<p>oh alright...thanks
In the IB Diploma program, I can do only 6 IB subjects. So does that mean that it is equivalent to only 6 AP's....I've seen people doing up to 10 or more AP's, which would then look a lot better than my IB's...</p>
<p>Nope - everything is considered in context. If your school offers 20 AP's and you don't take any, that doesn't look good. If your school offers no AP's and you don't take any, that's a much different story. Same with IB's. Essentially we look at how you challenged yourself based on what was available to you, not compared to other people.</p>
<p>i see...
can you comment on this please:
I am taking the diploma with higher level math, physics, and chem. I should get projected of 7,7,6 respectively. I also got 800 on the math section of SAT 1 and should get around 270 on TOEFL (computer-based) However, my GPA is quite low (3.6) and my grades in English are B's. Not considering EC's and the subjective part, am i still in the "competitive ballpark"?</p>
<p>Yes, if the other components of your app are strong, you are certainly a competitive applicant.</p>
<p>alright ben jones...thanks a lot...
the responses are really helpful!</p>
<p>hey,,, international students have better verbal scores..
do you know from Hong Kong, or Korea, there are so many students getting perfect score on both SAT 1 and SAT 2s.. you gotta compete with them..</p>
<p>RISPAT are we still betting?</p>
<p>I applied to college 30 years ago. I moved from an Asian country when I was 5, almost 6 & I didn’t learn English until I was 6. I spoke another language at home during my growing up years. There was a teacher at my private school that had seen my college admissions file & said to me, “You won’t get in” because he had learned that I applied to an Ivy League college, a Seven Sisters college & Swarthmore College. </p>
<p>My Verbal SAT score at that time was 460. My Math SAT score was 590. A few months later, I took the SAT test again & received 530 Verbal score & 600 Math score. My father had diabetes, so often I was not able to do extra-curricular activities in my community since my father was not well enough to drive me to extra-curricular events on a regular basis. My school was approximately 15 miles away so I was not able to participate in extra-curricular activities at the school due to transportation issues. I did a few activities at the school during the school’s scheduled activity period. </p>
<p>I had taken a string instruments class while in I was in high school & had learned to play the violin. An admissions officer at the Ivy League college that I had applied to said to me that the college was looking for students for its orchestra. This is one of the main reasons that I applied to the college. The other reason is because the college was close to my home. I did not get into the Ivy League college, the Seven Sisters college or Swarthmore College. </p>
<p>Is it near impossible for a student that has average Verbal SAT scores (critical reading & writing) & a minimum number of extra-curricular activities to get into an extremely selective college such as MIT or an Ivy League college? Even though my 2nd Verbal SAT score (530) was an average score, it was probably a good score for an non-native speaker of English.</p>
<p>I’d like to add that I don’t think it’s fair if a very prestigious college is denying admission to a student that has an average Verbal SAT score even though English is the student’s second language. My Achievement test scores were the following: 560 Math Level 1, 560 Chemistry 630 English (Grammar). I took the Math Level 1 test twice, the Chemistry test twice & the English (Grammar) test only one time. I had taken the Chemistry achievement test approximately 6 months after I had finished my high school Chemistry course. </p>
<p>I had taken Spanish classes in high school for 4 years. I had also taken an Intro to Spanish class in the 8th grade. Spanish is not my native language. I found that after I began taking Spanish in school, the amount of time I spent studying Spanish began to compete with the amount of time that I spent learning about English.</p>
<p>Is there anything that non-native speakers of English can do to raise their Verbal SAT scores besides taking practice tests, learning vocabulary words & reading more often?</p>
<p>MIT allows non-native speakers to take the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) in lieu of the SAT I. Students who submit TOEFL scores are not required to submit SAT scores, though if both sets are submitted, only the one that is the best will be considered.</p>
<p>Thanks for your response, molliebatmit. I’m not sure if it was possible at the time when I went to school for students who attend American schools to submit the TOEFL for college admission unless the student has arrived from overseas to study in the U.S. during the high school years. </p>
<p>I took my first SAT test (SAT I) in June of my junior year in high school. I spent the summer months taking practice SAT tests, learning vocabulary words & reading. I took my second SAT test (SAT I) in November of the same year when I was a senior in high school. My vocabulary score was 59 (590 on a 400 to 800 scale) the second time I took the SAT test (SAT I). </p>
<p>What the teacher did by saying, “You won’t get in” is not something he should have done. The teachers in my school should have encouraged me to give performances in which I played the violin & if possible, also submit a tape recording (CD recording) of my violin playing to the colleges that I was applying to. Additionally, the catalog for a school that my relative attended (which was printed 30 years ago) states that if a student does poorly on the SATs in their junior year in high school, the college admissions counselors at the school will encourage the student to spend the summer months between junior & senior years preparing for the SATs which is what I did. (Also, SAT scores are private information. The only person in a school that should have access to a student’s SAT I & II scores is a college admissions counselor.)</p>
<p>I forgot to mention earlier that I was 1 to 2 years younger than the other students in my graduating class when I was in the 6th through 12th grades. I moved from England to the US just before I began the 6th grade & had taken a placement test which placed me in a grade with students that were older than me. Therefore, I had 1-2 years less than the other students in my graduating class to develop my reading & vocabulary skills when I was in school. My college admissions counselor did not state that I was younger than the other students in my graduating class in the recommendation that he wrote for me for college admission. </p>
<p>If a student is younger than the other students in his or her graduating class, is this taken into consideration during the college admissions process at MIT especially in regards to SAT scores, grades in high school & extra-curricular activities? Since I was younger than the other students in my graduating class, I couldn’t drive without adult supervision during my senior year in high school. The lack of a regular driver’s license limited my ability to do extra-curricular activities at my school & in my community. </p>
<p>Should my college admissions counselor have mentioned in his recommendation that he wrote for me for college admission that I was 1-2 years younger than the other students in my graduating class or did it suffice that I had written my birthdate on the college application?</p>
<p>Molliebatmit, it may have been that during the time I had applied to colleges, only the students that came to U.S. (from a non-English speaking country) during their high school or college years took the TOEFL. </p>
<p>All of my friends in high school that were non-native speakers of English took the SATs (SAT I), not the TOEFL when they were applying to colleges. These other people came from a non-English speaking country earlier than during their high school years. There may have been 1 student that I met when I was in college that took the TOEFL test. That student came to the U.S. from a non-English speaking country during the high school years.</p>
<p>I’m not sure when the rule changed, but it’s certainly possible now. As it stands now, any student could choose to take the TOEFL in place of the SAT, whether he was born/attended school in the US or not.</p>
<p>Thanks again for your response, molliebatmit. Previous college admissions catalogs would most likely state the rules regarding college admissions testing in previous years.</p>