"Stop the haters"~ Ivy Acceptances with VERY low SAT

Applying to College Admission Stories
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Yes, the title of this thread is slightly deceiving and I have been going back and forth about writing this for several weeks but the part of me that wants to seems to be winning.

Anyway, like most of the class of 2013, my college application process started in the fall. And like most of you I was optimistic and thrilled to be entering the next stage in my life. I have been an avid Stanford fan since I was old enough to understand what Stanford was. Needless to say I applied early and eagerly waited on the eve of December 14th 2012 for decisions to be released: rejected. I don’t think words can describe the feeling I felt. This lofty idea, this dream of mine shattered by the simple words plastered to that letter (or email rather). Thing is, I knew exactly why I was rejected. I took not one AP class in high school, got a C and two Bs freshman year and… here is the whammy: 1750 SAT score!

That’s when my addiction to College Confidential began to fester. I never posted anything until this out of fear. Basically for months I read “Chance Me” threads for hours and continually watched as one 2200 SAT was told after another that they needed a score or watched as yet another kid with 5 AP classes lacked rigor. The hours I spent with a stomach ache watching my dreams sink lower was absolutely enumerable.

After my Stanford rejection I applied to a bunch of safeties (to all of which I was accepted) but being an over-zealous senior I had already filled out four ivy league apps prior to my Stanford disaster. It goes without saying my ivy chances looked to be slim to none.

Then March 28th, 2013 rolled around. Like thousands of other senior I spend the morning waiting until 2pm (california time) plastered to my computer screen anxiously counting down the minutes. Then it came, a day I will never forget, the second chance I’d never think I’d have: ACCEPTED! Accepted into Cornell, Yale and Harvard (rejected from Dartmouth, if anyone was wondering)!!! I am absolutely over the moon happy but that is not the point.

You are probably asking yourself was she a URM, first gen, a martian? Nope. I am white, female, middle class from california. As average as it gets.

So who am I? I more than my numbers. I am strange. I have been pursuing the same ECs since I was six years old, I am the best in the nation, I spent my summer flying overseas speaking at conferences. I am odd, I am different. Very few people would even understand what I do. Others would call me crazy.

The point of this post, after months of not posting a thing, is simple. I know you juniors will post “chance me” threads come the fall, I know you will stew over your SATs and grades wishing you could just change one thing. This threads are a wonderful way to kill time but don’t let them get you down. To younger students I cannot stress enough: be yourself. What gives you a spark? What makes you happy? What ignites you with passion? Latch onto it and fight for it. Be the person YOU want to be, don’t become obsessed with AP courses and test scores, don’t let yourself be defined by superficial integers. Be you. And best of luck!

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  1. I think this should be posted in the Admissions Hindsight and Lessons Learned section.

  2. Are you a ■■■■■? DO NOT LIE BECAUSE IF YOU’RE NOT THAT’S AMAZING

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Every year, I see one post saying you too can get in with a 1750. I am beginning to think it is the same person who does this.

If you are for real, you are part of about 3-4% of all admits at Harvard with a score that low based on last year’s CDS.

<a href=“http://www.provost.harvard.edu/institutional_research/CDS_2011-2012_Final.pdf[/url]”>http://www.provost.harvard.edu/institutional_research/CDS_2011-2012_Final.pdf&lt;/a&gt;

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I do understand the skepticism but I can honestly assure you I am not a “■■■■■” and this is true. I understand it is rare but I thought it was important to share the message of.

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I don’t think your message should be I got 1750 and still got in. It should be I got in because I did the following. I assume “I did the following” is something extraordinary.

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My message isn’t either. My message is that high schoolers should stop molding themselves to fit some standard and pursue what they love and present themselves as a person rather than a number.

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The headline is advertising low SAT.

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I always feel a little wary about advice like this based on how many people will interpret it. Sure, who wouldn’t agree with “being yourself” and “pursuing your passions” and whatnot. For people that are curious about this sort of thing as far as getting into college, I would stress that it may not be the best idea to make it your sole focus like the OP.

The vast majority of colleges don’t care at all about ECs, so as long as you have a strong focus on classes and test scores you can get into a very solid school. Definitely nothing wrong with that.

For the ‘upper echelon’ of colleges that place a good deal of weight on ECs and personal talents/interests, it may not pay off the way you hoped. I’m not saying that you shouldn’t pursue your passions or be less number-obsessive, however most of us won’t reach the level of accomplishment like the OP. All you’d really be stuck with is a subpar high school record and low test scores, which will almost always guarantee rejection.

