==> Is this SAT good enough ? _HELP PLEASE !

Applying to College
1

Hi everyone.
Thanks for reading this.
So this is the issue I’m facing :

===> In the May 2015 administration of the SAT, i got a score of 2170 (CR:720 M:780 W:670). Although I was happy with my reading and math scores, my writing sucked a bit, so I decided to take the SAT once again in June. However I only received a 2070 in this one, (CR:630 M:730 W:710). Although there was an increase in the writing, I’m a little concerned about the drop itself. I am indeed aware of the fact that the majority of the universities I’ve selected superscore the SAT, and a few select only the best sitting. I believe my SAT superscore is a pretty decent one: 2210 (CR:720 W:710 M:780), and my highest sitting score is 2170, which too I believe is not a matter of concern based on the rest of my profile.

However, the drop itself has been an extremely vexing matter of concern.
So here’s my question -

===> WILL THE DROP MAKE A BIG IMPACT ON MY PROFILE PROVIDED THAT THE UNIVERSITIES I’VE SELECTED EITHER SUPER SCORE THE SAT OR SELECT THE HIGHEST INDIVIDUAL SITTING SCORE ?

I’m from India and plan to do either computer science or maybe engineering once I graduate from High School.
I am planning to apply to Stanford (Primary), Cornell and Brown (and some other universities like Carnegie Mellon, UCB and USC), so wanted to know where I stand, from you guys. Take a look at my profile:

___School:

  • Class 9 - GPA was 9.6 (out of 10, with most A’s) - from the central board of secondary education.
  • Class 10 - GPA was 10 (out of 10, almost all A’s) - from the central board of secondary education.
  • Class 11 Midterm - percentile in the state : 99.49 - Percentage : 91% ( I ranked in the top 0.5% of the state! )
    • from the Gujarat higher secondary education board
  • Class 11 End term - percentile in the state : 99.87 - Percentage : 93% ( I ranked in the top 0.1% of the state! )
    • from the Gujarat higher secondary education board
  • Class 12 results will be out once admission procedures will be completed

Keep in mind that the courses I’ve selected are way more difficult,rigorous and comprehensive than the one’s provided by ICSE or IB.
I mean seriously, WAY MORE!

___Essays:

I’m a strong writer and can write pretty good when I’m calm and pensive.

___Recommendations:

My teachers are really fond of me, so I think that they will write well for me!

___ECs:

  • School quizzing team for 4 years; participated in 15 quizzes on city, state and national levels. Won about 8-9
  • Two quiz shows were televised on national TV in India and neighboring countries. (I felt like a celebrity, lol)
  • Active musician, about 13-14 years with the guitar and the piano.
  • I also have a degree in Indian clasical music, which I completed when I was n middle school.
  • Have conducted many charity music shows in which I have performed at several occasions.
  • Active community service advocate; about one visit and musical performance at an orphanage every week.
  • Leader of the school music club and I write often for the school newsletter.
  • I teach math and science to homeless and impoverished girls in my town.
  • I'm really good at movie making; I design films for the school's events and have a successful YouTube channel with over 10.5K subs and one and half million views!
  • I also teach music to some poor people who live in the outskirts of the city in which I stay.
  • I have weekly school talks with lower grade students and encourage them to work harder, for it turns out that my speeches have a beguiling influence (not in the negative way though, lol).
  • national cyber Olympiad 2014 class topper, with a state rank of 23 and an international rank of 208 !
  • Founding members of the school's tech Club, wherein I teach Adobe After Effects to a class of about 30.
  • Out of all my years at school, I've Represented my class for almost 6 years, as the Class Representative.

Maybe i might have forgotten a few more ECs, but I’m sure you’ll get the gist of what I mean…

All your comments are appreciated.
Thank you!

2

A lot of people’s scores did strange things in June. I wouldn’t worry about it. If the schools superscore the other scores from June won’t show up on their computers at all, I believe.

3

Schools don’t care about the W score.

Your best M+CR is from the first test…1500 <= That’s what schools will care about.

4

What can you afford?

5

^ The OP is an international applicant and their June SAT scores were not impacted by the mess up here in the States. Also what is the comment- “the other scores won’t show up on their computers at all” mean? I hope that the June SAT scores show up and count. I haven’t read anywhere that those scores were invalidated. Where do you get that information from?

6

OP, it’s hard for anyone to chance you. Go to the CDS for each school. You have high reach schools. CMU is tough to get into for CS. Hope you have safeties.

