Is there any chance of me getting into highly selective colleges like Cornell, NYU, Emory, U Mich, etc. with a very low CR Score? Consider this-
SAT I
Critical Reading- 550
Math-800
Writing-780
Also, I’ll be taking SAT Subject tests in which I believe, I’ll score well. I have huge list of ECs. Bad Academics- 70% on an average.
What are my chances? I really wish to get into. Cornell (Economics).
Look at the Common Data Set, section C (google it) for each school on your list, soy can see what your chances are. You will also need your GPA, class rank, etc…
I would suggest retaking your SAT and trying to get that reading score up. Most schools will superscore (use the best scores from each time you take the test), so you won’t be jeopardizing that excellent Math and writing score. Given your writing score, I’m assuming the 550 was a fluke and something and you can easily bring up.
Common data set? Section C?
I’ve seen a person’s profile having scored 1870 on SAT I and getting into Cornell.
I’ve tried hard to get that up. But it just doesn’t work. And ot’s not possible for me to take it again. I have other tests to take now. What do you suggest @N’s Mom?
It’s not just your CR test scores that is a problem, it’s you GPA that is too low also. Do you have an issue with reading? An undiagnosed LD maybe? Can you explain why your GPA is so low? Those schools you mentioned are highly unlikely. There’s got to be more to your story.
Almost every school publishes their Common Data Set. Section C gives the academic stats for their admitted students. I don’t usually like to spoon-feed, but I’ll do it here as an example: https://dpb.cornell.edu/documents/1000554.pdf
If you scroll down to section C, you will notice that 10% of admitted students had a reading score between 500 and 599. And you can rest assured that those students had something exceptional to offer the school: The experience of being a URM, a recruited athlete, the kid whose parents paid for the library, a life experiences or personal accomplishments in some other area, were so extraordinary that they overlooked the reading score.
Now look up the common data set for all the other schools on your list. And yes, your GPA and class rank can also be checked against those admitted at each school. For each area where you are below average, know that you will need to offset that deficiency with something well above average…
And remember, spend at least as much time researching your safeties as you do your matches and reaches.
@amtc Ya, I do have a problem with that. I hardly read any books and is not interested in Literature. What is Undiagnosed LD?
I wasn’t well during my 11th standard exams which ruined my average percentage.
Well, I’ve got good ECs but not of National Kevel. Will they compensate anyhow?
@N’s Mom will my essays and ECs be sufficient to compensate to my deficiency in GPA and CR score?
Also, I did not understand the last paragraph.
I don’t know what’s going to be in your essays and ECs so I can’t say whether they could compensate for academic deficiencies. At best, these schools - the ones where you are not squarely in the ‘typical’ stats ranges - are reaches. The schools where are are in range are matches. (And any school with less than a 15% acceptance rate is by definition a reach, no matter what your stats are.)
What the last paragraph means is that people often spend a lot of time hoping for the best - that they will get into a reach school, or at least a match school. They should spend some serious time planning for the worst case scenario which is that they don’t get into any of those schools and end up at a safety. (A safety is a school where you are 95% sure you will get in because you are a superior candidate from their perspective, you can afford attend, and you would be happy there. If you don’t have at least one and preferably two solid safeties, you need to prepare yourself for the other option: A gap year and the reapplication process.)
Are you an int’l?
ONLY if you have national or international-level ECs or an incredible and unique talent will you be able to offset your test score.
An exception would be if English is not your first language and/or you did not attend an English-speaking school.
What’s your budget?
Are you, by any chance, international?
(Just so you know, in the US, 70% is the limit before you’re kicked out of school, basically. Students with a GPA in the 70s aren’t ready to go to college and have to attend a community college first in order to show that they’ve developed work ethics and maturity. I know that in some countries 70% means top 10% nationally, but not here at all!)
LD = learning disability. for instance, fi tihs loosk nomral to you, then you may have a LD called Dyslexia. If printed letters blur together, or if certain fonts look fuzzy whereas others don’t, you may have a LD. There are lots of LD. You can be smart and have a LD, in fact the smarter you are, the more you’re able to “hide” your LD by compensating for it, through tremendous effort and often headaches.
Yes, I am an international student: Indian. Our first language is not English. As I said I had health problems during my 11th standard exams and I scored 9.2 CGPA in my 10th and will obviously score well in 12th. And no, I don’t suffer from LD problem.
This is a common misconception.
According to [Dr. Jody A. Jedlicka](http://www.learningrx.com/dyslexia-symptoms2.htm), “In 1920’s medical descriptions, dyslexia was known as “word blindness” and was blamed for letter and word reversal. Recent research, however, shows that dyslexics don’t see letters or words backwards but cannot hear or break words into individual sounds, blend them together, or manipulate them.”
More common signs of dyslexia include leaving out function words (at, of, the…) when reading, being able to read a word on one page but not the next, reading aloud in a monotone, running sentences together when the read (because they don’t see punctuation), difficulty rhyming, and writing sentences without capital letters at the beginning or punctuation at the end.
An Indian 70% Class X is nothing like a 70% in the US!
And for an international THE KEY QUESTION is “How much can your parents afford?”
@MYOS1634 what do you mean by and Indian 70% in class X is nothing a 70% in the US?
And FYI I scored 9.2 CGPA in X and not 70%.
I’ll be able to go only when I get 100% scholarship.
Your only chance to have a full ride scholarship is to increase that reading score by 50 points to have an 800+600 single sitting. This way you can apply for automatic scholarships. Look in the financial aid forum, there’s a pinned thread on top.
I mean that numbers have different meanings depending on the educational system. An 18/20 in Iran does not mean the same as 18/20 in France which does not mean the same as in India or the US.
Missed that you were an international the first time. With those scores, I think it is unlikely that you would get the kind of financial aid you need to come to the US. I’m sorry. There are many applicants from India with close to perfect test scores and grades, great ECs and recommendations - and many of them don’t get the financial aid they need to attend the kinds of schools you are aiming at.
I would suggest that you go to college in India (or Singapore if that is more affordable), and come to the US for grad school.
@MYOS1634 what if I get 600/600+ this time in CR? Will that be good enough? Education system in India is hard, it is much difficult than in other countries. Considering our intellect, we’re innovative, passionate and hard working.
@N’s MOM what is the harm in applying to US universities. Might the odds be in my favour. Also may be my application sounds genuine to the Adcoms. May it shows that I’m passionate about Economics and that they don’t see such things in other person’s profile with nearly oerfect stats?
I don’t think N’s mom is saying not to apply, just make sure to have safeties in your country that you can afford and would be happy to attend in case you don’t get accepted in the US or don’t get the financial aid you need to be able to attend.
To have a shot at the kind of scholarships you need, you must have 1400 CR+M. So, 600CR+800M, or some other combination.
The problem is that there are, literally, tens of thousands of bright, creative, passionate, hard-working young Indians who long to study in the US… and many whose parents can pay. So if you need a scholarship it’s going to be very very difficult to gain admission to colleges that don’t have automatic admission+scholarship criteria (such as UAlabama or Temple or Miami Ohio).
If you are Dhalit or Parsi or Jain or Adaman or Gujarat etc… it’ll be a plus for you. If you won’t want to major in a science it’s a rare case where it’d help.