<p>Yeah I am one of those people who is not bothered by location. I picked the schools if i felt attracted to its academic programs. Thought they might all be different, they each offer something that I am interested in and I would have no problem going there.</p>
<p>I saw your SAT score and then I stopped reading, sorry.</p>
<p>That really doesnt help me at all so next time please just don't comment.</p>
<p>Also I wanted to know if I should send the SAT to only Harvard or to all my schools.</p>
<p>Send your scores to all of your schools. Why not? In virtually all cases, colleges use the highest scores either from one settting or the combined highest scores from 2 sittings. It is very, very rare for colleges to use only the latest scores. However, if you are concerned about this happening, just e-mail the colleges admissions depts. and ask their policies.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, get into the habit of people who post provocative, unhelpful responses on message boards. Replying just encourages them and wastes your time.</p>
<p>Speaking of the National Achievement Scholarship Program: what do you think would qualify one for the scholarship money or, at least, being named a finalist? 97 percentile? Maybe higher? Also, does anyone know how much the essay, recommendation, and grades influence the final decision? Is the competition holistic or mostly stats-driven?</p>
<p>You need to get that SAT to above 1400. It has been my experience from this board, that African Americans at HYP usually have 1450+.</p>
<p>What qualfies you for finalist is based on what college you select as your first choice (If you need the scholarship $, it's wise to select as your first choice, a college that sponsors Achievement Scholarships, and that you have applied to, are likely to be accepted to, want to go to, and would go to if you got the $. HPYS do not offer such scholarships!), having the required gpa (I am not sure what that gpa is, but I know it's not an unweighted 2.9, which is what my 1410 SAT, 206 PSAT son had who did not make finalist for grade reasons, as the letter told him), and filling out the required paperwork (essay, etc.).</p>
<p>The schools that have the most National Achievement scholars include University of Florida, Howard, Florida A&M, all of which sponsor scholarships. Harvard and Stanford also get a lot of NA scholars, but don't sponsor any scholarships.</p>
<p>I also think that choice of major makes a difference. The companies that sponsor Achievement Scholarships are companies that more than likely are looking to sponsor future scientists, and engineers. Companies sponsoring merit scholarships typically have no interest in future creative writers, actors, history teachers, psychologists, etc. Students whose essays, proposed majors and activities indicate they'll be going into fields like engineering, computer science, medicine are most likely to get the $.</p>
<p>I think that as long as one's SAT is 1200 or higher, the SAT isn't that important when it comes to National Achievement scholarships. I came up with that figure because I actually was once in a position to see the SAT scores of a sizeable group of National Merit scholarship winners.</p>
<p>Because there are only about 850 African Americans getting 1450 or higher SATs each year, the Ivies and other top schools have plenty of African Americans who don't score that high. Of course, such students aren't likely to trumpet their low scores and Ivy admissions on public boards. However, common sense dictates that the Ivies aren't filling up 6-8% of their classes with African Americans by only accepting those 850 students nor are all of those 850 students applying to places like Ivies.</p>
<p>Many choose state universities, HBCUs, etc.</p>
<p>There are only 850 AA with scores above 1450? Woah... Is that all black people taking the SATs or just African Americans?</p>
<p>And that 850 is probably a high estimate.</p>
<p>The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education" does the best job tracking this. The below is from 2002, but each year, the stats remain about the same.</p>
<p>"Let's be more specific about the SAT racial gap among high-scoring applicants. In 2002, 122,684 African Americans took the SAT test. They made up 9.2 percent of all SAT test takers. But only 838 African-American college-bound students scored 700 or above on the math SAT and only 822 scored at least 700 on the verbal SAT. </p>
<p>Nationally, 83,689 students of all races scored 700 or above on the math SAT and 59,662 students scored 700 or above on the verbal SAT. Thus, in this top-scoring category of all SAT test takers, blacks make up only 1 percent of the students scoring 700 or higher on the math test and only 1.4 percent of the students scoring 700 or higher on the verbal SAT. </p>
