I’m an international from subsaharan Africa shooting for Ivies and stuff.
I got a SAT score of 1440
700CR and 740M… Do you suggest I retake?(applying SCEA at H) or just move on and focus on subject tests?
Hm… I would say you don’t need to because being from Subsaharan Africa is a big hook, but I know that the acceptance rate for international students is even lower than US residents.
Totally disagree with the “big hook” idea. Most selective colleges limit the number of international students to about 10% to 11% of an incoming class. That means Harvard admits about 160 to 190 international students per year – and most of those students come from just 6 countries: Canada, United Kingdom, Australia, Japan, Korean and China.
If you go to Harvard’s International website (http://www.hio.harvard.edu/statistics) and from the pull-down menus, select STUDENTS, HARVARD COLLEGE (the undergraduate school) and YOUR COUNTRY you can see just how few students from your country are attending Harvard. Be sure to divide that number by 4 to get an idea of about how many students are admitted each year from your country.
Harvard doesn’t publish the number of international applicants from each country, but as Harvard is only 1 of 5 US colleges to offer need-blind and full-need Admission to International students (http://www.internationalstudent.com/schools_awarding_aid/), they receive thousands of applications from international countries and an unknown number from your country. So, as an international student you have to be the best-of-the-best from your country. Is that you? It’s impossible to say from just looking at your test scores.
As your SAT scores are within Harvard’s range, and you’re thinking about applying SCEA, I would recommend focusing on your essays and taking your SAT subject tests. Keep in mind though that Harvard has made Subject Tests optional: https://college.harvard.edu/admissions/apply/application-process/sat-subject-tests
Thank you @gibby
If you think about it, though, how many students from Subsaharan Africa apply to Harvard every year?
@ap012199. See: https://www.jbhe.com/2015/11/students-from-sub-saharan-africa-at-u-s-colleges-and-universities-2014-15/
My guess would be that many sub-Saharan African students who are attending college elsewhere in the United States also applied to Harvard. The number is probably in the hundreds, possibly nearing a thousand.
Your test scores certainly aren’t an issue - you’re qualified. You’re from subsaharan Africa, and there are plenty of other applicants from there, but you’ve done well on the SAT. Now, focus on your narrative. What makes you tick? What are your passions? How have you pursued them? How have you helped others in so doing? Your essays, EC pursuits and recommendations will speak louder than any number in the test score column. Past a certain threshold (which you’ve crossed with a 1440) it’s about you as a person and not your credentials.
Harvard is unlikely for anyone. Apply, expect a rejection or deferral, and see what happens. You’ll either be okay with the decision as you expected it, or thrilled that you were wrong and got in.
You should also apply to a variety of schools in the US if that’s what you want to do, need blindness aside. Plenty of schools - not only the Ivies and other elite universities like Stanford, Vanderbilt and Duke, but the elite liberal arts colleges like Williams, Grinnell, Amherst, Pomona - would likely be interested in you. All you’ve gotta do is hook one. Good luck.
@gibby oh wow! I didn’t know that! Since that’s the case, you may want to think about retaking tests, but concentrate on the other parts of your app since those are more important.
Thank you @Senior2016M and @ap012199
I thought I needed like 1500+
Not necessarily. It’s hard for me to say since I’m so used to the 2400 system not the 1600 one, which seems like a weird scaling difference. In any case, 1400+ is generally what’s considered ‘qualified’ for an elite school from the SAT perspective when the CR+M scores are combined. Your scores are fine. Focus on SAT II subject tests (you’ll need 720+ on those, ideally 750+) and then you absolutely need to stop worrying about tests and focus on ESSAYS.
@CrimsonZa Senior2016M said it better than I could have. If you get rejected from Harvard, it’ll likely be due to some other factor besides test scores. You should consider your potential major and apply to several schools in which you can see yourself fit.
notjoe’'s Law of Relative Opportunity Cost applies here. Think of the investment necessary to getting a,substantially higher score. If the cost is low, if merely wasting a few,hours on a Saturday morning, will net an additional 50, 60, 80 ponts, go for it. It won’t cost you much, if any, in terms of making the rest of your application as strong as possible. But, if you’ll need to spend dozens, or scores, or even hundreds of hours prepping to move the needle, the time will be better spent on another part of your application, especially your essays.