There are extremely rare exceptions like the OP, so I’d def be cautious about sacrificing focus in ‘typical’ schoolwork. Deciding to not take AP classes or not trying to raise your SAT score and such are not good choices in my opinion. Like my Penn interviewer said, you have to be able to “sell yourself” to the adcoms to a certain extent and this is first and foremost done through raw stats.

There is nothing wrong with molding oneself into a typical student or to present oneself as a ‘strong number’ before pursuing anything else. This will almost always prove much more advantageous than the opposite, even for many students at institutions like Harvard or Stanford. Otherwise, you’ll almost certainly be setting yourself up for disappointment.

(P.S. I’m reposting this in other forum. This better not be a ■■■■■, otherwise I officially quit CC)

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stuckinsparkle - I’m so happy for you! Thank you for sharing. I agree 100% with your point.

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What was your miraculous activity that you’re the best in the nation at?

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The 3 kids in our city ( population 650000) that got into Harvard all applied early and had awesome stats. Stellar SAT scores , great grades, at least 9 APs each. It’s not that I don’t believe this person, but I do think she is lightning in a bottle. I’m pretty sure for most people the path to Harvard is paved with SAT prep classes and AP study groups. They did an article on those kids in the paper and every single one of them credited their parents, teachers, and community groups. No one has even whispered that it was anything other than work that brought them this success. And I have yet to hear any one of them talk up their passion and how they followed their own road either.

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Good for you! BTW, your writing skills likely got you in. Pretty good stuff. Congrats!

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Interesting thread. Congratz

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OP, where are you going to attend?

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People are always so negative on here, even after someone gets in it’s like they’re still not good enough. Congrats on your acceptances I’m sure you’ll love where ever you go and I really like the message you conveyed!

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I sincerely hope this is a ■■■■■ and that you’re just not incredibly unselfconscious… can I just focus on the words “best in the nation” for a second? The vast majority of people applying to top schools with below average scores are not the best in the nation at what they do.

Off the top of my head, there’s probably less than a hundred kids at Harvard this year who got in because they have a legitimate claim at being the best in the country like that. I’m not talking recruited for sports or URM or legacy; I’m talking 1500 SAT score but aiming for the Olympics, setting world records, that kind of thing. If you’re good enough to compete at that level, you already know exactly how good you are and you know that you have a chance at any school you apply to. It’s great to follow your ambitions, but you can’t deny that the vast majority of people who get into these top colleges are fantastic, but not world-beating, at their ECs and stellar students on top of it. That’s just the default format for getting into a prestigious college these days.

Plus, I honestly don’t think there’s any application that couldn’t be improved by raising your scores.

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This is not a “■■■■■”… :slight_smile:

This is an agent of the Ivies, that gets poor, aspiring, hopeful high school seniors to apply to Ivies, when there is hardly any chance for admission to these colleges. The more people apply and they reject then the acceptance rates gets lower by the year.

Every year just before the admission cycles these kind of mysterious admission rumors surface. The naive high school student thinks let me take my chance, if I don’t apply I will not get in any way so let me give it a try.

So if the top 5 to 10% of the SAT and ACT test takers, who score from 2000 + in SAT and 28+ in ACT believe that there is one chance in a million [odds better than winning a lottery] to get in to these schools and each apply to 3 to 4 of these schools the applicant pool is going to be in the over 25000 each year for these schools.

And if they accept 99% of the students with scores in the 2300+ and 35+, and still give out 1 to 3 admissions for students with less that 2000 or less than 28 in ACT, and let us say 10 to 15 admissions to students in the 2000 to 2200 SAT, 28 to 32 ACT then the myth lives on that there IS a chance for some one with a lower score to get in to these schools.

Otherwise no student with scores below 2300 or ACT below 35 will apply to these colleges. If only students with scores above 2300 apply to these top 10 schools then the acceptance rate will jump to over 75% for the schools. Hmm…

Nice game, these schools play. What do you think?

I think the schools should really come out with statistics of acceptance for SAT above 2300, above 2200, above 2100, above 2000 etc… That will then clearly tell us the true acceptance rates.

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Brown posts that sort of data:

[Admission</a> Facts | Undergraduate Admission](<a href=“Undergraduate Admission | Brown University”>Undergraduate Admission | Brown University)

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Nice. Any such data for HYPS?

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I don’t know. Maybe!

The data are pretty amazing from Brown, though.