SATs for international students ?

Student Lounge International Students
1

<p>Hello all :</p>

<p>I noticed that its easy for many americans to get full scores in SATs
I think that its because somehow near to what they take at school ?</p>

<p>But what about us internationals?
We take those science subjects in another language !
Would colleges require the same score ?</p>

<p>My GPA is 3.94 ( unwieghed) and Have bunch of awards and EA and community services.</p>

<p>But the SATs is somehow hard for us , in Range for SAT 1 ( 1100-1400 ) and for the subject tests ( 650-770 )</p>

<p>How would the Ivy league rate us !
and how about the least known universities ? how do they deal with that</p>

<p>I read many admission essays and visitied somehow all the sites but could not come up with the info I really need
??</p>

<p>Can you help me to clear the picture ?</p>

<p>Thanks to all in advance</p>

2

<p>Well first of all stuff americans do in school is nothign compared to the SAT except they are enouraged to think objectively . Furthermore I think the SAT is fair and mind you that colleges ( top level) do expect higher score ranges( 1450- 1550) because they know you are coming frm a rigoros academic curriculum so you have to score better than most amwericans. </p>

<p>Remember you are going to American colleges and into the american educational system. They rightly fvaor americans as it is their country!</p>

3

<p>I feel stupiddd!!
with those stupid practice test, I only get 2000</p>

4

<p>Thanks for both of you
But you didnt answer my Q ?
It wasnt about comparing myself with americans</p>

<p>My point was : in a way or another : What is the required SAT 1 and SAT 11 scores for international students ?
Would the criteria for admission be the same as national students ?
Its not to compare but coz the info in theri website is general so just want to know</p>

<p>and for the activities they require
In other countries, there arent that amount of places where you can share and improve your talents, so will they consider this
I have won speech, writing contests , volunteered and have many work experiences but like those awards arent recognized</p>

<p>dunno how to say it but hope that you got my inquiry people
plz help me with any info about activities and scores for internationals
dont tell me go to their website, coz info over there aint that sufficient</p>

<p>thanks in advance</p>

5

<p>i think they view each applications individually
there's no cut-off or required SAT scores, but of course if yours are too low, say <1300-1250, that would seriously hurt your chance. what a lota intls do is try to get a perfect score for math if eng isnt ur 1st lang and verbal is tough for you. the admission offices say they dont view the intl apps separately but as a matter of fact they do - they only admit a certain % of intls so i would say the criteria for admission isn't really different, just that the competition is bound to be keen</p>

<p>as for activities, i suppose they recognize your participation and even though they dont know abt the awards you get, i think they would still see that as a part of your achievement and wouldnt ignore that</p>

<p>where do u come from btw</p>

6

<p>Get as high a score as you can. They expect us to score higher than, if not at par with Americans. Intl admissions is cut-throat. You can't let ANY thing pull you down. Every bit counts.</p>

<p>They do consider your whole context, but there's a 0.1% chance that a low score will be overlooked.</p>

<p>As for activities, the process is really unfair. Just put down what you have, and hope for the best. Colleges are aware of specific counties' situation, but more often than not, someone from your country will have activites and awards that are comparable or better than american applicants. Maybe they had the opportunity, maybe they made it...</p>

<p>Just do what you can and hope for the best.</p>

7

<p>my interviewer at Harvard told me that for internationals they lower the Verbal score a lot. I mean, you can get a low verbal score, that won't hurt much your chances. They believe it's absolutely normal.</p>

8

<p>Thanks all ... your replies were for real .. HELPFUL ! :D</p>

<p>K now , would that seem to be good
SAT 1 ( the new SAT) : Math 800
: Critical reading (650-700) or less
and toefl score of (620-630) paper based</p>

<p>SAT 11 : Chemistry 800
Physics 800
Maths 780</p>

<p>and those are the only activities I have.</p>

<ul>
<li>Recycling project</li>
<li>Lectured at the Youths club about physics</li>
<li>Won ( 1st) in 3 speech contests</li>
<li>Won the annual writing contest in the country</li>
<li>3 work experiences ( 1 secretary, receptionist, data processor)</li>
<li>4 years of volunteering ( 1 in the infirmary, orphanage, and like 4 times at the health centre ) for a total of more than 400 hours a year.</li>
<li>Organazied the health day in my district</li>
<li>Organized the Dental Day ... .</li>
<li>Involvement in Boardcasting activities at school.</li>
</ul>

<p>I want to study chemistry or medicine ( honestly anything in the scientific field but chemistry is my first choice.</p>

<p>Another Q !</p>

<p>If i will graduate in June 2005
but will apply for admission for Fall 2006 entry</p>

<p>its like am gonna miss one year , so will the priority be given for fresh. students who had just graduated from high school.
Will my chances be decreased >>>???</p>

