<p>Guys, what do you think is the lowest SAT score an accepted applicant has had? Someone in the Columbia thread had a 1700, no hook and got accepted. Same for Yale and Harvard, except it was 1900 for the Harvard applicant. Do you think it's the same for Dartmouth? At my school, everyone who has applied to Dartmouth for the past five or six years has gotten in. I compete very well with those students, except when it comes to SATs. I just can't master them. However, everything else is equal if not better than theirs. I'm not applying ED, but I am doing RD. I'm just wondering about this. (Dartmouth still remains my first choice, but I'm doing UPenn SEAS ED because my parents wants me to be close, and that's a close second choice.)</p>
<p>What happened to Brown? :p</p>
<p>Well the lowest SAT score I have seen in the decision thread has been something around 1600, but obviously he/she had a hook (I don't remember what it was).</p>
<p>And there was someone with 1900ish score who got in, but he had loads of people call Dartmouth and send rec. letters. (Yep read the official decision thread)</p>
<p>i did really really bad in my SATs.
but i have still submitted my application</p>
<p>Tux: Thats the link I am talking about!</p>
<p>I remember seeing a 1690 admit to dartmouth, hook being native american ethnicity. As far as no hook goes, I have no idea. My SAT scores are a little bit low as well, 1940, and I am hoping that my ethnicity can give me a hand on dartmouth admissions. I am african american. Besides my low SAT scores everything else is on par, I have outstanding extracurriculars and essays, and I participated in a Dartmouth program for rising high school seniors. I am counting on Dartmouth's holistic review to propel me past the opposition. If they can get past my low test scores, everything else is excellent. Also I have 5's on AP exams. And Dartmouth is the only ivy that I will be applying to. Why did I have to fall in love with a school that has such tough admissions standards?</p>
<p>I think these situations are highly anomalous. I am sure there are rare instances. I bet, however, in every one there is either an excellent reason for the low score or remarkably strong compensating atttibutes in the applicant.</p>
<p>My guess is that at Dartmouth, for unhooked applicants, 2100 is the minimum SAT cut-off to be considered as a competitive candidate.</p>
<p>what kind of ACT score do you think is the minimum cut off for an unhooked applicant to be competetive?</p>
<p>I would say an ACT of 31.</p>
<p>Ajayc,</p>
<p>On the Dartmouth decision thread you shared with Tux, it looks as if the individual to whom you were referring was an URM (I hate the term). </p>
<p>"(My essay) talked about my struggle to recieve (sic) an education, while pulling myself out of the ghettos of Phildelphia."</p>
<p>It, perhaps, explains mitigating circumstances re the lower SAT scores.</p>
<p>Wow, that's a pretty high cut-off. </p>
<p>I've asked before on other Ivy boards, and people have said that the cut-off for Columbia, Penn, Brown, and Cornell is somewhere around 1900. It's certainly no surprise for Cornell.</p>
<p>tux08902,</p>
<p>It may be for Cornell, which is, for some of its schools, a land grant college for the state of New York.</p>
<p>The other day I calculated the median SAT scores for the Ivies, Stanford and a couple of top LACs.</p>
<p>They ran from 2245 (Harvard) to about 2165. The spread was only about 80 points top to bottom. HYPS cluster together in a 20-30 point band. Brown, Dartmouth, Amherst and Williams are next, etc. </p>
<p>Given that, I think that 2100+ gives you a fighting chance, all other things being equal. At 1900, I think one is out of range, if you are not in a special category or have some phenomenal hook.</p>
<p>Tux08902</p>
<p>On a percent basis, 2245 was in the top 1% of all senior SAT test takers in 2006; 2165 was in the top 2%; and 2100 was in the top 3%. BTW, 1900 was in the top 12%. </p>
<p>My guess is, unfortunately for most of us, we've got to be in the 97th percentile or above to be in the game, all other things (grades, recs, ECs, essays, etc.) being equal.</p>
<p>Wow, those numbers are crazy. I wish I had taken the SAT more seriously. I only took it once Sophmore year. And now Dartmouth is my #1. The problem is that my CR sections was sooo boring.</p>
<p>If you can retake your SATs take it. Otherwise just put up your best application and hope for the best.</p>
<p>BalletGirl, where do you get your numbers from? Nationally, 2180 is the top one percentile. That's well known.</p>
<p>Tux,</p>
<p>I have taken the numbers directly from a PDF document published by the College Entrance Examination Board, entitled "SAT Percentile Ranks for Males, Females, and Total Group: 2006 College-Bound SeniorsCritical Reading + Mathematics + Writing". </p>
<p>2180 is actually in the 98th percentile. Below is an actual cut & paste from the document for TOTAL GROUP. The middle number is the actual number of students scoring in a particular score band. </p>
<p>2240 1,428 99
2230 1,572 99
2220 1,729 99
2210 1,850 99
2200 2,022 99
2190 1,992 98
2180 2,214 98
2170 2,342 98
2160 2,506 98
2150 2,622 98
2140 2,939 98
2130 3,058 97
2120 3,190 97
2110 3,432 97
2100 3,698 97
2090 3,796 96
2080 3,953 96
2070 4,195 96
2060 4,315 95
2050 4,540 95
2040 4,761 95
2030 4,973 94
2020 5,290 94
2010 5,706 94
2000 5,696 93
1990 6,016 93
1980 6,221 92
1970 6,424 92
1960 6,635 91
1950 7,032 91
1940 7,364 90
1930 7,592 90
1920 7,821 89
1910 8,102 89
1900 8,355 88</p>