Low percentile in sat II with decent score

<p>I got 700 in Math IIC and 720 in Physics (first and only attempt)... and my percentiles are 65 and 71! I am damn worried... how bad are they going to look?</p>

<p>I have 2170 on the first SAT I took, and 2130 on the second...</p>

<p>highest general sat subscores
Math: 680
Critical Reading: 740
Writing: 780</p>

<p>I am applying to GeorgiaTech, Illinois, CMU, Cornell, Umich and MIT...</p>

<p>My dream school is MIT, though I know it's tough from here
I have a 3.3ish gpa... however there's been an improvement this year
I have been through depression and have written about it in my essays...</p>

<p>I am an Indian student to put it in perspective... I felt I didn't have time to take the Sat II again as I need to keep options in India open as well... am feeling dreadful... </p>

<p>Can anyone do anything to make me feel better about my SAT II percentiles?</p>

<p>I'm really sorry, but I don't really know what to say. To me a 700 in Math IIC is pretty good, since I'm really bad at math in general. Although..I don't suppose MIT would think the same.
If it make you feel any better, you're not alone. I got a 690 in my SAT II German with Listening which is the 68th percentile. Slightly better, but it still sucks (since I want to go to Columbia College).
Now, are you sure you can't retake you SAT's? I don't want to make matters worse, but a 680 in SAT I math isn't too great either for an engineering major. Or did you mistake your math score for your writing score?</p>

<p>You have to consider the pool of people who are taking the SAT IIs in context with your percentile. For the most part, only top colleges require SAT IIs, so only people applying to those top colleges are going to take them. Therefore, a percentile score on an SAT II is representative of where you stand with other people applying to a top college, not the population as a whole (which is what an SAT percentile would show). So don't sweat it.</p>

<p>We have nearly the same list of colleges we've applied to by the way :) I didn't apply to Illinois or MIT, but I did apply to Case Western and Harvey Mudd. So other than that we are the same, maybe I'll see you next year :)</p>

<p>I have similar stats.The percentile thing was also worrying me. 710 in Maths II is only 69 percentile and 720 in Maths I is 88 percentile.</p>

<p>If you want MIT, you have to retake, though your GPA will also be an issue unless you go to an amazingly competitive high school.</p>

<p>There have been several threads about writing about depression with the upshot being don't do it!!!! Especially at MIT where a family recently sued the school because a depressed student killed herself there.</p>

<p>There are lots of great schools with your stats! Expand your list.</p>

<p>Your SAT II scores are fine. You might have a problem for MIT with the SAT I math of 680. It seems a little low, but you still have a chance, of course. It seems out of line with your physics and Math II scores.</p>

<p>ur sat 2 scores r way too low and ur sat 1 score is weak due to the less weight policy on writing and ur gpa is too low
GeorgiaTech, Illinois, CMU should be matches =D gl!</p>

<p><a href="http://www.mitadmissions.org/topics/qanda/questions_and_answers/bens_second_semiannual_qa.shtml%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.mitadmissions.org/topics/qanda/questions_and_answers/bens_second_semiannual_qa.shtml&lt;/a>

[quote]

Merudh wrote: "I have a 790 math IIC - is that considered as equally competitive as an 800? And also, do you think I should retake my physics SAT II (710) or is anything above 700 on an SAT II considered good?"</p>

<p>A seven-hundred-anything is a fine score. Spend the time making your essays better instead of retaking the test. :-)

[/quote]
</p>

<p>MIT has said many times that they consider anything in the 700 range for the Math II test to be the same and not worth retaking.</p>

<p>my 750 in chinese is 28%ile and i'm sticking with it and not retaking lol.</p>

<p>%iles mean NOTHING in the SAT2 Chinese; the native speakers throw off the curve for a score that won't impress anyone. If Chinese is not your family's first language I think a 750 is impressive</p>

<p>hey.. my friend with a 2270 SAT just got straight up rejected from MIT... probably cuz of extracurriculars... i am super ****ed off... he had like a 3.89 GPA too... he applied EA and got pwned by the bastards from the MIT admissions department</p>

<p>the sad thing, chinese is my native language lol. i just take no pride in it and refuse to go to chinese school. and then get myself kicked out or i fail out when i do go. chinese is seriously the most tedious language in the world. at least with french or spanish u can "sound it out" with chinese, if u don't no it, sucks for u!</p>

<p>i think as long as the score is good, then you're fine. "good" meaning really anything 700+ for your target schools. i got an 800 on chinese and it was still in the 50th-ish percentile.</p>

<p>i got an 800 on math iic and 760 on bio m so i guess it kinda balances out my lame 28%ile lol. congrats serendipity on chinese tho, i wish i had that determination.</p>

<p>hm not really determination. more like wasted too much time watching chinese tv serials. >_< haha, gj on math and bio.</p>

<p>percentiles mean nothing</p>