<p>Hello! </p>
<p>Does anyone know what the minimum score for Princeton, Harvard, MIT, or Stanford is?</p>
<p>Is breaking 2200 enough, or is a 2300 necessary?</p>
<p>I have good teacher recs, gpa/class rank, but my ec's aren't that great. I want to major in some sort of science, but i don't have very many science ec's; so i'm hoping that a better SAT score could override the lack of ec's.</p>
<p>Thanks in advance!</p>
<p>no minimum</p>
<p>2200 is good enough. Not exceptional, but good enough.</p>
<p>2200 would be good enough as long as other parts of your application were strong. i have heard that the essay is extremely important for setting yourself apart from the rest of the crowd.</p>
<p>i've heard that 2100 sets you in the top 5% of all scorers</p>
<p>no minimum, but a 2200 and good ec's would be better than 2400 with weak ec's</p>
<p>What about a 2100 was great ec's vs. a 2200 with good ec's? I know it's subjective, but I'd hope that the 100 points wouldn't stand in the way of someone who spent less time studying and more time volunteering.</p>
<p>As long as you can get it above 2000, it is fine. SAT measures just a small part of one's math proficiency and one's english proficiency. It is almost like the TOEFL, come on universities especially engineering one's will not say no because you have weak critical reading scores unless they are highly .....(not a good word)</p>
<p>as long as you get a 1450 on Math and Critical Reading you are basically good to go.</p>
<p>750+ math
800+ Verbal
Still no guarantee- sorry but true. You need a hook that the Admissions office finds interesting. One must 'please' them and strike their fancy so to speak! LOL</p>
<p>There is no definite minimum. A Harvard admission officer I just heard speak in my town on 10 May 2007 said what admission officers at most of the colleges you are asking about would say these days: it's a good idea to have section scores above 650 on the new, three-section SAT I, or section scores (and thus a composite score) above 30 on the ACT. But if you had very, very exceptional desirable characteristics reflected elsewhere in your application, you might get in with lower scores, and you could ace both tests and not necessarily be sure of getting in. </p>
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<p>That's going to be more dangerous to your chances than your test scores, probably. The colleges you mention get plenty of applicants who show deep involvement in a few challenging ECs and who also post high test scores. </p>
<p>Good luck. If you or onlookers are interested in the issue of whether or not to retake admission tests to try to get better scores, read on below. </p>
<p>About three years ago I attended the NACAC Minnesota National College Fair, at which I first learned about regional college information sessions, when my son and I were invited to attend Harvard's autumn 2004 information session in my town. Since then, I have attended college-specific information sessions in my town for MIT; Princeton; Caltech; Stanford; a consortium of Brown, Cornell, Dartmouth, and U of Virginia; the Colleges That Change Lives consortium; Carnegie Mellon; the Exploring College Options Consortium of Duke, Georgetown, Penn, and Harvard; a consortium of Brown, Cornell, Columbia, Rice, and the U of Chicago; and the new Exploring College Options consortium of Duke, Georgetown, Harvard, Penn, and Stanford. My son attended a Yale information session one evening two years ago when I had another appointment. At most of those sessions the issue of standardized testing requirements was one of the first issues asked about in questions from the audience. I have also read carefully recently published books about college admission, especially preferring books of the "kiss and tell" genre by authors with RECENT experience in college admission offices. I have gradually noticed that there is far more worry among students, and among some of their parents, about retaking a college admission test once or twice than is warranted by any college's policies. Threads about this issue on CC abound (I have found dozens with different formulations of forum searching, on at least seven different forums), and many people pass along undocumented speculation rather than public statements of admission offices when responding to those threads.</p>
<p>I attended the the Exploring College Options consortium (Duke, Georgetown, Harvard, Penn, and Stanford) meeting on 10 May 2007 in Bloomington, Minnesota specifically to ask about this issue. Before the meeting, I emailed ahead to the admission offices of Duke, Harvard, Penn, and Stanford with quotations from earlier CC threads, all publicly viewable threads indexed by Google, in which students asked about the issue of retaking the SAT I. I also included short "fair-use" quotations from some replies (of varying points of view) that those student questions elicited.</p>
