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Mr. J

Mr. J

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Who here is in college? I'm in my last year in high school and am looking at colleges. My top choices have been: St. John's, Syracuse, and UConn. I've been thinking about California and UCLA also. I've also been thinking about Brown since my brother went there. I've been thinking about Columbia a little bit but it's kind of too close to home. I kinda want the "college experience" and I won't living like 5 blocks away.
 
If you want to play basketball go to UConn. Syracuse is close to where you live right? UCLA and Califronia are a couple of hours aways from me, but I'm a freshman so I don't know too much about them. If I had to pick one of those colleges it would be UCLA or UConn. Maybe even California.
 
Well, I'm not good enough to play ball at a ranked D1 college basketball team. I'm going to college for the education.
 
What are you going into? That's what should affect your choice in the end.
 
Well, there's a huge gap academically between St. John's/Cuse/UConn and UCLA/Berkeley, and seeing how those are both state schools, they're almost impossible for out-of-state applicants to get into. If you're planning on going there, you might as well try your hand at some Ivy's.

Anyway, I'm at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor. I applied to tons of schools (grandparents put up the app. $), and was accepted at Colgate, Dartmouth, North Carolina, Northwestern, Penn, Vanderbilt, Wash. U in STL, and Wisconsin, as well as a bunch of safeties, and the only school which rejected me was Notre Dame - their loss - those elitist bastards.

If you have any questions about college or the admissions process, MrJ, hit me up at Quixoticelixer07. I know a lot about the process having just gone through it about a year ago.
 
Put it this way: 44Thrilla often holds it down on or near the Brown campus.

That should make your decision a little easier.
 
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Voodoo Child:</div><div class="quote_post">Well, there's a huge gap academically between St. John's/Cuse/UConn and UCLA/Berkeley, and seeing how those are both state schools, they're almost impossible for out-of-state applicants to get into. If you're planning on going there, you might as well try your hand at some Ivy's.

Anyway, I'm at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor. I applied to tons of schools (grandparents put up the app. $), and was accepted at Colgate, Dartmouth, North Carolina, Northwestern, Penn, Vanderbilt, Wash. U in STL, and Wisconsin, as well as a bunch of safeties, and the only school which rejected me was Notre Dame - their loss - those elitist bastards.

If you have any questions about college or the admissions process, MrJ, hit me up at Quixoticelixer07. I know a lot about the process having just gone through it about a year ago.</div>
No doubt VC, thanks for the help.

<div class="quote_poster">Quoting 44Thrilla:</div><div class="quote_post">Put it this way: 44Thrilla often holds it down on or near the Brown campus.

That should make your decision a little easier.</div>
Yeah, I've heard about that dude 44.
 
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">
Who here is in college? I'm in my last year in high school and am looking at colleges. My top choices have been: St. John's, Syracuse, and UConn. I've been thinking about California and UCLA also. I've also been thinking about Brown since my brother went there. I've been thinking about Columbia a little bit but it's kind of too close to home. I kinda want the "college experience" and I won't living like 5 blocks away.</div>
Berkeley, Columbia, and Brown are great schools, academically they're supposedly much better than St. Johns, Syracuse, and UConn, so if you're looking for the education, those three are probably where you want to go. Personally, I'm still waiting for my SAT score before really thinking about which to apply to, but at this point, some choices are Penn, Berkeley, UCLA, Columbia, and NYU.

Damn VC, did you have insane grades in high school or something? Alot of those colleges you listed are top notch.
 
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting AznxBaller:</div><div class="quote_post">Berkeley, Columbia, and Brown are great schools, academically they're supposedly much better than St. Johns, Syracuse, and UConn, so if you're looking for the education, those three are probably where you want to go. Personally, I'm still waiting for my SAT score before really thinking about which to apply to, but at this point, some choices are Penn, Berkeley, UCLA, Columbia, and NYU.

