<p>Apparently, last year, 7 students were admitted to MIT with an SAT Math score of 550-590.</p>
<p>Now we all know, a score of 560, in CC "sucks." Heck, a score of 720 in CC gets "I am sorry but that's just too low" responses in the "Chances" forum. </p>
<p>So what does this say? Personally, I feel MIT is one of the top schools in the country largely because of their ability to pick students. IMO, they look at the whole picture and take students who have talent and a love for learning. As in "Ok maybe this kid doesn't like math but he loves writing."</p>
<p>Again, this is in my IMO and I don't know if I am right or not. But who are these 7 students? Have they published a book on philosphical studies? What offset their scores and if nothing, what is MIT looking for?</p>
<p>P.S- Yes I applied to MIT. It's one of my two first choices (lol, I couldn't choose)</p>
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<p>EDIT: The reason why the 7 kids with the low Math scores surprised me more than the 63 with low Critical Reading scores is because MIT is known as mostly a science + math school.</p>
<p>I must assume that some other statistics proved that they were very good in math. Some people just don't do well on the SAT math section as it is very trick-question oriented instead of actually testing your ability to do math. That person probably did very well on the ACTs, had high grades in hard math courses, etc. Math SAT is not the only indicator of your ability to do math.</p>
<p>These students could have also been international students that did not do well on the SAT but did fine on the TOEFL and in international math competitions that just had problems understanding directions/questions.</p>
<p>Admissions has said time and time again that they are looking for the whole package so maybe they overlooked the fact that these 7 people scored in the 500s on SAT math. It's not really noteworthy except to you stat-minded people who cant see that people have other things to offer besides test scores.</p>
<p>Who knows, maybe they had a stomach virus on SAT day, and had no other chance to retake the SAT, but had a good AMC score or something to make up for it.</p>
<p>Some people are just really good test takers while others are not so much. It doesn't mean that they're not smart. These 7 people probably had applications that showed personality, determination, achievements, and decent grades. Test scores aren't always the great indicator of how a person will flourish, thrive, or succeed.</p>
<p>Also, MIT doesn't specify whether they use all submitted SAT scores in that measurement, or if they just use the highest score each applicant had.</p>
<p>If it is the former, then someone might have submitted a test with 590 math, but retook it later and got a higher score (or superscored it, or whatever)</p>
<p>I actually kind of respect someone who could get into MIT with a math score in the 500s (if that was their highest score). They must be really cool in many other respects.</p>
<p>A few years ago the Wall St. Journal had a long article about a truly disadvantaged inner-city kid who had been admitted to MIT but required lots of supplemental help, both before and after enrollment, to be able to hack it. After a couple of years, he was basically up to speed. The student was incredibly admirable, highly motivated, and had conquered all sorts of academic and non-academic challenges. He was the best math/science student any of his teachers had ever seen, but that didn't make up for the fact that he simply hadn't had the opportunity for what most of us consider adequate math training until his junior year in high school, and he had a lot of ground to make up.</p>
<p>That's probably the profile of someone accepted at MIT with a 590 Math SAT I.</p>
<p>@ JHS - I think MIT likes applicants who try hard to succeed when they have the odds stacked against them. I've read a few stories like that. Definitely admirable.</p>
<p>EDIT - CC placed this post above AKiss20. It was supposed to go under his/hers. If this post is placed under Akiss20, then disregard this message. :p</p>