quote:We have smarties. In fact, I think I'll go have a roll now.
Then I've been greivously misled (Is that one word?)! I was told there were no smarties in America. Perhaps there are smarties in only parts of America?
We also have M&Ms.
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There are smarties here. They're just different than yours. Yours are awfully similar to M&Ms; thus Ic's comment.
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Ooooh, I remember now. You call "smarties" what we call "rockets" and they're not at all like what I think of as smarties. My smarties are, as rivka says, similar to M&Ms. Although, I wouldn't go so far as to say "awfully" similar. They taste and look quite different.
We have all three: Smarties of the chocolatey kind, Rockets and M&Ms.
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Seventeen and a rising junior? Wow, you're old for your grade. I didn't turn seventeen until the end of my junior year. Did you start late, or did you repeat an early grade?
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quote:Originally posted by Pelegius: Oxford is interested my grades in history, in which I have a 99 average over two years and was top of my class this year and my AP scores in history (I have only taken European History so far, but I got a Five then and I am taking American History, Human Geography and Comparitive Politics next year and Art History the year after.) Oxford does not care about my activities, but these include Latin Club (I am going the the National Junior Classical Leauge covention in Iowa soon), Literary Magazine and school dramas (I act in the fall plays and do tech for the spring musicals, right now I am directing and staring in a student-run production of "The Compleat Wrks of Wllm Shkspr (Abridged.)"
Hmmm. A five is excellent! My only 5 was in lit, and it was too late to effect admissions, although I think it I had gotten that five a year earlier, instead of a 4 on language, I likely would have been accepted at UCLA (I was *accepted* under a new program that required a few terms of JC because of class size restrictions, wheras a few years ealier I would have been in...:sad:)
Actually only a few in every thousand students gets a grade that high in anything, (or so I recall reading) so that's a good sign. I think Oxford probably WOULD be interested in your activities, but you'll find that out on the application, won't you? :grin:. When you say "interested in" I assume you mean that they sent you a pamphlet because of a high score on PSAT or the AP? This is how I got all my college info. This is not "interest" per se, and in fact many colleges send these out to students who aren't qualified to attend that school. Have you actually been in contact with them? I suggest you do this soon if you'd like to go there, because they certainly aren't wanting for good students.
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I turned 17 in senior year. Isn't the latter half of junior year or early part of senior year generally when people turn 17?
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quote:Originally posted by MrSquicky: I turned 17 in senior year. Isn't the latter half of junior year or early part of senior year generally when people turn 17?
I was an old one, and turned 18 near the middle of senior year. Yeah, your right, that's about how it works. But I think pel is 17 and ENTERING junior year- is that right?
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I turned 17 at the very beginning of my junior year. I was older than almost everyone in my class because of the date which qualified you to start school. It is possible to be 17 and a rising junior without having been held back a year. Plus, it means you can drive before all your friends.
posted
But he is 17 and its only july- my sisters turned 17 in october of their senior year, so logically why would they be in senior year and he be just finished with his sophomore year? The dates are over a year apart.
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I don't know, other than to blame it on Texas. I went to school in Texas as well and was about his age. There is a little leeway in how these things can be done. For example, my older sister turned 17 in February of her senior year, whereas I turned 17 in October of my junior year. Those are over a year apart as well, and we both went through school in the same way with no problems.
posted
Yet another interesting nugget on Peligius, product of the Texan education system. Proudly ranked 50th in the united states- the highest ranking in the country!
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Orincoro: Oxford does not send out pamphlets to students doing well in school in the US (or in England, I think). Oxford exists, and waits for people to apply .
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I got mugged by colleges after my AP and PSAT scores came in. I got 5's in Composition and Calculus, a 4 in US History, a 3 in Art, and 1440 on my PSAT. I had to use a shovel to get past all the mail just to get to my room.
My best friend had it worse. He had 5's in Composition, Literature, Calculus, Physics Mechanics, Physics Electromagnetism, US History, and Spanish. Plus he pulled a 1550 on his PSAT and again on his SAT. The schools that weren't beating down his door were stalking him at the bus stop.
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I had very nice PSAT and SAT scores, and got all sorts of pamphlets from universities . . . who would not have been the least bit interested in me if they could have seen my grades.
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I'm only dimly aware of the practice of sending pamphlets out to prospective students. I don't think it's done in Canada. You talk to your high school teachers, councilors, and sometimes representatives from universities will come and talk to your class, but for the most part if you want to find out about schools you're on your own. My brother certainly gots 5s on all the AP tests he wrote, as well scoring at/near the top of the world in some geography and history tests he wrote, and I don't recall him getting a single pamphlet.
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Actually, the loonie is close to US$0.90 now, and was over that mark for a while earlier this year. It'll probably stay high as long as our resource sector continues to be a powerhouse worthy of Saudi Arabia.
And a good thing, too, given the amount of crossborder travel I've been doing recently. Posts: 10886 | Registered: Feb 2000
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Bob back when I was in high school in Toronto, I got a few letters from universities in Canada. However, they were less reputed ones. None of the big ones (including where I am now) sent things out until you applied to them.
