Chance me for Carleton College LOW SAT

Info: International, female, 17, white, post-soviet country, war refugee, parents divorced, minority, low-income

Stats: School doesn’t do class ranks or GPA, but my grades are very good
High TOEFL score
My SAT score is 1030. I took the SAT for the first time and there’s no chance for me to retake it so that’s why I’m worried. It was a one-year anniversary of the murder of two schoolmates that day. I’m not trying to justify my score but it did affect my performance.
I couldn’t take SAT subject tests because I couldn’t afford to.

Extracurriculars:
Music: Piano, cello, flute, viola
I also play an instrument which is quite rare & odd to see on an app and I thought I’d add it to my ECs too
Vocal training (classical)
LGBT activism
Community service
5 foreign languages (self-taught in 3, only member of my family who speaks English)
Mock elections
Volleyball
Book club (founder)
Astronomy club (founder)
Paid work part-time

School doesn’t offer AP/honors/IB. My letters of recommendation should be good because I asked two of the teachers who know me best & challenge me most. I got positive comments on my essay and I think it’s good.

I know Carleton is need-aware & with my SAT score I probably don’t have chances but I just wanted to ask what you guys think. Thank you very much in advance!

Hey, I’d say you generally have an extremely low chance unless you portrait your background in a really interesting/unique way in your application.

Out of all of Class’22 for Carleton, only 25 students have the sat scores of your range. Note, many of these students may be family members of major donors, recruited athletes e.t.c

TOEFL doesn’t matter unless it’s lower than 110, then it will hinder your application.

Gl tho

@iwantcollegeplz thank you for your time!

It’s really hard to tell, because you don’t have a GPA. You say your grades are very good, but with no GPA and a low SAT, there’s really not a good way for the school to assess you academically. I know that Carleton really is holistic in how they approach things, and if you explain why your score was low, it might have some bearing. But they need a way to see if you can do the work, and how you compare to other students coming in. They usually use the SAT and GPA for that. So unless you have another way to show them how strong you are academically, there’s not a high chance you’ll get in.

Regardless of whether Carleton admits you, you seem like a great person with great character, and many colleges will definitely see that. Don’t worry!

@langmore that’s very kind of you :slight_smile: Thanks!