<p>Hey guys. Im applying to 8 schools, including yale harvard columbia cornell and carnegie mellon. Theses schools require at least two sats II and since i want to major in civil engineering, it was recommended i took one in science. However, i only took two subject tests: spanish in which i scored an 800 and math 2 in which i scored a 630. Im number 2 in my school, gpa of 5.914, good essays and extracurricular activies, sports, and leaderships skills. I was sure i had good chances of getting into these skools, but now im a little scared that my scores on the subject test may hurt my admissions.
What do u guys think?</p>
<p>Usually a would-be civil engineer needs to show strong math and science skills, especially at those colleges. No one wants another bridge to collapse, as one did in my town last summer.</p>
<p>I would be less concerned about the test scores themselves and instead take a good look at myself and reevaluate my own math skills. A 630 on Math 2 is at least ten to as many as twenty questions wrong. For the schools you listed, it is not uncommon for most to get above 700 and many in fact do get 800. </p>
<p>But what should you expect the admissions people to think? I think they would be a bit concerned. </p>
<p>You should work on future mathematics examinations, and work hard in math class. Make sure you do not show any other distinctive weaknesses in mathematics. However, your 800 on the Spanish exam is certainly to be applauded.</p>
<p>i didnt get a good math 2 score cuz i didnt prepare for it wutsoever. However i did get a 1300 on my sats..a 670 in math..my interviwer from columbia said it was a pretty solid score, especially since i score 40 pts higher in math than in verbal, what do u think..would that help me a little.</p>
<p>A 630 on Math II is the 45th percentile. I would consider retaking it, as an engineering major applying to those schools is going to need to demonstrate some pretty high achievement.</p>
<p>EDIT: double x-post</p>
<p>wow dats kind of freaking me out now. So ur saying that a 670 in sat math, and also a 32 in the act in the math section is not going to be enough to shadow my subject scores a little.</p>
<p>Maybe if you weren't applying to "yale harvard columbia cornell and carnegie mellon"</p>
<p>just so you know Carnegie Mellon engineering requires a subject test in either physics or chemistry and Math 1 or 2</p>
<p>It's somewhat low for an engineering major at top schools such as these. Which schools were your safeties?</p>
<p>btw, I thought Harvard and Yale didn't offer civil engineering?</p>
<p>my safeties are University of Florida, Georgia Tech, University of Miami
and yes, yale does have one, not a great one, but a good one, and harvards college of engineering is growing tremendously..</p>
<p>retake your Math II</p>
<p>isnt it too late to retake it? the next test date is march 1, is it too late?</p>
<p>i understand this is probably a reality shock to you
32 and 1300 are not solid scores. It is a score you can get by with at Yale and Harvard and Carnegie Mellon and Cornell by hoping other better attributes will compensate. 670 is a bad score for a future engineer, especially at your top 4 schools. 800 is a very common score for Math Level 2 at these caliber schools; 630 is frankly very very mediocre. I don't think you understand how hard it is to get into these schools. I don't mean to dissuade you... but you need to be realistic. I'm not saying you won't get into these schools... for all i know, you may have some really extraordinary schools. but when you think that your scores are "pretty solid," that makes me worried for you. that columbia interviewer was saying nice things to you. no interviewer is going to tell you that your scores are bad. in fact, interviewers don't like to talk about scores at all.</p>
<p>I'm sure many people on CC have >1500 or >34 and >750 on multiple subject tests and are STILL very insecure about getting into those schools</p>
<p>plus, your thought process doesn't make sense. how can you say 630 is a bad score, and yet say that your 1300 is a solid score? 630 is roughly half of 1300, so a 630 subject test and 1300 SAT I are very similar scores. and they're both not competitive at those top schools. Haven't you looked these colleges up on Collegeboard.</p>
<p>I will say that 800 spanish is very impressive... unless you are hispanic (it appears to me that your username is in spanish). If you are hispanic, then you are an URM, which will certainly help</p>
<p>Also, good job being #2 in your class. however, think about how many high schools there are in the US. That's how many valedicatorians there are each year, without even talking about salutatorians.</p>
<p>Granted, your scores are probably considerably above those of your high school peers. they are good scores when compared to the average person, but the average person need not even daydream about harvard and yale.
your "safetys," in fact, will be good MATCHES for you. You will likely get into one of those schools.</p>
<p>The death of an illusion is always the saddest thing.</p>
<p>here here John C. spot on.</p>
<p>Azulgrana, I didn't realize you were a senior. March 1st is actually not your next chance to re-take the SAT II's, the March date is only for the SAT I (which you might also consider retaking considering your GPA really doesn't match up). The next SAT II date is May 3rd (2007-08</a> Test Dates) . Neither of which will likely be in time.</p>
<p>you might want to find a safer safety as John suggested. (Although Florida seems somewhat reasonably safe) you might check out the following threads:
<a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/446587-those-still-looking-schools.html%5B/url%5D">http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/446587-those-still-looking-schools.html</a>
<a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/harvard-university/357223-what-your-favorite-safety-college.html%5B/url%5D">http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/harvard-university/357223-what-your-favorite-safety-college.html</a></p>
<p>Just to put things in perspective for you, here are the 25th percentile SAT scores of the schools you mentioned in your first post. Again, 75% of those admitted have higher scores than these. These are pretty much the borderline of what is an even remote shot at those schools</p>
<p>School: Reading/Math
Harvard: 690/700
Yale: 700/690
Columbia: 660/660
Cornell: 630/660
Carnegie Mellon: 610/690</p>
<p>The only schools where you appear to be even close to competitive is at Cornell and Carnegie Mellon, both of which seem like outside chances at the very least.</p>
<p>Azulgrana 10, I just wanted to point out that a 1300 SAT score is below average for the University of Florida's class of 2011 (people I knew last year w/ a 1300 had ~ a 50-50 shot of getting in) and this year is supposed to be much more competitive than last year. You have a reasonable (50%) chance of getting in, but you should probably apply to FSU or something that you KNOW you will get into as a safety.</p>
<p>Do you have any hooks besides URM? How many APs did you take and what scores did you get? IB? (Florida loves IB), NMSF? (Florida loves those too) Did you weigh your GPA using UF's formula? Dual-enrollment? Internships at local businesses or colleges? Do you go to private or public school? Do you know what your competition outside your school is up to? Have you tried the Academic Index here in CC?</p>
<p>guys... i think the hispanic urm is enough...</p>
<p>Not when in your area there are hundreds of other Hispanics with better stats.
Once you designate yourself as Hispanic you'll be competing with other Hispanics for a set number of spots (it may fluctuate but not by much) and you will not be taking any spots from anybody except other Hispanics. Florida has a 20% Hispanic student population and about 100,000 people take the SAT and 80,000 take the ACT. With those numbers I am sure there are enough Hispanics with high enough scores to compete on equal terms with anybody. </p>
<p>BTW, do you realize that there are more female applicants than male ones, and that in order to keep a more or less 51/49 ratio (in other words, a quota) girls compete against each other for that set number of spots?</p>
<p>i got 740 on both the biology and Math 2...when applying to college, will they consider the percentiles (which are fairly low- 84 and 76 respectively), or the scores themselves?? </p>
<p>Do i even have a chance at getting into good schools with those percentiles?</p>