Damn VC, did you have insane grades in high school or something? Alot of those colleges you listed are top notch.</div>
Yeah I know, but if I get into St. John's, I go in for free. Syrcause and UConn were two schools I had my eyes on for a little while. I've always liked Columbia and living around the area my whole life it's kinda like home for me.
 
Good luck getting into Cal, that school is absurdly hard to get into. Here's some stats on the average freshman class of last year: http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/admi...ofiles_ucb.html
Average GPA coming out of high school: 4.17, which probably isn't as hard as it sounds since I got a 3.78 last semester and I'm nothing special but you've also got to be involved in a ton of extracurricular activities, be president of a school or important clubs, etc. Not to mention that their acceptance rate is 23% and 88% of students accepted are from California. If you can get in though you should really consider it (unless you dont like left wing extremists, then go to Stanford).

Of course getting into St. John's for free is pretty awesome especially if your family can't afford college or you have to pay for all or most of it after you get out (like me
no.gif
).

If you want to go to a very good academic school there are a ton of colleges that you or I have probably never heard about that are very good academically but get no exposure. You just have to look for them or ask someone who would know (teacher, counselor, etc.). You don't have to go to an Ivy League School or a Cal/Stanford to get a top notch education, there's alot of VERY good schools out there.
 
Hey what do you guys think about about colleges like UC Irvine and Cal State San Marcos? I'm just being reasonable here, considering all the stuff you have to do to get into schools like UCLA, I doubt I will be able to make it. My most reasonable goal is probably UC Irvine. Can someone tell me if this is a good college to be aiming for?
 
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">If you can get in though you should really consider it (unless you dont like left wing extremists, then go to Stanford).
</div>
Ooh, yeah, I'm really thinking hard about going to Stanford. Just wondering BJM, would you happen to know if they're as hard to get into as UCLA?
 
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Voodoo Child:</div><div class="quote_post">Well, there's a huge gap academically between St. John's/Cuse/UConn and UCLA/Berkeley, and seeing how those are both state schools, they're almost impossible for out-of-state applicants to get into. If you're planning on going there, you might as well try your hand at some Ivy's.

Anyway, I'm at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor. I applied to tons of schools (grandparents put up the app. $), and was accepted at Colgate, Dartmouth, North Carolina, Northwestern, Penn, Vanderbilt, Wash. U in STL, and Wisconsin, as well as a bunch of safeties, and the only school which rejected me was Notre Dame - their loss - those elitist bastards.

If you have any questions about college or the admissions process, MrJ, hit me up at Quixoticelixer07. I know a lot about the process having just gone through it about a year ago.</div>

Woah man! you applied to a lot of colleges. I am gonna be a senior this year, and am only applied to the U of M lol. Hopefully i'll be accepted within the next few weeks. I dont really want to go anywhere else, since chicago didnt have a great college vibe as a city, and i love minneapolis. I havent been to enough places to just want to go to college in cali or anything, plus its hella expensive. I already have my backup school too since i am taking classes at a community college already for FREE!!!. I suggest any of you younger kids to do this, i am gonna have a whole year of college free.
 
Since I'm lost on all the American colleges/Universities, I thought I'd open a topic regarding Canadian schools in this same thread.

To any Canadians on this board, what schools do you go to/are planning to go to?

I'm actually aiming for York or perhaps Ryerson, but it depends what path I want to go. I'm not sure what to take as an undergraduate before applying to law school, and that is my biggest problem. However, York offers things like Psychology, Social & Political Thought, Creative Writing, and Professional Writing as undergraduates, so I might venture into one of those. However, to any one going into law in this thread...would you reccomend taking a law course as an undergraduate? Cause York offers a "Law & Society" course as well with an undergraduate, and it transfers to a bachelors in Law (which you can obtain through Law school). However, I'm not sure because I have been told that I am quite a good writer and writing should definetly be one of my priorities...but I'm really not sure.
 
