I took the SATs again in early October. This has been the third time I’ve had to sit for that test but my results (which just came out a day ago) are painful to look at; my performance in the third test, sadly enough, was worse than in the second one.
I’m facing a dilemma at the present moment because although I consider myself to be a pretty good student, my SAT scores tell me otherwise. My highest score is 1690 (reading: 680, math: 400, writing: 610). You can probably already tell that I’m not the most gifted math student out there (it shows in my HS transcripts as well) but I wonder if the overall score will pose any significant hindrance in my quest to get accepted into UM.
As I mentioned previously, I consider myself to be a pretty good student: I’m in 12th grade and my unweighted GPA is currently 3.6. I attend an IB World School and take a total of four HL subjects (English, French, History, Geography) that are adding to my weighted GPA. I believe some unis assign credit to IB subjects taken at standard level, so this would be advantageous as well given the fact that I’m a candidate for the IB diploma. On top of that I participate in Model United Nations, hold a leadership position in our school’s Interact club, was formerly part of the school’s debate team, briefly a member of the chess club, was a member of the school’s yearbook team in 11th grade, and plan on doing additional community service work in my 12th grade year. Now, in addition to all of that, I am also an American of dual citizenship who grew up in East Africa. My plan is to spice up my essay [read: slightly embellish it] with African-related themes that will (hopefully) impress the folks up at the admissions office.
With all that said and done, what do you guys think my chances are of getting in to UM? My SAT score in math is appalling and I am afraid that that’ll hold me back. I’ve already had to cancel out many prospective colleges from my list (e.g. William & Mary) because I don’t think my score is up to par for certain high-caliber institutions.
Here is my alternative:
I take a gap year (which my parents are very much opposed to) and use that time to garner some work experience in an internship, all the while studying intensively for round 4 of the SATs.
What do you think? Also, what are some other good universities that you would recommend? I had to cancel out several good colleges when I discovered that I hadn’t improved my SAT score the third time round. One of the schools I’m considering is Rutgers University.I’m open to any university suggestions so long as they are in the US, non-sectarian, co-ed and not too small in size.