Math SAT more important than verbal?

<p>Do you think that MIT looks more at the Math section of the SAT? I have an 800 math SAT and a 640 verbal. Do you think I have any shot of getting in with this low verbal score?</p>

<p>MIT is pretty balanced with Stats. You have a shot, but we don't have an indication other stats. Look on the decisions thread to see it yourself, there are a couple of people with not-so-hot CR scores.</p>

<p>According to the Common</a> Data Set, 35% of incoming freshmen last year had an SAT score before 700.</p>

<p>Also, in fact, more importantly: there is never one part of the application that will kill your chances of admissions. If everything else is solid, you have nothing to worry about with that 640V.</p>

<p>Thanks guys!</p>

<p>I've just checked the ED thread and I see a 660v that was deferred, 1300 total accepted (assuming about 650v on that), 640v rejected, 670v accepted, 660v deferred, 660v deferred, 580v deferred, 580v deferred.</p>

<p>670: 1 accepted
660: 3 deferred
650: 1 accepted
580: 2 deferred</p>

<p>If it helps, I know several (although of course not zillions of) MIT students who had good math scores and abysmal verbal scores -- I mean, let's be honest, you don't have to be good at matching synonyms and analogies to be amazing at math.</p>

<p>One of the smartest engineers I know here got somewhere around a 500 in verbal. My boyfriend (who is a rocket scientist and brilliant), got a 450 on the SAT II in writing. :) </p>

<p>That's not to say, of course, that you're a lock with a verbal score of XXX. Just that a low verbal score isn't an immediate death knell.</p>

<p>mollie, thanks for that, I really like the way you answer questions! in my case, I'm from PR and I had been checking stats, and Puerto Ricans are among the races with lowest SAT scores!</p>

<p>Look at the stats
ETHNICITY ------------------------ Verbal-Math-Total
Amer. Indian or Alaskan Native ----- 489 493 982
Asian, Asian Amer./Pacific Islander --- 511 580 1091
African American or Black------------- 433 431 864
Mexican or Mexican American --------- 453 463 916
Puerto Rican ----------------------- 460 457 917
Other Hispanic or Latino ------------- 463 469 932
White -----------------------------532 536 1068
Other ----------------------------- 495 513 1008
No Response (10%) -------------- 511 525 1036</p>

<p>Those were the average scores by Ethnicity for year 2005. My score was a little higher than the average Puerto Rican, getting a 580-cr and 690-math for a total of 1270, which is not incredible for most people, but it is great for most of my classmates. </p>

<p>Oh well, I just hope MIT doesn't look that much at my SAT's</p>

<p>Mollie, that's very comforting to me. Do you know if the people that got in with low verbal scores were recruits, minorities, or had some sort of special status?</p>

<p>yeah, I would like to know that. Maybe they took the TOEFL and MIT didn't considered their low verbals. But anyways, if you read the article that is linked from my first post at my blog, you'll see that it is true when MIT says they don't want "perfect scores" and instead they want Good matches!</p>

<p>The first guy I mentioned (with the 500 verbal score) was a minority, I guess -- he's multiracial with about a bajillion ethnicities. :) But he also has an identical twin brother who got a much higher verbal score, and both of them got in. Clearly MIT could have just picked the twin with the higher verbal score, but they took both.</p>

<p>The boyfriend is a white middle-class male from Massachusetts. He is actually not underrepresented in any way, shape, or form.</p>

<p>There are certainly other examples, but those are the only two I can think of off the top of my head -- as you can imagine, we don't really spend much time sitting around discussing our SAT scores around here. ;)</p>

<p>yeah, actually, it would be pathetic being all the time talking about SAT Scores or Admission essays! Yuck!</p>

<p>I'm the opposite; I have an 800 in critical reading and a 710 in writing, but a 650 in math. I'm retaking the SAT in the spring and am expecting a math score in the low 700's. Assuming that my grades, recs, EC's, and essays are good, and that my intended major is chemistry... do I still have a chance in admissions?</p>

<p>Low 700's is fine. </p>

<p>I got a 690! :D</p>

<p>That's certainly a relief. :)</p>