of the varsity swim team. Extracurriculars really make/break applications. What most engineering schools are looking for now are "Renaissance Engineers", well rounded kids who are going to participate in a variety of activities. Plus, it looks way better on an application to have great grades in AP/Honors classes with extracurriculars, so it doesn't look like you have no life.

I do play for the soccer team and I'm attempting to get into mission work/ community service with my school. Academic Team as well, so I guess I might be on the right track? Thanks for the reply.

 

[Wishy]

Gosh, you all are so confusing with you GSCI-whatever, lettered grades, AP mumbo jumbo. >: I feel kinda stupid here lol.

My school doesn't have AP at all. Instead, we have a FF (Fastfoward) which is for people who have difficulty learning, and just plan on going straight into the workplace after High School. Most courses have a 'level': U (University), M (University/College), or C (College). The #s beside the letter represents the grade (1 being freshman, 4 being senior). This is my current semester, so far not soo bad.

English (4U)
Advanced Functions (4U) (Otherwise known as pre-calculus)
Physics (3U)
Chemistry (4U)

The workload isn't as demanding as I thought it would be, guess I'm 'used to it'. The reason I have junior level Physics, is because I was stupid and didn't check University pre-reqs thoroughly enough for ALL the unis I want to apply to. I want to get into a Health Science / Life Science program, and the one uni that I'm really hoping to get into is pretty math intensive and it is a requirement to take 4 physics courses in your first 2 years of study there (If you get into sciences) unlike any other university (which don't require you to take physics whatsoever). So now I have junior level Physics this semester, and senior level Physics next semester.

According to my midterm, my marks are:
English 93
Adv Func. 81
Physics 81
Chemistry 86

I've been actually doing assignments this year and I'm pretty pleased with myself thus far, I'm aiming to improve my Chemistry and Math mark though. English is pretty easy-breezy, don't mean to toot my own horn but I can write a pretty awesome essay (at least, at the high school level but hey that's the highest level I've achieved thus far). My chem teacher marks really intensely... So getting prepared for his tests takes a while and requires some intense studying. I got 90 I our last test (Electrochemistry) and I'm pretty proud (especially since the first test I did relatively crappily...). I'm just hoping to get a decent mark in Physics so just to keep my average up, but all I really even need is at least a pass - The mark I get in this course doesn't count towards my uni application anyhow. Math could do with an improvement but I suck at tests, make too many teeny errors. ~_~

Next semester I haaveee...

Calculus (4U)
Biology (4U)
Physics (4U)
French (4U)

I plan to apply to Univerty of Waterloo (Life Sciences, psych. major), Western University (Health Sciences), and McMaster University (Health Sciences). Basically a science program with a psychology major.

I'm 99.9% sure I really really want to become a Psychiatrist. :(

As my final 6 courses I plan on submitting, they will probably be...

English / Chemistry / Biology / Physics / (Whichever math I get a higher grade in) / French (Unless in the math I don't choose I get a higher grade. It's kinda my bird course anyhow).

I need to double check if Waterloo requires both maths or not.

My downfall will be:
a) not studying enough for chemistry. I LOVE chemistry, but damn my teacher makes hard tests...
b) physics... I've never been passionate about physics and wasn't pleased that I'd have to take it again but 'lo and behond, it rears it's complex head into my life. We've only been doing vectors in physics so far, so it's been pretty easy. I'm more nervous about senior physics. aaahhh...

 

[Eraddd]

I do play for the soccer team and I'm attempting to get into mission work/ community service with my school. Academic Team as well, so I guess I might be on the right track? Thanks for the reply.

Try to demonstrate leadership and initiative. Try starting a club (not just for a president or top spot but because you like it, with the interest shared by others).

Sports is covered. Is your soccer team really competitive?

Recommendations. Get to know your teachers, and hope they don't retire right when you need them or switch schools (4 of my prospective teachers for recommendations who I was really really on good terms with retired or left when senior year started for me).

 

[tennisace]

I do play for the soccer team and I'm attempting to get into mission work/ community service with my school. Academic Team as well, so I guess I might be on the right track? Thanks for the reply.

Well then yep, you're on the right track lol.

