Colleges

[Grejo]

Well, i just applied for three colleges today.

UW-Platteville
UW-Madison (Go Badgers!)
UW-Stevens Point

really the only college that supports my desired major is platteville. i want to major in software engineering since i know it's one of the biggest occupations to go into and businesses are hiring kids right out of college. Madison and Stevens Point really can only give me the general field which would be computer science.

i take my ACTs in Oct. this year and they will automatically be sent to these three colleges. last year in one of my classes, we took this years ACT as a practice test you could say and i scored a 26. now even if i get a 26 or even better, my cumulative GPA is only a 3.3 and i don't think i could get into a school like Madison with that GPA but Gino said his buddy got in so there's hope :)


anyways that's what's going on with me and my college plans......anyone else?

or any comments on these colleges or college in general?

[CHRIST]

gotta start checkin out colleges this year to figure out where i want to go.

I just know I don't want to stay around here, I would like to go further, but stay within a day's drive.

only college I've have ever really seen outside of local colleges is Michigan which I really like, the campus is honestly just a city, but it is the most expensive out of state school, at least as far as I know.

I have a question for you knowledgable types, why is it that the ACTs are the test out west, but the SATs are the primary test in the east and apparently the scoring is very different between the two because I know nothing about the ACTs.

[Taco_assassin]

wuhts colyj? lol

[Zabka]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14325062/site/newsweek/

The two tests have been around for a while. The SAT is (or was) administered out of Princeton, NJ and the ACT is out of Iowa I think. The tests have both changed over the years. Most colleges accept both scores. When I was in high school, we took SATs as well as Achievement tests...Achievements actually tested knowledge of a subject--biology, chemistry, Latin, in addition to different levels of math and English. For big institutions, standardized tests are needed at the very least to make sure you aren't out of the running. For smaller colleges, they are often just part of the equation and not necessarily a cutoff tool

The one thing I would stress to anybody applying to colleges is to take the personal essay(s) very seriously. Much more seriously than any paper you would write for school. The personal essays are the way to get into colleges you might be on the borderline for. I spent a month of no weekends out, only working on my essays when I applied to school. I lost my girlfriend as a result of the inattention, but getting into the school of my choice was more important to me than some cheerleader. I did 8-10 drafts for each of 6 essays that I had reviewed by someone I trusted. It was about 50-60 hours of work for these essays.

I know too many stories of people who had subpar grades or scores (good still, but just not as good as a school's average), but the essay was the hook to get them in.

Good luck to everyone going through the process. It's not life or death, but it also shouldn't be blown off. Put in the work to give yourself the best chances of getting into a school of your choice. It's not just 4 years of your life---it's something that lives with you forever in memories, relationships, as well as resumes.

[Grejo]

thanks for letting me know right AFTER i send them in zabka :D

[Zabka]

you can always send it in after. They won't be making decisions until they get your scores anyway. Most admissions committees will accept them so long as its before the application deadline.

Wouldn't your guidance counselor have told you to do the same?

[Grejo]

lol i meant about the personality essay and stuff. i did exactly what they asked, but now i feel i could've put more things in there or at least make up some bs that would seem appealing to them lol.

[Zabka]

admissions people can read through BS pretty easily--they see thousands of those things. The goal in a personal essay is to not only let them know something about you, but for them to see that you would be a good addition to the their student body--as well as their alumni body. Usually that means showing them something about you that is unique or something that shows you will contribute meaningfully to the school through your attendance.

Sometimes you can just be really creative--but those can backfire easily unless it is really clever. And in being clever, it is helpful to tell them something meaningful.

[Grejo]

i still gotta hand in resume and letters of recommendation to my counselor along with transcripts so she can send them to the colleges...maybe i can make up my poor personal essay with a good resume and recommendation letters.

[Zabka]

those will also be very helpful/important. You can always do the essay again as well and turn it in with that stuff. They may or may not look at it, but it won't hurt.