<p>I’m not going to lie, this thread makes me a bit disappointed. I got an 800 CR but a 660 Math, and I was always proud of that, especially as I’m not a STEM person. 
I’m glad to hear that it won’t mean automatic rejection, though.</p>
<p>But the colleges are looking for good matches and that doesn’t always adhere to what stats tell. Colleges dont usually even match up M and CR scores when they report on the freshmen who matriculate. On the front end, reviewing, you’re looking at the whole kid. A humanities 790 CR taking AP calc BC and getting an A shows more than the ones who held back. Yes, a higher M would be better. But in OP’s case, we don’t know all the details. That’s what’s missed by focusing on the 680. You can’t simply dismiss D’s chances based on that.</p>
<p>OP has a nice take on what adcoms value. If D follows through in her app, if she has the attributes and accomplishments and communicates them well, it is reasonable to apply.</p>
<p>
Lookingforward, I agree. First thing I said in this thread was:
And, of course, that’s nothing more than a guess.</p>
<p>I know. It’s just that the talk started to focus so ardently on stats and the mythical bar. The usual chances pleas assume it’s all about stats, “passions,” and empty leadership. So many kids can’t pull it together past that. In those cases, it’s easier to point to charts.</p>
<p>As a female- and assuming she isn’t going for straight stem, her competition will be complicated.</p>
<p>Let’s face it. The scores may or may not be the main criteria. It is still one of the criteria. The admission stat is not showing you the requirement, but simply reporting the distribution of admitted student disregarding the reasons they were admitted. The admission stat is just for reference. One cannot eliminate the chance for anyone who goes below 25% in any data to be admitted. At the same time, one cannot ensure his/her chance simply by having above average or even 75% in all stat. However, when you fall short in certain area, you do need to evaluate how do you compare with other applicants in other areas.</p>
<p>billcsho’s post makes sense that all portions of an application should be weighted in proportion to the adcoms’ published criteria - at least in a perfect world.</p>
<p>Unfortunately in the real world, a staff of a couple dozen adcoms must sort throught tens of thousands of applications within a two month period. Doing some quick math shows that each application receives an average of about five minutes of review. Adcoms simply must have some short cuts available to make this task feasible - i.e., every fifteen-minute review must have three corresponding reviews limited to only two minutes each. One obvious short cut (admittedly conjecture) is to make an initial cut based on a single objective number - the test score.</p>
<p>Does anyone doubt that an applicant to any highly selective university with an ACT score of 18 would be rejected quickly and without serious consideration of the other application criteria? I would surmise that this candidate’s essays would not even be glanced at. If this is the case, then we need to estimate where between 18 and 36 that the consideration becomes competitive.</p>
<p>I believe the initial round of screening by the first readers would have a relatively low threshold. The main purpose is to reduce the application pool to a manageable size. Otherwise, there would be no one under the 25% to be admitted. Of course, when it really out of the acceptable range, it would be rejected early on, but this is not the case here.</p>
<p>Since I guess I am the “OP” – I agree with whoever wrote that colleges may see a bigger gap for the 20-pt difference between the 680-700 than the 700-720. And if I had a child who was like some of the posters I have read on CC who seem to have almost no outside life, take 7 AP classes a year, and spend every spare minute preparing for the SAT – it might be different. Bottom line is that you guys are right – it would be better if she had a 700 than a 680; she wouldn’t need the 720, the 700-benchmark is ideal. But… we are hopeful that her other well-rounded test scores show what an amazing student she is.</p>
<p>More importantly, from our mind, is that she has a balanced life. She is a varsity athlete in two sports. She played on a top-flight club soccer team for most of high school, traveling across the country. She LOVES writing screenplays and filming short videos with her friends. She was born with a rare genetic disorder and has had more hospitalizations than we can count, takes way too many medications, and yet most people would never know about that “back story” (and she doesn’t want to write about it in her application, although her guidance counselor will, of course…) And she has been all about community service in the medical field since she was 5 years old. So in the end, we can all banter back and forth about SAT scores and all that – but I have to continue to think that the colleges that would be the best fit for my daughter will look at her as a total “package” and realize that the 680 doesn’t matter. Yes – from a big picture level the 680 can draw down their overall mean and that can impact their applicant pool, etc. </p>
<p>My daughter is a high school senior, in the craziest year of her life, spending 6+ hours a day on homework and she is still smiling. She still watches tapes of her favorite TV shows each night, and has family dinner every night. That is what is most important to me. I don’t think the high school years should be sacrificed in preparation for some mythical “college years” as if they are the be-all-and-end-all… so yes, could my daughter have spent the summer studying her brains out to improve her SAT math score? Yes. Instead she worked by herself in a remote village in Latin America for a month having the time of her life and finding out that this is exactly what she wants to do for the rest of her life.</p>
<p>If you are a high school student reading this – please, please, do what you can to get the best grades you can, rigorous course schedule; prepare for the standardized testing, but ENJOY LIFE. Be authentic to who you are. Choose activities that mean something to you. I truly believe that when you do this, your authenticity will shine through your application and maybe, just maybe, that stupid 20 points wont’ matter in the end.</p>
<p>Sorry for the long-winded essay … been reading too many postings by high school students that have made me so sad… they are so stressed.</p>
<p>Amen, Mom! Amen!</p>
<p>I fully agree with enjoying life during HS. Don’t do things just because they look good.</p>
<p>Yeah. It is so sad to see someone asking which EC would look better or how many hours of community service is needed. That clearly indicates a mentality problem.</p>