<p>For HYPS, probably neither. It's increasingly getting to where only prodigies and those with connections can get in.</p>
<p>However, if Student A's essay clearly stands out from the rest of the pool, then he has a better chance even with his lower scores.</p>
<p>Do you have data to support this?</p>
<p>Of course not, because it's not true.</p>
<p>I know that since im still a sophmore at high school...my thoughts wont count but here it is....;)</p>
<p>1.Just because someone made a 2400 on their SAT doesnt mean that they were a book worm....
2.Just because someone made had tons of ECs doesnt mean that they should make a low grade on the SAT...</p>
<p>People should learn to use time wisely and get a excellent score on their SAT and figure out ways to do Ecs that other people dont. I'm sure theres at least 2,000kids per year that can make a perfect score on their SATs and maybe 10,00 kids who volunteer at hospitals, etc. So when the colleges get your application, they want to think, "what makes this person stand out from the rest?" The answer is your essay.....but not entirely. If you have a SUPER essay with no grades to back it up....the dean might be currious as to whether you are bragging.....if you made a 800 on your SAT II writing but your essay was so-so, colleges might think that you slacked off on it...</p>
<p>i havent took the SAT officially yet but in 7th Grade i took the SAT as a part of the Duke Talent Identification Program and score a 1180...it was a ok score for an 7th grader...but heres another example</p>
<p>I know another asian who made a 1310 (in 7th grade!) on his SAT. you might think that hes a bookworm but really hes not. He was on Varsity tennis and made basketball too. He placed 23 on State Violin Region. and he volunteered at a lot of places also. </p>
<p>so yeah....</p>
<p>HYPS will take one look at the 2050 and laugh.</p>
<ol>
<li>Not too bad. That is around what I scored as a 7th grader, but I am a bookworm now... I used to play tennis.</li>
</ol>
<p>"Although he didnt do that well academically"</p>
<p>Since when is a 3.7 and a 2050 not doing "well"? A 3.7 is likely in the top 10% of her class, and a 2050 is in the top 6% of the nation.</p>
<p>How can someone say student A didn't do well academically? Those are my stastics and I did AMAZING academically. I can't believe anyone would say that.</p>
<p>Comment that I disagree with -</p>
<p>People should learn to use time wisely and get a excellent score on their SAT and figure out ways to do Ecs that other people dont.</p>
<hr>
<p>I used my time wisely as an exchange student. I didn't have time to study for my SAT abroad. I am going to just tilt my head and believe that I used my TIME up better than a lot of people - having a LIFE!</p>
<p>Ok, when people say student A didn't do well, they are talking relative to student B and relative to HYPS applicants. Is a 3.7 and 2050 not that good for the HYPS applicant pool? You bet.</p>
<p>Heck, I am going to stick to my words and tell you that student A is going to go further in life. Thankfully, kids with stats like student A are being recognized more now (look what Tufts is doing). Who the hell cares if someone got a 2400 or whatever on their SAT? When you apply for a job later on in life, no one is going to care what you made on your SAT. Student A is obviously going far in their life with leadership skills and the great stats - leadership skills really help build a person.</p>
<p>Real life situation: S is a student at my school. He scored a 2400 on his SAT and has absolutely no social skills. The guy is smart but college is going to be rough for him. He has LIMITED EC's...did well... and dropped them after a while for various reasons (never stuck with anything). Intelligent but lacks qualities vital for LIFE. This guy is smart, but he has nothing else going for him.</p>
<p>If these schools only want the smartest kids, I don't want to go to them. It seems like they want no improvement, personality, or anything among their kids. Seems like they just expect the best. Who the hell wants that!? I don't! I want a life.</p>
<p>nick that is what you want. </p>
<p>Companies want someone who will shut up and do the work rather than a "fast-talking city slicker who is all thumbs when doing real work", unless you are an I-banker.</p>
<p>Besides, going abroad doesn't mean a thing. Basically a vacation, something anyone can do. To be honest, SATs are an excellent indicator of intellect. Generally, a 2400 is someone with whom you can strike up a decent conversation regarding literature without explaining what a word means each sentence. I'm sure that is why top colleges still use the SAT as a deciding factor. </p>
<p>And who are we kidding here? High school "leadership"? Bossing a bunch of teens around just because of seniority and "popularity"? In the real world, football, a car, and a rich father doesn't make a leader.</p>
<p>Also, personally I don't think spending a year abroad will necessarily help your people skills. Unless you have perfect fluency, you will encounter language barriers, effectively lowering the level of interaction.</p>
<p>Look at the following article:</p>
<p><a href="http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=601105%5B/url%5D">http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=601105</a> </p>
<p>There are some really interesting graphs on pages 5-7.</p>
<p>Nick, a lot of law schools, and even law firms, look at your SAT scores, along with your GRE scores, long after you graduate from vollege.</p>
<p>Student A is crap. A simple fluke. Harvard takes a bunch of normal students every year, along with other top colleges in order to tell people "everyone has a chance so apply and make my rates better :D" etc along with some other reasons exp, football etc...unless student A has some serious special skills, who's he kidding? This is the Ivy League, not local state college. </p>
<p>This is American high school. Unless his school doesn't use huge grade inflation (I doubt it) then his 3.7 is weak. His gpa is still okay though, but a 2050 SAT? That's under 700 average. </p>
<p>This is all theoretical anyways. Both have a shot at getting in, but there's definitely much less student Bs around than student A, because you can always ******** your way to Student A. Plus good grades doesn't mean you're a bookworm, far from it. A smart kid should be able to do his school work easily and find time for other things.</p>
<p>fizik, you meant page 8 I think, the SAT score diagram?</p>
<p>First off that 2050 doesn't reach the top percentages, and usually a lower SAT score can be set off by a high gpa and extremely hard classes, which this guy doesn't really have. Again, unless this guy is some great actor or some national champion, it'll probably be a fluke if this guy gets in.</p>
<p>Also, the graphs all shoot up for the top 99.9%. Where chances of MIT rise to 50, and Yale and Princeton rise to 40.</p>
<p>And by the way, the SAT doesn't test your intellect. It's just a logic test..</p>
<p>Logic=intelligence?</p>
<p>yahooo: who really got in???</p>
<p>^ I dont know who got in.. I was wondering what you all think</p>
<p>uhhh...nick?
yeah im not sure you know what your saying....</p>
<p>so companies are suppose to not look into what grades you got in school or what you got on your SAT right?</p>
<p>Good SAT=Good College=Good job
now im not saying that if you dont get into a good college, you wont get a good job i mean look at fortune 500's CEOs. But those are the EXTRAORDINARY people and chances are, if you arent a God-Send, you will just have to work hard in school and get good grades...</p>
<p>Breaking News!!!!</p>
<p>Those guys at MIT have done it again! Now they came up with a passion detector that reads your DNA and calculates your interest level in each respective EC down to the nearest mila-something!!!!</p>