We all know Princeton is a reach for any student. Most applicants are likely aware of the abysmal acceptance rates, and so those that go ahead and apply are probably the cream of the crop - but what about the 1.2% with SAT scores of 1100-1250 that are admitted? They’re obviously not getting in because of their high grades, so what is it? Are stellar athletes the cause? Or might it be that there’s something incredible about them that standardized testing cannot account for? Perhaps a unique and compelling history of ECs? Or maybe extreme competency in some field not measured by the SAT I/SAT II?
I can only speculate, but perhaps some of you have satisfying answers.
Probably all of the above. If you want to speculate, fine. If you’re looking for hard and fast data, it does not exist.
I’m fishing for anecdotes more than anything. Perhaps some enrolled student with a low SAT score can highlight what they think earned them admission, or someone knows a student in that situation.
It looks like you are looking at the following table on the Princeton website:
Percentage of Applicants Accepted by SAT Range (the new SAT):
SAT Scores
Percent Accepted
1500-1600 8.2
1380-1490 5.0
1260-1370 3.4
1100-1250 1.2
900-1090 0.0
Below 900 0.0
First of all, you are misreading the table. The 1.2% refers to the percentage of applicants who had scores between 1100 to 1250 who were accepted, not that 1.2% of accepted students scored between 1100-1250. That is why the percentages don’t come close to 100%. Of note 91.8% of students with SAT scores between 1500-1600 were rejected!
The 1.2% could be 1 student out of 83 with those scores who got admitted or it could be 48 out of 4000. You can go to the CDS and get historical data on actual numbers admitted, but the scores are by section and not composite.
My understanding of football recruits is that the coaches are allowed to bring in 7 recruits with an Athletic Index 2.5 standard deviations off the AI index of the general school population. One site estimates that at around 180 (will vary slightly by the school as schools have different base AI’s for the general population) and 2 spots for recruits fulfilling the minimum (176). So that is 9 spots for football. Using an online Athletic index calculator, an SAT score of 1110 and a GPA of 3.2 would yield an AI index of 180. I would assume some of the other recruits for other sports would have AI’s around 180.
Now using the 2016 CDS, we see 3.4% of 1048 admitted students who took the SAT scored between 500-599 on reading, 1.43% on math and 2.67% on writing. So let’s guestimate that 2% had a combined SAT of between 1500-1800, which makes roughly 21 admitted students.
I know I am not accounting for athletes that submitted ACT’s (nor am I counting admitted students at the equivalent ACT range), but it would seem reasonable to infer that the bulk of the low test score admits were athletic recruits. Add to them the children of major, major donors or the world famous and/or powerful. I think those that got in with this low of test scores and were not athletes or the other super hooks must have EC’s that are extremely rare and totally unique and amazing, and not something that can be engineered.
Probably legacy kids.
^^^Mere legacies do not nearly have that much bump to get a kid admitted with an SAT of 1100-1250.
BKSquared, thanks for the informative reply! I see I was careless wording my initial post, I should’ve said “the 1.2% of those with SAT scores of 1100-1250 that are admitted”.
I suspect development cases more than recruited athletes or legacies. The latter two groups would have a very slim chance of being admitted with such low level scores. Not enough incentives for the school. A $10M+ donation, on the other hand…