<p>Last year, according to the Dartmouth admission's office, mean SATs scores for the admitted class of 2010 were:</p>
<p>681 Verbal (CR)
699 Math
681 Writing</p>
<p>They stated "academic credentials of applicants to the Class of 2011 remain similar to last year’s (2010) with applicants scoring a mean of 681 on the SAT verbal, 699 on the SAT math and 681 on the SAT writing."</p>
<p>In looking at past decision posts on CC, I see very few, if any, accepted applicants with SATs in the 600s. Why is this?</p>
<p>Are only the high SAT scorers posting on CC?</p>
<p>Are people inflating their SAT scores when they post on CC?</p>
<p>Is there a disproportionately high number of low scorers in the accepted pool such as URMs, legacies and recruited athletes?</p>
<p>Any ideas???? Also any guess as to what the mean scores are for those students choosing to attend D?</p>
<p>Then again, I just reread your quote - those are the scores of all APPLICANTS, as opposed to admitted students. The link above further refines to a profile of all who matriculate.</p>
<p>Given that only 30% of accepted applicants have SAT CR and W scores below 699, then I have to think that D has a pretty large number of quite low scorers.</p>
<p>There’s one other factor, that should be taken into account. I know Dartmouth has reported somewhere how many applicants and accepted students have 800 on one half of the test. I know this was true of my son, he had 800 Math, 800 Math Level II and a bunch of other good math and Science awards (national/regional objective stuff), but was in the mid 600’s in Verbal (I’m sure some of you are horrified). He only took the SATs once and never took them again- he’s not a fast reader, and didn’t think it would make a difference how many times he took them. Despite this “weakness”, he still has an A in the required freshman English class. I think some of these super scores you see posted can be a bit misleading and that there are plenty of academic students admitted with a 600 here and there.</p>
<p>One last reality check, we got one of those letters in the mail telling him he was a National AP scholar (8 or more AP exams, they all have to be 4 or 5) and they reported that 8,000 kids got this last year (I assume mostly, seniors, but inclusive of Juniors and other grades too). By reading these boards you’d think the number should be 50,000- with the scores kids report. I do think there is a little score inflation, and that perhaps the emphasis placed on it by international applicants (and the competiveness of that pool) skews these boards a bit.</p>
<p>And, all you ed’ers… no need for buyer’s remorse (which is understandable, but not necessary). </p>
<p>If ED works for you, that is great - you will be one a group of students who are accomplished in many and varied areas - and rest assured your fellow students, whether they excel in math or verbally or both, be they URMs, legacies or athletes, ALL deserve to be there, academically. A kind of tacit rule, from my understanding, is that once you are a Dartmouth student, you don’t self-call - you don’t know who had what SAT scores- and you learn from, enjoy and are often amazed by your accomplished fellow students. You will have access to great opportunities throughout the 4 years, be taught by great faculty and have as much opportunity for future success as any student of your caliber at any peer school.</p>
<p>And if ED does not work for you, you WILL find something wonderful that does.</p>
<p>Athletes and especially minorities (there being more of them) bring the scores down. Minorities account for a very significant (I forget the exact percentage) number of students and they often have lower scores. Legacy applicants MAY bring it down slightly, but having legacy doesnt give an applicant nearly as much of a boost as a being a recruited athlete or a minority.</p>
<p>I don’t have stats or anything so this is completely anecdotal, but:</p>
<ol>
<li>I encountered more legacies than I would have expected before I came here;</li>
<li>Their accomplishments were just as outstanding as anyone else’s. (I obviously did not ask anyone about their SATs, though - I can count on my two hands the number of times I’ve heard that word mentioned here.)</li>
</ol>