Costa Rican Universities

I have my results back for the Costa Rican universities.

I don't remember the exact score I received from the TEC admissions test, but it was around 685 (of 800), easily enough to let me study biotecnology, which was my first choice. I may have mentioned this, but once you establish your choices, there's no turning back, you're stuck with that major.

For the UCR, I got a 741 (out of 800), which gave me a comfortable 30 points of leeway, about that many over the highest cut-off point for any major. Medicine, the highest, hasn't risen over 706 in the last 5 years, and is unlikely to go much higher this year. I now have my choice of career path, at least at that university. My score is in the top 100, out of 31 042 that took the test. The full list of top 100 scores was in the Sunday paper, and my physics teacher was kind enough to point out that I'd made it.

Fun fact: The student who scored a perfect 800 is studying physics. Its cut-off score is in the low 500s. Funner fact: 4 years ago, the student with a perfect 800 chose to study ballet.

At the very best (read: prestigious), I can become a practicing doctor in 5 years, at the ripe old age of 22. I could also become a lawyer a year younger.

Shame I'm not interested.

My father is pushing for these options, despite my repeated protestations to the contrary. His argument is that it would be good to have a degree at 22 that in the US would require grad school. It would save me 3 years of study. My counter-argument is that it would be 5 years of my life wasted, since I really don't want to study that at all.

Well, not quite true. It would be cool to work in a hospital, I think, blood doesn't bother me (a person actively bleeding and in pain is something else, though). Meaningless anecdote: one of my biology teachers is also a nurse. He told us (the class) that medical professionals are under the obligation to help a wounded person, even if off duty. He also told us that no medical professional he knows would do so, for fear of a lawsuit. (Does this tell us more of the profession or the company he keeps?). Also, no nurse would administer any drug, none, under no circumstances, without a written prescription from the doctor ordering it. No matter how urgent.

Interesting to be a lawyer. However, a cousin of mine, attorney-at-law, spends most of his time signing documents and writing them and notarizing and certifying and putting his fancy little gold seal on official documents. He won't take cases that require him to defend or represent a client in court. He also refuses to handle marriages or divorces (despite the fact that the former could cause the latter, doubling his business). Just me, or doesn't that defeat the purpose of that law degree?

So, if I stayed in Costa Rica, what would I study? Well, the UCR also offers Mechanical Engineering, that's pretty similar (in some cases identical) to what I want to study in the US. On the other hand, I think I really am interested in medical school, but I truly need more time to decide. 17 is just too young. Another reason I would really want to study in the US.

Last option: I could join a circus. I'm learning how to juggle, and intend to ask for a unicycle for my birthday.

SAT II

I took both Mathematics II and Physics. I was unprepared for both.

Let's start with MATH II.
This one requires a calculator, preferably graphing, but scientific is also accepted. Of course, you can do it without one at all, but not very well.

Now I happen to have two calculators at hand. See:




The scientific one I bought 4 years ago, in 7th grade. This faithful brick has been at my side for all my important tests (except the math ones, my teacher hates calculators, for which I thank her). It only rarely refuses to turn on, but this can be fixed with a solid whack and it's good as new. It's limited in logarithms and exponents when compared to more recent versions, and a bit scratched up, but functional nonetheless.

The graphing one is a wonder of modern technology. It's the TI-84 Plus Silver Edition. Follow this link to see everything about it. Nice display, will graph, anything the other one can do, it can do better. It even has a periodic chart. It always turns on. I bought it this year.
Fancy name for something I couldn't use.

Really, have never used it in my life, and taking a test with an average of 72 seconds per question is not the time to start. So I didn't. I used the one with a whimsical battery, no graphing capacity, and whited-out numbers (to dissuade classmates from borrowing it without permission. I lent it to a friend and she returned it with the numbers written in ink over the white out. Then I have another friend who pulled out the keys on his and rearranged them. No one can figure out how to use that one.). Although, let me clarify, it is approved for the SAT II, many fellow testers had the same one and were using it with (probably) more success than I.

Excuses, excuses!

I also didn't study. However, I will defend this idiotic decision by pointing out that I was at a beach side resort the three days prior, getting sunburnt in the morning and partying till the next.