<p>please help me with this </p>

<p>thanks to all again</p>

9

<p>actually if you spend the yr doing sth special (like goin somewhere doing volunteer work, travelin, get a job etc) and specify or write an essay your experience, that'd even help your app, you can see that as a hook</p>

<p>your ECs are superb, remember to specify more leadership positions though
and be careful abt applying to med schools in the US, cuz they generally don't admit intl students unless you're SUPER gd. its not becoz of the competition, but some sorta admission policies, since med schools in the US are there to provide the US with docs, so its rare that they accept intls</p>

<p>and your SATs are great! Spain is rite, they think its ok to have a lower verbal score as long as its not like <600</p>

10

<p>Thank you Jurily , and a real thanks to all</p>

<p>What kind of leadership skills do they need?
What shall I do .. Please provide me with superb things</p>

11

<p>zxzz74, you seem not to understand the american educational system very well. You shouldn't do what they need/expect/want..You should be yourself. Trying to adapt to what they want, won't get you in.</p>

12

<p>K let me understand it although our school system is american
Even our subjects are ranked as , like phys 101 , chem 111 ... and so on</p>

<p>But am just wondering about the EA .. coz its not familiar or known over here.</p>

<p>Please just list me any kind of activities , at least to have an idea what people do so.</p>

<p>Thanks alot for your concern</p>

13

<p>where are you from anyway</p>

14

<p>Bahrain .. a small island in asia in the persian gulf or the arabian peninsula</p>

15

<p>so .. no one can tell me anything about the EA</p>

<p>just a small review about it would help me alot people .. please</p>

<p>Thank you</p>

16

<p>zxzz74, If you think your credentials are superb, apply EA. Unless, apply RA. Some people say colleges only accept superb people on EA, and they'll defer all normal (not-superb) people to RA.</p>

<p>Your overall scores are just similar to, or better than me. So, if you believe you can also do well on your essay and have in mind where your favorite place is, apply EA.</p>

<p>EA/ED is an early program that you can apply to you favorite college early, and get the reply early. Usually, EA/ED application deadlines are around November 1, 15, or 30. You'll get the reply in December and, if admitted, have time to decide until around Jan1. For RA/RD, the application deadline is around Jan1, or 15. If you apply RA/RD, you'll get the decisions in mid-march, late-march or early april. The different between Es and Rs is that, most of the time, you can do only one E; and if you get admitted to your E(D/A) college, you must enroll and withdraw your applications to other colleges. [Colleges have some ways to check that you're not applying to more than one colleges with Es plan.] If you don't get admitted under EA/ED, the college will either put your application to consider under RA/RD (defer) or deny you; you will no longer be forced to attend the E(A/D) college if it later admits you. However, some colleges like Harvard and MIT offer non-binding EA, that is, if you get admitted EA, you don't have to enroll at those places (You can still do only one EA anyway). </p>

<p>Most colleges suggest that if you apply for financial aid as well, you should not apply under early plan, so you will later have the chance to choose colleges based on your financial aid package.</p>

<p>You are just like me when I began all the application processes. Nothing was familiar to me, and nobody at my school could help. Just apply to schools you have reasons to attend (no more than 10 colleges), don't be an ivy leagues bombarder. </p>

<p>Don't do things that you assume colleges want. Just do what you enjoy. Colleges in my country never take leadership, internship experiences, extracurricular activities, or essays in their consideration, but I did that all with my personal passion. However, when I found out I wanted to go to the US at the beginning of my senior year (quite too late to prepare anything), I was glad things I had done during soph and junior years were actually what colleges favor. So, I continued doing what I loved, and doing well at school, and got admitted.</p>

<p>What do colleges think great?
Leadership positions like student president, yearbook editor, some national or international awards/participations like Olympiads, RSI, other talent search programs.</p>

<p>ECs that you put in a lot of hours and make big changes in them (whatever the activity is). If that ECs are really cool, you should also be able to talk about it in your own way. [Let me tell you what it's like to see young students glowed when I poured magic solutions during science demon shows. etc.]</p>

<p>With this stats I got into Penn, Bioengineering:
SATI M800, Verbal 490
SATII MIIC 800, BioM800, Physics 800, Chem 800, Writing 560
(The college needed only one science or one optional SATII, though.)
TOEFL 263 TWE 5.0</p>

<p>And your ECs are much better than mine.</p>

17

<p>About the SATs, they matter - get as high a score as you can. On the other hand, if you were unlucky enough to get a not so good score and you can't retake then c'est la vie. The thing that vallecollegorian managed to prove very well is that you can get in a prestigious university with some low scores, if you have something to compensate (such as straight 800s on other tests as he does).
On the other hand, I feel that, overall, our applications have to be BETTER than those of the Americans if we're asking for FA. If not, then things change A LOT.</p>