SAT, chances, etc.

Colleges and Universities A-Z Yale University
1

<p>So I did horribly on the SAT compared to the average of students planning on applying to Yale. I currently have an 1880 superscore. Is it absolutely unheardof for someone with scores that low to be accepted? My GPA is around a 3.9 and I'm in about the top 4% of my class at a Catholic school, and I take a challenging course load. I am planning on taking the ACT in December. Some people say that some people do better on the ACT I guess. I'm not expecting to do that much better, but I did get a review book and am planning on studying. </p>

<p>I visited Yale and unfortunately fell in love. Do you think they'd laugh at my application? haha, thanks.</p>

2

<p>Here’s a useful link of the SAT percentiles of incoming Yale freshman (look @ the 2nd page):</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.yale.edu/oir/open/pdf_public/W032_Fresh_SATs.pdf[/url]”>http://www.yale.edu/oir/open/pdf_public/W032_Fresh_SATs.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>Hmm. Thanks. I guess I’ll just study as much as I can for the ACT and see what happens :&lt;/p>

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<p>Do the 800s under the 90 percentile column signify that 90% of freshmen received an 800?</p>

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<p>Just the opposite, actually, it means that top 10% of the freshmen received 800. In any case, competition is tough.</p>

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<p>Very unlikely. Your SATs and class rank aren’t really anything to write home about considering the average applicant to Yale.</p>

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<p>I’m in the same boat. One section of the SAT is killing me! But even though it is very unlikely, there is always a small chance. I hope Yale won’t laugh and throw our apps in the trash just because our SAT is less than <2000. </p>

<p>Best of luck to you. And don’t get down on yourself. It is what it is. Just focus on what you can change: the ACT.</p>

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<p>A 3.9 may be “nothing to write home about” but neither is a 4.0 with Yale. I think we all know that. Chances of acceptance are already very slim for students who are extremely qualified. I was simply saying that my GPA and class rank are close to Yale standards…or at least I thought so. </p>

<p>Franz - Stressful, isn’t it! The thing is that the range for the middle 50% of applicants starts around 700. So there’s still 25% of students admitted who have SAT scores that are lower than 700. I think I’ll just apply anyway. What the heck. I know the chances of me getting admitted are almost zero, but I’d rather say I tried so that I don’t have to regret not trying later on in the process.</p>

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<p>And good luck to you too :)</p>

<p>Let there be hope.</p>

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<p>So, according to samunimomo’s interpretation, 90% of the Yale applicants got a 1940 composite in 2006?</p>

<p>That doesn’t sound like the Yale i know.</p>

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<p>^
@ fresh101. This is a graph of percentiles, not of percentages. In addition, due to cases possible overlap or non-overlap, on cannot add the data altogether. What it DOES mean, however, is that in the class of 2012, at least the top decile of freshmen matriculants garnered a perfect score in each of the categories. This does NOT mean that the same number of matriculants scored in the same decile throughout the categories.</p>

<p>Therefore, the data does NOT mean that the top decile of students all received a 2400, NOR does it mean that “90% of Yale applicants got a 1940 composite in 2006.” Instead, the bottom decile of SAT scores for the class of 2010 (the class that you were referring to) was a 650 on the reading, 650 for the mathematics, and 640 for the writing section. And again, these statistics should NOT be added together, as one could have scored an 800 for the math and 650 for the reading, which would put him/her on the top decile for mathematics and the bottom decile for the writing, respectively. </p>

<p>Actually, I would be interested in how you came with such a conclusion.</p>