<p>I know it depends a lot on other factors but if ECs, essays, and recommendations are neither very bad nor very good how much of a chance would you give someone at being accepted at a college where they have a SAT I score in the middle 50%?</p>
<p>Depends on the admit rate. The SAT score could mean that it's a match (decent likelihood of acceptance), but if the admit rate is, say, less than 30%, it's still a reach (not likely to be accepted, even if SATs are well over the 75%).</p>
<p>Thanks :-)</p>
<p>Any idea why colleges with acceptance rates below 30% are different in this respect?</p>
<p>They're different because you are competing with a lot more students with the same test scores, similar EC's, recs, etc, for a few number of spaces. They just can't accept everybody, that is why your chances are worse at more selective schools, even if you are in the 50% range.</p>
<p>When a college has a low base acceptance rate for the overall group of applicants, it mostly isn't even offering admission to the people in the middle-to-bottom range of its applicant pool. When applying to such a college, you want to be well into the top level of the applicant pool. If your SAT scores are average, make sure your extracurricular activities are outstanding. If your course grades are average (for that college), make sure you are taking really challenging courses. If most applicants come from the region near the college, you are better off if you come from far away and can add geographical diversity to the class, and so on. Try to be the best you can in whatever aspects you can. Definitely apply if you are interested in that college, but definitely line up a sure-bet safety college also.</p>
<p>A school's Common Data Set reports the 25% to 75% SAT/ACT ranges of enrolling students, and you can compute the yield as enrolled/admitted. If you're at the 50% SAT/ACT point (and your GPA is also in range), and the school's yield is below 50%, you're probably a match for that school. I think of match as a roughly 50% chance of admittance; essays, ECs and other features play a strong role. So if you apply to, e.g., three such match schools, your chance of being rejected by all three might be one in eight. Lots of arm waving here.</p>
<p>According to this admissions officer from WUSTL, over 80% of the applicants have academic records that are within the normal 50% range of the school....</p>
<p>so yea...really need other things to back yourself up</p>
<p>i figured real numbers may make this easier to see -- this is a link for admission info for lehigh -- a good but not super selective school (similar info for some super selective schools is out there, but i thought this was a good example to provide an illustration) <a href="http://www3.lehigh.edu/sharedmedia/PDF_Files/LUadmissions_class_summary.pdf%5B/url%5D">http://www3.lehigh.edu/sharedmedia/PDF_Files/LUadmissions_class_summary.pdf</a></p>
<p>someone with verbal and math sat's in the high 600's would clearly fall within the mid 50 percentile range. but if you look at the chart at the bottom of the page, they would seem to be admitted at less than a 50% rate.</p>
<p>a lot of schools unfortunately don't make this type of date available -- i think its much more informative than the mid 50 percentile info that is readily available. the mid 50 percentile info only tells you about the stats of those admitted -- it tells you NOTHING about the stats of those who were rejected -- and without that info you simply don't have a complete picture of what you r chances are</p>
<p>Good point and data, thanks.</p>
<p>Lehigh's Common Data Set (matriculating applicants) allows this SAT verbal (e.g.) middle 50% comparison with all applicants:</p>
<p>620–700 all admitted
580-670 matriculating</p>
<p>So if you are at the 50% 625 midpoint of the matriculating class (the CDS value), you'll be at about the 28% point of the admitted students.</p>
<p>Or, if you are at the 50% 660 midpoint of all admitted students, you'll be at about the 69% point of the matriculating students.</p>
<p>So you need to be closer to the higher end of the middle 50% of matriculants to have roughly a 50/50 chance of being admitted to what you might consider a "match" school, due to so many in the top 25% of those admitted who attend elsewhere (mostly at a more selective school, though not always--another school may just be a better fit).</p>
<p>At top schools like the Ivies, being in the middle 50% of the SAT score range does not hep your chances. I say this because I think it is fair to assume that most people applying to these uber selective colleges fall into that range anyways.</p>
<p>god this is so ****ed up. The SAT is a test. nothing more. Your high school life (what your GPA is, your classes, sports, and ecs) should count way more than one stupid test. People on CC are so caught up with numbers and "chances" of getting in that they waste time that could be spent pursuing things they love. And any rational person should know that those things count way more than one little standardized test score. I can only hope and admissions officer will see that.</p>
<p>The significant thing about the SAT is that it (along with the ACT) is a standardized datum that allows objective comparison of diverse students everywhere. Yes, it has significant limitations, but its value is in its standardized nature.</p>
<p>The beauty of the U.S. higher ed system is that there are schools that place emphasis on different aspects of applicant measurement, allowing everyone to find their home; e.g., Sarah Lawrence ignores the SAT, so there is a place for everyone.</p>
<p>Thanks for posting this–it answered a question I’ve had all along. The Lehigh data shows a sharp dropoff in admission rates below what is roughly the 25% line (based on simply adding verbal and math). The interesting thing is that for the groups above 1300, the admit rate is fairly similar. It does not go up dramatically in the top (1500-1600) group.</p>
<p>yes, 53% got in with a 1400 SAT, same 53% for a 1600 SAT. Not much of a drop with a 1300 SAT at 46%.</p>
<p>actually, looking at the data again…there is not much difference in admits between the lower end of the “middle 50” and upper end…lower end SAT would be 1280 and the 1300 SAT admitted at 46%. Upper end would be 1440 SAT which admitted at 53%.</p>