<p>Hi all. I was wondering how Ivy Leagues look at your SAT scores, even though it isn't all that these colleges look at. When I compare myself on CC I feel bad b/c most of these ppl are 2250+. Is that how the average applicant is to these schools? BTW, everything pretty nice except my SAT I, from which I got a 2120 on Dec. SATs.</p>
<p>bump... bump</p>
<p>the average ivy league applicant has around a 2100 on the SAT. the average on here if i recall correctly is around 2170.</p>
<p>Average 2100? Where did you get thaT? dAmouth, a "lover ivy" had A 1480 average lAst year on the old scale.Then consider the aprox 50% of the class that are special admits who often have scores well below average: athletes, URMs, legacies, faculty kids, development candidates, mary kate and ashleys.......All of that making getting in with 2100 and no hook highly unlikely.</p>
<p>Anyone under 2100 and still got in has most likely one of the three hooks:</p>
<p>dad is a billionaire with lots of money to give away
dad is the president of united states
rescued that administrator from a burning building</p>
<p>Look at the 50% SAT ranges for any colleges. A non-hooked applicants has to be at the middle of the 50% range for the school to be a reach, and near the top of the 50% range for the school to be a match. An applicant needs to be at least above the 50% range for the school to be a safety, but there is no such thing as having a top 12 school as a safety.</p>
<p>The 50% ranges are confusing to people on several counts. There is a gut feeling on the part of some that if they are anywhare in the range then they have a chance because 50% of the accepted students are. The range is based on the accepted students and not the students who applied. It is not a direct indicator of your chances since a college may have only accepted 8% of its applicants. Also, people underestimate the effect of URM's, legacies, athletes, development cases, VIP's, and ED applicants.</p>
<p>2100 and 2170 is all ********. the best hook you can have if you want to go to an ivy league school is...your application. most people fail to realize this. the application is just more than numbers, statistics etc. if you work hard on the personal aspects of your life...you should be a much stronger applicant than someone with a 2170 who is just applying because he feels that he "desrves" to go there. send supp. materials and stay in touch a bit with your regional rep. good luck to everyone applying to an ivy league school, especially those of you who have a score under 2100 and whose fathers are not billionaires nor presidents of the nations.</p>
<p>SexyYetiBeast is right. He/She highlights many of the same realities that most CC students fail to realize.</p>
<p>HYPS isnt going to accept you because you scored a 2400, but unfortunately that's what most CC kids think.</p>
<p>BTW, I did exactly what SexyYetiBeast said, and guess what, I got accepted to Stanford with stats that most CC students would laugh at.</p>
<p>thanx all, that made me feel a lot better</p>
<p>DiamondT what were your stats? What did you highlight in your application?</p>
<p>Ivies and similar schools will not split hairs between extremely high and unbelieveably high SAT scores. The number one thing is difficulty of curriculum, then gpa/rank, and then standardized test scores. A 1550 is every bit as good as a 1600. After you qualify on the academic measures, then they consider your EC's, essays, and recs. They do not want well-rounded applicants, but rather well-rounded freshman classes. They want applicants with long term committment and "passion" in one or two areas. Being a student council president is so-so. Really, really good is winning a national contest, or playing in a concert orchestra. Because there are so many super qualified applicants, there just isn't room for everybody. In this sense, luck is heavily involved because they have to choose between people who are practically clones of each other. For every person accepted, there are 4-5 practically identical applicants who are waitlisted or denied. This is why the waitlists are often longer than the list of accepted students. It is easier for the adcom to waitlist somebody rather than deny them right after they accepted the guy's virtual twin.</p>
<p>There are 1.2 million high school graduates each year and all of the top 12 colleges only have room for a few thousand. The idea that every student council president and valedictorian with a 1400 SAT has a chance at Harvard is just wrong. A non-hooked applicant with non-stellar EC's (no national/regional awards) is probably going to be an auto-deny with a 1450. It is, of course, easier if you are a URM/legacy/athlete/devel-case/VIP. I think sometimes people on CC will fall into this category and don't mention it because they don't want to believe that they had a significant advantage. Saying that you need to keep in touch with your regional rep sounds nice, but is he/she returning your emails? A URM with a 1350 from a poor background is not only having emails returned but is getting personal invitations and free plane tickets to visit the college. I believe from another post that Sexyyetibeast is a Native American.</p>
<p>I am not trying to discourage anyone from applying, but understand the reality and apply to more reasonable schools also. There are many people on CC in April who wish that they had.</p>
<p>all good points. i just dont understand this whole "talk to your regional admissions officer" thing. I don't get it, am I really supposed to stay in touch with this person? I feel like that would just annoy them. Also, I doubt Dmouth's SAT average is 1480. Harvard's is 1490</p>
<p>Harvard has way over 10,000 applicants each year, and so trying to establish a personal relationship with the regional rep would be hard. The 50% range for Harvard is 1400-1580 (avg=1490), and the 50% range for Dartmouth is 1330-1520 (avg=1425).</p>
<p>According to PrincetonReview, Dartmouth's average SAT is 1432. Dartmouth's Common Data Set lists the 25-75 percentile as 1350-1550.</p>
<p>I really feel that talking about "average SAT's" is misleading. It makes it sound that a person with that SAT score has a pretty good chance because they are an average applicant.</p>
<p>First, they are denying 80-90% of the applicants, and so they are denying close to 80-90% of the average applicants</p>
<p>Second, the URM/legacies/athletes/development-cases/VIP's and ED applicants have statistically lower SAT scores, and so having an average score for an unhooked applicant in RD is not so good.</p>