So...SAT scores came back today

[jamesjocky]

lrighty:

Applying to: UC Berkeley, Carnegie Mellon, Illinois - Urbana Champaign, Georgia Tech, Cornell, Stanford
- CS/CE major

Live in NC
Junior

UW: 4.76
W: 4.80

Freshman: All A's (4 Honors)
Sophomore: All A's (5 Honors, 1 AP)
Junior: 2 A's (Both Honors), 6 B's (AP Calc AB/BC, AP Chem, AP Environmental, AP Language and Composition, AP US History)

- basically I'm really worried about this grade drop

Senior: (What I'll be taking) - AP Stats, AP Literature and Comp, Honors and AP Physics, AP Psychology, Honors Spanish V, AP Spanish *AP Computer Science A (online)*

SAT: 2340 (Math 800, CR 780, Writing 760)
Old SAT: 2030 (Math 720, CR 640, Writing 670)

ECs: Key Club
Wrestling Team (School)
Tennis Team (Club)
Young Democrats
Math Club
Spanish Honor Society

Thanks!

 

[Kewlx25]

I was always had around a 2.0-3.0 in school, so I hope you do well.

How I hated highschool. At least college was easy. I had a blast striking up conversations with teachers after class. I hope you enjoy college as much as I did.

 

[Pharaoh24]

I wouldn't worry about the grade drop. Work on maintaining solid grades for your senior year, however, at the tier of schools your applying too there's a shift in focus towards extracurricular since most applicants have solid academics. Your academics are fine just make sure you have your other bases covered too.

 

[mbg11]

Just like getting a job after college, you can get a job almost anywhere with a 3.0 GPA. Unless you want to do sales, then you can have a french literature major for all they care. But if you want to get into the top firms, like J.P. Morgan or Goldman Sachs, or I'm guessing in your case, Google or Oracle, you have to have both EC's and leadership positions, a 3.5 or higher, and go to the right school. Its the same thing with college.

I got into the honors college of one of the top 10 public business schools in the nation, Miami (OH), with a 3.0 GPA, a 1800 SAT, 3 sports athlete and 1 leadership position in Junior Statesmen of America at my boarding school. There were kids at my college who had 60 credit hours from AP when I had 3 (macroeconomics), who graduated Valedictorian when I graduated top 60%, and had 4.5 GPAs compared to my 3. Grades, EC's, and leadership will only take you so far. Unless you get into a top school, your chances at Google or Oracle will become extremely difficult, even with a 4.0 GPA and several EC's. That's why getting into the right college IS the biggest deal of your life.

On the bright side, you can compete with most from private schools and even boarding schools. But how many presidents graduated from your school? How many CEO's? Good luck my friend, you have amazing scores, and If you went to my school, probably could have gone to Harvard, Yale, Columbia, Stanford, with out even trying. But my experience has shown that while you should be a shoe in, I cannot guarantee that you are. Be prepared for disappointment, but know that it is more than likely more than one of these schools will accept you.