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LucasKim11

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Mar 28, 2021
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(I’m currently a junior in PA-03 which isn’t a competitive district at all. Always had an interest in serving and the tuition being free has no factor on why I want to attend)
I got a 1250 SAT (Haven't taken ACT and it's my first try) I have a 3.6 gpa (I slacked off freshmen and sophmore year, but this year I've gotten almost straight A's except english which was a B+ every quarter so far) at a super competitve private school, I'm 18/50 people in my grade, with the top 10 in our grade looking at ivy's and would be valedictorians at any other school. Since it's competitve we don't offer AP/Honors but every class is to that level. I'm a 2x captain on baseball and got a varsity letter every year I've played since freshmen year, I'm a 1x captain soon to be 2x captain on soccer and got a varsity letter every year I've played since freshmen year. I played swimming for 1 year until I got injured. I plan on doing an internship over the summer with the government. I'm a leader in our schools Asian Student Union club, and I'm planning on running for a Class officer position. I'm also first stand guitar in our orchestra and lead singer for our band. I also volunteer to coach the younger kids on my old travel baseball team
 
Your extracurriculars are def more than up to par assuming you continue them throughout the rest of highschool. I would say the academics though not terrible, may be the deciding factoring between you and your competition. Since your GPA is a bit lower you would have to rely on your SAT/ACT to bring it up which you still have a lot of chances to take and you seem to have a good foundation already with a 1250.
 
LucasKim11 said:
(I’m currently a junior in PA-03 which isn’t a competitive district at all. Always had an interest in serving and the tuition being free has no factor on why I want to attend)
I got a 1250 SAT (Haven't taken ACT and it's my first try) I have a 3.6 gpa (I slacked off freshmen and sophmore year, but this year I've gotten almost straight A's except english which was a B+ every quarter so far) at a super competitve private school, I'm 18/50 people in my grade, with the top 10 in our grade looking at ivy's and would be valedictorians at any other school. Since it's competitve we don't offer AP/Honors but every class is to that level. I'm a 2x captain on baseball and got a varsity letter every year I've played since freshmen year, I'm a 1x captain soon to be 2x captain on soccer and got a varsity letter every year I've played since freshmen year. I played swimming for 1 year until I got injured. I plan on doing an internship over the summer with the government. I'm a leader in our schools Asian Student Union club, and I'm planning on running for a Class officer position. I'm also first stand guitar in our orchestra and lead singer for our band. I also volunteer to coach the younger kids on my old travel baseball team
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Adding on to what @bober1171 mentioned, I would also recommend taking the AP Exams if you believe that the classes are at that level. Since AP Exams are at a standardized level across the nation, that could help show Admissions that your academics are very competitive.
 
bober1171 said:
Your extracurriculars are def more than up to par assuming you continue them throughout the rest of highschool. I would say the academics though not terrible, may be the deciding factoring between you and your competition. Since your GPA is a bit lower you would have to rely on your SAT/ACT to bring it up which you still have a lot of chances to take and you seem to have a good foundation already with a 1250.
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Alright, I’m pretty sure after this year my GPA will rise to a 3.7-3.8 as Junior year I’ve improved a lot.
 
LucasKim11 said:
Also to add, I have a proficiency in Mandarin Chinese, and Korean.
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A big factor though as mentioned above are your GPA/SAT. They account for roughly 60% of the Whole Candidate Score. In addition to focusing on Academics, I would recommend that you take AP Chemistry, AP Physics, and AP Calculus BC, or the equivalent of those at your school.

As for the SAT, I recommend buying SAT Prep Black Book: The Most Effective SAT Strategies Ever Published by Mike Barrett. It is simple and effective.
 
Aviator25 said:
A big factor though as mentioned above are your GPA/SAT. They account for roughly 60% of the Whole Candidate Score. In addition to focusing on Academics, I would recommend that you take AP Chemistry, AP Physics, and AP Calculus BC, or the equivalent of those at your school.

As for the SAT, I recommend buying SAT Prep Black Book: The Most Effective SAT Strategies Ever Published by Mike Barrett. It is simple and effective.
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Definitely, I’m starting to beef up on the SAT, I’m planning on purchasing the black book. I want to get in like the 1380 range. As for AP level classes, I gotta figure out the equal at our school.
 
LucasKim11 said:
Definitely, I’m starting to beef up on the SAT, I’m planning on purchasing the black book. I want to get in like the 1380 range. As for AP level classes, I gotta figure out the equal at our school.
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I would aim higher for the SAT. If you read the entire Black Book and work through all the problems, I would say you should hit 1400-1500.
 
Quality leadership roles or positions (not quantity) and definitely work on test scores. Take both 2 times. To be really competitive you need to have super-scored results in the 94+ percentiles. Shoot for 1350 or higher. Good luck!

In my state, average super-scored percentile for offers over the past 3 years is about 94 each year. Average percentile for Qualified Non-Selects was 90. With wide ranges from 100 down to as low as 73 (recruited athlete). The Qualified pool left in my district all has test scores above the 94%. The QNSd candidates are below that. That should reinforce this thread and tell you how important test scores are in the Whole Candidate Score mix. For your small, fancy school your class standing and GPA will not be that big of a deal. Trending is very important on the grades and course rigor/depth. Agree with trying to take AP tests this spring if not mandatory at your school. If possible, try to take CLEP tests for your language skills to actually proof that out.
 
Aviator25 said:
I would aim higher for the SAT. If you read the entire Black Book and work through all the problems, I would say you should hit 1400-1500.
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Alright sounds good. I really appreciate you telling me about the blackbook I’ll be purchasing it soon.
Army Vet & WPFF said:
Quality leadership roles or positions (not quantity) and definitely work on test scores. Take both 2 times. To be really competitive you need to have super-scored results in the 94+ percentiles. Shoot for 1350 or higher. Good luck!

In my state, average super-scored percentile for offers over the past 3 years is about 94 each year. Average percentile for Qualified Non-Selects was 90. With wide ranges from 100 down to as low as 73 (recruited athlete). The Qualified pool left in my district all has test scores above the 94%. The QNSd candidates are below that. That should reinforce this thread and tell you how important test scores are in the Whole Candidate Score mix. For your small, fancy school your class standing and GPA will not be that big of a deal. Trending is very important on the grades and course rigor/depth. Agree with trying to take AP tests this spring if not mandatory at your school. If possible, try to take CLEP tests for your language skills to actually proof that out.
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Gotcha, thanks for the advice! Yea our school is super small so like ranking isn’t a big deal. What do you mean by trending very important grade wise? Like an upward trend?
 
LucasKim11 said:
Alright sounds good. I really appreciate you telling me about the blackbook I’ll be purchasing it soon.

Gotcha, thanks for the advice! Yea our school is super small so like ranking isn’t a big deal. What do you mean by trending very important grade wise? Like an upward trend?
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yes, upward trends if there were some Bs or Cs in the past as Freshman or Sophomore - but hopefully not more than a couple.
 
Army Vet & WPFF said:
yes, upward trends if there were some Bs or Cs in the past as Freshman or Sophomore - but hopefully not more than a couple.
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I second this. I think a big factor in my application was that I only took and submitted two SAT scores, one was a 1190 on August 2019 and the second was a 1410 on August 2020 and that I had B's dotted here and there freshmen and sophomore year then grinded it all out to straight A's junior and senior year.
 
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