Took my first SAT today

[mensa180]

I disagree about grades helping.  I go to a "magnet" school and many of my peers have 4.0 and are getting college offers left and right.  I don't mean the default mail ones either that everyone gets just for taking the ACT/SAT.  One of them already has been accepted at Vanderbilt and three of them the AF academy. 

Take your grades seriously.

[eagl]

A kid in my graduating class got 1600 on the SAT's along with a 4.0 GPA and just about every honor/advanced class offered. He turned down a full scholarship from Stanford and chose to go to Harvard with no financial help (other than from his parents of course).

I guess wealthy people just make completely different (illogical to the rest of us) decisions when money is no longer a factor.

He may be looking at his future more than the next few years...  Spend a bunch of money up front, then pretty much guaranteed jobs for life as a Harvard grad.  Stanford is "good", but it's minor league compared to Harvard when it comes to the job networking available to graduates.  Of course, he'll still have to actually make it through...

[eagl]

When was the last time you were asked what your high school or college grades were in a job interview?

Once you get the degree, thats all that matters.

 

That's what the suckers think.  My wife has had to submit her transcripts for a number of jobs and graduate training programs, and I've been excluded from multiple USAF graduate degree programs due to a low college GPA.

Don't fool yourself.  Where you got the degree and how high you ranked on graduation matters if you have any desire to rise above the masses and break into the upper crust without the benefit of mommy and daddy already being part of the country club society.  My service academy degree is most likely worth a decent job offer, but my low GPA means I'm going to have to pay out of pocket for any further education or training.  I'm a good bet to a company looking to hire someone with my qualifications, but they're not going to gamble any money on any additional training that I don't bring with me to the interview.

It even goes back to high school grades...  Before I was accepted to the Academy, my high school grades and studies (I went to a math/computer/science magnet school that was top in the state) earned me a job offer and internship while I got a degree from UCSD.  That doesn't happen to people who don't go to the right school or who get bad grades.

[eagl]

Uh, going to a upscale school makes a huge difference. My Daughter graduated from Cornell. When she interviewed the companies flew her all over the country. However, realistically most cannot afford it and no education is a waste. Hard work and determination will yield results no matter where you are.

Absolutely true.  There are a few levels of schools out there, and you simply can't beat Ivy league for quality of life and job offers AFTER graduation.  Likewise, graduating with honors opens many doors that are otherwise closed.  Graduate honors from an Ivy league school is worth an awful lot of money up front and for the rest of your life.

[Getback]

Yea but my point is all that matters is the final degree. She could have gone to a community college and got probably half of her required credits, then transfered to Cornell or wherever she wanted to go to finish the degree. The end result is exactly the same, but this way would have saved her thousands or even tens of thousands of dollars.

Once she has the degree from Cornell, nobody is going to question where she earned every single credit. And for that matter, she'll likely never be asked about her grades or to even see the actual degree she earned.

It's very difficult to get into Cornell. She got her masters there. BTW, I'm of modest means. She got a Scholarship. She's just an outstanding kid.

[AKHog]

Ok this thread is going a bit off topic now.

My original point was to simply say don't worry about the SAT that much. Now I'm not saying just to blow it off, but there are more important things than one test score.

Getting into college and everything that comes after that takes a lot more than a good SAT score. I got a great score and didn't get any scholarships, and hardly got into my choice school. Other kids that got even higher scores than me still had to pay to go to the college they wanted, and kids who got lower scores than me got full rides to top schools for other reasons.

Once you are in the job market or on your career path chances are you'll never think about your grades or test scores again.

So work hard, study and learn the test, and try your best, but don't worry about it too much. There are other more important things.

[Getback]

Ok this thread is going a bit off topic now.

My original point was to simply say don't worry about the SAT that much. Now I'm not saying just to blow it off, but there are more important things than one test score.

Getting into college and everything that comes after that takes a lot more than a good SAT score. I got a great score and didn't get any scholarships, and hardly got into my choice school. Other kids that got even higher scores than me still had to pay to go to the college they wanted, and kids who got lower scores than me got full rides to top schools for other reasons.

Once you are in the job market or on your career path chances are you'll never think about your grades or test scores again.

So work hard, study and learn the test, and try your best, but don't worry about it too much. There are other more important things.

I always will believe that hard work, coupled with intelligence will pay off.

[VonMessa]

What a horrible test. None of the problems were hard, but the test was so long. 10 sections of hell to go trough. Any of you young guys like me want to share the experience with me?

1991, 11th grade.

Like Denholm, I was the only one with a pencil sharpener.

Scored a 1420  (1 question wrong on the math     )

College?  Never heard of it   

Ended up jumping out of perfectly good airplanes for My Uncle (his name is Sam, by the way)

4 year apprenticeship as a Tool & Die Maker

Now I own a Disc Jockey Business and sub-contract as the network admin at a local Window & Door company.

What were we saying about college?     

[MORAY37]

Uh, going to a upscale school makes a huge difference.

