<p>I saw a post answering my question a few weeks ago, but I just cannot find it.</p>
<p>Someone said something about what a good SAT score would be if you’re applying to Brown with your strongest asset being academics.
I am in the top 3% of class, have a wonderful transcript with all A’s, attend a Newsweek ranked school… yadda yadda yadda.</p>
<p>I feel somewhat inadequate though, seeing as how I don’t have 200 hours of community service [although I have maybe 20 as of right now], haven’t started my business, and all that other stuff many CC’ers have on their resumes. </p>
<p>I have a few leadership positions, but as dedicated to all the clubs I am a part of, the hours that I actively participate in them seem minimal.</p>
<p>I just got my SAT scores today. 2230 [CR 740 M 710 W 780]</p>
<p>I am very satisfied with that score, given that it was my first time taking them and I only studied [although it was very hard-core studying] for a week or two. I told myself that I would not retake them if I got a 2250. So I’m 20 points shy. I think I should definitely retake them… I’m just nervous about seeing my score drop. </p>
<p>What SAT score should I have if academics is my strong point? [I know this is the case for virtually everyone applying to Brown, but as I stated, many others applying to Brown have other assets.] I know I’ll be aiming for 2400, but what score should I be most satisfied with?</p>
<p>Your SAT score is already very high. I would retake them just because I've heard people say that the math in June was the hardest ever. If you got a 710 this time, you could probably raise it 10 or 20 points by the next test without even studying.</p>
<p>Well that's encouraging!
Math is not my strongest... I got a 750 on the Lvl 2 subject test, but I feel that that's unacceptable after everyone here on CC gets 800s.<br>
I think with the summer to understand some of the concepts I was a bit fuzzy on I could see some nice improvement.</p>
<p>The most irksome aspect of my score is the 11 I got on the essay. Writing is a strong suit of mine, but I just wasn't feeling my essay too much. I thought I'd be docked for writing about Kurt Cobain...</p>
<p>Does Brown superscore? Most schools do, correct?</p>
<p>Yes, I'm pretty sure most Ivies superscore.</p>
<p>I think the SAT essay graders are really erratic... the first time I took it I thought I wrote a poor essay. It was extremely generic with low level vocabulary and not good examples. I got an 11 on it.</p>
<p>In June I wrote an amazing essay with very high level vocabulary and made references to The Great Gatsby and current events for examples. It was very well organized. I got a 9 on it. :p</p>
<p>Your SAT should be as good as you can get it</p>
<p>Save athletic recruits, almost everyone's strongest point is academics. Or rather, academics AND something else. No one gets in without outstanding academics. You're going to have to make your essays and academics superlative to stand out from the crowd -- but honestly, that's true for everyone.</p>
<p>That's what I've realized over the past few weeks.
My friends all think I'm insane to retake the SATs.
But retaking it won't hurt. In fact, I don't mind prepping for standardized tests. So I won't complain.</p>
<p>Too bad that even if I get accepted to Brown, I'm more than likely gonna end up @ UMASS Amherst for financial reasons, and this will all be a waste of time. Damn economy.</p>
<p>from personal experience, i think brown puts more emphasis on your personal passion in what you love and what you're learning.. i know many people who got turned down with great scores to many with perhaps more appealing personal character, hooks, etc. not saying this is always the case, and your good scores are certainly an asset (though i also think you probably should take the sats again if you think you can do better- it won't hurt), but i would try sharpening up some of your ECs to the best you can and make a point of emphasizing whatever they are, even if you're not extremely involved in all of them, and how they make you a stand-out candidate. in other words, try to play up your perhaps lack of depth in your Ecs in your essay by, say, just writing about what makes you unique, interesting, or passionate about something, to separate you from the many high scorers out there. even if you haven't been able to really lead or do something extraordinary in your ECs/non-academic aspects, if you care about them and/or education in general (which i would assume you do if you apply to Brown!) then convey that in your essays so it can be seen!</p>
<p>I'm certainly counting on my essay as being a strong point.
But I keep changing my mind about what to write about.</p>
<p>I wrote a Spanish journal entry about my deep passion for learning that my teacher found very impressive, so I was thinking I would something along those lines.
However, the common theme amongst my EC's is helping people. So I was thinking I might want to write about that.
The more I think about this, the more it all seems so... superficial? But it's not, and that's what's frustrating me.</p>
<p>Might it be possible for me to write an essay about both my dedication to learning and my inherent empathy? I guess I could write about how I love to learn and to share what I learn with others... And my own take on "Ignorance is bliss..."</p>
<p>Ugh: this isn't sounding like one of those stand-out essays you hear about.</p>
<p>One more question: Will working @ Kumon this fall look good on my app? If so... just how good? Lol. This is getting sad.</p>
<p>I felt like my academics were my strongest point, too. (I also had a handful of leadership positions and such, but little community service.) My SAT scores were higher than yours, but I wouldn't say yours are too low necessarily. Only retake if you think you can improve a lot. (For example, have you yet gone through all the tests in the blue book? If not, spend your summer poring over them and retake in the fall.)</p>
<p>If you feel like you're a strong math student, you can probably improve the SAT II math (as well as the SAT I math, for that matter). Do you have a TI-89 (an investment you won't regret)?</p>
<p>As a side note, I don't intend to sound like I'm telling you your scores are poor. This is just my general maximize-your-SAT-score advice :D</p>
<p>When the conversation turned to TI-89's i feompelled to share my experience hehe : )</p>
<p>I'm an 89 addict... my uncle gave me his my HS freshman year, and it was the best present I think I've ever gotten. It's an amazing machine. If you even liiiike math at all, you'll love it. Or if you hate it, you'll love how easy it makes some things : D
All of my personal experience aside, an 89 probalt cbly wont get you an amazing SAT score alone - anything you know how to do with an 89 you can do by hand or with an 83 - BUT, it could a) get you 1-2 questions right by letting you skip right through a couple tricky/tedious steps, or b) get you 1-2 questions right by saving you time throughout the test, if you're the type who struggles with the time restriction. All things said, don't spend 120-150 dollars (used on ebay etc... for less?) on the 89 for the SAT alone, but it will be SO useful in math class and with homework and studies in general, especially if you take calc. (yay indefinite integrals : ) )</p>
<p>Regarding essays - I found it way easier when I was writing to think of my application in its entirety, rather than thinking about each essay only individually. I tried to give my application an overriding theme - something that really made who I am stand out. I didn't only write about how I love math, for instance - I talked about it as a medium for communicating who I am and how I think and what I do on the whole. Best advice anyone ever gave me was just to write what felt right and don't force anything - try to imagine what the admissions people are going to come away with about you after reading your whole application, it might make each essay piece seem less daunting!</p>
<p>hilly, with all due respect, you have absolutely no idea what Brown puts emphasis on or why certain people with certain stats got rejected or accepted. And neither do I. Nor does anyone. I think Brown touts its commitment to "the whole person," but what they are really saying is "the whole application you give me." And I think SATs carry much more weight than they like to admit -- at ANY school. The only thing you can do in college admissions is pimp out your application like Jay Z on coke. That's the only thing. It's not that those kids didn't have the right passion, or the right things, it's that they didn't present what they did have in the right way. Or they just got unlucky and were not received well.</p>
<p>oh i know, i just felt that way from personal experience, not as fact.. it could be totally wrong, but just thought i'd try to dissect what happened for me.</p>