What are my chances at Duke, Stanford or Ivy League Schools

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Caucasian Male</p>

<p>1/201 - class rank</p>

<p>SAT I Math - 790
Critical Reading - 620 :( TOTAL: 2170
Writing - 760</p>

<p>SAT II Math IIC - 770
Biology - 720
Chemistry - 750 </p>

<p>AP's US History (5), Biology (5), Chemistry (5) - 6 more senior year
TAKEN ALL (plus more) OFFERED AT MY SCHOOL</p>

<p>EC's
Varsity Soccer (3 years - 2 Letters)
Varsity Tennis ( 4 years - 4 Letters - Co-captain)
Marching and Concert Band (2 years)
Student Council ( Grades 9, 10 - class rep.)
Community Service
- Math Tutor for 4th graders (Grades 11, 12)
- Altar Server at my church (6 years)
- PRIDE member - drug awareness group
- Key Club (Grades 9, 10)
Summer Internship at Cleveland Clinic Health System Hospitals
National Honor Society</p>

<p>National Merit Finalist (most likely - PSAT 217)</p>

<p>Work Experience:
Country Club Employee
Soccer Counselor for summer camp</p>

<p>Assuming I write solid essays and get good reccommendations, what are my chances?</p>

<p>I know my SAT's are very good and most people would be happy to have them, but should I retake it to boost my verbal score? I don't think I want to risk lowering my other two and making them seem like fluke high scores (which they are not). What do you think?</p>

2

<p>You need to retake the SAT to boost the CR. That looks like a very low score for you.</p>

3

<p>Any other opinions? </p>

<p>I think my low score shows where my strengths are and are not. My overall is still pretty solid. It's still above average and again i don't want to risk a lower score in other areas. plus, it might improve by only ten points</p>

4

<p>You won't get into any of these schools with your current score, retake! White male, no exceptional ECs and below average SAT (Just add cr and math).</p>

5

<p>2170 is in the midrange of almost all of those schools (on the higher end of some). It's comparable to a 1450 on the old SAT. Wouldn't you think that my extremely high scores would counter my one low score. Also, my summer internship was at the Cleveland Clinic (the 4th best hospital in the world). I would call that distinctive.</p>

6

<p>Marty, here's what you have to understand. Half of the class at top schools are made up of athletes, URMs, legacies and development candidates. Those people, in general, have lower scores. That means that a non hooked white or Asian is highly likely to have scores at or above the 75%. So honestly, a white guy, non recruited athlete or otherwise hooked with a 620 is very unlikely at an ivy or ivy like school. And no offense, but just read around here, a hospital internship is not even close to being a hook!</p>

7

<p>Listen, Marty, like u said your scores are good, but like they've been saying, the CR scores NEEDS to go up. You asked us for adivce. We r telling you. You SATMath and Writing, SATII's, and AP's, along with GPA and rank are all excellent. Your ec's are also terrific,not amazing compared to thousands of others though. And yes being a white male, unfortunately they expect you to do excellent on SAT's given the opportunities that have been available to you. If you bring up the CR, I'd say you have an exceptional chance of being accepted to many top schools, so take our advice. GOOD LUCK!</p>

8

<p>He only has 4 posts, go easy! I would, however, have to agree and say take the SAT again if the top colleges are what you want.</p>

9

<p>I don't think HALF of the classes in the top schools are filled with Athletes, URM and legacies...</p>

10

<p>Retake the sat and try to boost your verbal to around 700. If you get to 700, i'd say you have a good chance at those schools.</p>

11

<p>The issue is that the elite colleges are not accepting of any major weakness as they have so many applicants strong in every respect that they could fill multiple classes each year. </p>

<p>Lakers08, Suze is correct, it is close to half of every class. I do alumni interviews for Harvard, are we are made aware of this.</p>

12

<p>With your current stats, I'd say you have a good chance (appx. 70%) of getting into one of the lower tier ives (Dartmouth, Cornell, Brown, UPenn) based on the people I know who applied. You have a decent chance of getting into Duke (appx. 50%). You have a very small chance of getting into higher tier ives (Harvard, Yale, Princeton) or Stanford (appx. 4%).</p>

<p>If you retake SAT, scoring in the 700's on reading, add 10% to the probabilities above.</p>

