<p>Did anyone get less than 700 on their SAT II subject tests but got accepted in Princeton?</p>
<p>me, writing 620</p>
<p>okay, this leaves me some hopes because I have a feeling that I scored 680-690 (don't know for sure-took yesturday and was so hard) on US History.</p>
<p>Is 680-690 a bad score? Should I retake it? I will be taking Math IIC (scored 720 on 4 practice tests) and Chemistry (can't predict score) in June.</p>
<p>You would still be in the running with 650's. You'd be competitive at 700's. You would be in exellent shape with 750+'s.</p>
<p>Just my take.</p>
<p>i got two 710's (writing, math Ic) and a 630 (spanish)... i'd venture to say that AP scores are more important than sat II's, but i'm not sure if that's a fact</p>
<p>most acceptees usually have AP, IB, A-level or some other advanced exam going for them, because they carry so much more weight than SAT IIs, and I'm sure such people have an edge.</p>
<p>Just to warn you guys, though, SATIIs are very important (more important than APs, I'd say, because not everyone takes the same AP classes, not all AP classes are the same, etc.) Most of the kids I've talked to have 800's or very high 700s. I saw aqaqaq's post, and although he did get a 620 writing, he mentioned in another thread his other SATIIs: 800/800/790/780/770/620. I've heard that Princeton only looks at your top 3 SATIIs anyway, so he wouldn't have been hurt by his 620, especially because he is an international applicant. AP scores do help, but I'm pretty sure that SATIIs are given more weight because they are required of every student, so they enable the admission office to effectively compare all applicants on the same standard.</p>
<p>sat IIs matter more. APs are a bonus.
you can BS your way to a 3 if you do not know about an issue because APs hav essays... SAT IIs test raw information and are straight forward.</p>
<p>so if I can get at least two 800s in two SAT II subjects, and other things are good (recs, essays, gpa, etc), i have a very good chance?</p>
<p>that's a safe bet.</p>
<p>Not really. 800s on SATIIs are a dime a dozen at the ivies, especially on tests like the math IIC or chinese. You should look at the stats of admitted/rejected students (go looking back at older threads and there's one where a ton of admitted students posted their stats as they got their decisions.) There are a whole lot with perfect SATs that got rejected, and several with less-than-perfect who got in. As many people have said, high SATs will get your foot in the door, but you won't get any farther without really distinguishing yourself through your ecs, etc. (That means doing something valuable/unique, and being recognized at a high level.)</p>
<p>are ecs that crucial? I mean, if you have a superb academic record: superb A-level results, great SAT scores (they tend to reject many people with perfect scores, seems like they like those with near-perfect scores), etc, would superb ecs really matter?</p>
<p>yup. Princeton gets something like 4,000 applicants each year with 1560+ on the SATs (and that is an old statistic. now that number is undoubtedly even higher now). However, they only have about 1,000 spots for freshmen each year, and a substantial portion of those spots, as with any ivy league school, goes to recruited athletes and urms with lower SATs. I'm pretty sure that I've seen somewhere where it says that Princeton's acceptance rate for 1550s is under 20%. Personally, at my school, about 10 applied (all, I think, with 1500+), and only one was accepted. All of them were president of something, had impressive awards, etc., but they still didn't make it in. (This is a public school, by the way, and I don't think it's ever had this many students with over a 1500 in one year, so all of these students are really stellar.) </p>
<p>It's not like you have to go change bedpans in retirement homes (unless that's what you want to do). It's just important to do something meaningful to you, whatever that may be. The chance that you'll get admitted solely on your academic strength is small if all you have are high SATs and grades (since lots of people have those things, plus a lot more.) If you're relying on your academics, you'd better have something more substantial, like significant independent research, accomplishment, etc.</p>
<p>everyone at an Ivy League has something distinguishing... some people get in because of URM status and that is "distinguishing"... others have super nice ECs and are dedicated.</p>
<p>Now, there are always exceptions and it's luck, too.</p>
<p>So will 600s hurt my chance in getting in Princeton?</p>
<p>It won't help.</p>
<p>So what is the range of SAT II scores? 700s?</p>
<p>Okay, the best way to say it is that on a successful application, lots of things add up, and no one element will rule you out of consideration. There's no reason to stress out about something unattainable. You should just try your best. If that's a 600, then don't worry; there are certainly people who get into princeton with scores in the 600 range, but those people generally have outstanding credentials/qualities in other areas to make up for it. So, while you should try to do as well as you can on standardized tests, you should also just focus on being active and doing things that are important to you.</p>
<p>SAT I, SAT II, and your high school rank each counts for 1/3 of the total AI, the most important academic indicator that all those most selective colleges are looking for.</p>
<p>Don't understnad AI, go to <a href="http://www.collegeconfidential.com/academic_index3.htm%5B/url%5D">http://www.collegeconfidential.com/academic_index3.htm</a></p>