I am a freshman at highschool and I am already starting to study for SATs ( I know I’m a little early ). I really want to get into an Ivy league. What is a good SAT score to be at. Any studying tips? Thanks
All Ivy League schools are NOT the same, nor do they have the same “middle 50%” SAT score. A good SAT score for Yale, Harvard or Princeton – meaning that it’s in the middle 50% of accepted students – is anywhere from 2200 to 2400. A good SAT score for Columbia, Cornell, UPenn, Dartmouth or Brown is about 2100 to 2300.
^^ “She also founded a national non-profi.”
The new normal.
No longer enough to do local good deeds. You need a national brand. A 2400 in altruism.
Plan ahead, but still have safety and match schools.
@gibby Lord knows that young lady earned her way into every one of those schools. But, at the risk of sounding petty, I find it insulting when students apply to ALL the Ivies. These universities are very different. To me, it suggests that the applicant doesn’t really care about the character or fit of a particular school, but is just concerned with the prestige of getting into any Ivy League school, or as many as he or she can, to collect as trophies. I realize competition has gotten insane and kids need to increase their chances by applying to several universities, but sheesh. show some discernment.
^^ I completely agree.
This young lady has achieved more than a high SAT score and an altruistic achievement. She is extremenly accomplished in many ways: a top student at a magnet program that admits top students. In many of these types of schools, achieving a high GPA is extremely challenging as the student body is already at the top percentile of the state students. She has also shown technological innovation with the app she developed, aced a large number of standardized tests and so, has demonstrated significant ability in many arenas.
I’m not an adcom, but this person really has shown over the top ability and achievement across the board, and I think this is what impresses colleges. A high SAT score is a good thing to have, but it doesn’t stand alone.
OP, you can find details on SAT scores by school by searching for Common Data Set and each school. All the Ivies except Columbia post this information.
In general, my sense is that admits at the lower end of a particular school’s range on SAT scores and other academic measures tend to have something in addition to pure academics that the school is looking for . . . for those banking more on academics, I think the higher end of the range on SAT scores etc. makes a stronger case. Obviously everyone admitted has very strong academics, but even so there’s a range.
@LegacyMom - you took the words out of my mouth. I have never been a fan of those kids that apply to all the Ivies or those that boast that they got into all of them. They are so very different, you cannot be happy at all of them equally.
IxnayBob’s rule: nobody who applies to all 8 of the Ivies should be accepted into all 8 of the Ivies.
IxnayBob’s harsh rule of Ivy applications: nobody who applies to all 8 of the Ivies should be accepted to any of the Ivies.
Only half kidding.
One reason could be that the Ivys have outstanding need based financial aid. Knowing how low their acceptance rates are, a person with the credentials to be accepted at an Ivy might be maximizing the chances also because of the financial aid package. That would be something to be happy about.
^^ Not all the ivy’s have outstanding financial aid. Harvard, Yale, and Princeton have larger endowments, which allows them to provide better financial aid than Columbia, Cornell, Brown, Dartmouth and UPenn. See: http://cornellsun.com/blog/2008/02/19/financial-aid-packages-threaten-cornell-athletics/
The thing that tricks me on the Ivy’s is that you can get into the best one and rejected to one that is easier to get into. My cousin for example got excepted to Columbia but rejected to Dartmouth.
Accepted*
@Dannym2000: That’s because the Ivy League is a sports conference made up of 8 individual school’s, each of whom looks for slightly different things. For example, Columbia seeks students who would be a good match for their core curriculum, while Brown seeks students who would be a good match for their open curriculum. Usually students who would be happy at Brown are miserable at Columbia, and vice-versa – and Admissions Directors know that! One way a college learns if their school would be a good match for the applicant is from how the teacher describes the student in their letters of recommendation.
FWIW: In your cousin’s situation: At Dartmouth, more than 50% of student’s are involved in greek life, but at Columbia it’s about 10%, so I would think Dartmouth and Columbia would each be scrutinizing EC’s lists and teacher recommendations looking for different attributes – and none of that is related to GPA or test scores.
@Pennylane2011 , I don’t know if I buy that logic. If FA is a concern, a student with those credentials can get full, merit-based scholarships, which the Ivies don’t offer, to some excellent Top 25 universities. And if FA is a concern, how can they afford to apply to that many schools unless, of course, their income is so low that the application fee is waived? Of course, I can never know what is in the hearts and minds of others, but this appears to be students simply in pursuit of a designer label.
That’s one of the best explanations I’ve seen for an often asked question @gibby. Thanks. No way a person could be happy at all and going to a school you hate just for the money is a bad decision most students regret in the long run.
I don’t know if FA is the only reason, and we don’t know any students’ reasons. Even if every Ivy isn’t an ideal fit, or even a good fit, many students do want the name and prestige. It’s still a large leap from not being a good fit to hating the place. Even with moderate FA, the total cost of a college could end up costing less than a state college or out of state one. College options vary from state to state. Students in states like Michigan, Virginia, California, NC and others have “public ivys” as flagships, while other states don’t.
Maybe it is all about trophy hunting, but still, it’s such an individual choice. Happiness factors differ from student to family too. They may not be alike at all, but if any of them were high on the “hate” factors, there would not be so much competition to be admitted to one of them.
They may be looking for different things, but some are admitted to all. Or most. Or both Coumbia and Dartmouth. Which is evidence that they’re also looking for some of the same things.