Off to take my SATs.
 

Which I didn't study for, but it's like the OGTs I heard...

I didn't study for those, and I ended up getting accelerated in in 3/5 and advanced in the other 2 O:

<~ izzzzzzzzzz smrt.

;D

k bye

Good luck. :D

gudluk

Good Luck*

Why are you a man whore if you can make you're money by getting a decent job?

You said you were smart D:

good luck and don't do an epic fail XD

The SATs are booooring x.x Good luck though! =D I'm sure you'll do fine, I got a 1350.

By Sat, you mean that Scholastic Aptitude Test thing right? It's for 2400 marks right?

Yeah I believe hes talking about those SATs.

o.o I got 1950 on a model test of that. Can you really get into MIT with those tests?

Um yeah o.O I guess. But high SAT scores doesn't automatically mean you get into a nice school. There's also the other stuff, like your GPA, extra-curriculars, etc. My scores were about average, and I'm one of those people who freak out and forget everything before a test ^^;;

Yeah lol I did fine 8D

now I get to wait for stuffs to happen and for me to get a number and I'm required by law not to tell you any of the questions but there was a question and it had LIZ it in and I was liekomg !!!11

I would say a high SAT score is a qualifying factor. After you get into the middle 50% range (25-75% percentile) then it's really about the other factors. I would even say GPA doesn't even matter at that point because usually, all those applicants have very strong GPA and SAT scores. Obviously, they do accept people under the middle 50% but those people often have very high other factors (ie. international science competitions, science/math olympians, published research, etc.)

Lol I'm not aiming for MIT ahaha.

Ohio Wesleyan University for meh. :)

<33

What's GPA? o.o

grade point average.

And that is?

Part-time job? D:

LOL <3 OHIO! Have fun and always use protection!

A: 4 points
B: 3 points
C: 2 points
D: 1 point
E/F: 0 points

I graduated with a 3.1 GPA, so my average grade was a B.

So let say...

Math: B (3 points)
English: A (4 points)
History: C (2 points)
PE: A (4 points)
Other class: B (3 points)
Other class: A (4 points)

Then add it up, divide the number by the number of classes you have, and thats your GPA.

Am I older than Booyah? ~___~ I just realised that LOL

I'm going to say because Booyah and I are the same year... (I think..)

LOLOL.

Thats bitchin.

You smelled what body spray/lotion I use and was like "OMG!!!1!!!1!!1" And now you have seen my name in a question in the SAT test and you were like "omg" Yeah.

lkajsdkljfklsd;jff

Just a one number summary of how you did across all your subjects. The way it's calculated is different for different schools. But generally each individual subjects grades (A, B, C, D, E (if applicable), F - including plus/or minus) are assigned values between 0 and 4. 0 being the word, 4 being the best. The grades can be decimals.
eg: A+=4, A=3.5, B=3.0, C=2.0, D=1.5, E=1.0, F=0.5, U/G=0

So if you've got four subjects and scored 3 points on each, then you add them up (12) and divide them by number of subjects. GPA of 3.

This is looking at it simplistically though - the numbers are completely wrong.

More can be looked up here, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grade_(education)




And good luck with your scores booyah

sigh ive only taken the psat a few times wich are probably nothin comparred to the sat

So how do they do the GPA thing for non-American students?

Depends.

If you're talking about how... say... a university admissions officer looks at international students when choosing whether to accept them or not, they will probably view the application holistically. At the very least, you should have a transcript of the courses you've taken in high school as well as a general idea of the achievement in the course. You might not have a specific letter grade, but there should have been some way to quantify your progress in the class. At this point, they might look more importantly at other factors (other achievements, personal essay, class rank if your school ranks). I'm actually not sure how they do it. I've never thought to ask any of the international students at my school.

There are some American schools that don't calculate GPA either, but admissions officers should usually understand that you've taken so-and-so courses.

Oh. And of course, they'll look at test scores--SAT, ACT (though it's not as popular overseas), AP, IB, and TOEFL, especially if you come from a country where the primary language is not English.

So if I was to write the SAT, they would look at those marks, then they would look at the courses I took in my school, and depending on my score, and how I did in my school, they would decide whether or not to admit me. Is that it?

There's also recommendations and extra curricular activities to consider. If you have good grades, but no extra curricular, you might look like some anti-social nerd who doesn't want to contribute to society.

Also try to be active in at least 1 club or society at school, and try to get at least 3 recommendations.

Umm... In England we have SATs in Year 9 (9th grade over there I think.. dunno) but they've been stopped now =D

It depends on the school you're applying to. Some schools might just look at those factors. I just looked at the criteria for international applicants for my school and its not that different from normal applicants. They require a personal essay as well one teacher evaluation (funny, I remember it being two). They also require a description of the grading system (which is actually a pain to get if your school doesn't have a ready-made one).

A lot of people say that applying to very selective colleges is a very hard to determine if you're not one of the "must-haves." And I think that's partially true. For example, last year, my best friend got into 2 very good schools and rejected from another very good school. No idea why except maybe that third school didn't put as much weight on his "qualities" as the other two.

Colleges always say that they're building a "class" and not necessarily determining it on individual students alone. So (and this is a commonly given example--no idea if it is actually true or not), if the professor in charge of the orchestra says that he has to have a euphonium, and you just happen to be an amazing euphonist, then you might get picked over someone with better scores, etc.

For British people, I know that my schools (and other schools) look at your A-levels.

Again, it's different for different colleges and universities and it's a very convoluted process.

The less selective state schools tend to be a lot more numbers based. They'll say something like, "We'll admit you if you get a 24 on your ACT, a 3.5 GPA, or a 1200 on your SATs." (random numbers). For some of the more selective state schools (UC-Berkeley, UMich, UVA, etc.), I've heard competition has been really intense at those schools so they have a better student pool to select from so their score averages will be higher and they don't/can't necessarily guarantee admission to people who get the minimum score. State schools also heavily favor in-state residents. In-state residents get a cheaper tuition as well as a higher acceptance rate.

/walloftext

so you are saying that i would have abetter chance of getting into a school in califoria if i have lived all my life there than if i applyed to a school in another state???

Only slightly. It's a bit of trouble for them to draw anything from the grades another state gives you. Only the more exclusive schools could really care.

Actually, I think it's partially political as well. State schools are funded by state tax dollars which are taxed to the state's people so.... I think that's the reasoning behind it. They kind of have more a "duty" to enroll their own state's students.

The grading system in the U.S. is... eh, more or less uniform. It has less to do with a state than individual high schools. I mean, even my high school and a high school 30 minutes away did grades differently. My high school didn't do +/- system while other schools did. Also, there's grade inflation and it's really hard to tell which schools have it and which schools don't. That's why emphasis is placed on national exams such as SAT, ACT, and AP.

Okay, my school is a place that trains us to be anti-social nerds without any extra-curricular, no societies. And who do I get the recommendations from?

PS Ralath, thanks for answering all my questions.