<p>I am an international student and I just finished my sophomore year. I haven't taken the SAT yet but I wrote a mock SAT and this was my score:</p>
<p>M:800
Wr:790
Cr:640</p>
<p>I intend to practice before taking the actual test but I was wondering whether I have a chance with this score.</p>
<p>Thank you for time.</p>
<p>(PS I am aware that it is not possible to be certain about my chances without providing some information about my academic background but this is purely a question considering my SAT score) </p>
<p>As a rising junior, you are perfectly fine and will most definitely be able to bring up your CR score. When I took the SAT in October of junior year, I had a 630 in CR, but was able to bring it up to 720 by June with minimal preparation. A 720 is not stellar, of course, but I’d like to think that because I am now at least within the 25% - 75% range for CR (with perfects on Math and Writing), my test scores will not preclude me from consideration for MIT. Same with your case - you should be able to easily get into the 700s on the CR section with just a little bit more practice with reading variegated passages and studying vocab, if necessary.</p>
<p>As long as your EC’s and grades are solid, I’m sure you’ll have a decent chance at MIT. I can’t say anything more than “decent” because 1) I haven’t quite finished the admissions process yet as a rising senior and 2) With such low acceptance rates, MIT is a longshot for anyone (and especially international students, unfortunately).</p>
<p>I’m an MIT Early Action admit and I got in with a slightly higher CR than you. Don’t stress over your CR score ESPECIALLY if you are a non-native English speaker. Just send your TOEFL and it will make up your CR score. </p>
<p>The CR score is a little low by elite admissions standards, but even by looking at statistics showing it is in the bottom of admitted students, you can’t definitively conclude that it would keep you out because it’s not clear whether it is correlation or causation. In other words, the most competitive students in other respects (awards, grades) may tend to have high SAT CR scores. It’s more likely that your probability of admissions will be reduced by that SAT CR score at other elite schools (HYP) rather than MIT, because the former schools are more about choosing people who present themselves without blemishes. Getting a 680 CR score may be like showing up to a business meeting without your tie. Additionally, HYP tend not to care about intellectual ability past the basic indicators such as grades and scores, so for MIT you have more opportunity to “earn” back some points. For MIT, an attractive candidate could be someone who has a 730 SAT math score but a 120 AMC12 score (an excellent score showing math ability far beyond an 800 SAT but which won’t likely be scoring many points on the putnam college contest). Harvard is much less likely to care about this sort of performance–they likely would only care unless you were in the top 100 in the country on these math contests. What HYP would care about for the masses, besides grades and test scores, are their community involvement and other ECs… </p>
<p>In any case, I would study harder for the SAT, though, and try to bring it up to 700. It may be that the adrenalin from taking the actual test will boost your score. I found my practice scores lagged below my real exam day test scores by more than 100 points. </p>