All I got to say is getting into an out of state college will cost you more money, and its probably harder to get accepted as well.
 
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Junoon:</div><div class="quote_post">Since I'm lost on all the American colleges/Universities, I thought I'd open a topic regarding Canadian schools in this same thread.

To any Canadians on this board, what schools do you go to/are planning to go to?

I'm actually aiming for York or perhaps Ryerson, but it depends what path I want to go. I'm not sure what to take as an undergraduate before applying to law school, and that is my biggest problem. However, York offers things like Psychology, Social & Political Thought, Creative Writing, and Professional Writing as undergraduates, so I might venture into one of those. However, to any one going into law in this thread...would you reccomend taking a law course as an undergraduate? Cause York offers a "Law & Society" course as well with an undergraduate, and it transfers to a bachelors in Law (which you can obtain through Law school). However, I'm not sure because I have been told that I am quite a good writer and writing should definetly be one of my priorities...but I'm really not sure.</div>
Yea, I'm in the 2nd year of what you're planning to do. I'm finishing a bachelor's degree (majoring in Political Science, minoring in Philosophy/Religion) before I take the LSAT and apply for law school. Honestly, you gotta take what you're interested in and what you think you can do best in. From the people I've talked to, law schools want high marks (more concerned with GPA than what courses you take), but they balance it out pretty evenly with LSAT scores and extra-curricular activities (community service, job experiece, etc.). I'm not sure how the system works in York, etc., but in UofT you choose what you're majoring in, in your 2nd year. I suggest just taking a wide variety of courses and just getting a feel for what you're good at/enjoy more, because the subjects are completely different in uni than they were in high school (eg: coming out of HS, I thought I might do an English degree, but now I hope I never have to take another English course again.).

On another note, I have a cousin from BC that made it into Berkeley, and she said it's a bitch to make it in there.
 
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting AznxBaller:</div><div class="quote_post">Ooh, yeah, I'm really thinking hard about going to Stanford. Just wondering BJM, would you happen to know if they're as hard to get into as UCLA?</div>
I really don't know to be honest. I would actually assume Stanford is harder to get into, its probably a smaller school and I think (not sure though) it's better academically than UCLA. I know a bit more about Cal because I know more people who applied there and I've heard alot of stories from teachers at my high school of kids who went to Cal and how hard it is to get in.

As my English teacher says about once a week if you or your parents have dreamt of you going to Stanford, Cal, Princeton, Yale, etc. you can forget it now because chances of getting in there are very slim. Schools like those are literally the best and brightest of the U.S. as well as alot of the smartest in the world, unless you're that good just forget about it now. You can still apply there since the standard system of applying to colleges is to apply to 1 or 2 colleges that are probably out of your league, then 3-4 that you can realistically get into then a "safetie school" if everything goes wrong and you don't get accepted to any of those other colleges.

Like I said my GPA (weighted) is a 3.8 and I accept the fact that I have no chance of getting into Cal, Stanford, etc. Not saying I'm smarter than you or anything but it's like the chances of you or I getting into the NBA.

Oh and by the way it lessens your chances even more that you're not from California and probably that you're asian (I assume based on your name) because, believe it or not, they are the maority in alot of palces around here (especially in colleges).
 
if ur grades are good enough to get you into columbia you should go, i plan on going to rutgers adn getting a perfect grade in pre-med then go to colombia medical school (i live like a hour away from rutgers i think ima stay home though)
 
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">
Yea, I'm in the 2nd year of what you're planning to do. I'm finishing a bachelor's degree (majoring in Political Science, minoring in Philosophy/Religion) before I take the LSAT and apply for law school.
</div>

How well are you doing so far, if you don't mind me asking? Apperently, you have to have an average of 85 or so to even consider applying at Law school (I don't know what the GPA translation to that is exactly). As far as the majoring/minoring thing, in UofT, you have to drop your minor studies in the 2nd year and just pick one thing to major in? Sorry, I'm full of questions about Universities and stuff, as I'm still unsure about a lot of aspects and also cause I'm quite anxious about my life out of high school.
 
