IMSA Applicant Class of 2022

@just_try would the admissions office prefer certain styles of writing? I’m debating between poetry and a kind of short story.

@asdf000 make sure that you can pull it off, they don’t prefer one over the other, really just whatever you are better at.

What is a good sat score for an 8th grader with good recs, ec’s, and awards

@asdf000

I would definitely try to show an interest in stem AND an interest in something else. If I were you, I would put piano, mathletes, speech, art, and robotics - music and public speaking are both really big at imsa and would probably look good, math and robotics are both good for obvious reasons, art shows a more unique interest that makes your application pop, and you put in a lot of time for all of those.

I would also try and correlate the awards to the activities, so I would suggest doing the piano competition you mentioned, combine the two math ones (qualifying for state/getting fourth, play up how competitive your region is), and either the Northwestern one or if you got an art award that is specifically impressive or extremely competitive.

@apply2022

It really will depend on other factors like essays and activities since the application review is holistic, but aim for upwards of 700 on math because usually schmen have higher scores than freshmen. Reading varies a lot on what the rest of your application is and people I know have scores anywhere from 600-750.

@7bean3 @just_try
Hello, I’m in 8th grade and I’m trying to get into IMSA this year.
STATS-
Ethnicity- Indian American(Asian)
Gender- Male
Region- Chicago Suburbs
Grade-8
4.0 GPA all through middle school

I’ve taken the SAT twice and the first time I got a 1380 (700 math and 680 Reading) and the second time I got a 1380 again X_X (730 math and 650 reading) so I’m hoping that if I’m able to superscore those two scores and combine them to get 1410, I dunno if I can do that I heard you can tho. (I’m also trying the Dec SAT and hoping to get 1450 or higher)

EC’s-
Honors Choir - 4 hours a week
Robotics (VEX AND FLL)
Indian Classical Music(Singing) - 1-2 hours a week
Science Olympiad- 1.5 Hours a week
Cross Country (7.5 hours a week)
Track
Swimming
School Musical
Power Pitch (IMSA entrepreneurship competition)(lots of hours)

Awards-
VEX Excellence award in state championship
VEX Robot Skills award in state championship
VEX Design Award In state championship
FLL Robot Award in STate championship
Qualified for internationals in VEX (couldn’t go though)
Duke TIP award for excellence in SAT, PSAT, and School Performance
Won 3rd place in Power Pitch last year(aiming for first this year!)
Tons of Singing Awards

Courses-
I’m in all the gifted programs which means I’m 2 years ahead, doing 10th grade math, reading, history etc.

Also I’m wondering if the region Im coming from is going to make it harder for me
My sister went to IMSA and she tried in 8th grade, got a 1310(old sat) and got rejected(she got in in 9th grade she graduated last year). Her roomate tried in 8th grade, got a 1270 and got accepted. They both had pretty similar EC’s and Awards and I would say my sister had better EC’s than her roommate. the only difference is that me and my sis live in Chicagoland and her roomate lived in a really southern part of Illinois.

@"#JellyJam123" while your stats look pretty good, focus now on essays and teacher recs because those are the biggest part of the app. Even with how competitive it is to get in, you could get in if they were both good, and that could also be why your sister wasn’t accepted in 8th grade. Overall you are looking good, just make sure your essays and teacher recs are good.

I’ve also been learning sanskrit which is a language for 7 years

Thanks! I have my teacher recs pretty much secured, however I have zero idea how to write those essays because I’ve never written essays that aren’t things like thematic book analysiss and stuff, do you have any tips on how I would write them?

@"#JellyJam123" some of those things will be looked at really well worked into the essays, I think for you, with all your good EC’s and grades I’m going to guess it comes down to your essays and teacher recs.

@"#JellyJam123" I would say that the most important thing is to be yourself, make sure you really show why IMSA wants you to go there. Make sure not to make any mistakes that are related to grammar or wording, but overall they are looking at the ideas presented.

@PhoenixRises 1340 is a great score if you got that without studying. I got a 1200 without studying. Keep on studying for a few more months and you’ll have a 1400+ score. But you can’t gauge your actual sat score too much with practice tests. Always expect your actual sat score to be 100 less than ur practice test score. I get 1500+ on practice tests but always score around 1400 on real tests and this is the case with tons of people I know

Do you guys know how many 8th graders applied vs admitted in the class of 2021

@#jellyjam123 @just_try

actually, you should definitely put time into getting good teacher recs and essays, but I would suggest getting your sat as high as possible should be your first priority since that is (according to the actual admissions team) the first and most heavily weighted part of the application. also, since you’re an asian male near chicago, you are in the most competitive demographic to get in, so having a good sat score is very important. your score is already good and you could get in with it (especially since if you submit every test they will superscore), but getting it higher would be good.

for the essays, do whatever format you’re most comfortable writing in. all of my essays were five-paragraph format just because that’s how I was most comfortable writing them and it’s what im best at, and I got in with that. as long as you don’t have any major grammar or spelling errors and you have something good to say, the format won’t matter.

@7bean3 thank for replying! around what score should i aim for on the sat so i don’t get rejected because of the sat. I’m trying to get a 730 or above on reading and writing next time to get a 1460 with superscoring. Is that a good goal?

Hi there! I am an applicant of the graduating class of 2022! I would like to share about myself and if I could get some feedback on my chances of getting in, that would be amazing!

I recently took the SAT and received a score of 1150 with 560 in reading and 590 in math. I am working to improve these scores to hopefully around 1300. I am on the school speech team, I am currently teaching Religous Education to a class of 5th graders once a week, I was student council president in 8th grade, I was selected to represent my school district at the Springfield Tech convention 2018, and I did drama plays and musicals in middle school and I was selected to showcase my dancing skills specifically of my own culture in the school talent show for two years, and I am currently on my schools SkillsUSA team, I represent the Wood Production event.

Is there any information listed above that should not be included in my application? What do I need more of? What are my chances of getting in?
Thank you so much for taking the time to help me!

@"#JellyJam123" I think you have a pretty good shot at getting in this year. Even if you don’t make it in, because it’s very challenging for 8th graders, I think that you will have a very good chance of receiving an 8th grade interview. Last year, when I applied as an 8th grader, I got rejected and received the 8th grade interview, and I heard that you have a really good chance if getting in in 9th grade, if you receive this.

These kids in my SAT class, who are also applying to imsa this year, keep telling me that I’m pretty much going to get in this year, because I got the 8th grade interview last year, do you think this is true?

@theonesun333 it is very common for those that got an 8th grade interview to get in the next year if they still have a strong app and do anything discussed in their interview.

@just_try I have had all A’s till now, but I’m pretty sure I’m going to get a B in honors algebra 2 trig this semestet, so I was wondering if I still had a chance. Also, I feel like there are much smarter kids in my school, that are also applying, and none of them have the 8th grade interview, do you think that the 8th grade interview will help me stand out in my school for imsa admissions?