<p>Thanks Anonymous for your kind words of support <3</p>
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<p>Yes, but the number one priority for schools is to create a diverse, unique class. If a schools is down to two applicants, and they have to decide between the 2400 and the 31, the first thing they are going to look at to compare will probably not be their score. They will probably look for the person that would best fit into the class. If it is pretty much a toss-up and they can equally contribute then will they look at scores. If that is the case, the 31 is at a disadvantage.</p>
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<p>Whether or not that’s the primary priority (I’m sure this varies from admissions officer to admissions officer), there are other considerations, such as how much a student will be able to get out of the education and, in turn, contribute to society. There is no reason to believe the idea that scores are merely tie-breakers; that idea is, moreover, irrelevant in practice: no two applicants are otherwise the same. </p>
<p>The truth is that many factors go into an evaluation: rigor and breadth of high-school curriculum, success in those classes (which can be contextualized by class rank), strength of teacher and counselor recommendations, standardized testing scores (which have an enormous influence until they, along with grades, show that the applicant is academically capable, at which point score increases mean less but are still relevant), extracurricular activities, and essays. </p>
<p>The essence of holistic review implies that a score change, like a change in the quality of any other factor of consideration, affects the strength of the application as a whole. In contrast, the idea that scores matter only when everything else is pretty much equal is fundamentally inconsistent with the holistic sort of admissions practiced by these schools and could work only if applicants were matched up head-to-head, which also doesn’t happen.</p>
<p>Silverturtle, I have a question.
I don’t believe you are applying to Penn (please correct me if I’m wrong)
So how did you find your way into this thread? xD
(This isn’t meant to be an insult/scolding or anything. I’m just legitimately curious.)</p>
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<p>At the moment, I don’t plan to.</p>
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<p>When I logged on, I did a search of my username to see if anyone had directed a question toward me without my knowledge. Anonymous1993’s post came up.</p>
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<p>You are right, but if that is what a school is looking for, a 31 can still get just as much out of his or her education as the 2400 (if they both demonstrate that they are hard workers). Colleges are not going to penalize a person for being a poor test taker. They only way to signal that a person is a poor test taker is if they have demonstrated hard work in other parts of their application.</p>
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<p>I completely agree with you. That is why lower scoring students can get into these schools.</p>
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<p>That is not what I am saying. I was just creating the hypothetical situation to suggest that most schools will not compare scores between students. The last part was sarcastic because it would never get to that point. Most schools look at scores once before reading the app for context. It is true that it is better to have a higher score. My point is that, they are not eliminating students based on score (if they demonstrate in other places on the app that they are strong applicants).</p>
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<p>LMAO xD
Legit</p>
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<p>I agree.</p>
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<p>I see we are in agreement then.</p>
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<p>I was wondering how you always manage to find any thread with your name in it. That makes sense now. Great idea.</p>
<p>To answer the original question, there is no answer. You cannot know if a score is good enough. If you show that you are a strong applicant beyond scores, you will be competitive.</p>
<p>She’s harsh but true. Penn, and most other colleges, easily prefers the High GPA + Low-ish SATs compared to Low GPA + High SAT. That’s because a test taken on one day can’t compensate for 3+ years of schoolwork and grades.</p>
<p>Penn’s Dean Eric Furda even stated in one of the articles posted that they spend “literally a millisecond”. Basically they’ll gauge an overall understanding of where you stand, and as long as you’re in 50th percentile, or higher, you won’t be eliminated.</p>
<p>Her sixth poster posted the video you are referring to. I will post it again.</p>
<p>[How</a> Admissions Directors at Penn and Michigan Think About Test Scores - NYTimes.com](<a href=“http://thechoice.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/09/29/knowledge/]How”>How Admissions Directors at Penn and Michigan Think About Test Scores - The New York Times)</p>
<p>Silverturtle, would you say that a 800M, 730 CR, 710 W is good enough that doing better on a future sitting won’t really help my chances THAT much?</p>