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">
Like I said my GPA (weighted) is a 3.8 and I accept the fact that I have no chance of getting into Cal, Stanford, etc. Not saying I'm smarter than you or anything but it's like the chances of you or I getting into the NBA.</div>
At this point, my GPA (weighted) is around the 3.8 to 3.9 range (
bigcry.gif
) but I'm taking a bunch of AP and honors courses as well as doing a bunch of extracurriculars like cross country, track, volunteering, etc. But yeah, I agree with you though, its definitely a long shot getting into a California college whether its UCLA, Berkley, or Stanford. Really don't know though, since a lot of the colleges I want to go to that are on the east coast are also fairly hard to get into like Penn, NYU, and Columbia.
 
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Damn VC, did you have insane grades in high school or something? Alot of those colleges you listed are top notch.</div>

Actually, my grades weren't that high. I was in the top 10% of my graduating class, but that was just by a slim margin. Infact, I even have arrests and an expulsion on my record. My standardized test scores were pretty insane though (for the record, I'm going to keep them private so people don't start comparing their situation with my own), and I think that gave me the edge. When you score in a school's 99% range, they have a hard time nitpicking about whatever holes your application has.

I always assumed Notre Dame was the only one that didn't accept me because of their strict moral values and whatnot, but I had a poor disciplinary record, which is a damn shame, because that was my dream school since I was a little kid.

<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Woah man! you applied to a lot of colleges. I am gonna be a senior this year, and am only applied to the U of M lol. </div>

Yeah, and there were even more safety schools I applied to - Ferris State (MI), Florida, Michigan State, Saint Louis, Tennessee, and Texas.

Like I said though, my grandparents put up the application money, otherwise I probably would have cut my list down to two or three schools. Applications are something like $80 these days.

<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Ooh, yeah, I'm really thinking hard about going to Stanford. Just wondering BJM, would you happen to know if they're as hard to get into as UCLA?</div>

Let me put it this way: I got accepted into a few Ivy League schools, yet I would never even think about wasting my application money trying to get into Stanford; it's that hard to get into. In fact, according to the 2007 edition of U.S. News & World Report's <u>America's Best Colleges</u> (a must-buy for any aspiring college student), they rank Stanford as the fourth hardest college in America to get into, with a 12% acceptance rate. The only schools which are harder to get into are Harvard, Yale, and Princeton (in that order).

Here are some statistics on California colleges which migh help your decision making process -

(# = rank on U.S. News & World Report's '07 Best National Universities list)
(% = percentage of incoming freshmen in the top 10% of their graduating class)
(%acc = percentage of freshmen accepted out of those who applied)
(SAT = average SAT score of incoming freshmen based on a 1600 scale)

#4 (tie) Stanford - 89%, 12%acc, 1360-1550
#4 (tie) Cal-Tech - 94%, 20%acc, 1470-1580
#21 Cal-Berkeley - 99%, 27%acc, 1220-1450 (#1 public school in America)
#26 UCLA - 97%, 27%acc, 1170-1410 (#4 public school in America)
#27 Southern Cal. - 85%, 27%acc, 1270-1440
#38 UC-San Diego - 99%, 44%acc, 1150-1370 (#8 public school in America)
#44 UC-Irvine - 98%, 60%acc, 1110-1300 (#12 public school in America)
#47 (tie) UC-Davis - 95%, 61%acc, 1060-1300 (#13 public school in America)
#47 (tie) UC-Santa Barbara - 96%, 53%acc, 1090-1320 (#13 public school in America)
#54 Pepperdine - 43%, 28%acc, 1120-1330
#76 UC-Santa Cruz - 96%, 75%acc, 1050-1270 (#33 public school in America)
#88 UC-Riverside - 94%, 76%acc, 950-1200 (#39 public school in America)
#98 Pacific - 43%, 53%acc, 1080-1300
 
