<p>In the wake of the May SATs, I have a couple of questions about how Smith views standardized tesing that I hope some of you all can please help me out with!</p>
<p>--How does Smith view the new SAT, in particular, the writing section? I am unenthused^24 about being accepted/rejected on account of an essay I cranked out in 25 minutes at 9am on a Saturday morning, and am sort of hoping that the Smith adcoms are little bit more humane than that. </p>
<p>--Are test scores for prospective engineers scrutinized more carefully? Or, to put it more bluntly, if I think that I might-possibly-maybe want to be an engineer, is it worth retaking a 710M? </p>
<p>--Finally, what exactly does "two SAT II tests are recommended, but not required" mean? When is it better to have them, and in what situations is it permissible not to? </p>
<p>Muchas gracias in advance! Over and out la.</p>
<p>I can just repeat what the Dean of Admissions personally told me. Past-President Ruth Simmons convened a committee made up of faculty, admissions, and office of institutional research to answer two questions: 1) Is there an association between SAT scores of admitted students and academic success at Smith; and 2) Does the use of SAT scores mitigate against Smith's historic commitment to economic diversity (percentagewise, four times as many Pell Grants recipients as Harvard; 3X that Williams, 2X that of Swarthmore, etc.) After 3 years of study, they came back with: 1) they couldn't find an association between SATs and academic success at Smith; and 2) it did work against Smith's commitment to economic diversity. The President then gave clear directions to the Admissions Office to heavily discount SAT scores. The Dean of Admissions told me point blank that she can't even remember the last time an SAT score was used to make an admissions decision.</p>
<p>My impression is that the reason they keep the SAT requirement is 1) to provide them with a kind of floor; 2) to have some kind of confirming data for schools they don't know about (especially important for internationals, homeschoolers, etc.); and 3) provide the possibility that an underperforming high school student, who seems "heady, nervy, and intellectually exciting" (what they are looking for) has another way to strut her stuff.</p>
<p>For the record, my d. was a homeschooler, and a Zollman winner, and never took the Writing SAT II required of homeschoolers, nor had the required interview with Smith staff (though she did have a great one with a well-connected alumnae interviewer.)</p>
<p>i don't know whether you are an international student. According to my personal experience(i am an int'l student) I don't think SAT scores matter that much to intel students. To be honest, I have got a realllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllly horrible verbal score. As long as they see who you truly are, i believe that is more valuable than any other things. do you have the passion to pursue ur dream? do you want to stand out for urself or you just wanna hide in the corner and refuse to face those problems? there are numerous things that can show your brilliant mind~ good luck!</p>
<p>I wouldn't sweat the Writing score particularly, per Mini's observations. However, getting the SAT Math scores up might be very worthwhile in that Smith has special scholarships for Engineering students and scores are probably a component in deciding who gets them.</p>
<p>Oh man I didn't realize people had replied! V. helpful advice, and I think I've figured out where I'm going to to from here re:standardized testing. Thank you, Mini, Doris, and theDad!<br>
Just as a side note Doris, where are you from? I'm not an international, but I'm living overseas, too!</p>
<p>All that said, current demographic trends--more graduating high school seniors--are making Smith, along with other competitive colleges, more difficult to get into and this trend will continue for another 2-4 years before peaking. I'll be interested in seeing this year's admissions stats...won't be surprised at all if it dips under 40 percent...not bad compared to Amherst or the Ivies but still getting tighter.</p>
<p>yes, I think Thedad is right. It will be much more difficult to get into Smith. Try your best. A better score is by no means a bad thing. But don't freak out if you can't have a better score and always have faith!
I have once lost my confidence last year and luckily soon got back by the help of some friends~</p>
<p>reallllllllllllllllllllllllllllly?
I am quite close to you, guess what? I am in Shenzhen!!I have been to HK for many times this year(for interviews and shopping!!)and I plan to go HK very soon for an IBM~lol</p>
<p>Wow, Doris and hey_la, my Smithie D (now officially a senior) spent several months in Shenzhen last year, during a leave of absence (do-it-yourself abroad experience) from Smith. She spent several months in Tianjin as well. She will be delighted to know that someone from SZ will be at Smith next year.</p>
<p>Do you know people at CIMC? She was working at that firm's SZ headquarters.</p>
<p>She made several trips by ferry to Hong Kong during that time as well -- absolutely loved that "beehive" city.</p>
<p>She is not home now but I will fill her in on this when we next speak. (She is spending this summer in Washington, D.C. doing an internship.) </p>
<p>But my recollection -- and her pictures-- suggest that she was very fond of the people she worked with there. She enjoyed climbing the mountains on weekends. The urban pollution was a problem for her contacts in both of the cities where she lived. The food was great -- especially since she was experiencing it with locals at local places not frequented by tourists. She tells of her group ordering duck once, and the cook walked a live duck out on a leash for the diners to approve it before it was killed and cooked -- now that's fresh duck!</p>
<p>She got spoiled by the cheap massages. In SZ she could walk down to the street in the evening and have her feet massaged before bedtime for a pittance!</p>
<p>She also visited Guelin and made a vacation trip to Thailand.</p>
<p>She thought Hong Kong was wonderful, but she likes cities and was only there for brief periods to renew her visa.</p>
<p>haha that's not weird here. When I go out with my parents to some restaurants, if we order a fish or some sea food, my dad will go to the aquarium and choose the fish himself!</p>
<p>I like duck but wouldn't want to meet it before hand. Poor duck being walked out on a leash like that...it must <em>really</em> want to be in show business.</p>