<p>I was hoping to apply for Early Action to Harvard, but today i got back my SAT scores and they were once again bad. The first time I took the test I got CR: 800, M: 750, and W: 590. I'm ridiculously terrible at writing. I checked my scores online today and they are even worse! CR: 690, M: 770, and W: ANOTHER FREAKING 590! I think I'm just stupid or something.
Anyways, I was wondering if anyone could suggest some good schools that I would have a chance at if I apply Early Action with those scores. My GPA is 4.0 unweighted, my AP scores are 5 for bio, calc AB/BC, and us history, then 4 for literature and European history. I am doing IB at my school right now and have taken SL French and Chemistry. I only got fives on those though. I have a lot of extra-curriculars (mostly been in for 3+ years) and leadership positions in them. I've done about 200-250 hours of community service and shadowed/interned with a doctor for about 3 hours a week for 2 years. This past summer I went on a language study abroad using a scholarship from the US State department.
I'm thinking about going either into pre-med, business, or engineering, but I'm not really sure. Could you guys please tell me some schools I should look into? Thanks :)</p>
<p>There’s a long and growing list of schools that don’t use SAT/ACT scores for admissions. You can get that list somewhere on this site or at FairTest. </p>
<p>Then start answering the standard questions. What part of the country do you want? Size of school? Size of surrounding area? Importance of sports and/or social scene? How much can you afford? </p>
<p>Before you choose a reach school, you absolutely need a safety, both academic and financial.</p>
<p>Your test scores, by the way, are far from terrible. However, if you have trouble with writing, you may want to reconsider choosing a very competitive school filled with writing-intensive courses and fluent writers. Especially if you’re considering premed, you’ll need top grades across the board. Read the section about strategies for choosing a premed undergraduate school before you spend time chasing an admission to a school that ultimately might not serve you well.</p>
<p>Many colleges ignore the writing score (Example is Bucknell). I don’t think you need to focus on test-optional schools at this point just because of the 590 on the writing component!
What other schools are already on your list that you love? Can’t you promote one of them into the EA spot? On the other hand, why do you have to apply EA anywhere? Why not just do RD?
Have you talked to your guidance counselor? Why not apply EA to Harvard anyway, given that the odds are long even with perfect scores? Nothing to lose if it is your top school?</p>
<p>I’m not trying to be mean, but you are talking about a college with a 6% acceptance rate. Just think about that number for a second. A game of musical chairs with 100 kids and only 6 chairs. Then remove a few chairs because those will go to legacy students or children of billionaires or footbal players.
Stop torturing yourself about whether a mediocre SAT writing score will make a difference in the grand scheme of things as Harvard analyzes the 35,000 applications it gets. No one
can tell you whether you will get in, the only information available are the statistics.</p>
<p>I feel so bad for students like you and their families who are so obsessed with Harvard or any Ivy League or top 20 school. It is crazy and totally unnecessary since there are so many excellent colleges in this country!</p>
<p>What else is on your list now?</p>
<p>If you are considering engineering that will help you come up with a list since there are fewer engineering schools. Carnegie Mellon, Rice, RPI, JHU, Case Western Reserve, Lehigh, etc. etc.</p>
<p>I’ve been considering some of those schools you just mentioned, such as Carnegie Mellon and Rice, but I haven’t heard of the other schools. I’m trying to find other schools, but it’s always the ivies that get mentioned and so I don’t really know how to research for other good schools.
@Wordworker I’m thinking either East coast or west coast mostly for schools. I have a safety school, which is my state’s university. How do I determine which schools are at the safety level though? Also, where can I find the section about strategies for choosing a premed undergraduate school? By the way, I wouldn’t consider myself terrible at writing, as several teachers have complimented on how I write and manage to tie everything in together. It’s just that the 25 minute time limit of the SAT freaks me out so then I can’t brainstorm properly, which leads to poorer essays. :/</p>
<p>You can use a college search engine to find schools that match your criteria, such as College Navigator [College</a> Navigator - National Center for Education Statistics](<a href=“http://nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator/]College”>College Navigator - National Center for Education Statistics) or the one here on CC. For each school it returns in a search result you see the % students admitted, the 50% range of SAT and ACT scores. That will help you figure out whether each school is a reach, target or safety. You can often find more detailed info about GPA ranges for accepted students through the Common Data Set for that school (there is a thread here on CC but you can also google them for each school).</p>
<p>Reputations - You can look up the US News rankings for those schools, though there is always controversy about how their rankings are created! You can ask your guidance counselor about their reputations. When you have some in a list you can get opinions from complete strangers here on CC ;-)</p>
<p>Writing test - that’s why many good schools ignore the writing test, it is an artificial and arbitrary test. Good writing requires reflection and numerous editing cycles, and the test doesn’t allow for that.</p>
<p>Okay I will check out the sites. Thank you very much for your help! Are you in college right now?</p>
<p>I went to college in prehistoric times. We paid our tuition with buffalo skins.</p>
<p>Seriously, a safety school is one you know you can get into, can afford, and like (are willing to go there, can study what you think you want). If you’re thinking seriously about business, engineering, and enough science courses to meet premed requirements, you may be looking at three separate colleges at the same school.</p>
<p>Premed is the easiest to find, because almost every school has the courses you’ll need. You can major in almost anything as long as you get the requirements.</p>
<p>If you think you want engineering, your choices are limited, because you need an accredited program. You can see a list elsewhere; there’s a thread for engineering majors.</p>
<p>Many liberal arts colleges don’t have business programs, but larger universities should. Not Harvard or most Ivy schools, though.</p>
<p>Be sure you choose a school that will let you change your mind along the way.</p>
<p>Do think about how competitive you want the school to be. For med school you need to be near the top of your class with essentially straight As. Can you do that at Harvard?</p>