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First, I think it's awesome that someone put this together to try to help kids get into better colleges. That's great, and it most likely took a lot of time, an

First, I think it's awesome that someone put this together to try to help kids get into better colleges. That's great, and it most likely took a lot of time, and it seems like a project done entirely out of good will. That's awesome. That said, I had a really strong negative reaction after reading the introduction. I'm a college freshman, although since I spent some time working after highschool it's been about 2 years since I applied to colleges. I was aware of College Confidential but it seemed like a shitty site full of people pretending that they knew more than me about the college process. Lots of comments like "no way you could get in there with those scores." As far as I can tell, here's all you need to do to improve your SAT: take lots of practice tests. And I'm not even sure that's the best way to improve your chances of getting into a selective school. If you ask colleges how to improve your chances of getting in, they'll tell you to become more interesting and well-rounded. I don't buy the theory that colleges lie about this out of some ulterior motive – I just don't see the incentive. I ended up getting extremely lucky and got into a great school, but the only thing I can think of that would have made me "stand out" in an applications process is being relatively good at programming. Beyond a certain point of classes / SAT scores, you're going to be much better served doing something productive and interesting with your time than endlessly taking practice tests and posting on a forum full of people who don't know what they're doing. The only people who really know whether or not you're going to get into a college are its admission officers.

BlackJack 12y ago
Thanks for your input. To clarify, a lot of this material has been put together by other users - I just transformed the info in website form. I think you're right for the most part. CC is full of kids giving each other advice and none of them really know what they're saying. To me, the SAT is table-stakes. If your scores aren't high enough, it's highly unlikely you'll get into a top school. So most of the site is about how to get to the point where you're consistently scoring 750+ -> 2250 composite. At that point, any additional gains are marginal. After that, you're competitive score wise and you can move on. I'm 100% with you there and I think the website confirms that. The rest of your app is just as important, but you have much less flexibility in changing years of high school. You can control your essay but can't really change much else. So if you're a freshman in high school, then stretching yourself intellectually and doing interesting things is a great way to spend four years. But if you're a 2nd semester junior applying to colleges next fall, you have way less flexibility. So the guide focuses on SAT, and I want to expand on the essay stuff. To summarize, transcript is #1, but everything else matters too. You can control your test scores + essay in a short period of time - the rest you can't. So if you have years of time, then becoming an interesting person is a great investment. If you don't, get competitive scores and a great essay, and hope for the best.
akhilcacharya 12y ago
Your work is impressive, I don't see why you wouldn't get into that school. I do wish I had those opportunities/skills at that time frame though.
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BlackJack 12y ago

Thanks for your input. To clarify, a lot of this material has been put together by other users - I just transformed the info in website form. I think you're right for the most part. CC is full of kids giving each other advice and none of them really know what they're saying. To me, the SAT is table-stakes. If your scores aren't high enough, it's highly unlikely you'll get into a top school. So most of the site is about how to get to the point where you're consistently scoring 750+ -> 2250 composite. At that point, any additional gains are marginal. After that, you're competitive score wise and you can move on. I'm 100% with you there and I think the website confirms that. The rest of your app is just as important, but you have much less flexibility in changing years of high school. You can control your essay but can't really change much else. So if you're a freshman in high school, then stretching yourself intellectually and doing interesting things is a great way to spend four years. But if you're a 2nd semester junior applying to colleges next fall, you have way less flexibility. So the guide focuses on SAT, and I want to expand on the essay stuff. To summarize, transcript is #1, but everything else matters too. You can control your test scores + essay in a short period of time - the rest you can't. So if you have years of time, then becoming an interesting person is a great investment. If you don't, get competitive scores and a great essay, and hope for the best.

akhilcacharya 12y ago

Your work is impressive, I don't see why you wouldn't get into that school. I do wish I had those opportunities/skills at that time frame though.

deleted 12y ago

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