IMSA Applicant Class of 2020

Is a 1480 on the SAT (Freshman) good? And a 6/6/6 on the essay, is that good? (This is the new SAT< out of 1600)

@Maanni
I’m going to be honest, and please don’t take that personally. I’m not in admissions, so this is just my opinion based off the research I have done.

Stats: SAT quite good for a freshmen. GPA is unweighted, so there’s no way you would have a 4.5 out of 4. Keep in mind when calculating GPA that IMSA doesn’t weigh honors/ap higher and that they only look at math, science, and reading for the past two and a half years.

Course Load: If that’s the highest your school offers, I do hope you put that in the optional statement, otherwise your course load is a bit below average.

Awards: Honestly, I’m not sure how much they take those into account. Nothing sticks out, but I don’t think they’ll hold that against you.

Ethnicity: I’m not sure if they care if you’re biracial, but if they don’t, Asian and white won’t help you.

EC’s: You’re a little lacking. A single STEM club is far below the IMSA average. IMSA seems to like well-rounded people, so at least you have a sport on there, but again, 3 EC’s is not rounded enough.

It seems that people generally get into IMSA in one of three ways:

  1. Amazing, mind-blowing GPA and SAT, and fair everything else.
  2. Amazing, mind-blowing EC's, essays, and teacher recs, and roughly average SAT.
  3. Affirmative Action choice (so Latino, African American, Native American, or from somewhere other than Chicagoland)

You didn’t include any info about teacher recs or essays, so if you’re planning to take #2 those are pretty important. You’re SAT score is quite good, even above average, but not mind-blowing. Unless they care about biracial, you don’t really qualify for #3, and even if they do care about biracial, I’m not sure being Asian/White biracial will help you. It’s also important to note what region exactly you’re from. The closer you are to IMSA, the more competition you’ll have.
Within 30 mins: I wouldn’t hold your breath

I dunno, I’m not in admissions or anything, I’m not even a current student, but I’ve done a lot of research, and it seems like at this point, just cross your fingers and hope for the best.

@corrjayna you seem to know your stuff. Thank you.

I have a question about admittance.

Presuming you get an acceptance letter, how long to do you have to decide whether you accept or decline the offer?

I believe until the day before move in day. Similarly, if you get wait-listed, you might get a notification that there is a spot for you literally on move in day if someone else declines. @TheNewmanry

There are always some people who just do not show up on a move in day… I think this is just irresponsible and plain mean… Come on, everybody have their plans made what school to go at least by the middle of Summer or sooner… Think about it: students need to register for classes at least and so on … I think invited student who decided not to go should contact IMSA immediately so IMSA will have plenty of time to find a replacement … and not on move in day…

On your question about living at IMSA: In my opinion, it’s pretty nice because you are living with your friends and can use them as a support system. The rooms are bigger than most college dorm rooms, too. It’s convenient to live at IMSA because we have more time for ECs (like we don’t have to have them right after school) and collaboration, which is a good way to think about it.

@corrjayna

" 3. Affirmative Action choice (so Latino, African American, Native American, or from somewhere other than Chicagoland) "

This is why people think IMSA racist. So all the Latino and African American and other minority students got in because of their race??? They couldn’t have gotten in maybe… because they are… and I know this might sound crazy… they are smart??? You don’t even go here. Please stop feeding the imsa 2020 applicants BS.

Admissions accepts people who are genuinely passionate in math and science, and therefore these minority students who got in exhibited qualities that show exactly what admissions want: passion in math and science. They did not get in because of their race. They got in because they are amazing young people.

@caressmytoenails You have a make a good point. I know that I’m not an authority on anything, and I acknowledged that in my post. Obviously there are plenty of IMSA minority students that didn’t get in because of their race and were genuinely amazing, passionate students. However, there are also plenty of white and Asian students that didn’t get in because they were compared against other whites and Asians. So by that logic, even if not explicitly for Affirmative Action, the road to acceptance for minority students might be different. I’m not going to say easier because everyone faces challenges in getting where they are, but would the EXCEL Program exist if IMSA didn’t do something of Affirmative Action?

I’m not saying that every single minority students got in because of race. I’m not even saying most of them did, I’m just saying that at a public, state sponsored high school, I find it hard to believe that admissions doesn’t look at race.

Just a little quote for you guys from research of Roland G. Fryer Steven D. Levitt “TESTING FOR RACIAL DIFFERENCES IN THE MENTAL ABILITY OF YOUNG CHILDREN”

Abstract: “On tests of intelligence, Blacks systematically score worse than Whites, whereas Asians frequently outperform Whites. Some have argued that genetic differences across races account for the gap.
Using a newly available nationally representative data set that includes a test of mental function for
children aged eight to twelve months, we find only minor racial differences in test outcomes (0.06
standard deviation units in the raw data) between Blacks and Whites that disappear with the
inclusion of a limited set of controls. The only statistically significant racial difference is that Asian
children score slightly worse than those of other races…”

So, testing score differences between races appears over time as children age, and it is not a genetic difference but probably cultural. Asians are in general are really hard workers and family invests in education of children a lot more than other races. You can achieve 4.0 GPA by hard work (you do not have to be super smart, just work hard), as well as SAT score you can improve by hard work. So hard work is a key for high SAT/GPA. But if you remember that recent research proved that high SAT score has an invert correlation to creativity and innovation capability…

IMSA is trying to give an opportunity to children who did not have an unlimited educational recourses but are bright and creative/innovative. So lower SAT/GPA score does not prove that someone is dumber…

I think it is a great idea that IMSA is trying to identify bright kids who can contribute a lot to a society in a long run, versus just collecting high GPA/SAT students. @corrjayna @caressmytoenails

I bet there are so many Noble Price Award nominees and winners who has low GPA/SAT just because they did not care about it … But they were creative/innovative enough to be able to improve human condition… Just think about Einstein, who barely get through high school…

Does anybody know when the letters for acceptance will be mailed?

@bluehorse123 Late April/Early May

@lsutiger25 Thank you!

Review committee meets next week! :-SS Good luck everyone!

Review committee do not have access to SAT scores and transcripts. “They are trained to evaluate students only on the qualitative aspects of the application”

Hey guys, I was just wondering, does anybody know what the approximate acceptance rates for IMSA are? Or more specifically, what are the acceptance rates for Chicagoland schools?

@bluehorse123
This might help:
https://www.imsa.edu/sites/default/files/upload/admissions_class_of_2017_presentation_0.pdf
It’s from a few years back, but it’s the most current one online. For Chicagoland, it looks like it’s just under 1/3.

45 days left…

Hey everyone! I’m a current sophomore at IMSA, and I want to know what everyone is thinking about it. Why did you want to apply to IMSA? How are you feeling about IMSA? Do you have any questions about what being at IMSA is like?