What are some of the things that may happen other than having someone sniffling every other second?

1.     Your test center did not prepare enough seats for every test taker, and moves you around from classroom to classroom

2.     No air conditioning

3.     The guy sitting in front of you farts, repeatedly. You might want to bring a medical facemask

4.     The annoying student behind who would read out every single question, especially when they’re taking a different subject test... and the proctor never notices

5.     Your proctor gets arrested in the middle of the test – you’ll have to retake the test again

6.     The person next to you vomits

7.     You have a tiny desk that barely fits the question booklet. You might end up putting the answer sheet over the test book and have to look at the questions one at a time

8.     The dog/ cat/ zebra you have had since you were born dies the morning of your test

9.     Sitting behind heavy smokers, who keep tossing their tobacco-ordered hair in front of you – probably wouldn’t be a problem if you were a smoker too

10. Not going to the bathroom before the test and peeing your pants during your test. Consider wearing darker-colored pants if this might happen to you

Comments (1)     

The simple answer is, as early as possible. It’s never too early to start. First, you should start planning in your junior year. In your junior year, we suggest that you cultivate connections with your teachers and admission advisors, so that you will know from whom to ask for recommendation letters. You will be surprised how many of your classmates will find it awkward to ask for recommendation letters from teachers who don’t know them well enough.

Also, you should also start your college research early. Ask for historical data from your high school to see where previous students with your grades were admitted. Ideally, you should be able to look for some trends from the data, for example, which colleges admit more students from your high school. Maybe you could aim at those colleges to increase your chance.

You could also reschedule your extracurricular activities. Have a look at the activities that you have right now, and see if there is any way you can get into leadership positions in those organizations. You might also want to consider activities that you never tried before. The experience that you get might give you inspirations to write your personal statement.

Next, let’s look at the few important deadlines in your senior year:

For most colleges, the application deadline for regular admissions is Jan 1.

The early decision/ early action deadline is usually Nov 1.

SAT is offered in October, November, December, January, March (or April), May, and June.

Remember, colleges will usually require you to take the SAT and two SAT subject tests. You should plan ahead and take the SAT as early as you think you are ready for it. In case your first test score is less that what you expected, you would have chances to retake.

Finally, don’t forget that other than your SATs, you will also need to submit your high school GPA. It is also an important component of you application, so work hard at school!

Comments (0)     

Most essays do little or nothing for the applicant, 5% hurt the applicant, and another 5% help the applicant. The personal statement (and any other essays) is the only part of the application that is “under your control”. It adds a personal touch to the whole application process. 

Remember, the personal statement is a chance for you to write about yourself. Don’t just write something that is general; write about something that makes you an interesting individual. Present your own views and perspectives on things; in a successful personal statement, you should write about things that cannot be found in another part of the application. For example, instead of writing about how many different sports you play (which is already included somewhere else on the application form), you can write about a specific conversation with your grandpa that inspired you, or the background in which you grew up that shaped you the way you are. Be creative.

Bottom line is, don’t ask an adult to write for you. Admission officers CAN tell whether an essay was written by an adult; they’ve read literally thousands of essays. That said, you could ask someone else to proofread for you. My suggestion is to first ask someone whom you know well to proofread once, to see if the essay sounds like the real you. Then, you can ask someone who doesn't know you well to read it, to comment on how the essay presents you to an unfamiliar person.

Comments (0)     

I am currently a junior at a large public school and would like to know how people perceive a big increase in grades. During my sophomore year, I had a 3.2 GPA, a decent GPA but not one that would make the cut for top schools. Last semester, I finished with a GPA of 3.7 while taking more advanced classes. I plan on doing even better this semester but I am worried that my low sophomore grades will still affect my cumulative GPA. So my question is: How much do college acknowledge the fact that I improved significantly? Would they be able to look past my low cumulative GPA?

Answer:

First off, an increase in GPA is always good, especially when you took more advanced classes at the same time. It shows that you are capable of doing well and excelling in class, and can handle more advanced coursework in college. That be said, this semester is very critical for you. To prove that your previous semester was no fluke, you have to do just as good this semester, if not better. Anyone can pull off a "A" semester, but those who can do it year in and year out are the ones that get into top colleges. Think about the those big name players who signed multiyear 100-plus million dollar contracts. Kobe Bryant, A-Rod, Albert Pujols etc. They were all awarded for being consistently great. There are many players that have put up numbers just as good as them for a particular year but not being able to repeat their success the following year, and they get paid much less.

Colleges want to see consistency in your grades, so they know what to expect when you're in college. So if you pull of another 3.7 or better GPA  this semester as well in your senior year. They would pretty much ignore your sophomore grades and see you as a 3.7 student rather than a 3.4 cumulative GPA student. But if you regress back to your sophomore grades, then will certainly see your 3.7 GPA as a fluke and would not give you any benefit of doubt. Work hard this semester, it will definitely be worth it.

Comments (0)     

If you ask this question to your high school counselor or the admissions committee, 99.9% of the time they would say it's better to have a high GPA while taking rigorous classes. Well, DUH! This is assuming that we're in a perfect world.

Geniuses aside, almost every student is going to take a hit in their GPA if they take tough classes. If I could choose between 4.0-Easy and 3.0-Hard. I will take 4.0-Easy any day. Why? When the admissions committee see the "3.0" on the transcript,  they will for sure throw it in the "rejection" pile without ever even going over the details of the courses. This is especially true for job applications. Firms require you put your GPA on your resume, and even request college transcripts from you. They say the same things such as "we not only look for good grades, but also want to see you taking challenging courses" that kind of crap. But at the of the day, all they look for is that magic 4.0. I've seen college students take ridiculously easy classes like "Introduction to Mathematics" just to secure an A. And they land interviews from the most prestigious and selective firms, and subsequently got offers, making 100K straight out of college. I'm not saying the same would apply to college admissions, but there's certainly some truth in that. A 4.0 application looks impressive no matter how you look at it, and certainly wont be thrown straight to rejection pile.

This is how I see it, find an "optimal" combination of GPA and course load. Set a "minimum" GPA for yourself, say 3.7. Then take as many as tough classes as you can without getting lower than a 3.7. That way, you'll have a good mix of tough courses on your transcript. With that, you'll have the benefit of doubt for taking some easy classes. To reiterate, never ever take tough course at the expense of a low GPA. It's almost never worth it.

Comments (0)