EDIT: what is all this talk about 5s and 4s? I wrote the PSATs and SATs, but I guess it was more for fun than anything so I only looked at the percentiles, and I did the IB, and the highest mark there is a 7, so it can't be that you're talking about...
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We're talking about Advanced Placement exams, Angio. Certain teachers can get AP certified to teach college level courses in high school. The course is meant to be as rigorous as a first year college curriculum, culminating in an examination at the end of the year. If you do well, some colleges give you college credit or placement as consideration that you already completed a college level course. These tests cost upwards of $65 each (probably more now) to take.
You are ranked on a scale of 1 through 5. Ones and twos aren't recognized by any school I've ever heard of. Threes are normally taken as either credit or placement by state schools and community colleges, but rarely accepted at more competitive schools. Fours are accepted by most schools outside of the most competitive colleges, and fives are accepted by almost all colleges (for placement at least, if not credit).
Some high schools offer many AP courses, and others offer none. A guy I met when I studied in Ireland got 63 AP credits accepted at Rice University in Texas, and started with junior class standing his first year (followed by three senior years - believe me when I tell you this kid was insanely smart but still very sociable. I don't think he's quite human.). His high school offered all manner of AP courses, even so far as offering some for accelerated eighth graders to take.
Sometimes AP scores get you out of requirements (I placed out of freshman Expository Writing and my mathematics requirement at Rutgers), while other times the requirement stands but you have to take a higher level course to fill it. Schools have their own rules on acceptance or nonacceptance.
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AP tests are graded on a scale of 5. People who score in the 80th percentile and above get a 5, people who score in the 60th and above get a 4, 40th and above get a three, and so on.
* * *
[ On a slightly related note, I've noticed that the most prestigious colleges tend to send the least stuff. "Don't call us, we'll call you" type of thing. ]
quote:Originally posted by James Tiberius Kirk: AP tests are graded on a scale of 5. People who score in the 80th percentile and above get a 5, people who score in the 60th and above get a 4, 40th and above get a three, and so on.
So if you get nothing right you get a 1? ::scratches head::
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Oh ok, see I've heard of the whole AP thing, but because my school was private and did IB (international baccalaureate for anyone not acquainted) I never had to deal with AP, since all my IB courses in my last 2 years of highschool were equivalent to AP courses (in that I could skip some first year classes or at least get a credit). What are the averages out of 5? Higher than 80th percentile seems like a pretty low bar to be giving out the highest mark. In the IB a 7 (the best mark) is reserved for the top 5% of the entire world (the final IB exams, which give you most of your grade, are the same for everyone in the world, and all your other official IB work is graded overseas).
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My AP credits actually worked against me once I was in college. If you got a 5, you couldn't take the intro class in whatever topic (because supposedly you already had that content).
Well, it turned out that the AP classes were nowhere near as rigorous as the college classes. So I actually didn't have all of the prereq material that others in my second level classes had.
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Oh I agree with you there Chanie. I had the option of skipping 1st year chem back in the day, but I decided not to, because I was a slacker in first year and didn't want to overexert myself. Wow was that a good decision... I would have been totally lost in second year organic chem and physical chem had I not taken 1st year, and simply relied on my highschool "university level" IB classes. Though maybe that is mostly for the sciences, because the university level arts classes I took in highschool (philo, western civ) were very similar to some of the first year (and second year) arts classes I have taken.
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I did the same thing with Calculus--that is, I chose not to skip it, because I thought I could benefit from having it again. That being said, I felt that my AP classes were far more rigorous than their equivelant first-year college classes.
As for the bar being low to get a five, keep in mind that this isn't a general high school population we're talking about, but a fairly elite one.
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Yes I see what you mean. I guess being surrounded by people who are more or less all at that higher level biases my perspective (though I did go to public schools until highshool, and am one of the few who made it to tertiary education). Sometimes I forget that only 1% of the world ever goes to university (global village anyone! haha that was my favorite lecture in both high school and uni).
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quote:Originally posted by fugu13: Orincoro: Oxford does not send out pamphlets to students doing well in school in the US (or in England, I think). Oxford exists, and waits for people to apply .
But seriously. I think alot of top schools boost their rejection/acceptance numbers by advertising themselves to alot of students who may not have a snowball's chance in hell of getting in.
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quote:Originally posted by James Tiberius Kirk: AP tests are graded on a scale of 5. People who score in the 80th percentile and above get a 5, people who score in the 60th and above get a 4, 40th and above get a three, and so on.
--j_k
Hold it. I don't trust that. I was the ONLY person in my school in 3 years to get a 5 on lit. Your telling me that No one get in the 80th percentile in three years but me?
The number of 5s awarded is MUCH lower than that from what I remember reading on the AP. (I thought 5s were the upper 2 percent)
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If you look here, you see that, in Virginia for example, the scores go 13%, 21%, 27%, 24%, 14% for 5 to 1 respectively.