13

<p>70% chance at Dartmouth with a cr + math 1410? Are you kidding. Average was 1480 last year. On what possible basis?</p>

14

<p>Well, people from my school (white and asian) with poor scores (1420 SAT and an average of 700 per SAT 2 with 3.8 GPA) got into Dartmouth, Brown, UPenn, & Cornell. The OP has an old SAT equivalent of 1450, decent SAT 2's, valedictorian, and above average EC's. With good essays, he should have a very good shot.</p>

15

<p>Sorry, that's just wrong. Schools counting the writing score this year (most top ones are not) are not counting it equally to math and cr. If you had people with a 1410 get in who were unhooked, your school must be a special place. My school sends 30% to ivies and the like, and I assure you, no white or asian with a 620 verbal has gotten in who was not a legacy, athlete or very rich.</p>

16

<p>
[quote]
2170 is in the midrange of almost all of those schools (on the higher end of some). It's comparable to a 1450 on the old SAT. Wouldn't you think that my extremely high scores would counter my one low score. Also, my summer internship was at the Cleveland Clinic (the 4th best hospital in the world). I would call that distinctive.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>I don't get people on this board. They come here asking for opinions, then end up ignoring everyone and go by their own standards. Go figure.</p>

17

<p>People are from a lot of different places with different norms, it's hard for most to undersatand how crazy admission to the top schools is. Really, when you've been the top of where you are all of your life, it's hard to imagine a whole different world is operating out there.</p>

18

<p>Before I say anything, as someone who improved a 600 CR to 740 w/ little prep, it is certainly possible. If you take these colleges seriously it is worth the effort.</p>

<p>That being said, I am going to use Cornell -- the least selective Ivy league school -- as an example. This is the information we consider (this info may have changed slightly in the last yr but not enough to distort the general picture):</p>

<p>Cornell's middle 50% for old SAT verbal was 630-730. </p>

<h1>Accepted: 6,800</h1>

<h1>of Applicants: 23,500</h1>

<p>Acceptance Rate: 29%</p>

<p>This means that about 1,500 were accepted w/ your verbal score out of about 8,000 that applied w/ similar scores. This is a 19% acceptance rate. </p>

<p>On the other hand, minus your CR score, you are a great applicant. Therefore, we could bump your chances up to about 30-35% at Cornell. </p>

<p>Then there is the legacy, athlete, etc pool that will drag you down to possibly 25%. Chances at Duke, Dartmouth, Brown, and Penn will be about 18-22%. Chances at HYP & Stanford are probably looking about 8-12%.</p>

<p>Do you have a chance? Sure. Is it likely that you will be admitted w/ your current verbal score? Not really.</p>

<p>Why not retake the SAT? If the other scores are not an absolute fluke, don't worry about it. If you can manage 750+ math & 700+ writing on a retake, you have nothing to fear about taking the SAT over again.</p>

<p>If you can raise the reading to a 700, I would say your chances would almost double (i.e. Cornell 45%, Harvard 16%). If you can raise the reading to a 750, I would say your chances would almost triple (i.e. Cornell 65%, Harvard 25%).</p>

<p>Please keep in mind that these are general estimates comparing you to those w/ similar statistics. A great essay could get you in and a terrible essay could keep you out. Same goes for other factors.</p>

<p>Good luck to you! :)</p>

19

<p>suze - take a chill pill.</p>

<p>my school sends a large chunk to ivy's as well, and we had a kid get into harvard this year with a 3.7 and a 2050. It's RANDOM, if anything else. Your statement about no white or asian male has gotten in with a 670 is absolute bs. And also, the classes at these schools are most definately NOT 50% legacies, athletes and urm's.</p>

<p>His score is well above the national average, and well within the average scores of the schools he's interested in.</p>

20

<p>I know plenty of people (mostly Asians) that were admitted to top schools with low verbal scores. Of course, their math scores were phenomenal and the rest of their package was very strong (dedicated EC's, lots of AP's, etc). The point is, one low test score doesn't equate to a rejection. The OP's other scores are competitive, and he is overall a qualified applicant, even to the top schools. He should only retake the SAT I if he can definitely raise the critical reading score above 700 while maintaining the other scores.</p>