<p>I completely agree with californiakid.</p>
<p>Bear in mind folks, these are hypothetical stats. Good luck gettin what you say you will get.</p>
<p>What so many are missing is who has the scores under the 50%. We're talking all the recruited athletes (OK there are a few exceptions),many URMs, legacies, the super connected and rich and famous. Whites and Asians withut one of those hooks tend to be 75% and above.</p>
<p>Also, does being a girl help? NO!!!!!!! There are more girls in top colleges than guys. Where do you people get your info?</p>
<p>Legacies at Stanford probably get on average higher SAT scores in general, URM don't bring down the curve by much. The super connected and rich and famous make up such a tiny, tiny percentage of the applicant pool that it doesn't matter. And as you said, recruited athletes often have very high SATs.</p>
<p>Basically, the groups you list probably don't have much lower SATs than average and they are all so small compared to the overall applicant pool that it doesn't matter anyway.</p>
<p>She was asking if being a girl helped because she wants to do hard sciences at college, where girls are the minority and so it might help a little (look at MIT and even hard science programs at Harvard). </p>
<p>So please read the thread before speaking condescendingly to everyone and posting misinformed 'groundbreaking facts' like the SAT thing. Like I said before, a 2300 SAT is an incredible score to any school.</p>
<p>"So please read the thread before speaking condescendingly to everyone and posting misinformed 'groundbreaking facts' like the SAT thing. Like I said before, a 2300 SAT is an incredible score to any school." </p>
<p>Yeahhhh....
I tend to agree with what californiakid and suze said, but no one can really state absolute truths. As for you, Madd Stressed, you're offering no facts with any evidence, so I don't know how you can say everyone else is misinformed. </p>
<p>To yeahhyeahyeah: Your SAT score is fabulous, I don't see why everyone is stessing out about it. But, like californiakid said, you should concentrate on what makes you stand out. Develop some outstanding activities or achievements. Your stats qualify you, but your achievements will help get you in to the top schools.</p>
<p>Standing out is a key tactic to acceptance to the elite few.</p>
<p>well im hoping to get higher than a 740, but id rather put it too low than too high
thanks. ok. extra curricular.. work on SAT some.. gender doesnt help.. and... a hook.</p>
<p>thank you =) then if i cud somehow afford a non-florida university... lol</p>
<p>Yale08, I'm not saying everyone else is misinformed. I am saying that Suze is misinformed to suggest that small groups with fairly high SATs can bring down the curve as much as she suggests that they do.</p>
<p>Small groups? The groups I mentioned comprise aprox 50% at top colleges.</p>
<p>Your estimations are very high--I hope you can put in the work/have the innate talent to do that well, because the difference between 740 and 800 is much smaller than the difference between, say, 540 and 600 I think.</p>
<p>Average stats for an Ivy League/Stanford applicant. Your recs and essay could really tip the scale either way.</p>
<p>Forget about trying to raise your SAT I score. It's good enough. I think some schools actually get turned off by those who try to raise their already high scores by another 30 or 40 points (the worst are those with 1590 trying to get 1600!). Instead of retaking SAT I, I'd put more time on SAT IIs (if you are planning on taking any) if I were you.</p>
<p>I assume you are a junior. Maybe you can do something interesting over the coming summer to strengthen your ECs (not that they are bad) although the greatest ECs I'd seen often involve something a bit more long-term than just a summer.</p>
<p>Hmm, do you think the stats are average for a person who applies or for a person who is actually admitted? I'm not sure, I heard from one person that at the extremely prestigious institutions (such as Harvard) that tons of "underqualified" applicants apply "for the heck of it", to see if they can get in.</p>
<p>I find that hard to believe - doing all that work and paying $100 or whatever just to get automatically rejected? I guess it could happen though.</p>
<p>Generally average for a person who applies. Perhaps.. 40-50% chance of acceptance? Not sure if that's a reasonable estimate. But yeah, although your application is solid, there are many similar students applying to Stanford. With applicants like you, the recs and essay are really important.</p>
<p>To throw some real statistics into this discussion, click on the link below. It contains stats from last year's accepted Freshman classes at sixteen top schools.</p>
<p>Number one lesson from these stats is even kids with absolutely top grades and SATs have, at best, about a 40 to 45% chance of getting into a school like Stanford. Kids with merely exceptional stats have, at best, about a 30% chance.</p>