<p>I received a 700 on the math on the SAT I will that ruin my chances? I haven't received my scores on SAT IIs so I don't know what I got on Math IIC, but if I did well on that will it help in overlooking the low math on the SAT I. Can one score be fatal?
Thanks to all those who reply.
Shir
PS
Verbal score was 760.</p>
<p>A 700 on math will put you in the low group for our applicants. Some hypotheticals:</p>
<p>SATI 700 / 760
SATII 800 / 800 / 800</p>
<p>would mean you have nothing to worry about scorewise -- although you would still have to exhibit significant achievement esp. in science outside the classroom to make admission anywhere near likely.</p>
<p>On the other hand,</p>
<p>SAT I 700 / 760
SAT II 740-ish average</p>
<p>This would be rather worse. While we certainly admit many applicants with this profile you need to "wow" the committee elsewhere -- really amazing teacher recs, a serious research paper, or truly unusual achievement outside the classroom.</p>
<p>So the short answer is that one score will never kill you, but it makes other mediocre scores more damaging. You can easily make up for it with a bunch of great scores on other tests, and you can even make up for an overall below-average testing record with something great elsewhere. Truth be told, the only applicants who are truly <em>helped</em> by their scores at Caltech are the 5x800 bunch, and that help isn't very significant. So just try to do well on the other tests and realize that what makes the difference for the vast majority of applicants is how much intellectual and personal spark we see, not a bunch of numbers.</p>
<p>Thanks for the reply.
Are you on the admissions board by any chance?
Shir</p>
<p>I think he was, and if he wasn't, his advice has been across the board in line with what I saw when I was on the Frosh Admissions Committee (which was two years ago now, but word on the street is that it hasn't changed much at all)</p>
<p>Galen</p>