<p>Firstly, we’re talking about 2400 scorers, not 2300+ scorers, who are ALSO valedictorians. I know many 2300+ scorers who are not valedictorians at my school.</p>
<p>Cornell and Penn combined could plausibly have enough room for people scoring above a 2350 and are valedictorians. Cornell enrolls nearly 14k undergrads (13,935), and Penn enrolls 10,301 undergrads. A rough estimate of each entering class size would have you divide by four, getting 6,059 students in each freshman class.</p>
<p>No way. No offense, but valedictorian/2400 are way to common. Schools, ESPECIALLY Ivies, pretty much avoid test taking robots. But colleges like UC Berkeley basically accept all valedictorians and 2300+</p>
<p>How likely is it that a Val with a 2400 would “fail” the essay and/or interview? Not very likely at all. It’s a more or less random selection process akin to finding Willy Wonka’s golden ticket.</p>
<p>@LakeClouds it’s still possible. In my opinion, my essays weren’t that great and my interview was decent (not superb), even though I was valedictorian. My SAT’s were pretty low as well…</p>
<p>the val of my school with a 2400 did not get into any Ivy’s…meanwhile a Hispanic student that was 5th in the class with much better writing ability got into every Ivy. Admissions look for a lot more than just classrank/gpa/testscores</p>
<p>LakeClouds, I do read Ivy apps, not as an adcom, but seasonal- and 2400’s and vals DO screw up the essays, questions and their ECs don’t always show substance outside their little hs environment. It’s pretty sad, at times. You get kids who can’t answer the "Why Us?, who tell interviewers some other school (ivy or non) is really their first choice, and write ridiculously self-serving essays. When you’re talking thousand of kids with high stats, maybe one B since 9th, leadership, and even charm, why settle for stats alone?</p>
<p>So many valedictorians that have 2400? That is just completely false… There are probably many valedictorians that have above 2300, but in terms of a valedictorian that also has a score of 2400, it’s probably less than 300 people.</p>
<p>^
The difference between a 2400 and a 2300 is 3 or 4 questions. Between a 2400 and a mid-2300? Two questions.</p>
<p>I had a 2340 (-2 in math) and was Val of a weak high school. Class size of 532.</p>
<p>I did get into one Ivy, but I was rejected from the seven others, Duke, Northwestern, Chicago, and Stanford. I had fairly strong ECs as well… District Governor of a service organization, Eagle Scout, Ac Dec Co-Captain. I should also mention that I am Asian.</p>
<p>Really, you’re screwing yourself before you even begin if you attend a weak public which rarely sends people to Ivies. Being Val there doesn’t mean nearly as much as if it were at a top public or a private school. I don’t think I was really able to shake the perception that I was a one-eyed king of the blind good at gaming standardized tests and outgunning others for the leadership positions I held.</p>
<p>But I did get into one Ivy, to answer the question.</p>
<p>384 2011 College-Bound seniors scored 2400 on their SAT.</p>
<p>7219 2011 College-Bound seniors scored above a 2300 on their SAT.</p>
<p>Even though it is a matter of a few questions, that is a significant difference between those who actually get a 2400 and those who are close.</p>
<p>Thus, when you make it even more selective by wanting the 384 who scored 2400 to also be a valedictorian, I highly doubt that the number would be over 300.</p>
<p>Basically, there aren’t many 2400 Valedictorians!</p>
<p>Whether the value of being a valedictorian at a bad public school is high is another question :D</p>
<p>I made this point earlier, but it seems that all the other posters just ignored it:</p>
<p>Cornell and Penn combined could plausibly have enough room for people who scored above a 2350 and who are valedictorians. Cornell enrolls nearly 14k undergrads (13,935), and Penn enrolls 10,301 undergrads. A rough estimate of each entering class size would have you divide by four, getting 6,059 students in each freshman class.</p>