Re: colleges


Subject: Re: colleges
From: Robbie (shok@netcom.com)
Date: Fri Jan 14 2000 - 19:47:06 EST


Jimmy Jimereeno said:
<< I'm a parent and work in the Financial Aid Office of my college. I'm
also a graduate student.

I'd say your daughter has good goals and should be encouraged to pursue
them. But you need to tell her what she needs to do in order to get
there. I'm reviewing admissions folders for incoming Freshmen right
now, and let me tell ya...she will need to have certain things together:

Good GPA. Over 3.5. Strong SAT scores. Shoot for over 650 on the
verbal and math. Over 700 would be best. She also needs to be involved
and in leadership, if possible. Summer employment doesn't mean anything
in my college. And she needs to be able to write an intelligent
essay...no grammatical errors, clearly written, strong thesis, some
demonstration of depth of thought. She needs to be self motivated,
positive, hard working... >>

I guess you're a pretty good source for information regarding college
admissions then, aren't you?

Can you answer a question?

I have a good GPA. I think in the 3.5-3.6 range. I have two or three
C's from my sophomore year working against me there. My SAT scores are
strong. 800 verbal, 610 math (SAT II, Writing/Literature/Math IC =
710/710/560). I have never been involved in leadership. I have done
volunteer work for a local art gallery for the past year and a half. I
like to think my essay(s) is/are good; I've only had positive feedback
from teachers and others that have read them. But in regards to
extracurriculars, I worry that my application is skimpy. I am co-pres.
and co-founder of a Go Club (ancient Asian game of strategy) as well as
vice pres. and co-founder of a Chess Club, but they are both only my
senior year. I'm also in Mock Trial, again, only senior year. The only
thing that started before my senior year is my participation
(columnist/volunteer staff) with "Mr.Ridiculous," a web ezine (mostly
social/political) but that only started late in my junior year and I
wasn't heavily involved until the summer prior to my senior year. My
biggest concern is that, prior to my senior year, I have pretty good
grades but nothing else. And not even extraordinary grades, just pretty
good.

I'm not familiar with Drew or how selective it is, but, from your
experience, how do you think my application would look? I've been told
that my SAT scores (verbal, particularly) will impress the admissions
folk, but I'm not terribly convinced. What do you think?

(my top three schools, in order, are Saint John's, Reed, and Oberlin, in
case that helps.)

thanks,

-robbie

-- 
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
|+-+-+-+-+-+-+-sanity is relative+-+-+-+-+-+-+|
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
-
* Unsubscribing? Mail majordomo@roughdraft.org with the message
* UNSUBSCRIBE BANANAFISH



This archive was generated by hypermail 2b25 : Mon Feb 28 2000 - 08:38:05 EST