7

The questions were directed at Qwerty568.

8

Do you need financial aid? Go to the schools website for international applicants and determine their status for funding international applicants. Please have a balanced list of schools.

9

I think, and many will agree, that admins have a “minimum score” idea in their heads for each group of applicants (Asian, white, URMs, athletes, special talents, legacies).

But they don’t tell us the minimums for each of those groups.

Therefore, I think it’s a good idea for you to shoot for the SAT average among admitted applicants. I think that if you do that, you will have an equal-to-or-greater-than chance as the overall admit rate. We must assume that some who were denied admission had scores well below the average.

So a 2250 gives you about a 6% chance at HYP…

10

@goingnutsmom When a school superscores, your “weaker” individual scores do not show up on the adcoms’ screen- just the three strongest individual scores.

For example, if you took the SAT twice, with the following results:

1st sitting: 680 CR, 720 M, 670 W

2nd sitting: 650 CR, 740 M, 690 W

This is what the adcom sees when they look at your SAT scores:

680 CR, 740 M, 690 W

They aren’t going to see the other individual scores (the 650 CR, the 720 M, or the 670 W)

So if the OP did worse on a specific section in June, as long as the school super scores, those scores will be irrelevant. I didn’t mean that all the June scores would be invalidated (although it wouldn’t surprise me if they were taken with a grain of salt).

11

Actually, they do get to see all the scores but they “cherry pick” the best scores. Also, I hope it’s not the case that schools will look at the June SAT scores “with a grain of salt”. Where are you getting this information from?

12

Calm down, @goingnutsmom !

Several adcoms have said the computer programs they use to display SAT scores when looking at an application only reveal the top scores on the screen (Pomona, I remember, said this in an info session). I’m sure if they wanted to, they could see the complete SAT, but at first glance, if the school superscores, they’re only going to see the top three scores.

In regards to the June SAT, officially, colleges say they’re going to look at these scores the same way.
However, if I were an adcom, I would not be looking at an SAT two sections shorter than it should be the same way I would a full-length, complete SAT. A couple people on here have called colleges asking about the June SAT and got answers along the lines of “well…I guess we’ll accept them” or “we’re not sure how we will look at those yet”. If your kid did best on the June SAT, I’m sure everything will be fine for him/her.

13

Pomona requires that all SAT scores be sent. Had not heard of a special program that only allows the superscore to be seen by admissions. My understanding from researching is that the admissions people see all scores sent by student with score choice (if score choice accepted) and superscore it themselves or have office help enter the superscore (if superscoring allowed). College Board has a table outlining all the variations.

As far as the June SAT being considered in any suspicious manner by college admissions, I really doubt this. I have been monitoring the info closely and I haven’t come across anything being posted that colleges were responding with “I guess we’ll take them” . Please tell us which colleges responded this way.

And you are not an admissions counselor so it bears no weight what you may personally think about the SAT June score.

I don’t need any calming, just important to post accurate information.

14

I have no idea what colleges see with the SAT. I imagine they see both scores, but they just kinda scrap the other.

More kids than you would think do worse on their second sitting of the ACT or SAT. This is because students get so anxious about performing better that their anxiety actually inhibits their performance. (Happened to me as well - you’re not alone :slight_smile: ) For this reason I don’t think admissions will frown upon your lower score. It’s still a very good score anyway. :smiley:

15

@dragonfly26 Thanks a ton mate. That was really reassuring :slight_smile:
I appreciate it.

16

Regarding the differing interpretations of superscoring on this thread: If a college truly supescores, then they will only consider the top score from each section and the total that produces. If they do anything else, such as partially considering the other scores, then they are either not superscoring or quasi-superscoring, and should identify this as their policy.

(There are two ways for a college to “see” scores: on the data entry level and on the decision making level. Only the latter is relevant to the applicant. @Qwerty568’s posts seem entirely well informed and considered, adcom or not.)

17

@merc81 What you’re saying sounds absolutely cogent and plausible. I guess they might simply ignore the other scores if they strictly mean superscore. Thank you anyways :slight_smile:

18

College board has a PDF that tells you the role of SAT scores from different test dates at specific colleges. IIRC, there are 4 different ways schools look at SAT scores and superscoring.

I can’t link the PDF because I’m on my phone, but you can try googling “Collegeboard SAT use colleges” or something to that effect.

19

I’ve seen that pdf already. @QuirkyClarkie :slight_smile: Long back.