<p>newmassdad, maybe that CDS data is the truth. Or maybe someone in admissions has the same sort of sense of humor that I have. :)</p>
<p>LadyDianeski, of course students with SATs in the 500’s and 600’s are the exception at Harvard. 25% of the students had SAT scores of 700/690/690 or lower. It is a very safe bet that the number of students in that cohort with scores in the high 600’s is larger than the number of students with low 600 scores, which would be larger than those with 500 scores. But let’s be generous and assume that half of those students scored in the 600-700 range, and half in the 500-600 range. So, at most, half of the 25th percentile–12.5% of the Harvard student body–had SAT scores around 600. Cut that number in half again to account for all the hooked students, and that means that just over 7% of the Harvard student population would have SAT scores in that range and be typical unfamous unwealthy kids. They might have something special about them that doesn’t immediately pop up; maybe one is a gifted poet, another founded a food bank with tutoring for single parent families, and yet another was responsible for caring for several younger siblings while both parents were critically ill. People can be surprisingly humble about their accomplishments. </p>
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<p>Not so much discourage as educate. It’s one thing if a student wants to throw a Hail Mary pass by applying to a school where the student’s stats are significantly below the norm. It’s something else entirely when that student thinks they’ve got a real shot because look, even the Harvard materials show that some students got in with 600-ish SATs. You don’t need to be a Harvard adcom to have a bunch of clues about someone’s relative chances when the admissions rates and percentiles are so easily available. If a kid wants to go to Harvard, but has 600 SATs, far better to educate him/her (or his/her parents). Help them to find out about other schools that they’d love where their admissions chances are better. Let them go into the process with eyes wide open. If they win the lottery, more power to them. If they don’t, they’ll still be admitted to schools that aren’t just an afterthought.</p>
<p>You’ve already stated that your son isn’t interested in the Ivys, and is happily looking at schools where he has a good shot at significant merit aid. He’s not the kind of kid I’m talkng about. Now imagine that another young man, with stats similar to your son’s, is convinced that he’d be happiest at Harvard. Would you just want to tell him to go for it? Or would you want to realistically temper his expectations?</p>