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quote:Originally posted by Icarus: I did the same thing with Calculus--that is, I chose not to skip it, because I thought I could benefit from having it again. That being said, I felt that my AP classes were far more rigorous than their equivelant first-year college classes.
That is VERY true. First year college courses, for instance an English 1 course at the UC isn't half as hard or as long as an AP course. Oh well.
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don't be fooled by those percentages though...
a 3 is generally considered passing (may or may not get you out of a class) a 4 will generally get you out of one class a 5 may get you out of two.
i.e. my 4 in english (cant remember if it was lit or comp) got me out of my freshman english requirement. my 5 in US history got me credit for 2 classes (6 credits) of gen-eds, and my 3 in chemistry would have gotten me out of the low 100-level chemistry class for non-science majors (us engineers had to take a higher level one that required a 4 to get out of)
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quote:Originally posted by FlyingCow: A guy I met when I studied in Ireland got 63 AP credits accepted at Rice University in Texas, and started with junior class standing his first year
Many colleges have a maximum number of credits-by-testing that they will accept. 30, 45, and 60 are all common.
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The AP scores are targeted to being the rough equivalent of grades in the corresponding college courses; a 5 being an A, a 4 being a B, and so on (very roughly).
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quote:Originally posted by FlyingCow: A guy I met when I studied in Ireland got 63 AP credits accepted at Rice University in Texas, and started with junior class standing his first year
Many colleges have a maximum number of credits-by-testing that they will accept. 30, 45, and 60 are all common.
63 Aps would put you through one year and one quarter at a UC campus at least. But that's the quarter system, so I don't know. Its roughly equivelant to 8 classes here, hardly half of course load (and btw, that student will probably not have time to actually finish college in only two years, since many majors take longer no matter what- mine certainly has.)
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63 semester credits are roughly equivalent to 90-100 quarter credits, depending on how the equivalence is assessed. (For example, it takes a minimum of 180 quarter credits to graduate a UC; it takes 120 semester credits to graduate most schools on the semester system.)
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Actually, a full load is generally defined as anywhere between 12 and 18 semester credits. But if you want to finish in 8 semesters (that is, four years), you'd need to average 15 credits a semester.
And that's assuming you actually only need 120 credits to graduate. If one takes "too many" electives, or double-majors, or does a few other things, it can easily take 140-150 credits to get your degree.
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He was a little bit of a freak of nature, that kid. He started his first year with junior class standing for housing and whatnot, and entered into all 300 level classes. I met him at the start of his third senior year (his fourth year at school), when he took a semester to study abroad in Ireland.
He was a math major and once told me of a theoretical math class his second year where it was him and four seniors. They would get one problem to do per week, due at the start of class on Monday afternoon. They would all gather in the classroom Sunday afternoon, order pizza, work through the night, send out for breakfast, and keep working until they finished (hopefully before the start of class). One time a Nobel Prize winner came in to their room to have one of the seniors help translate his speech for the following day from German into English.
He had a 4.0 average, having taken almost exclusively 300 level classes or higher during four years, and decided to first go to law school, then become a Lutheran minister. Preferably studying both at the same time.
We talked in the computer lab about which law schools he wanted to go to, and he decided he didn't want to go to school in Chicago, Boston or California... so he looked at some ranking of the best law schools in the country, crossed off the ones in those locations, and applied to the first five that weren't crossed out.
I lost touch with him after the study abroad, but we had some really, really interesting conversations over pints of Guinness, I can assure you.
Posts: 3960 | Registered: Jul 2001
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Oxford does not send letters out. St Johns College, the school I said was interested in me, is very eccentric in how it runs its admissions, as in everything else. For one thing, they do not require any test scores at all but instead rely on an elaborate process of essays interviews. They accept a majority of applicants because most students are not willing to go through the process, which often involves spending a week in New Mexico or Maryland, unless they are seriously interested in the St. John's program, which, of course, most students aren't. Even I think that a degree from St. John's, while well regarded by grad schools, is of only limited practical value.
And, it is very common in Texas for students, particularly boys, to be around half a year to a year older than students in other parts of the country. This is especially true in Middle Class Public schools and Private Schools. I am by no means the eldest in my class.
Finally, Oxford's admission system, in common with the rest of the U.K., is based on four factors, test scores (A.P., SAT I and II for Americans), school recommendations, written work and an interview. The interview is actually a form of informal oral test and not at all like one for an American college ( a close friend of mine did his for Theology in October and was turned down, so he is going to University of Edinburgh instead.)
"My AP credits actually worked against me once I was in college. If you got a 5, you couldn't take the intro class in whatever topic (because supposedly you already had that content)." That is a very strange system.
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quote:15 a semester is considered a full undergraduate load.
I took four semesters of 18+ credit hours, including two semesters where 5 of those credits were 5 one hour labs.
I think the rule at my school was 18 was fine, but more than that and you needed the Dean's permission. But it wasn't hard to get.
Edit: I guess the salient point is that I wasn't unusual in my courseload, and that 15 hours a semester is average to below average in my experience.
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