VC, where is the U of M on that list? I know it is one of the biggest Universities in the country, and one of my buddies last year applied pretty early, but got assigned a dorm in St. Paul. Thats why i applied so quickly. I know it's not THAT hard to get into, but i am just curious
 
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Brian:</div><div class="quote_post">Hey RunBJM. You think UC Irvine is a good college to aim for?</div>

Any UC is good
wink.gif
You should go to Chico St. man, I could get into Chico St. for free because I live in their district
thumbup.gif


One other question, which school would be good to go to for being a scout VC? Like for the Major, I forget what it's called, but it has to do with the body
dunno.gif
 
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting TheFreshPrince:</div><div class="quote_post">VC, where is the U of M on that list? I know it is one of the biggest Universities in the country, and one of my buddies last year applied pretty early, but got assigned a dorm in St. Paul. Thats why i applied so quickly. I know it's not THAT hard to get into, but i am just curious</div>

THE U of M = Michigan
the immitation U of M = Minnesota

Alright, now that we've cleared that up...
wink.gif


In all seriousness, U. of Minnesota-Twin Cities is #67 on the list and has a 71% acceptance rate. For an in-state student, it shouldn't be that hard to get into. In fact, their average ACT is only 23-28. It's not a bad school by a longshot though. It's better than other Big 10 schools like Indiana and Michigan State, and any school ranked in the top 75 or so on this list is generally a very respectable college, so if you can get into U. of Minnesota-Twin Cities and want to stay close to home, it wouldn't be a bad decision at all.
 
Voodoo just curious about a couple schools primarily Temple and Villanova? What is the acceptance rating for those schools?
 
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Voodoo Child:</div><div class="quote_post">THE U of M = Michigan
the immitation U of M = Minnesota

Alright, now that we've cleared that up...
wink.gif


In all seriousness, U. of Minnesota-Twin Cities is #67 on the list and has a 71% acceptance rate. For an in-state student, it shouldn't be that hard to get into. In fact, their average ACT is only 23-28. It's not a bad school by a longshot though. It's better than other Big 10 schools like Indiana and Michigan State, and any school ranked in the top 75 or so on this list is generally a very respectable college, so if you can get into U. of Minnesota-Twin Cities and want to stay close to home, I wouldn't knock your decision at all.</div>

thats what i was thinking about the rate. I cant wait, hopefully i can transfer to a different school after a few years though, jsut for a new experience. Anyone done this, and can give me some advice?
 
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Junoon:</div><div class="quote_post">How well are you doing so far, if you don't mind me asking? Apperently, you have to have an average of 85 or so to even consider applying at Law school (I don't know what the GPA translation to that is exactly). As far as the majoring/minoring thing, in UofT, you have to drop your minor studies in the 2nd year and just pick one thing to major in? Sorry, I'm full of questions about Universities and stuff, as I'm still unsure about a lot of aspects and also cause I'm quite anxious about my life out of high school.</div>
I had a mediocre first year. Better than a lot, but not as good as I probably could have. I think it was 3.4 GPA (high 70's? I can't remember). But yea, it's not as much about how you did in high school as it is how you do in university. I cruised through my last year of HS, with an 83 average I think, and I had no problem getting into universities. 85 % is basically a 4.0 (best GPA possible), so, yea, you gotta bust your ass once you get in.

The UofT system works a little different from other, so I've heard. I'll ask a York friend how there's does. Ours is basically you need to specialize your degree in your 2nd year. You can either do a specialist (basically one area of study), 2 majors, or 1 major and 2 minors. I chose 1 major and 2 minors because the more specialized you get, the more mandatory courses you'll probably have. Plus I forgot about signing up for them until the last couple weeks, so my options were a little limited.

