Freshmen SAT scores for College of Engineering

<p>I was looking at the SAT scores of Freshman Cornell engineers, and saw two, possibly opposing stats on the website. I wrote this email to the school.</p>

<p>Dear Engineering Admissions Staff,
While perusing your site, I noticed a discrepancy in the SAT scores of your freshman class.</p>

<p>In the Admissions FAQ, you state: "the middle 50% of the admitted students in the Class of 2007 had the following scores: SAT I Math 730 to 770; SAT I Verbal 640 to 690." <a href="http://eng-as-web.ece.cornell.edu/prospective/undergraduate/admissions-faqs.cfm%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://eng-as-web.ece.cornell.edu/prospective/undergraduate/admissions-faqs.cfm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>In the Class Profile Page, you state:
"Mid-50% SAT range -
admitted students 1,400 to 1,520"
<a href="http://eng-as-web.ece.cornell.edu/prospective/undergraduate/class-profile.cfm%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://eng-as-web.ece.cornell.edu/prospective/undergraduate/class-profile.cfm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Does the former refer to Cornell's entire school, and the latter to just the College of Engineering?</p>

<p>They replied:
The statistics are from two different classes, the first from the Engineering Class of 2007 and the second from the Engineering Class of 2008.</p>

<p>I really dont believe that scores could jump THAT much. If I understand correctly, adding the 75th percentile of each section would be higher than the real 75th percentile combined, just like 98th percentile on math & Verbal sections would yield a total 99th percentile. The combined 75th percentile, from the first set of data, is 1460, compared with 1520 in the second set of info.</p>

<p>I think the 2nd set of info, the 1400-1520 one is real. The verbal percentiles listed are just downright low for Cornell. After all, isnt Cornell Engineering the most selective college?</p>

<p>I think you have too much time on your hands.</p>

<p>And no, the College of Engineering is not the most selective college, maybe the least selective in terms of acceptance rates. You could argue that it's self-selective though.</p>

<p>stats in Arts are highest, but Engineering has of course the highest math SAT--i am not surprised at the jump--Cornell is finally getting its act together and I think we will see significant jumps in selectivity and stats---and a return to top 10 or even top 5 in USNWR rankings within 3 years</p>

<p>College of Engineering at Cornell has the highest average SAT score out of all seven colleges. Just like Columbia-SEAS has high SAT score than Columbia College). But, the overall acceptance rate for College of Engineering is much higher than A&S (I believe Eng has the highest acceptance rate). You should note that the stats are for "admitted" students. Not all admitted students choose to attend Cornell. I've heard that the average SAT score for enrolled Engineering students is somewhere around 1430, which is lower than the average of 1400 and 1520.</p>

<p>WHOOOOOOO i'm an average math guy 790 math 680 reading YES</p>

<p>ecc, both stats say the admitted class, not the matriculants. Thanks for the info about the selectivity of the colleges though.</p>

<p>I am just wondering about how much of an edge my score is, 2330, 800m 790w 740 cr. I know the usual BS, SAT scores arent everything, but they are somewhat indicative.</p>

<p>Still, no one has explained the difference.
heh norcal guy, you are right. I usually just play comp games.</p>

<p>Engineering? Well, you're off to a great start with those scores.</p>

<p>Yeah, you're in a great shape. College of Engineering is probably one of the colleges at Cornell that values SAT more. For you to have 2330 will only help you. Hopefully, your GPA is as good as your SAT score. Just make sure you let them know that you know a lot about Cornell and you actually like Cornell and have some decent recommendations.</p>

<p>Ha! I knew it!</p>

<p>2330 is a great score. More than enough for engineering. Hopefully, the other portions of your application is just as strong.</p>

<p>Anything I should know about applying ED? Someone told me you must visit the campus before doing so, not as a requirement of the college of course, but to see how much it fits.</p>

<p>My top choices are michigan berkeley and cornell and possibly UIUC, for mechanical engineering, but berkeley may or may not be an option (I live in CA though). Is the mech. engineering rankings, based on general consensus, not necessarily USNWR, Berkeley>Cornell>Michigan>UIUC? </p>

<p>Cornell seems the best because its smaller, more undergrad focused than the other 3, but all the top 3 have excellent departments like business and economics both in and beyond engineering.</p>

<p>A teacher/family friend (not at my school) told me teacher recommendations dont matter much unless they are totally fabulous, because nearly everyone gets positive recommendations. Are they just something to confirm the image painted by your application?</p>

<p>Yea most engineering schools are self selective. Look at Harvey Mudd, 42% acceptance rate but MIT (just about) quality students.</p>

<p>Sadly, the SAT score is the strongest part. IIC=760, retaking for an 800. Taking chem, but worried because my chem class blows. I've taken/plan to take 4/6 APs offered at my school; The other 2 are english language ones, so they may not matter much. 11th grade grades are near perfect, 10th is decent, and 9th is horrible. Will get great recs. ECs are a bit sparse, though I will have some research experience. </p>

<p>Question: Teacher recommendations: Should I get a recommendation from a former employer (a lawyer, who i worked for during the summer), who really likes me, and is a great friend of my family? I plan to get one from one math, and one english teacher. My chem teacher is leaving soon, and I'm not the greatest at bio. lol, I consider math my forte. The more math there is in science, the higher my grade. In bio my grade was B+/A-. In chem its an A, usually 90-95 on non math stuff, 95-100 on math stuff.</p>