Top Schools Low Scores

Does anyone know of people who got into really good schools (like the ivies) with really low sat scores 1500s-1700s with great hooks?

A football player got into Columbia from a neighboring school district with a 26 ACT (equivalent to 1770). It’s possible, but very, very unlikely.

I don’t. I know it does happen, but it’s very rare.

Don’t bother mentioning athletes as there are tons of those for low for the school scores

<<<< with great hooks? <<<

What great hooks? Are you the child of a king?

If you’re looking for hope, you won’t find it. The chances of being one of those unique people is extremely small.

Actually the grandchild

95% of the time it’s URMs, athletes, and donors with otherwise great applications who get in with those scores. Sad but true.

If you’re one of those unique people, you’ve already been recruited.
(Note: for Ivies, the threshold for athletes is 1900. Anyone under that score has to have a specific justification and is likely admitted SCEA/REA and their presence needs to be offset by a high-scoring athlete. Therefore, the below-1900 are extremely rare although they exist.)

There are some schools that are test optional, like Bowdoin College.

My sister got into Brown with a 1610 she is not an URM or an athlete or a donor AND she’s an international applicant, though that was 4 years ago

^ c an we presume she took the test in her second or third language?
Was your sister full pay or did she need financial aid?

English is not her first language and no she didn’t need financial aid

^ two KEY elements when evaluating her application, and necessary as data points for readers of this thread.

Whatever I just hate it when people say that internationals can’t get in anywhere unless they have like a 2200+ SAT scores it’s just ridiculous

If you’re Chinese/Indian/Korean or any society where standardized tests are par-for-the course, or, to a lesser extent, a native speaker of English, you need to have high scores comparable to domestic applicants as well as distinguishing achievements.
If you need financial aid, it’s a whole different ballgame.

The idea that being the ‘child of a king’ - or the ‘grandchild of a king’ - is what gets you into top schools with poor stats is as annoying as ‘Emma Watson got into Brown b/c she’s famous’ or ‘you have to be Malia or Malala to get in to those schools with those scores’ (to be clear, Emma, Malia and Malala all have/had top grades at very academic schools that regularly send a good proportion of their students to the top colleges).

Even more annoying is a person who posts ‘does anybody know of anybody who got into an Ivy with a score of 1500-1700’, get the predictable ‘give up dude’ response and then sucker punches back with 'you all are ridiculous ‘cuz my sister did it’.

As @MYOS1634 points out, low scores for international students who are being tested in their second or third language is different than for a US student.

But you didn’t ask about internationals- you asked a general question, in the general (not international) section. Full pay makes a difference for international students. Moreover, if you are the grandchild of a king, you and your sister have probably been well educated and had lots of opportunities to do things beyond the classroom to stand out. In other words, it is actually possible that Brown took your sister on her own merits, not b/c she is the ‘grandchild of a king’.

Dude I was joking about the grandchild thing, chill.

Also, I never said anyone was ridiculous but simply stated that the ideology of SAT scores getting you anywhere is not entirely true.

^that’s not what you said at all.

SAT scores won’t be a decisive factor to get you in but they may well be the factor that cuts you from admission or financial aid, especially if you’re an international.