I’m in the British system, and want to attend an Ivy school. My grades, which are fairly decent are:
AS - AAAA - Maths, Physics, History and Geography. A2 predictions - AAAA - Physics, Geography, Maths and History, respectively.
My GCSE’s were 7A*'s, 2A’s and a B (in drama).
My SAT scores however, are fairly weak
2150 - 750 CR, 720 WR, 680 Math (which is terrible - I know. Will this however be offset by my A* at GCSE and A at A level, as well as my A* prediction in Physics?)
Subject SATs - 780, 760 - In Literature and Physics respectively
I have fairly good ECAs - Life Scout, Head of the school’s Eco group, started a Physics club, High School Sports, Charity work etc. I also think my essays are fairly decent.
Do I stand a reasonable chance of getting into HYPSM? Or will my terrible SAT scores scare them away?
I’m going undecided, but I’ve said my areas of interest are history, economics, and politics on the App - not engineering or compsci that needs stellar math scores.
Your sat is less than stellar just because you are an international applicant which puts you in a pool of applicants of much higher caliber that the standard pool. These kids have perfects scores and professional accolades under their belts and many still get rejected. Look at Georgetown which isn’t as selective as HYP, they accepted only 8 applicants from China for a 1.6% acceptance rate. I would still apply but also apply to schools that are matches for you such as NYU just in case. Best of luck mate!
Your A levels and GSCEs are both good- but your SAT score will make getting into these schools a lot harder. However your scores are not bad by any means and would still be competitive at lot of other good schools, just not HYPSM
Your SAT’s are not weak, you are withing the range of all these schools, don’t listen to anyone who tells you your score is low. In NO way is a 2150 low.
If it helps, I’m also in a British system international school. One of my friends got into Stanford and Harvard with a 2150, one got into MIT and Duke with a 2100 and one got into Brown and Vandy with a 2050 (2100 superscore). This was last year.
Personally, I wouldn’t listen to this homelessharvard guy, and apply to as many schools as you can. I know the deadline’s passed, but hopefully your essays, recs and ECAs were good.
You’re scores are no problem, I know an international applicant with a 2000 who got into Stanford but I agree with jon212, you’re EC’s are lacking. You don’t have anything special, anything that will make you stand out, so you’re best hopes are stellar essays. Wish you the best of luck
Your scores won’t be the problem (unless you’re from China or Korea, where kids seem to be drilled into taking tests.) The problem, as mentioned above, are ECs. What schools like Harvard or Stanford want is an international-level award, or research experience, or something exceptional. There’s no such thing as a “pretty good EC” being acceptable at that level of the competition, unless you grew up in Dharavi or a favelà. And even the kid from Dharavi or a favelà better be exceptional in some way.
UCLA and UC Berkeley: your odds are more than 1 in 2, but there’s no financial aid so do your parents have 55K?
Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford: probably not.
Cornell, Northwestern, Columbia: odds are 1 in 10 if you’re paying full freight, almost nil if you need financial aid.
If your choices were UCLA, UC Berkeley, or King’s, which would you prefer (assuming your parents have 55k)? Would your parents be willing to pay so much more than for King’s?
@Homeless2Harvard probably makes the most sense here. Those kids who got in with 2000 are extremely rare cases. Your SAT score is extremely high, but it needs to be a bit higher because you are competing against the entire world. None of these schools are matches. They are all high reaches. But being full pay will help you