Also, the one piece of advice that I can honestly give you for your first year of uni, is to never, ever, ever fall behind on your readings. It's a killer for a humanities student, because it's ridiculously hard to catch up with so many books for each class. And essays come in bunches, so start once you get them. Probably a little premature for you, but those are lessons from a chronic procrastinator.
 
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting AznxBaller:</div><div class="quote_post">At this point, my GPA (weighted) is around the 3.8 to 3.9 range (
bigcry.gif
) but I'm taking a bunch of AP and honors courses as well as doing a bunch of extracurriculars like cross country, track, volunteering, etc. But yeah, I agree with you though, its definitely a long shot getting into a California college whether its UCLA, Berkley, or Stanford. Really don't know though, since a lot of the colleges I want to go to that are on the east coast are also fairly hard to get into like Penn, NYU, and Columbia.</div>
That's a pretty good mix of good grades, with honors classes, and doing sports and other extracurriclular stuff. You should be able to get into a very nice college but some of the top big name colleges are absurdly difficult to get into, you still might be able to get in though but your chances are significantly higher if you apply to a top notch college in your state.

I'm in a similar boat to you though, I've got a 3.2 GPA, 3.8 weighted (which is what colleges look at) but I'm only just starting my junior year of high school. I'm in an AP class and 2 other honors classes, in a few clubs, but no sports teams etc. so that doesnt really help me. I did VERY well on the PSAT last year (seems like alot of the really smart people think too much on those tests and screw themselves up with the pressure to be perfect) and I'm in a class with alot of the smartest kids from several schools to help prepare for the SAT so that's a good sign because I've heard some colleges weigh it heavily into choosing their students.

I also read the article Voodoo Child mentioned and I can't remember if it was in that magazine or another that was saying that the ACT test is as important to alot of colleges as the SAT. This is because last year they changed the SAT and it's now extremely long and tiresome and they had the largest drop in average SAT scores from one year to another last year. So you should definitely take the SAT, probably twice but also take the ACT because alot of colleges think it is as good or better than the SAT and even if a particular college doesnt take it heavily into account it can't hurt to have on your college application.

<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Hey RunBJM. You think UC Irvine is a good college to aim for?</div>
I don't know much about that particular college, though once I really get started applying for colleges that will be one that I'll definitely apply to. VC posted some very helpful stats that you can compare with the other colleges he listed. Obviously it depends how well you did in school as well as how well you did on the SAT and how much extracurricular stuff you did (this really is important). Here is a Freshman Admission Profile for UC Irvine to give you an idea of what you'll need to set your goals at to get in, on the right of that page you can see the profiles for other UCs as well and the whole site has alot of info about UC colleges.
 
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Best Kept Secret:</div><div class="quote_post">Voodoo just curious about a couple schools primarily Temple and Villanova? What is the acceptance rating for those schools?</div>

Temple -

<ul>
[*]Third Tier (Schools ranked 127 through 182 are listed in no specific order but are classified as "Third Tier")
[*]Average SAT - 1000-1200
[*]Freshmen in Top 10% of HS Class - 19%
[*]Acceptance Rate - 63%
[/list]

Villanova -

<ul>
[*]#1 Universities-Master's (A special category given to universities with few, if any, doctoral programs)*
[*]Average SAT - 1180-1350
[*]Freshmen in Top 10% of HS Class - 83%
[*]Acceptance Rate - 51%
[/list]

* I know that Nova's ranking may be confusing, because they had to be lumped into a special category as a result of their lack of doctoral programs, but to give you a feel of how they compare to the schools listed on the Best National Universities list, here's how their peer assessment score (out of 5.0) stacks up with some of the other schools on that list -

<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">#1 - Princeon - 4.9
#2 - Harvard - 4.9
#3 - Yale - 4.9
.......
Villanova - 4.3
.......
#12 - Wash. U in STL - 4.1
#18 - Emory - 4.0
#20 - Notre Dame - 3.9
.......
#44 - Tulane - 3.4
#44 - Pepperdine - 3.1</div>
 
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