<p>Thanks everyone, I’ll continue to my passions as I’m already doing.</p>
<p>Does anyone know about the Higher School Certificate of NSW Australia? How do U.S Colleges merit it; if at all?</p>
<p>Yeah, they definitely want your results, and they want to see if it correlates with your SAT results, I imagine.</p>
<p>Would it be wise to take both the ACT and SAT? I reckon it will give me more choices as to which to choose, come application time. I heard of people who’ve done it before, and they’ve done well.</p>
<p>You could do that, but why don’t you just take the exam on which you expect the higher score?</p>
<p>College applications are stressful enough, why make it more stressful by preparing for an additional test?</p>
<p>No point doing SAT and ACT. I took ACT in Year 9, got a 32, didn’t think much of it until I remembered after I sat the SATs in Year 12. Never submitted my ACT score, never really cared (note I didn’t really prepare properly for either test, didn’t seem that important lol)</p>
<p>On the topic of SATs, what sort of scores are reasonable/needed as an Australian applicant to top tier unis? I know that SATs aren’t everything and no SAT score will guarantee a place, but what puts you over the hurdle, so to speak?</p>
<p>The highest you can get. Telling you some arbitrary number won’t help. There is no exact hurdle. Depends on your ec’s, your ATAR etc.</p>
<p>Quantitatively, you would need a score between these figures on each section if you want a shot at colleges such as Yale, Princeton, Harvard, MIT, Stanford, Brown, Boston College etc… : reading: 690-800 maths: 700-790-800 writing: 690-780. For ACT a score between 29-35 would be acceptable.</p>
<p>b@r!um: Would it show strength if took both exams? The SAT arguably best fits english students and ACT is better for science students.</p>
<p>No, it doesn’t. It shows that you have enough time and money to take both tests.</p>
<p>If you can score high on one of the two tests, taking the other one is misdirected effort. Bad test scores can result in a rejection, but good test scores won’t get you admitted to the top colleges. What can get you admitted are your letters of recommendation and prestigious awards or other rare achievements. That’s what you should be focusing on.</p>
<p>An acquaintance from Princeton once explained Princeton’s admission criteria. He said that Princeton assigns each applicant two numbers for academic and non-academic achievement: 4 indicates an international accomplishment, 3 national, 2 regional, 1 local. Apparently most admits are 3+2s, but they can only admit a fraction of their 3+2 applicants.</p>
<p>What is or will be your major(s) in College (what college)? Why did your choose it? Which graduate school will apply to? I’ll start first. I plan to major in Biochemistry and Neuroscience at (hopefully) Harvard College. I’ve chosen Biochem for med school, and also because I like chemistry. Neuro as I’m interested in the human brain. I’ll be applying to Harvard Medical school.</p>
<p>Are you asking me or other posters in general?</p>
<p>b@r!um: thanks for the advise. Academicly, what program would help one gain a 4. For example would high score on an IC B exam qualify.</p>
<p>I was asking everyone in general.</p>
<p>What’s an IC B exam?</p>
<p>An international academic accomplishment might be something like a good performance at the international science olympiads. Most students don’t have that, that’s why 4s are so rare.</p>
<p>Excuse me, I meant IB.</p>
<p>Think about it like this: there are ~300 students each year that score 44-45 points on the IB, and another 500 with a score of 43. HYP can’t accept all of them. An IB score in that range is certainly an impressive achievement, but it does not guarantee admission to the top universities.</p>
<p>It might come down to what else you are doing besides school. A high IB score from a student who is doing homework all day is nowhere near as impressive as a high IB score from a student who has other accomplishments to show as well.</p>
<p>b@r!um: thanks for the great advise. I know that near perfect grades won’t do, and I try to demonstrate my passion through my EC. Knowing that there are many others similar to me, I try to focus on things that show my character, strength and ambition. Mostly on what makes me unique.</p>
<p>am also an aussie planning to apply to america & aus unis, but does anyone know how we can go about doing this so as to be able to choose between all unis once accepted? since we hear back from australian unis in jan/feb and must reply in feb, and hear back from american unis in march and must reply in may? (does that make sense? :S)</p>