<p>Well I've just been reading through the decisions thread and there seems to be no real correlation between SAT scores and acceptances. It seems that they really do use the holistic approach. People with 2300s were deferred people with 1800s (who did not indicate they played a sport) got in. Unless the stats posted are off I am somewhat surprised. I suppose that just goes to show that there is no such thing as a shoo-in to an ivy and there is no such thing as a sure rejection. Our "chance" threads were probably WAAAY off. Congratulations to those of you who were accepted, and my condolences with those who were not.</p>
<p>I’m pretty sure the Penn website used to have admission stats that included the percentages of applicants accepted in different SAT ranges. The higher ranges naturally had the greatest chance of acceptance, but there was still a reasonable chance for those around 1800 (if my memory serves me correctly).</p>
<p>I beg to differ Bilguun… got deferred 2150, with pretty good stats otherwise. But I saw 2 ppl with 2300 + rejected which made no sense. It’s so random its insane</p>
<p>I probably worded it wrong, but I kinda meant that the majority of the accepted ones, at least those on CC, had 2100s. Yea, and score-wise acceptances and rejections seemed really random.</p>
<p>There is no strong correlation, because they look at you holistically. GPA+SAT are only half of it. You cant really put a number on the other factors.</p>
<p>I don’t think it’s strange that people with near 2400s don’t get accepted. High SAT scores don’t necessarily correlate to someone who has a lot of passion or drive. Some people are naturally good at the style of exam the SATs are while others aren’t. Some people pay for thousand dollar courses to raise those SAT scores while others don’t have money to do that. </p>
<p>I’m sure the essay plays a huge role for Penn admissions, when assuming stats like your GPA/standardized test scores are within their generally acceptable range.</p>
<p>I had 2240 and 4.26/3.9 gpa. But I think the strength in my application was in essays and possibly letters of rec. Admissions officers learn a lot more about you through these than through gpa/sat. (thought they can still help or hurt)</p>
It’s not random–it just seems like it sometimes. </p>
<p>And I believe that the Academic Index tool on the CC website says something about how Penn uses it. If they still use AI then higher SATs would indeed be valued over others.</p>
<p>Good SAT’s and rank only gets you half way in, the rest depends on the essays/recs. However people (myself included) tend to skip right over the essays/recs section when reading decision threads.</p>
<p>I was deferred as well. Not amazing SATS (1960…ugh!), I loved my essays especially Why Penn. Great EC’s, college counselor told me that even she (who is never impressed or nice) was very impressed with my list and my well organized and professional resume. I had REALLY great reccs, and I am legacy.</p>
<p>Deferral=rejection? It just really sucks, I want this more than ANYTHING!!!</p>
<p>i got a 2160 on my SATs (with a 660 on math!) and got accepted into wharton, where they emphasize math scores so heavily. go figure. i think it was my essays, having a sister at penn, and being from panama that got me in. so, i’d have to agree that admissions there is totally subjective.</p>
<p>I attend an Ivy and assisted in the admissions office last year. The vast majority of people on this board believe that their (or their child’s) essays were excellent, but I can tell you from experience that excellent essays are very rare. I’d say around 5% of the essays are excellent. About 40 percent are terrible. The rest range from adequate to slightly above average. The applicant who truly submits a series of excellent essays receives a trememdous boost. I suspect that those accepted with an SAT below 2000 were those with truly excellent essays, and those rejected/deferred with an SAT above 2200 were those with very average essays. That’s how it worked in our office.</p>