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<p>Unusual but certainly not bizarre. Smith has been honing its admission skills for 135 years. I have to believe by now they’re competent at what they do. Obviously LiT’s dtr is an exceptional French woman/student and the admission staff did what they deemed necessary to enhance the probability she would matriculate…and it worked!</p>
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<p>What leads you to believe they did?</p>
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<p>Ditto</p>
<p>Admission, especially with a merit award, for a candidate with 440ish Math SAT is so unusual that referencing it on a “chances” thread is probably overly-optimistic, as LiT warned in her earlier post. Still, every year, students are admitted to schools where no one thought that had a shot - - it’s like a lottery ticket: unlikely, but you never know.</p>
<p>As for the common data set (2008-09):</p>
<p>Critical Reading
700-800 30.62%
600-699 45.16%
500-599 20.76%
400-499 3.29%
300-399 0.17% </p>
<p>Math
700-800 17.99%
600-699 48.62%
500-599 27.85%
400-499 4.67%
300-399 0.87%</p>
<p>I am surprised that students were admitted with such low scores, but I wasn’t sitting on the committee, so I don’t know what else those students brought to the table. </p>
<p>(Just out of curiosity - - is either OP or LiT’s D urm? Common mythology on these boards and, according to D, even at Smith, is that the only successful applicants w/ low numbers are urm.)</p>
<p>Ummm…just to let everyone know, I’m not at all banking on merit aid (or admission, for that matter–from Smith or from anywhere else in the U.S.). I’m aware that it’s ridiculously hard to come by, especially as the only merit scholarship international students are eligible for is STRIDE (which, as most people reading this thread know already, has a pool of around 30-50 each year). </p>
<p>@ foolishpleasure: I hope I can make the rest of my application a bit stronger and more convincing to admissions than the numbers printed on a lottery ticket. I would guess, as well, that the 4.67% who were admitted in the 400-range were able to do the same with their own files. </p>
<p>Sorry to sound more infinitely naive than I already have, but what on earth does “urm” mean?</p>
<p>URM = “underrepresented minority” Undergraduate institutions aim for diversity, and since URMs historically score lower on standardized tests due to the test’s cultural bias and, in the case of economically disadvantaged URMs, to poorer preparation that doesn’t reflect actual ability and intelligence, URMs are given slightly more leeway when it comes to test scores but not when it comes to grades. In the case of LiT’s daughter, I suspect that Smith took a look at the French educational system and determined that her D excelled within that structure in such a way that made her low math SAT meaningless.</p>
<p>Ah. That makes sense. (<em>grins stupidly</em>)</p>
<p>Thanks MWFN ( sourire)</p>
<p>In response to MFWN’s post, while I agree that people who bring diversity to the school are often given more leeway with SAT scores, and race is definitely one of them (perhaps even the most common) it should be noted that there are lots of ways other than race for this to occur. For example, maybe someone has won international math competitions but has a 390 on the verbal section of the SATs. </p>
<p>Other things that might get someone a “boost” include sports ability, living somewhere that doesn’t send many people to Smith (Mongolia, Afghanistan, South Dakota) having family members who attended (and/or donated lots of money to) Smith, overcoming a disability, economic hardship, family difficulties, and others too numerous to mention.</p>
<p>Yes, of course, Stacy. Many, many factors contribute to admissions decisions. I was only replying to the question, “What on earth does urm mean?”</p>
<p>“it should be noted that there are lots of ways other than race for this to occur.”</p>
<p>^^^ Absolutely!! That’s why I said “common mythology” that only urm applicants are admitted with such low numbers. And, while I wish OP the best of luck, I suspect that many of the applicant in the 4.6% pool fell into one of the special/“hooked” categories to which Stacy referred. Or they may have submitted other standardized scores (AP or IB tests) that suggest the SAT math score was an aberration.</p>
<p>But, continuing the lottery analogy: ya gotta be in it, ta win it. If this is the year that both oboe players graduate and the college is willing to cut an oboe virtuoso some slack, you have absolutely no chance of being next year’s first chair oboe, regardless of how strong your academic profile, unless you apply. So apply, keep your grades up and your fingers crossed - - that’s all you can do (unless, maybe, your family can fund a chair in the Econ dept.).</p>
<p>…which they can’t, unless it somehow becomes the “Economically Disadvantaged” department.:)</p>