<p>my mom's been buggin gme about this for weeks now ever since i got my princeton deferral
she thinks the reason i didn't get in but my friend did (who is also an asian) is because his sat was 2380 and mine was a 2350.
her logic: once youre in the sat stratosphere, it makes you more competitive. and she thinks i should have taken a prep course for my writing. </p>
<p>my thoughts: this is not true. </p>
<p>what are your thoughts? who's right? thankss guys!</p>
<p>There are other factors. Class rank, GPA, and essays. 30 points is not an overly significant difference.</p>
<p>Yeah usually when you hit around 2300 and such, your sat scores are all valued the same and other academic factors and extracurriculars are more prevalent in the decision</p>
<p>I agree with Rain202. I really, really do not think Princeton compares SAT scores and goes “Oh, this kid scored 30 points higher than this one. We’ll accept this kid and defer the other.” So many factors. So hard to predict. You are probably a bright student. Still competitive in the deferred pool!</p>
<p>Is your friend exactly the same as you except for those 30 points? Of course not.</p>
<p>No one knows the answer to this question except for the people on the admission committee. If your mom really wants to know, she should talk with your guidance counselor, and find out if that person can contact Princeton for an answer.</p>
<p>A difference of 30 points is negligible. Your ECs, essays, and recommendations are different. Even you have similar academic records (GPA, rigor, etc.), there are still significant differences in your applications from these subjective components.</p>
<p>Your 2350 is an excellent score and is definitely not harming you in admissions. People with 2400s are turned away all the time.</p>
<p>Further, prepping is not going to make a 2350 a 2400, nor is it going to make a 2350 a 2380. The marginal return on time spent studying greatly diminishes as your score increases. Once you’re 2300+, the difference in scores is mostly a matter of luck, which test you happened to get, and how you were feeling that day. You’ve already essentially done all you can.</p>
<p>thanks everyone (:
i just showed her this post and she said that asians have it harder and so little things make a big difference.</p>
<p>ohmg if i don’t get into a good school shes going to go bezerk</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Not that much harder, and little things make a little difference next to bigger things ;)</p>
<p>Hopefully she calms down soon :)</p>
<p>Perhaps have her listen to the NPR report on Amherst admissions – you get a sense of the subjective nature of the final round decisions. </p>
<p>[Behind</a> The Scenes: How Do You Get Into Amherst? : NPR](<a href=“Behind The Scenes: How Do You Get Into Amherst? : NPR”>Behind The Scenes: How Do You Get Into Amherst? : NPR)</p>