<p>Here's my story re: SAT scores for son number two. He took the SAT's, well, way back in 1996 I suppose. He got at that time as a junior V600 M800. 1400 combined. Applied to PENN, amongst others, RPI, CMU, Lehigh, as an engineering major. Rank: 10th in the class of a small HS graduating class of 105. So rank wasn't great. But had an interview with a college rep from PENN....his list of extra-curriculars filled two pages!! He was a class officer, played first trombone on the band, worked in the church rectory since he was 14 yrs old, was captain of the wrestling team, president of the math club, spent a summer in Japan as the representative of the HS with scholarship, an officer in the Italian Club, and won the RPI Award and Math award in his Junior Year and attended the CTY summer programs three years in a row. The interviewer said to him..now I see why you are only ranked tenth in the class. How did you fit all this in? My son said he NEVER studied as he just didn't have the time. He was accepted to PENN! Moral of the story......they are looking not for just the bookworms, but those that can add something to their campus life...those that demonstrate that there is more to life than studying in your dorm room. Every campus has those! He did graduate from PENN and still lives and works there. So engrossed in campus and fraternity life that he hasn't left!!!!!! He has been in W Philly since 1997.</p>