I'm starting high school next year. Apparently everything from next year forward is what counts on my high school transcript. I like the fact that everything else basically diappears, but what should I do? I mean what do Harvard and Yale look for on your transcript? I'm doing a course for 3 years of high school called the International Baccalaureate. It gives you things that will make you stand out. Usually only about 40 kids from an entire school do it. Is there anything else i can do? PLEASE HELP ME!!!
209432
They want a well-balanced person, so it's a mix of challenging courses, great grades, high SATs, commitment to extracurriculars, great recommendations, great application essays... and for some of the Ivies, a great interview.
14573
Are you in highschool sending a college your transcript or in college already?  (you mentioned ISS which is not at all a college punishment).  Almost all transcripts are the same, they block off your career by semester, then list what classes you were taking that semester, the grade recieved (and its quality points) and your term GPA.  It also lists your total hours completed vs. total hours attempted (for example, if you drop a course after the 'free schedule change deadline' at a college, it will be recorded that you essentially 'gave up').  Aside from grades, your current standing that semester is also given (like 'Good Standing' or 'Academic Probation').  Any special events which occured during that semester are also noted ('President's List', 'Dean's Scroll', etc).  At the top of the transcript (in college) your area of concentration is listed, followed by any recognitions ('Magna cum Laude' for example).  Finally, your degree(s) itself is listed towards the top as an 'event'.  At my school thres a single line that notes your degree: 'EVENT: Marketing Decree Obtained'.  At the bottom it lists your total quality points, hours earned and hours attempted, along with cumulative GPA.  As for those other items, most schools do not list things like community service on your transcript, though many colleges are starting to (for example, my school now makes official note of clubs and organizations you were in on your transcript).  As for detentions and ISS, these go in your 'permanent record' NOT your transcript and are thus never seen by the college.  However, some more serious forms of disciplinary action, especially for cheating 'EVENT: Academic Dishonesty', DO appear on your college transcript (and probably high school depending on the school).
349696
Consider your high school GPA and entrance exam test scores, how do they reflect your knowledge and abilities?\nTranslation - Do your grades and test scores really show what you know? (they will expect you to go into some detail)\n\nBe specific in terms of academic performance in your classes.\nTranslation - List some of your classes and tell whether the grades you made in them show what you really know, and summarize what you learned.\n\nIn what other ways have you demonstrated your academic potential and abilities?\nTranslation - What have your accomplished that show you have used your knowledge outside of the classroom? (Clubs, leadership, etc.)
250409
High school in the US is a popularity contest: who can have the cutest bf/gf, who can make the cheerleading squad/football team, etc. I enjoyed high school, I had friends, I'm not trying to be cynical, but it was always about who was the most popular flavor of the month. Kids cheated all the time on exams, I did too (mainly on homework), it didn't seem to be a big deal. I regret it now though, I should've just learned the info then b/c now I'm in college and don't know how to do somethings I should've learned in high school! Hope that all makes sense.
153883
god, I am not letting my brother join ib. its probably more convenient to just take Advanced Placement classes without the hooplah of the IB program. Its probably based on my experiences with friends who got stupid and missed one exam and was denied that stupid special diploma until they completed that final exam and passed. Better to just stay AP.
392662
In my opinion, the best way to get into a big name school/ivy is to convince the admissions staff that your interests/professional needs fit perfectly with their programs. They want to see kids that know what they want to do and will utilize their resources immediately (and then become super sucessful and make big time money). You need to convince Yale that their grad program is the only one for you. Research Yale's classes, professors, programs, etc. In addition to getting great grades adn doing all the things you listed, focus your undergrad studies and extracurriculars on a field that will set you up perfectly for a program that you are interested in and that is uniquely Yale.  \n\nThis process worked for both me and a close friend of mine. I will be attending Cornell next semester. My friend is enrolled at Columbia as a grad student.\n\nGood luck.
408839
you want lots of extracurriculars. Ask your guidance counselor what are the key extracurriculars that would make you competitive for that type of school.\n\nI believe there is an interview process so make sure you brush up on your interviewing skills now that you are young.
