<p>Hi guys,
I was wondering how bad it looks to take the SAT 3 times, if your testing was like this:
1 time freshman year
1 time junior year
1 time again junior year OR 1 time senior year
Freshman year I got a little above a 2200(with 690 in reading...). 1st time junior year is in the low 23's(with one section notably, but not much, lower than the other two). Thanks! :) </p>
<p>Getting in the low 2300’s is usually good enough. Most would advise to spend your time improving on other parts of your application (GPA, ECs). Good luck.</p>
<p>Remember, in the last 5 years, 69% of applicants with a 2400 got rejected from Stanford.</p>
<p>hi fluffy2017
thanks for your response! im just concerned about my score, since most of the top 15% of my (extremely) competitive private school has SAT scores in the 2250+ range, so my score is pretty “average” in that group.
Also, if 69% of 2400s get rejected, doesn’t that mean 31% get accepted(which seems like a lot compared to the typical 7% acceptance rate)?
BTW, I heard Stanford doesn’t like taking people from the east coast. Is that true? </p>
<p>fluffy - do you have a link for the perfect scorers admit rate?</p>
<p>runningforlife - If you have a 2300+, it is important to have a specific goal for taking it again. People who score 2400 are not getting in because they have a perfect score but because they will have other laudable achievements that complete their application. Many of them tend to put a lot more effort in every area. </p>
<p>texaspg - sorry, forgot to add the link:</p>
<p><a href=“Stanford Magazine - Article”>Stanford Magazine - Article;
<p>Once you get to 2300, you would be a lot better off spending your time trying to make yourself stand out in some other way.</p>
<p>@runningforlife</p>
<p>People with 2400, especially ones who are admitted, have a lot of other accomplishments, higher GPA, etc. </p>
<p>You mention the competitiveness of your school with many students in the 2250 range. Do you really think you stand a better chance if you have a 2360 vs. a 2320 (the difference of 1-2 questions) compared to standing a better chance from the time spent on an EC or taking an extra class?</p>
<p>You go to a great school - so the only shortage of resources that you have is TIME. Use your time to have a bigger impact…oh, and of course, enjoy what you are actually doing…not just getting a slightly better grade on the SAT.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>This is old data, but I imagine the profile is similar.
Go to page 5: <a href=“https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:_EtAVPHbEnMJ:www.stanford.edu/dept/uga/pdf/counselor_newsletter/cn_fall09.pdf+geographic+distribution+class+of+2013&hl=en&gl=us&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESj-A_ZpETUWYTx49nmiU3KVFQDe03o6IckQYUf0obZRRwpGjXMY2oaiPW3q7GXcTMfxTb12TQ8kICPv8Rm2ln_pjAfJB1DAsuyV9rkyNUcyy0szWrVeMtHiBDGyxB0g9MOrusgR&sig=AHIEtbQ_-sKGzj78iIxI1-RmnVTiMg9EGQ”>https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:_EtAVPHbEnMJ:www.stanford.edu/dept/uga/pdf/counselor_newsletter/cn_fall09.pdf+geographic+distribution+class+of+2013&hl=en&gl=us&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESj-A_ZpETUWYTx49nmiU3KVFQDe03o6IckQYUf0obZRRwpGjXMY2oaiPW3q7GXcTMfxTb12TQ8kICPv8Rm2ln_pjAfJB1DAsuyV9rkyNUcyy0szWrVeMtHiBDGyxB0g9MOrusgR&sig=AHIEtbQ_-sKGzj78iIxI1-RmnVTiMg9EGQ</a></p>
<p>What this doesn’t tell you are two important things required to answer your question:
- How many people from each state applied?
- Of the people who got in, but decided not to apply, how many came from each state.</p>
<p>I know that for my area in California, everyone and their brother applies (even if the brother is not a Senior 
). Whereas for Maine and other areas in the US it is a bit more self-selecting.</p>
<p>@fluffy - thanks for the link. I read the story but forgot to catch that tidbit. Are you at Stanford?</p>
<p>thanks for the responses guys! and @fluffy: thanks for showing us that! i’ve never been able to find something like that.
also, does stanford care more about UW gpa or W gpa? </p>
<p>OP…I see that you are searching to see what may be relevant/significant for Stanford admissions…whether a certain test score/superscore or weighted or unweighted GPA can make a difference in their holy “admissions”…</p>
<p>…please, stop worrying too much about the “little things”…getting the “golden ticket” to this institution…is more about “holistic” evaluation and more of an “art” of admissions…</p>
<p>…Admissions (fortunately or unfortunately depending on who you talk to) is an ART not a SCIENCE…very similar to how we practice the "art"of medicine…we do not practice the “science” of medicine (how we prescribe one medicine to one patient is often different for another patient depending on their age, sex, race, etc)…</p>
<p>…each applicant is evaluated as an INDIVIDUAL and within the context of where they have attended and are applying from…depending on their socioeconomic status, under-represented state vs over-represented state, ORM vs URM, male vs female, interest in humanities vs STEM (they want to create a balanced class), top athlete vs top musician vs top writer vs top scientist vs top math whiz vs top community leader vs top artist vs top technology entrepreneur, etc…</p>
<p>…for example: if they have 10 top elite pianists applying in the same year (all with very similar backgrounds, GPA, scores) they may only take 2 to make room for other accomplished musicians (violinists, cellists, clarinetists, etc) they would like to have on campus…it is not a zero-sum game…</p>
<p>…admissions is constantly working (till the last minute) to create the BEST incoming CLASS made up of various stars, scholars, and specialists in all endeavors…</p>
<p>Hope this helps.</p>
<p>^^^ yeah, what he said ;)</p>
<p>The additional way to think of it is rather than looking at things you have very little control over (past grades, geography, who from your school and how many are applying, percentages), look at doing what you can control:</p>
<ul>
<li> Do stuff that interests you.</li>
<li> Write great essays.</li>
<li> Think about who is writing your recommendations, and build a relationship with them to give them the perspective and interest they need to write a great recommendation.</li>
</ul>
<p>Note. None of the above is specific to Stanford.</p>
<p>The only reason to even remotely think about percentages and chances is to determine if it is worth spending the time and money to apply. Otherwise, it really doesn’t matter.</p>
<p>@RunningForLife</p>
<p>gravitas2 is right, you’re looking too much at the less important parts. Stanford cares more about UW GPA, but a gpa of 4.0 is NOT going to get you accepted alone. Hell the difference between a 3.85 and a 4.00 is incredibly minimal to most elite colleges. If you really want to get in, you need to find stuff that represents you as a unique person. Stanford can have a million students who can score 2300+ on the SAT and have a 4.0 GPA. They want to see an individual, not a connoisseur of scores. </p>
<p>
Yes, the large overrepresentation of CA in the Stanford incoming class relates to a disproportionately large number of qualified applicants from CA (many students favor applying to colleges within driving distance) rather than admissions favoring the state. Looking at the self-reported and biased Parchment data, applicants with a 3.9+ GPA while taking 4+ APs with a 2100+ SAT had a 26.5% admit rate for in-state vs 25.8% for out-of-state, not a statistically significant difference. For other years besides the one linked earlier, one can look up the trends over time in IPEDS. For example, NY had a median of 67 per year over the last 10 years in the database. Some years had a notable variation such as 47 in 2011, followed by 72 in 2012. This type of large variation from year-to-year suggests the admissions are not dictated by a quota per state. </p>