<p>If we eliminate Asians and other minorities from the statistics and compare just white and black students, we find that 5.1 percent of all white SAT test takers scored 700 or above on the verbal portion of the test. But only 0.7 percent of all black SAT test takers scored at this level. "</p>
<p>If this link to the whole article doesn't work, use Google:<a href="http://64.233.161.104/search?q=cache:LTeOh-ghuoMJ:www.jbhe.com/latest/020403_b%26w_sat.html+sat+black+students+750+journal+higher+&hl=en&ie=UTF-8%5B/url%5D">http://64.233.161.104/search?q=cache:LTeOh-ghuoMJ:www.jbhe.com/latest/020403_b%26w_sat.html+sat+black+students+750+journal+higher+&hl=en&ie=UTF-8</a></p>
<p>I love that article, because it addresses actual problems that are causing these gaps... not the typical "SAT is racist"</p>
<p>In addition, I have seen no research to confirm what I think, but I know a lot of black kids who scored that high. They seem to be overwhelmingly:</p>
<ol>
<li>Bi-racial
or</li>
<li>Naturalized citizens or American-born children of immigrants or have at least one immigrant grandparents.</li>
</ol>
<p>or</p>
<ol>
<li>Educated in military schools, which do the best job of educating African American students. IMO this is because they reflect the military, which expects that everyone will learn what is taught. If you are enlisted/officer and are sent to a military course, you are expected to learn the material, and you are tested on it and your rank, pay and continued job will depend upon your performance. The material isn't dumbed down for you.</li>
</ol>
<p>or
4. Have parents who attended top schools like Ivies.
or
5. Attend top prep schools.</p>
<p>Why do these things appear to be the case? Because IMO students from the above groups are more likely to take tough courses and to study for the test instead of treating it like doing well will be simply a matter of luck. It's attitude and preparation that are making the difference.</p>
<p>Man, I was pretty shocked by those stats.Do those stats apply to non-citizen Africans as well as citizens or not? </p>
<p>Also do you have any stats that say how many AA's get National Merit Semi-finalist status on PSAT? </p>
<p>I'm African (although not American, born in the Sudan, lived in Australia, been in the U.S. for 2 1/2 years) and I got a 218 on this year's PSAT. Would you say that's Ivy League calibre score?</p>
<p>Don't listen to Man<em>on</em>fire. He seems to enjoy bashing other people's scores, although his PSAT selection index of 204 would average to a 680 or so on each section...guess he doesn't have much room to talk.</p>
<p>That said, retake your SATs and see what happens. It's definitely worth a try.</p>
<p>"Man, I was pretty shocked by those stats.Do those stats apply to non-citizen Africans as well as citizens or not? </p>
<p>Also do you have any stats that say how many AA's get National Merit Semi-finalist status on PSAT? "</p>
<p>You can find that out by Googling.</p>
<p><<i'm african="" (although="" not="" american,="" born="" in="" the="" sudan,="" lived="" australia,="" been="" u.s.="" for="" 2="" 1="" years)="" and="" i="" got="" a="" 218="" on="" this="" year's="" psat.="" would="" you="" say="" that's="" ivy="" league="" calibre="" score?="">></i'm></p>
<p>Anything that translates to a 1200 or higher SAT score is high enough for admission to the Ivy League. Your PSAT sounds like it would be above the average for Harvard. Keep in mind, though, that most of the 20,000 or so Harvard applicants qualify for admission. What determines who is admitted tends to be essays, recommendations, ECs, and other factors that allow Harvard to create a well rounded class.</p>
<p>you are metiocre with ec's and stuff, your gpa isnt that bad, but your sat/sat ii scores should be higher.</p>
<p>If I break 1400 will that change my chances that much since I believe my ACT scores are equivalent to 1420 already. I'm really not sure if it is worth to take the SAT again because the score most of you are telling me to get, I already have on my ACT. Is that a problem?</p>
<p>Any ideas about this???</p>
<p>I think they wanna see both SAT and ACT scores.</p>
<p>They will look at your highest ACT or SAT score. You could take the SAT again if you think you could break 1420. Otherwise, don't bother.</p>
<p>I'm so confused. I really don't know if I can break 1420. I am having a mental breakdown and i am really scared I wont get in anywhere I want to and there is nothing I can do about it.</p>