Do I have any shot at SCS with a 700M on the SAT I?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Carnegie Mellon University
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<p>i've taken it three times and i keep making stupid mistakes D:
i ended up with an 800 on the other two sections on my second sitting, so i took it a third time just to boost my math and again received a 700...
is it worth taking it a fourth time, or does that look bad?
would taking the ACT and trying for a 36 on the math section make up for it?
should i just set my sights on another school?</p>

<p>i dunno if this is relevant, but i have an 800 on the Math II and my projected score on the physics is ~800. also i currently have an A in BC calc and will be taking multivariable next year.</p>

<p>if you could answer any of my questions i'd appreciate it!</p>

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<p>You may have a shot - I wouldn’t bother taking the test again though. The 800 on the Math II should make up for it. What’s more important than those scores would be if you have taken comp sci classes in high school and maybe your demographic.</p>

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<p>Lol a 700 on an idiotic test like the SAT Math won’t detract from your chances if you have 800 in the Math II, physics, and are going to take Calc 3 next year. It is one small part of your application.</p>

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<p>Agree with metroplex, but see no harm in giving the ACT math a shot. Your 700 in M is less important if you get a 5 in AP Calc B/C. In that case, I would not bother given your SAT II score and projected physics score.</p>

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<p>It MAY hurt you, but given your other scores and classes, I doubt it will hurt that much.</p>

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<p>thanks, everyone!</p>

<p>[Admission</a> > Admission Statistics](<a href=“Home - Computing Services - Office of the CIO - Carnegie Mellon University”>Home - Computing Services - Office of the CIO - Carnegie Mellon University)</p>

<p>^it’s just that according to this, the middle 50% of accepted applicants have a Math I SAT score b/w 760-800…i’m nowhere near that range, lol :/</p>

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<p>That’s why it may hurt you… you bring down SCS’s SAT score range haha</p>

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<p>in response to megan12:
my school doesn’t offer any comp sci classes but i registered for an introductory programming course at the local uni for this summer. also i’m a first generation indian female in the US :p</p>

<p>^LOL yeah…by a lot haha
so would taking the SAT a fourth time remedy that?
i feel like it would just make me look desperate but idk much about the whole process…</p>

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<p>I doubt a 700 will hurt your chances, given other grades/scores. However, the admissions rate SCS was 8% this year. At that level of selectivity, the essays are more important than anything else.</p>

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<p>I’ve found with most majors at CMU they really love to see lots of passion for your major. Just show some passion and you’ll probably be fine! :)</p>

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<p>A first generation Indian female?? You just made up for that 700! LOL!</p>

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<p>^megan12 speaks the truth.</p>

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<p>yeah, i realize that even if i were a qualified applicant my chances of being accepted would be minuscule, but i just wanted to know if it would sound completely delusional to tell my counselor that i wanted to apply there ED, lol.</p>

<p>and wow, i thought that being indian would hurt my chances…?</p>

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<p>You’re double-hooked for CMU SCS. SCS really wants women.</p>

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<p>If you seriously are interested in CMU SCS to the exclusion of other undergraduate programs (MIT, Stanford), I would suggest you apply early decision. And visit the campus for an interview in the fall. My son applied ED and also flew across the country for the information session, tour and interview with the Admissions Office. My son also met with a member of the SCS department, not in an interview setting, but as an informational meeting. He ended up meeting with a professor and they had a good discussion. Here’s the link to that and another link about women in SCS. Good luck!!<br>
[Untitled</a> Document](<a href=“http://www.cs.cmu.edu/afs/cs/usr/cathyf/www/visitingus.html]Untitled”>Untitled Document)</p>

<p>[Women</a> in Computer Science: Carnegie Mellon’s Women@SCS](<a href=“http://women.cs.cmu.edu/]Women”>http://women.cs.cmu.edu/)</p>

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<p>PS. And my son was admitted! Forgot to mention that but perhaps it was implied?</p>

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<p>congratulations to your son! :D</p>

<p>this thread makes me happy - now i really want to apply there ED haha
thanks everyone, you’ve all been extremely helpful!</p>

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<p>@metroplex – I think you need to take it again, if you think you can improve, just to increase your odd.</p>

<p>I am sure everybody knows what the 760-800 middle 50 percentile means, but the implication here is significant if you analyze the data. It tells you that at least 25% of them scored 800, but it could be 50% or even 70% of them (although very unlikely), because the next number down is 760, which means just 1 wrong answer. The Math’s curve is normally 760-770 for 1 wrong, and 740-750 for 2 wrongs.</p>

<p>This 800 score for top 25% phenomena is pretty recent. I have been tracking this CMU admission statistics since 2008. DD is currently a junior in SCS, and for her 2009-2010 freshman class and the year before that, I believe it was 740-770. The following year, SCS was the first one to crack 800 at the top range. Look what they have now, CIT, MCS, SCS and Tepper have 800 as their top range, and I don’t think they are just coincident.</p>

<p>More importantly, anybody that is below 760, which is the bottom 25 percentile, mathematically only has about 3% chance of getting admission.</p>

<p>389 (admitted students) * 0.25 (below 760) = 97.25 (admitted students below 760)</p>

<p>97.25 / 3490 (applied) = 0.0278</p>

<p>Do you want to compete for that 97 slots based on your other criteria?</p>

<p>If you get a 760 and being a female, you would have a better chance of being admitted over a guy that has 760, but I don’t think SCS needs to lower the number to get more female students to fill the class, they get plenty of them in the 760-800 range. FWIW, my DD and her freshman SCS roommate both had 800 in math.</p>