365742
It seems as though you are an excellent, all around student and individual and would have a good shot of getting into any of these schools.  Therefore, what is the best school for you?  \n\nThere are a many questions that you'll need to ask yourself:\n1.  What subject do you want to major in when in college?  Are there a few? - Make sure that any university that you attend has all of the different majors that you are interested in.  That way, if you try one out and find out that you do not like it, you have the other options.  Also, is the major a good program at the schools that you want to attend?\n\n2.  Do you want a big or small university?  Many times small university are look down upon because they may not have the name of a Harvard or Yale.  However, big and small university are great.  The biggest question is... do you want and/or need attention from your professors?  Bigger university professors may not be able to give students individual attention that so many students need.  Smaller universities are able to give a lot of personal attention, allowing students to contact professors any time with questions and/or advice.\n\n3.  Location, location, location!  Will you like the location that the university is in?  City versus College town?  Weather... do you want warm weather where it never snows or are you okay at a university that it snows much of winter?  \n\n4.  Does the school have the extracurricular activities that you are interested in?  Academics is not all that you are at a university for... college is all about the experience as well.  Will you have the opportunity to get involved and are the activities that you want to participate in available on the campus?\n\n5.  Do you like the campus and university?  This you'll never know until you walk onto that particular campus.  If you can, try to visit any school that you are really interested in.  College admissions representatives are paid to tell you have great the university will be.  In addition, all of the papers and viewbooks that you get from the universities will show nothing but pretty pictures.  However, you'll never know if it is the right place for you until you step on the campus.  You'll probably know within the first 5 minutes of being on the campus if you'll like it or not!  All colleges and universities do campus tours - just call the admissions office and they'll set it up for you.\n\nGood luck!
428166
the first thing you can do is relax.\nask yourself how many of those 22 activites you would be doing if you weren't trying to get into college.  if there are only 2 or 3, great.  focus on those.  it looks a lot better if you've done a lot of work in 1 or 2 areas than if you are too spread out.  \ntry to actually expand your mind instead of just working constantly.  i know plenty of people with 4.0 GPAs, but the ones who get into harvard are the ones who have original ideas, and also know how to have a good time.  you can memorize every book in the library, but if you don't have real thoughts of your own, there's no point.\nyou're probably genuinely smart.  this is a major advantage, and will help you at whatever school you attend.  but don't forget that you go to both high school and college in order to learn.  so when you're getting your straight As and your perfect test scores, don't forget to learn something interesting, and do things that you like.  that's the best advice i can give for getting into any top school.\nbest of luck.
610740
gosh i graduated high school in 2001 and back then they said that we didnt have to pass it to graduate so i bombed it. ahahhahaa. but i dont know the rules now about that. check with your principal
266755
A levels american school to enter a university in America will give you a better chance of acceptance.  You also may need to take the S.A.T.  this is required of most of all High School students.  The rules may differ for those in the United Kingdom, that is a British school, but I do not believe their is a British School available in the United States, and perhaps that's why hardly anyone's ever heard of IB diplomas.  Around here we call them High School diplomas, but the IB diploma will help you enter Oxford, just not Yale.  Yale is an Ivy League College in the United States.  I'm not looking to get the ten points, but A levels that is American schooling will help you get a better chance of getting into a University.  I have two college degrees, so I know what I had to do to get accepted to a major Univeristy so I can earn these.  America is not just the best in the world when it comes to higher education, but it seems to be the only logical choice to make because other areas just aren't as accepting.  Then again, an IB diploma might only help you get acceptance to a British University.  But a High School A level diploma will actually get you to land your feet in a greater institution for higher education.
237561
grade transcripts for colleges are your high school grades, 9-12 (if you apply senior year, then the first semester grades are sent).  i hear a lot of people saying that freshman grades dont count but don't listen to that.  it doesnt mean freshman year isn't important.  colleges have gotten so competitive nowadays and maybe years ago freshman grades didnt count, but now colleges look at it just as well as the rest of the years.
409828
My daughter is a college freshman this school year. We did a lot of research and visited several colleges, private and state-funded along the way. We also found out a lot as her senior year went on and we waited for her acceptance letters. \n\nThese are the common themes we discovered along the way - and it applies to all colleges and universities. Colleges will look at your entire 4 years but they mostly care about your core courses: math, English, science, history/government. They do not care about Creative Writing, Journalism, or any electives. In fact, most colleges recalculate your GPA based solely on your core courses. This may or may not work to your advantage. \n\nBut we also found out that if you have a high enough SAT, you will get accepted to any college, even if your GPA is 2.0 like my daughter's boyfriend's GPA was. This last point was very painful for my daughter as she had a solid 3.4 in her core courses (but scored below 1000 combined math/English SAT) and was rejected everywhere she applied. We finally forced the last college that rejected her to reconsider their rejection and she has been doing fine her first semester. This very same college that rejected my daughter's 3.4 accepted my daughter's boyfriend's 2.0 right from the start!\n\nOne last point -- we also found out that most colleges/universities ask about extra curricular activities but they really don't care! \n\nSo enjoy your high school years -- make sure your SAT scores are stellar, don't sweat your grades, develop good study habits that you will need in college, and only do the extra activities that truly interest you.