The test had a few things my calculator (had I known how to use it) would have saved me on. Matrices, logarithms, so forth, but I have only myself to blame. Interestingly enough, the test asks you a series of background questions first. These determine what level of math you have seen in school, and what kind of calculator you're using. Since "electronic brick with choleric batteries" didn't make the list, I choose scientific calculator. Abacuses also weren't included, which I consider a pretty big oversight (kidding, I can't use those, either).

All in all, I left an estimated 10 questions blank (of 50) and got God knows how many more wrong. Luckily, this test has a pretty generous curve, so I may have gotten a score I could admit to without hiding ostrich-like in my denial.

On to PHYSICS

No calculator allowed, so everyone was at as much a disadvantage as I was. Hah!

On the other hand, they may have reviewed their formulas beforehand. In a similar case of irresponsibility and procrastination, I didn't realize those weren't included until the night before, at which point I huddled worriedly in my blankets and tried to remember the formula for invisible ink (lemon, to be revealed over a flame; or vinegar and water, to be revealed with purple cabbage use). I couldn't use it for two reasons: 1-I can't take either a cabbage or a candle into a test discretely, and 2- I have a conscience.

So I took the test fairly, with only my mind at hand. Actually, judging from the results, it was a bit further from me than it usually is. I left more questions blank, probably less than 10, but still quite a few. The questions weren't hard, I had worse on bachillerato (<-- Translation: Ministry Tests seniors have to pass to graduate. Given in Math, Spanish, Foreign Language (English for me because that's the only one my school offers, French or Italian in other cases), Social Studies, Civics, and Science (physics, in my case, either chemistry or biology, in others')). ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Honestly, I feel it was a waste of 70 dollars (extra fees for testing abroad) and 5 hours (including travel time. On the other hand, we did buy doughnuts on the way back). I can only hope the scores will be high enough to let me send them to some schools.

New SAT Scores

Here ya go, taken November 6th.

Writing: 730 This went incredibly up an incredible 150 points. Last was a 580. The essay only got an 8, last time it got a 6, but I don't know how much of the total Writing it's worth.

Reading: 710 Went down by 20 points, but I rather think Writing compensates.

Math: 670 Went up by 20. I admit I'm a bit disappointed, but on the other hand, I had no reason to expect an increase if I didn't study Math (and I didn't, I spent my time writing mock-essays).

Total score: 2110

Total score last time: 1970

Pretty big difference, yeah? I think that the difference in the math part was that there were some I knew I didn't know and just left blank. Last time I guessed them all.

Now to finish, here are the percentiles. I like them even more than the actual scores, they say a lot more about how well or badly you did.

Math 89%
Reading: 96%
Writing: 98%

SAT the Second Time Around

The first time I took the SAT I was sweaty palmed, alternately cold and hot and just all around nervous. I didn´t finish the essay, I didn´t even write a full page. I was completely unprepared for the writing part.

This time, I decided to prepare. I turned to trusty Google and asked for "SAT essay tips" and discovered a plethora (hah!) of horrible articles with terrible advice.

The most persistent one was on the use of the word "plethora". Seriously. I´m going to devide this into Good Tips and Bad Tips, and one special section dedicated to Horrible Tip, What The Hell Are You Thinking?

Good Tips

• Write neatly: whether in cursive (that´s me!) or print, it has to be legible. The graders are peoople and therefore fallible, they will be influenced by the huge amount of scratched out words and writing that looks like you took the test on a roller coaster while being mauled by a baboon.
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• Do have at least a vague idea of what you´ll be saying before you start.
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• Don´t try to make a complicated rough draft, or any rough draft at all. You only have 25 minutes, that´s hardly enough time to fill the pages even when writing non stop.
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• Read the prompt first, then the quote. Sometimes they aren´t as directly related as ou think, make sure you write what they ask, not what you think of the quote.
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• Try to use precise words. Avoid "thing", "do" and others that don´t really mean anything.
  

• Practice. There are dozens of old SAT prompts you can use. This will give you a good idea of how fast you write, what errors to look out for, and make it easier to think of good arguements quickly when given a subject.
  

