Will a 490 in math keep me out?!

Applying to College
1

<p>I've applied ED to a top women's LAC and though I realize that my application is well out of my hands at this point, I'd like some feeback from someone who is not related to me, who can help put things in prospective before the blow finally falls. </p>

<p>Superscoring my SAT (taken twice) I have</p>

<p>R: 620
M: 490
W: 710</p>

<p>My unweighted GPA is about 4.12</p>

<p>I have taken five honors classes and Seven AP classes at my highschool (we have about fourteen AP's this year but had sufficiently less though out past years) </p>

<p>I have a strong resume of film involvement and and a fairly good hook essay about how my mother going back to college influenced my goal to get into a better highschool and turn my scary grades around. I have several other leadership positions and volenteer work but my film work really matters the most so I emphasized that. </p>

<p>My SAT 2 scores are:</p>

<p>US history: 720</p>

<p>I'm still waiting for Lit and Bio and they will be sent directly to the collenge </p>

<p>I've been reading though CC many a time that LAC are known for looking holistically at applicants. On the other hand, my math score is about 200 lower than their advarage. How high is my chance of acceptance?</p>

2

<p>Apply to some safeties just in case. Many colleges are used to applicants who are not great in math but who excel in other areas.</p>

3

<p>So is this fairly normal for applicants at selective schools or do you mean in general? </p>

<p>In any case, thanks for your feedback.</p>

4

<p>Nothing is impossible, but a 490 in any section is quite low. It is even lower than the average of all applicants. Definitely make sure that you have safeties.</p>

5

<p>Look at the schools 50th percentile scores to see if you’re in range.</p>

6

<p>I’m over the mid range in writing, about 60 points below in reading, and…about 170 points lower in math. </p>

<p>So even with the rest of my application shaping up nicely, this score in math significantly runs the risk of breaking me?</p>

7

<p>It sure makes the ice a lot thinner.</p>

8

<p>^ Ah, fair enough.</p>

9

<p>Are you below the 25th percentile?</p>

10

<p>I’m right there in reading, but again, fairly below in math by over a hundred points.</p>

11

<p>Unfortunately with a score at the 25th percentile and another 100 plus point below, getting admitted without a hook will be difficult. You sound like an ideal candidate for test optional schools. There is an ever increasing number of very good ones. Have you had a look at the Fairtest list?</p>

12

<p>4.12 as an unweighted GPA makes your stats confusing. Especially when you say you started HS with “scary grades”. Usually you report UW on a 4.0 scale. Does your school rank or do you have a sense of where you’d be ranked if it did? </p>

<p>In any event you certainly have a shot, but I absolutely agree with the other posts that you should be applying to some target and safety schools as well.</p>

13

<p>^ The “scary grades” actually referred to elementary school. Since middle school my record has been strong. The school I go to now is a private boarding school and gives an A+ to grades 97 and above. So I have a 4.12 out of a total of 4.33 relative to my school. </p>

<p>@ 2college2college, about half the schools I will apply to will be test optional to some degree. And like many things, the one I happen to want the most is proving the most challenging (do to selectivity, of course). </p>

<p>I guess it just really comes down to how I’m veiwed as an applicant and whether or not they will let that score slide.</p>

14

<p>AP scores will probably help.</p>

15

<p>You think it will be ok if none of the AP’s were math related?</p>