140820
I still feel that, for the most part, the entire college application process is fickle. All I know is that, at the very least, most people who apply to Ivy League colleges have a set of basic minimums:\n* stellar, all A-grades and standardized test scores\n* extracurriculars that include both academic & community service types, but are also centered around what you intend on majoring (and usually office positions)\n* very good teacher recommendations\n* an essay that stays true-to-heart and does not sound like something that anyone else could write (because I have such a weird, stereotypical Asian name, I wrote a comic spiel about that and about how it has affected me)\n\nBut, in order to really stand out, which Ivy League schools scramble for, let me give you some examples of people I know and the colleges they ended up at (remember: these people were stellar in the aspects listed above as well):\n* a national first-place piantist; accepted at Stanford and Harvard\n* started own research project; contacted various professors and ended up doing research with prof at MIT during summer; invented a new type of laser; Westinghouse Finalist; rejected by MIT but accepted everywhere else--that is, Harvard, Stanford, etc.\n\nI've also come to realize that if you do not really excel in the most basic, standard minimums (such as SAT scores and academic grades) that even if you do lots outside of school, you cannot be guaranteed much.\n\nFor the most part, I must say that of all the people I know and have heard about, MIT (although not an Ivy) is the hardest to get into--some crazy-ass people must go there! UPenn and Cornell are generally labeled the "easier" Ivies--and with good reason. I'm actually not THAT stellar compared to most who get into Ivies. I mean, besides the standard academics, I've demonstrated quite a bit of determination and do lots of extra stuff dealing with my intended major (chemE), such as getting a mentor and working with her on research, but I'm okay, I suppose. For the most part, I think that, on top of everything, I had excellent teacher recommendations and a good, strong essay that really reflected who I am beyond academics and school.\n\nBut, I guess my main point is that Ivies look very strongly at self-motivation. What have you tried to do on your own to pursue your interests? Enter competitions outside of school that deal with your interests. For example, my history buff friend worked on her own documentary for the National History Day competition. I entered (or actually I urged my chemistry teacher to let me enter) the National Chemistry Olympiad. Although I didn't win anything, it still shows lots of motivation. I also applied for my school district's competitive mentorship program and got in. I am matched with a professional in my field of choice and do research with her. This program is a big plus because I am doing more work ON TOP of school stuff--and colleges like that. But, if you contact professionals on your own (such as calling a doctor's office and asking if you can observe what he/she does for a day, or possibly more if you like it), that would be awesome, too. It shows lots of motivation and interest in one general topic/career. However, keep in mind that schools really like to see commitment. You joined a few clubs? How many have you stuck with in the end? Did you get an officer's position to show responsibility and commitment? Oh! Another thing--pursuing stuff beyond school also impresses teachers, which only kills two birds with one stone. And, keep in mind, when asking for teacher recommendations, give her a resume of your accomplishments and answer some basic questions for her (such as: How has my class benefited you? What are your life-long goals? What characteristics about yourself do you want emphasized?, etc.) so that her final recommendation will also be better than ever.\n\nWell, anyways, I hope this helps lots and that I didn't ramble
640196
No, your school will keep a transcript of your final grade for everyclass you take.  That's what colleges will look at.  And as for getting into college, it depends which one you want to go to as to how hard it is.  Some other pretty easy, others you have to be really good to think about getting in.
298709
If you are able to keep up and get good grades in the classes you are in, just go to high school. Unfortunately you may always have the issue of competing with people older and stronger than you. You will also have some growth spurts over the next 4 years, so who knows, you may be the tallest guy in school.
469003
I skated through HS with a 1.77 GPA. I got into college under the now-defunct EOP program.\nI graduated college with better than a 3.0 average WHILE WORKING FULL TIME.\nThese days, it would be next to impossible to get into a four year college with numbers like mine (although I did score well on the SATs).\nIf your goal is to just get through HS and not continue, then a diploma is a diploma no matter what your GPA. If you have plans to continue past HS, then hit the books and bring your grades up.