<p>Student is either a White or Asian male. GPA at least greater than 3.95. At least top 5% in his class. ACT score in the range of 34-36. At least three SAT IIs of 800. A plethora of 4s and 5s for AP tests (greater than 10 AP tests after junior year). Senior course load heavy in APs. A few major awards (AMC, Intel, etc.) at only the state-level. Excellent extracurriculars (at least 20 hours per week, 52 weeks per year, extensive travel, extensive fund-raising, major entrepreneurial projects focused on a particular activity, excellent leadership, major awards, etc.) in at least three legitimate (time-consuming) activities. At least three legitimate (non-menial) jobs. At least 500 hours of volunteer service in mainly three concentrated areas. Summer activities include mainly summer courses, extracurriculars, and volunteer service. Assume essays are decent (clique but good at worst). Assume very anecdotal-based recommendations from teachers, counselors, mentors, etc. Assume a decent-to-good interview. Student lives in an underrepresented state in the Midwest. Student attends a competitive public school. Assume high income. Assume no hooks (URM, etc.).</p>
<p>Given this information, would a score below 2300 severely decrease this hypothetical applicant's chances. Would other aspects of his application make up for a score in the low-to-mid 2200s (fairly unique extracurriculars, jobs, etc.)?</p>
<p>Obviously this hypothetical example is a pretty vague profile of myself as an applicant. I hope to use this thread's feedback to decide on whether or not to apply early decision to other schools. I'm mainly concerned (or curious) about the effect of a SAT score lower than 2300 (since this is usually the magic number) on an applicant's chances (fully aware that every applicant has a slim chance at admissions).</p>
<p>Wait, how is this applicant either white or asian? Is it one, the other, or both? Usually if you have one white parent and one asian parent, you are considered both. Though I suppose that could change depending on some personal beliefs. </p>
<p>The answer to your question is simple. If you achieve ten victory points, your colony will succeed. Make sure the robber token isn’t on your hex.</p>
<p>If your ACT score is above your SAT score, your SAT score doesn’t matter. Don’t submit it and forget about it. If your ACT score is well within/near the top of Harvard’s range, you’re good to go. I don’t even know why you’re taking the SAT if you have a 36 on the ACT.</p>
It was a hypothetical example. I was trying to convey across the point that this hypothetical applicant’s race would negatively affect his admissions chances.</p>
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Thanks for being so helpful</p>
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Our SAT scores are on our official school transcript
I’ve been told SAT scores are much preferred over ACT scores due to their scoring methods. ACT doesn’t subtract points for missed questions. ACT also doesn’t subtract as many points from one’s composite if one misses a few questions on a section.</p>
<p>So should I choose to go ahead and apply RD to all the Ivies I’m considering or should I choose to apply ED to some of the other Ivies?</p>
Colleges don’t consider scores you don’t submit yourself.
By whom? While there remains some suspicion that a few East Coast schools think slightly higher of the SAT than the ACT, that is hardly fact. If, for example, one’s ACT score is a 36 and one’s SAT score is a 2250, there is absolutely no reason to send the SAT score anywhere.</p>
<p>There absolutely is reason to send the SAT score if its 2250. It shows you’ve taken both tests and done well–and its especially important if you did well on the Writing portion of the SAT, because the Writing portion of the ACT is separate from the main score and has less of an emphasis on multiple choice questions. 2250 is a great score, regardless of how good your ACT score is.</p>
<p>The only way I wouldn’t send an SAT with a high (35 or 36) ACT is if the SAT was under 2100. But I guess that’s just me personally.</p>
I’m a bit skeptical though. Colleges say they don’t consider a lot of things. It seems like they would keep the score in mind especially after analyzing the transcript even if I didn’t send the SAT Score Report. Every single standardized test I’ve taken is on the transcript in addition to, of course, my grades.</p>
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<p>Ah, okay. My writing score was only in the high 600s (always managed to screw up 3 to 5 of the multiple choice). Math was perfect and reading was in the high 700s.</p>
<p>No. Colleges will only consider test scores sent in the form of official CB score reports. Any scores recorded on your transcript are unofficial, thus they do not take precedence.</p>
<p>I got a 2130 and was accepted by Dartmouth, Harvard, and Yale. I’m white, female, attend public school, and have no hooks. I take that as proof that scores don’t matter.</p>
Let me clarify: they will know that you took the SAT (plus the score you allegedly got on it) but they will notice that you had decided not to send in the College Board Score Report due to a presumably low score. I don’t think you can honestly believe they won’t take that into consideration when looking over someone’s application. So I strongly disagree. They will take it into consideration (the fact that you didn’t send in the scores) but, obviously, they won’t officially say so (or include it in their class profile).</p>
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Thank you. This will definitely help me in deciding whether or not to apply Early Decision to other colleges.</p>
<p>I doubt it will, especially if the person’s ACT score is already so high. Besides, something like a 2250 isn’t bad at all. If the adcom wants this person, then a slightly low (which is only “low” in the context of other parts of the application, which are obviously absolutely amazing) SAT score won’t affect their decision.</p>
<p>As for the whole official/unofficial score deal - when I was filing out the applications last december, I listed my first SAT score (which was a 2210) on the common app but then used score choice and never included that score in the collegeboard score report, since my second SAT score was over a hundred points higher. So for Harvard my first SAT score always showed up as “unofficial”. I got into most of the colleges I applied to just fine, so I don’t think they put too much emphasis on the scores that are lower. I believe an admission officer looks for reasons to admit you, not reason to reject you, when he or she reads your application.</p>
<p>To OP: You would be competitive as an applicant, but the sub-2300 certainly wouldn’t help. Also you mean to say your essays would be cliched at worst, not clique lol.</p>
Oh yeah haha, my bad. Posting at 2 AM is never a good idea.</p>
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I assume you’re telling me to apply ED to other Ivies? Getting rejected, or even deferred, wouldn’t be so bad, I agree. However, I’m not sure how I would feel about being accepted if I had even a slim chance (1% or so compared to what I thought would be 0.00001%) at Harvard. Also, I plan to have all my applications (ED and RD) done before October (barring any last minute revisions to RD essays and such). Hopefully I’m not misreading your post.</p>
<p>^^Actually, don’t go for it!! (if you’re going to apply ED to another school that is - you definitely want to be able to pick your schools in April unless you have a clear preference for a certain school.) In my opinion, the hypothetical person here honestly has really good stats that will make him competitive at many highly selective schools in the country.</p>
<p>Wait, what? If I’m reading this right, you’re insinuating that if you get rejected from, say, Yale SCEA, you can re-apply again RD? I’m pretty sure that’s not true.</p>
<p>I meant I thought you should apply ED to Harvard! Because you do have a chance, and I think you’d feel bad if you didn’t take it. If you don’t get into Harvard, you can always apply regular decision to other Ivies/other schools you want to go to, which wouldn’t be that bad. Definitely worth applying to Harvard–you won’t have regrets.</p>