Bad Tips

• "Write as much as possible. Longer essays get higher scores". True, but that´s one of those cases where correlation doesn´t mean cause and effect. Consider that students who are good writers and know what they want to say will find it easier to write a lot. That doesn´t mean you should just write when you´re not sure what comes next.
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• Make a reference to a novel you´ve read, preferably a well known one. Sounds good so far, in my most recent essay I mentioned "War Torn", not particularly well known, but I think it helped make my point. Make one up if you have to. What!? No. Don´t make up novels.
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• End with a quote said by a well-known person. I do that on essays for school. Make it up if you have to. What is wrong with this guy?! Memorize some quotes to use on the essay. Who cares if they have nothing to do with the subject, right? Even theough the graders aren´t supposed to mark you down for factual mistakes, you´ll sound like an idiot with an ending that sounds like: "...which is why technology can be both a boon and a curse. As Neil Armstrong said, "To be or not to be, that is the question".

Horrible Tip, What The Hell Are You Thinking?!

• Write the essay normally, then go back and change small words for bigger ones. For example, change "bad" and "many" for "egregious" and "plethora". What really gets me is that some student who´s never used the word "plethora" in their lives will remember this and end up with a sentence like: "The egregious boy missed plethora homework assignments". Think of the graders, please! I haven´t even mentioned that the whole thing will sound contrived and unwieldy. The huge words will be scrunched together and it´ll look like you puked up a thesaurus. There will be problems with tenses and times and a hundred other grammatical errors, not to mention the fact that you only have 25 minutes. I barely finished it, much less had time to proofread it and replace words like a demented spell checker.

Look, the simplest way to do well is practice writing fast. Try not to change a sentence once you´ve written it, you are more likely to end up with a repetition or verbs that don´t fit their subjects that you are otherwise. If you have time, go over it.

Don´t stress out. The graders know you have 25 minutes to read the prompt, choose a stance, come up with arguements and try to get them on paper. They aren´t expecting a thesis.

Here´s the link to the article. Pay close attention to the part about replacing words. The tips starts at the end of pages 3 and goes onto 4. Read it and weep.

Small Steps

Yes. 2 things solved.

Rensselaer checked its records and realized that I had, in fact, handed over 70 bucks.

My status on the USAFA page is still incomplete, but at least the whole transcript thing is solved. Despite the fact that it took them nearly 2 and a half months to do it. To be fair, there was a change of personnel in there at some time, so I kind of understand.

I should actually be further along in this whole admissions process at both schools, but now every little step counts. Although not quite fast enough. I still have a whole slew of translations to handle, which aren´t hard, but they are annoying. Some resumes and writing samples are still waiting and I´ve pretty much ignored the whole Common Apps thing.

Bright side: School´s out, in honor of which you get a link to Alice Cooper´s "School´s Out for the Summer". The muppet version.

Yay! More time to study for the SAT II! Speaking of which, I retook the SAT in November. I´ll cover that in my next post.

Rensselaer Admissions Fee

Once I filled in my Candidate's Choice Application to Rensselaer, I almost immediately paid the $70 admissions fee online. This around September. Ok, so actually my father paid it, but the point is it was paid. Rensselaer doesn't think so. My status is still listed as unpaid.

Now when it comes to $70 with a credit card statement to back it up, this sort of thing annoys me. I sent them an (exceedingly polite) e-mail telling them to check their records and update my status, offering to send them a copy of the statement with dates, amount and recipient.

I hope they reply soon. Rensselaer looks like a good school.

Hofstra and the TEC

I'm done with all the Hofstra stuff. All I have to do now is wait for their response.

To be completely honest, I'm not all that excited about it. The only major that interests me even mildly there is Russian (they don't seem to offer Aeronautical or Aerospace engineering) and I don't think I really want to make a language my prime major.

On the other hand, I want to learn Russian at some point...

I'm done with the TEC, too. (Instituto Tecnologico de Costa Rica, no, I don't know how they managed to turn that into TEC). Before you take the admissions test you have to pick your major. There are ways to change it later, but its extremely hard and depends on whether there are any open spaces in the major to which you want to change. As it is, I'm accepted in Biotecnology, which sounds pretty cool, although I admit I didn't actually look it up at all. Since I don't seriously expect to go to the TEC (University of Costa Rica, UCR, is better), that doesn't bother me much.