<p>After slide shows about each college, the audience of more than 200 students (and many parents) was allowed to ask general questions. I looked around to make sure I wouldn't cut off a student, and then stood up to ask my question. I said that I have seen many online discussions in which a student has taken the SAT I once, and is concerned about taking it again. I asked if that could have a bad effect on how the college would view the student's first score, to report more than one score. The Georgetown admission representative (the only one I didn't write to ahead of time) replied that when there are SAT I retakes after the second time, score increases are not usually seen. But Georgetown counts an applicant's highest score, section by section, and does so even if some of the scores come from the old two-section SAT I rather than the current three-section SAT I.</p>
<p>The Harvard representative, admission officer Julia Topalian, looked me right in the eye as she said, "Take it ten times if you want to; it's not going to hurt you." She continued by saying that test scores are but one element in evaluating applicants for admission, and "how you use your time is important." Harvard will look at what an applicant's extracurricular activities (ECs) are, and taking admission tests is not considered an EC. But specific to the issue of retaking the test, "You can take it as many times as you like."</p>
<p>I thought that was a good response to the groundless worries so many students have about one or two retakes before the final deadline for submitting SAT I scores for an admission application. (By the way, the Harvard representative said in a later discussion specific to questions about Harvard that the first admission test [SAT I or ACT with writing] in the year 2008 will still be timely for class of 2008 applicants in Harvard's new one-deadline application cycle. She also said it is NEVER necessary to rush scores--rushed scores and regular service scores arrive at Harvard at exactly the same time.) Don't worry--don't worry at all--if you think there is a good reason for you to retake the SAT I (or ACT). Do remember that Harvard (and other fine colleges) every year pass over applicants with peak test scores to admit students with lower scores who have other desirable characteristics. There is no special admission wallop to taking the SAT I only once, and no guarantee of admission even with a perfect score. The 2006-2007 Official Register of Harvard University, a publication of the admission office, says, "You may take tests more than once; we consider only your highest scores."</p>
<p>All comparable colleges have similar policies, so this isn't an issue to worry about. I hope this helps the applicants in high school classes of 2008, 2009, and subsequent classes worry less and enjoy their activities more.</p>
<p>Since admissions is holistics, it really doesn't matter. There is no "minimum"</p>
<p>OP:if you don't have good ec's, you're not gonna get in princeton, harvard, mit, or stanford even with 2400/800/800/800</p>
<p>that's not true.....EC's are not everything....you can have like 2 ECs and still get in...why do you all act like ECs are God? It's not. ECs are waited the least among tesscores GPA and such....don't give me that crap about it's better to have good ECS and bad test scpres than good test scores and bAD ECS..it's the exact oppisite...plase shut up with your BS.</p>
<p>l o l u m a d?!?!?!?!?</p>
<p>yes! sheed gives me some hope. i have medium ec's and good academics (gpa,sat)</p>
<p>lol....yea np...</p>
<p>i agree with sheed...i'm sure the top colleges would prefer someone academically good and with some decent ecs to someone okay academically but with strong ecs...why do you think their average SATs are so high?</p>
<p>ECs are not as important as SAT scores, grades, and the rigor of your courses. Colleges have stated this on the Common Data Set, which they release each year.</p>
<p>no, they're right sheed, you're wrong. just because your ECs might suck and that probably means you won't get into an ivy doesn't mean you can try to change the rules.</p>
<p>Colleges use SAT scores to see whether or not u have sufficient mastery of subjects. So basically any score over 2200 is considered mastered. And since almost all competitive applicants have strong SAT scores, gpas and class ranks, ECs ARE the most important. </p>
<p>BASICALLY ECs are god. So hopefully you aren't some one dimensional nerd and you have time to turn it around.</p>
<p>clarity: Top universities are going to be deciding between people with strong academics (easy to achieve) AND strong ECs (more subjective). Becuz all students pretty much top off academically to the point where they're impossible to distinguish between, ECs are the most important if you even want to stand a chance.</p>