<p>When ever I see a college's sat "50 percentile scores" they are always a range. For example one of my school says the middle 50th percentiles are CR- 600-700, Math- 650-750, Writing- 590-700. What does this mean? Shouldn't the average just be one score (adding up everyone scores and dividing by the number of scores)?</p>
<p>It’s the range from the 25th percentile to the 75th percentile (75-25=the middle 50).</p>
<p>@loquatical ohh that makes sense, thanks!</p>
<p>We had the admissions director of one highly selective college explain it this way: if you are student whose parent(s) have a postgraduate degree or bachelors from a highly selective school, then ideally your test score should be at the 75th percentile or greater because you were raised in a home with parents probably reading to you when you were young, exposing you to vocabulary etc that others might not be and more; if you are first generation college, possible English as a second language, then your score might be at the 25th percentile and be qualified; and everyone else in the middle…</p>
<p>@Momof2back2back what if your parents are are mid-educated (4 year, foreign university), but you go to a competitive high school. Would I still need to be in the middle or should I be higher up?</p>
<p>toes you’re over-analyzing. I think the main point what Momof2 was sharing is that giving a mid-range gives admissions counselors some discretion in evaluating students scores and GPA - no one can give you an exact expectation. Overall you will have better chance of admission if you are at higher end or above the mid-range. How your application is perceived at the lower end will likely depend on other factors that vary from kid to kid. If you are below mid-range, you probably need to be star athlete or have some other compelling story to be considered.</p>