My chances with a not-too-good SAT score...

Colleges and Universities A-Z Cornell University
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<p>Current senior
Half Taiwanese, half Malaysian-Chinese, grew up in Japan, attend international school. Speak: English, Mandarin, Taiwanese, Japanese</p>

<p>SAT 1910 (M690 CR630 W590) retaking tomorrow as a matter of fact
TOEFL 297
SAT II (Lit 620 Math IC 670) retaking these plus taking Japanese in Nov., expect 800 on that one
GPA: Don't know yet... definitely top 10% of class. My gr9 and gr10 grades aren't that impressive though...</p>

<p>Gr9:
English=A-
Math= A-
World History= A
Science= B+
Japanese= A-
French= A-
Religious Education= B
Music= A
PE= B</p>

<p>Gr10:
IGCSE English= A-
IGCSE Math= A-, Algebra&Trig= B-
IGCSE World History= A
IGCSE Combined Sciences= B
Japanese= B
IGCSE French= A
IGCSE Music= A
PE=A-
Social Justice&World Religions= A-</p>

<p>Gr11:
IB English HL= A-
IB Math SL= A
IB Economics HL= B+
IB Biology SL= A
IB French HL= A
IB Music HL= A-
IB TOK=A
Guidance= A</p>

<p>Full IB Diploma candidate.
Higher Level courses: English, French, Economics, Music
Standard Level: Math, Biology</p>

<p>Leadership:
High School Student Council...Treasurer (9~10) Secretary (10~11) VicePresident (11~12)
Kanto Plain High School Student Council -this is the student council for all intl schools and American base schools around Tokyo area- Treasurer (12)
Attended Global Young Leaders Conference (summer of gr10)</p>

<p>Music:
Senior Choir piano accompaniment (9)
Show Choir piano accompaniment (9~11)
Handbells (9~12)
Chamber Orchestra (9, 12)
Violin lessons (9~11)...ABRSM grade 4
Piano lessons (from age 4 ~ gr12)...Yamaha grade 6
Solo&Ensemble piano for 2 years (I'm not sure how to credit this though because they didn't have distinctive names for the marks you were awarded..we got graded though)</p>

<p>Volunteer:
Summer volunteer at a day activity center for mentally/physically handicapped (summer of gr11)
Tutor 2nd grade children (11)
Helping 1st grade teacher grade papers once a week (11)
Foreign Cemetery volunteer work</p>

<p>Work:
Winter, secretarial work at local post office (winter of gr11)</p>

<p>Other:
Had poem published in a book by YoungWriters Great Minds Poem Competition last year.
Landscaping Green Thumbs Up club gr11 (this club faded away this year...)
Brain Bowl (11~12)</p>

<p>I'm also applying to: Georgetown U (EA...I know, way out of my league), Boston U, Tufts U, Univ of Virginia, Bryn Mawr College, George Washington U, Univ of British Columbia (Canada), and Intl Christian Univ (Japan)</p>

<p>Any comments would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!</p>

2

<p>Oh,and by the way, I'm interested in Intl Relations</p>

3

<p>why would georgetown be out of your league if cornell isn't? many would argue cornell is a better academic institution than GU, but they're both awesome schools. Get your SAT up to about 2100 and you'll have a much better shot, but i would still say you might have a chance at GU and Cornell</p>

4

<p>Ok, thats easy for you to say to raise it 200 points. Since he's already at 1910, its tough to raise it that much. From a 1700 to 2000 is fine, but from 1910 its tough. 2100 is really stretching it cus he probably wont make that. 2000 would be good. I mean, your M/V is 1320. It would be a little better if it were 1350 or more. Like make that your benchmark. His writing really hurts him. Thats the problem. I mean, i dont know how they will look at the writing. Some say they will really pay attention to your essay, while others will say that they wont even look at the writing this year which is WRONG because adding writing, elongates the test, and can therefore hurt your performance on the verbal/math.</p>

5

<p>Which SAT do you think is harder--the new or the old? I took the old and got a 1390 and when I took the new, I got a 2130.</p>

6

<p>Well wat was ur Math/Verbal on the NEW one?</p>

7

<p>I think for me personally, the new one would be easier since I'm very good at writing (made a perfect score on writing portion of the SATII) and they got rid of analogies (my lowest raw score in SATI verbal). but it depends with different people. I'm going to start cracking the GRE books this winter, and even that's going to change in 2007 too!</p>

8

<p>740 Verbal and 690 Math</p>

9

<p>oh PALEEZ, dont worry man.</p>

10

<p>To the OP:
I'm assuming that you're applying to the College of Arts and Sciences, in which the mid-50% for the SAT is 1330-1500...meaning that 25% of admits score below 1330, 25% score about 1500, and 50% score within that range. Unfortunately, your score (1320) falls in the lower 25% range (but not by much). Therefore, from a strictly statistical point of view, the odds are against you. Furthermore, while you have some nice ECs, be mindful that many other applicants have similar accomplishments as yourself coupled with superior test scores. Really focus on bringing up that Writing score. I don't buy it when people say that colleges don't care about the Writing section. If colleges admit people with low Writing scores, then that will drag down their average SAT...while we all know that tests don't mean everything, schools do have reputations to uphold. So tests do in fact pay a significant role in admissions, and yours are (relatively) weak...keep that in mind.</p>

11

<p>Thanks for all the great input
I know SATs aren't everything but am keenly aware that a low score could kill your chances. </p>

<p>By the way, I'm a girl... and I didn't mean that Cornell is not out of my league like Gtown. I guess I just didn't mention it.</p>

12

<p>Oh, you'll definitely get into UBC. They'll most likely give you an entrance scholarship too.</p>

13

<p>Hello. I just went to visit Cornell and I have the absolute answer to the writing section. They say they are only going to look at the scores to research them because they have no way of knowing yet if the writing score is a good or bad indication of your writing skills and how it relates to other students. Basically, the math and verbal sections are going to be considered like normal. Writing is definately still required. The essays in your application will probably be of more importance than the writing section of the SAT. All of this is FACT!</p>