<p>My friend is from China, and got a CR 550, M 770, W 550 (=1870).</p>
<p>For the SAT iis she got:
800 Math Level 2
800 Chemistry
790 Physics</p>
<p>She grew up on a subsistence farm (home: dirt pounded floors, 1 room). Her parents make about 200 US dollars a year, so clearly she'll need buckets of financial aid.</p>
<p>She's been 1st in her class since about the 2nd grade. Scored incredibly on Chinese college entrence exam (the Gaokao), and got into a top 10 university in China (Wuhan). She has really worked herself up.</p>
<p>Decent essays explaining her background.</p>
<p>Did her less than stellar SATs in reading and writing sink her chances at:
Mt. Holyoke
Smith
Bryn Mawr
Wellesley
Harvard
MIT
Stanford
Yale
Wesleyan University</p>
<p>well depends on the your friend’s “story” of living in a difficult environment, but if that is not compelling, I sadly have to admit that she is not satisfactory for most of those schools.</p>
<p>yeah. looks like she’s going to need full aid, but besides Harvard, Stanford, Yale, MIT, she wouldn’t be getting a full aid, and I doubt they’re going to accept her with full-aid.</p>
<p>The SAT I is incredibly low - possibly such that it removes her chances of a serious shot at the most selective universities (where she has to get accepted in order to benefit from the aid). </p>
<p>550 CR? They’ll be questioning this student’s abilities in English and comprehension, and whether she might not be cut out for the English speaking environment (classes that are difficult, using a second language she has not mastered). Same questions arise with the 550 writing. </p>
<p>I hope this student has a stunning TOEFL to make up for it. </p>
<p>Her problem is that there are ALOT of stronger Chinese applicants - many of them with 2400 for the SAT I, as well as 800 for SAT II. </p>
<p>To be honest, the high scores on her SAT IIs are nothing special either - Maths, Physics, Chemistry. “Typical” Asian subjects, and adcoms will be aware that its easier for internationals to do well in those than in more humanities subjects like Languages or Histories. </p>
<p>Unless she had a strong hook not mentioned - ie. recruited athlete for a major position (ie. Football team), prizewinning researcher, olympiad winner in Maths/Science, winner of an Olympic medal - I honestly don’t think this applicant has much of a shot.</p>
<p>The “story” or poor background isn’t going to get her in either. Plenty of applicants will have hard luck stories - many also from impoverished backgrounds in developing countries. Other chinese and many indian students, also students from eastern europe (just to cite a few examples) may well have similar stories of hardship.</p>
<p>Well, she got a 613 on the paper TOEFL, and she did also apply to:
Williams (which is need blind for internationals)
Middlebury
Dartmouth
Duke, and
Brandeis</p>
<p>I forgot to mention that though she already graduated, she is now attending a high school in Arizona (my family is sponsoring her). She’s taking:
AP European History
AP Chemistry
Poetry
Multivariate Calculus</p>
<p>I really thought her “story” was compelling – her mom died when she was 5, she really has worked herself up, student council in China, newspaper editor…</p>
<p>So her background just isn’t enough to make up for those scores? Scores are what it boils down to then?</p>
<p>@ maruhan2 – uh…kind of. She’s taking the classes, but will not be graduating from an American high school.</p>
<p>She turned down the Chinese university. I don’t think she can even go next year. Sort of a problem if she doesn’t get into an American university :(</p>
<p>And oh, she’s incredibly charming – interviews were WONDERFUL. Not that interviews make that much difference anyway… :(</p>
<p>well… there’s not much you can do about it now at the moment anyways since the application is done. Just wait a month a see the result. And please post it here. I’m curious of how it’ll go</p>
<p>didnt she start a thread on her own already?? search china arizona in this forum
my friend’s mom scored incredibly high in gakao in the 80s and got into a university better than wuhan (in beijing). her family was incredibly poor too like the famine-poor. still she did not attend a decent grad school until my friend was 10… does this girl u r sponsoring have to stretch it that much?? how did she come to the states? why did she leave wuhan(i assume she took a spot which could be available to others)?</p>
<p>@theskylitup
P.S. US Sat average for CR is 500 so a 550 puts her above average for US students.Not that it is an incredibly good score but it doesn’t mean she is incapable of speaking English.I’d say go for it!She is much different than the stereotypical over-achiever.Good luck!</p>
<p>She just got a letter from Syracuse University! She’s in!! I’m hoping this is a good sign that other colleges that give internationals financial aid will also accept her…but then again her scores do fall in and above the range:</p>
<p>CR: 510-620
M: 540-650
W: 520-630</p>
<p>Should I be getting my (and her) hopes up or not?</p>
<p>No, we THOUGHT she was going to get a certain scholarship, but it fell through. Syracuse is off the table, but what do you think about the other schools she applied to?</p>