Uhhh GRADUATING from an upper tier school means something.  The first two years are the same at any institution, including community colleges and state schools.  I started at a community college for the first two years.  Moved to a state school for undergrad.  Finished master's at a private school, now on my doctorate at a top level private research institute. (#3 in the country at my degree)  I scored a 1370 on my first SAT, 1450 the second time, as a senior.

I figured out my savings one day just for fun.  If I had stayed at my current institute, even with the scholarships I received, I would currently be holding $115,000 more in debt.  As it is, after all is said and done, I'm even, with two advanced degrees. (And bought a house, that is well past halfway payed for.)

Community college and State schools are major tools that, I feel, every prospective student can benefit from.

[Bosco123]

I can agree with you on some points Hog, mostly that you shouldn't totally rely on financial help. I guess what you would call my cousin, was valedictorian of her class, and wanted to get into Georgetown, but was put on standby. She got into George Washington on the other hand, with a full ride scholarship.
You must have been real unlucky, although I think that the highest score you can get on an SAT is a 1500, but I'm not sure. Even if I'm wrong, 1600 is near a perfect score, which would get you the National Merit scholarship in itself.
Even for me, getting and 1100 would almost guarantee me a scholarship from one of the armed forces. My fitness is of no factor, since I am the best in my ROTC battalion. I want to go to Embry-Riddle, but the prices are so high on becoming a pilot, it's insane (I think it's 30,000 for fight fees a year). I am also thinking about UCF (University of Central Florida) which has an AF regiment and the major that I want, at a not so high price as Embry-Riddle. I also looked at UF and UT.

[E25280]

I didn't even know you were allowed to take the tests multiple times?   

Guess it is a good thing I did well enough on them the first time.

[mensa180]

Bosco I would recommend going to a site called jetcareers.com and reading their forums.  Opinions on schools like Embry-Riddle vary with many people thinking of them as a waste of money.

Here's a link to the forums:  http://forums.jetcareers.com/

I'd do a search on aviation schools.  Doing it through a local FBO can be just as fun and a whole lot cheaper.

[AKHog]

I want to go to Embry-Riddle, but the prices are so high on becoming a pilot, it's insane (I think it's 30,000 for fight fees a year).

Put me on the list of people who believe Embry Riddle is way over priced.

Getting an aviation science degree from Embry Riddle is extremely expensive. Prices have gone up a lot since I was there, but expect to graduate their aviation science program at the cost of at least $150k, probably closer to $200 if you get into the more advanced flight training.

The degree is great, its top notch education, but its simply not needed for 99% of career aviation jobs. In the few flying jobs that actually require a degree, in most cases any science related type degree will work. In any case, all the qualified pilots for the job are almost always finally separated by how many hours they have in their logbooks, not where they got the degree.

Another major compromise you are making is having any kind of back up plan. There are many ways you can blow your chance of ever being a professional pilot, and many of them are out of your control. I think high blood pressure and genetic heart problems are the most common, but even if you just accidentally lost eyesight in one eye you are done. In my opinion it would be better to have a more general degree for the simple fact of having something to fall back on.

In my humble opinion, you would be much better served to do what is being suggested in this thread. Go to a community college for 2 years, transfer to a state school and get a degree in some related science like aviation meteorology. Now you have spent what, $50k max? You can be flying at the same time, even more often than you will at ERAU if you wish. With another ~$30k you can have all of your ratings you need to start instructing and building hours.

With the extra money you would be much better off investing in a bunch of multi time. In fact if you could use the money you saved not going to ERAU to buy multi time you could accelerate your career by several years in a couple of months.

So the bottom line is in this current aviation market where its not ultra competitive, ERAU is just hard to justify. Scholarships are nearly impossible to get, and many times the actual flight programs don't qualify for student loans and you are forced to get high rate career training loans or even put it on credit cards. 

There are more starving pilots than there are starving artists. Its extremely competitive, especially initially. There are a lot of wealthy families in aviation and that means there are kids out there who didn't pay a dime for the education and will work for less than you, while you are trying to pay huge student loans. The highest paying jobs in aviation usually suck. All the fun jobs don't pay squat. Its not a career you choose for the money. But if you are dedicated it can be very rewarding. Just don't let anyone tell you that you need to drop $200k at a school like ERAU to play the game.

[B17Skull12]

the sat is 2400 points now.  I got about 1600 on it without doing much studing.  I agree the math is really easy.  I got like 720 on it which is pretty good.  The retarded parts is the LA sections.  I mean that they ask students to answer these insanely difficult questions that a college student would struggle with.  That test is stupidly hard and long.  Anyways good luck with college, and i share your sentiments about the SAT.  Same goes for AP tests but those are more important worth while imo.

[Xasthur]

I didn't last long... after my first year I had $35k in student loans and was looking at graduating with about $140k total debt.

Jesus H. Christ! Tertiary education isn't that expensive over there is it? How on earth did you manage to clock up $140k in debt in one year?

My degree will have me $36k in debt at the end of the third and final year.