Also, being a Rhode Islander, and having gone to Brown's summer program:

Nice Slice has the best pizza on campus, hands down. I'm definitely applying there, but I decided not to apply ED since I'd like to keep my options open. However Brown accepts pretty much all Rhode Island Valedictorians/Salutatorians so I have an extremely good chance of getting in. It is an absolutely beautiful campus (as long as you don't fall into the Providence River...)

 

[Ryo]

I applied to Georgia Tech and plan on going there next year. Shouldn't have a problem getting in.

 

[Lord Blood]

Algebra 1: A (Above 96)
Biology: A (Above 94)
English: A/B (Around 86/88 I think)
World History: A/B (86.34 right now, but could go up to A if I do good on an essay and test we're having this week)
Robotics 1: A/B (No Idea, but a waste of 45 minutes, yet an easy way to get college credits)
Spanish 2: C (70ish, but it'll probably go up to 71/73 since I got a B+ on a 45 point quiz)
Freshman Seminar: A/B (What a waste of 45 minutes, but an easy way to get credits)
P.E.: A/B (No Idea)

 

[Blln]

Sent my Brown early decision online app 10 minutes ago :x

came SO close to EDing Columbia because I have legacy buuuuuuuuuuut I've lived in NYC for my entire life and I think it's important to try something else for once.

tennissace, were you at the summer@brown program 2009?

 

[cantab]

A bit late to the party, but I missed results day :(
Anyway, I finished my GCSEs this summer, and now have my results. To be honest, I was pleasantly surprised :)
(insert crapton of A*s here)

Those are some crazy high grades! More A*s than I got!

Now I have my BA and MSci in Natural Sciences from Cambridge. I suggest you do the same. Cambridge rocks.

 

[icepick]

came SO close to EDing Columbia because I have legacy buuuuuuuuuuut I've lived in NYC for my entire life and I think it's important to try something else for once.

Lol, that's one of the main reasons I'm EDing to Columbia

 

[tennisace]

tennisace, were you at the summer@brown program 2009?

Nah, '08. Last summer I did classes at Providence College. You'll definitely love it there, that area of Providence is basically the "hub" of the city, plus you're only a half hour or so from the beaches once it gets warmer.

 

[Fabbles]

I'll be visiting Brown and Boston College the second weekend in November. Apparently my mom was able to book us a stay at a dorm/hotel on the campus of Brown so that should work out pretty well. Brown is my number 1 choice but: I can't apply ED because you never know exactly how much money I would get from financial aid and my parents wanted me to keep my other options for early applying. I'm class rank 3, but my SATs are a little lackluster (hopefully that changes this Thursday).

Does anyone know, tennisace possibly, if I still have a decent shot at getting in on regular decision? I don't know how strict Brown is with applications... like I know University of Maryland College Park accepts 95% of all their applicants from the early decision pool. Hopefully it is not the same for Brown...

Likewise, can anyone from Providence/Boston give me some really good tourist spots / restaurants? It would be very helpful. If this is too off topic then hopefully someone can PM me.

For the sake of staying on topic, I just applied on Friday to Boston College, University of Notre Dame, Villanova University, Loyola University in Maryland, and St. Joseph's University (PA). The other schools I am applying to are: Brown University, Dartmouth College, Mount Saint Mary's, University of Delaware, College of the Holy Cross, and Xavier University. I probably would have only applied to half but my parents forced me to apply to a lot of the other schools such as Xavier.

These SATs will probably make or break my feeling for senior year, sadly. I'll update Thursday.

 

[Ghost [old]]

Hey, I'm about to be out of home school very soon and going off to college, was curious if anyone had any difficulties getting into the college they wanted?

 

[Tenzuku]

My Last grades:
Biology: B+ 87 pretty easy, but mostly just paying attention.
History: B- 82-83 It's pretty fun class I don't do alot of things there.
P/E: A+ 96 Short and simple my favorite class.
Language arts: B- 80 Mostly boring essays and reading 50 pages a day.
Sports lit: B 84 It's just about reading sports articles, decently fun class.
Algebra: B- 81 I hate math, even though I'm good at it. It's ok.
Drivers Ed: I don't even remember my grade in this class, but I find this class so useless, I can learn how to drive just learning from my parents.

My grades were decent mostly B's.