monstor344

I've seen this line and very similar variants of it posted on these forums quite often. But the more I think and look into it, the more skeptical I am of its truthfulness. First of all, according to Collegeboard's website, only around 250 kids out of hundreds of thousands of test-takers earn a 2400 annually. The number of incoming freshmen enrolled in the ivy league each year is close to 15000. Doesn't it seem certain that at least one ivy will accept one of these extremely rare applicants? That's not to say that some ivies, particularly HYP, will reject those applicants, but it appears next to impossible that they will be rejected from all 8, unless there was something seriously unappealing about the applicant (expulsion, criminal, etc). I just feel that this forum puts too much emphasis on an applicant's ECs without really considering how accomplished they are from their scores. I mean, surely not every ivy league student has started a million-dollar charity or cured some disease or won a national award, right? I mean, there can only be so many of those types.

Columbia109

generally this is untrue, because these applicants are very rare.
A 4.0 non asian with an sat score above 2200 is almost a given at any ivy they choose. The 4.0 2400 rejects are usually really smart asian kids who deserve to go to an ivy league school but under activities list like one thing so colleges immediately are like ehh sorry.

Sea Legs

I don't think the collegeboard takes superscored 2400's into account with that "250" figure.

anonymityyy

Reading CC, you would think that at least half of the nation's 2400-scorers congregate on this forum. Which...is possible, but I seriously doubt it.

USNAgolden2014

I'm sick of asians complaining about their "woeful" status
I mean seriously, are you kidding me?
Asian Americans make up 3-4% of the US population and at every top college they
make up 20-30% of the population....
If they were that heavily "discriminated" against, that number wouldn't be above 10%

Sorry that "4.0 non-asian" just really irritates me
*steps off soapbox*

And I agree with the OP, scores can't be as meaningless as CC makes it seem. I think the cases of 4.0 2400s getting rejected are outliers/anomalies, it's probably one of those vocal minority kind of things (only the rejected 2400s say anything)

I mean harvard accepts 45% of all single-sitting 2400s, those are pretty good odds...
and like the OP said, it's hard to believe that all 15,000 spots are taken by teenage superstars who already have their own research published / started the world's 9th largest charity

lol CC just exists to advise and humble you =D and you have to come to accept that

MD Mom

Daughter's school's valedictorian (NMS, 4.0, 2300, All-State chorus, great ecs, yadayadayada) was rejected at Harvard (also a legacy), Princeton, and Yale. She did get in to Brown. Super arrogant girl. It happens.

brassmonkey

250 does not include the superscores.

MD Mom

Doesn't the superscoring start for next year's seniors? I thought that it became available after most 2009 grads had their applications in.

amciw

It sounds like the admissions committees did an excellent job discerning her character; congratulations to them for making such a good selection.

Regarding the initial thread, you are right. Its highly unlikely Cornell would reject you with a 2400 and 4.0, and even so, your chances are great at any college except Harvard, Yale or Princeton.

C'BadDad

There are about 5,000 kids who get 2300 and up. Thats a lot more than the 250 or so who get 2400.

tokenadult

http://professionals.collegeboard.co...ite_cr_m_w.pdf

I have no reason to believe that showing "superscored" SAT scores for each individual would increase the number of students at each score level by more than 50 percent. In other words, I think that by any method of counting subscores, fewer than 500 students per graduating class have attained a 2400 on the SAT. Scores of 2300 are substantially more common, and not what this thread is about.

See also

SAT Score Frequencies and Freshman Class Sizes

and

How do top scorers on tests fail to gain admission to top schools?

big dreamer

If this counts for anything:

The valedictorian from my high school this past year had 4.0 GPA, 2390 SAT, great ECs, all-state XC + track, solid essays/recs, non-Asian, got NMS semi-finalist, etc. and he got into Yale, Brown, Princeton, Stanford, and Dartmouth, among other schools. He got into Yale SCEA and will attend there in the fall.

Just thought that this would be intersting to share!

Oldengr

4.0, 2390 SAT solid recs and only a NMS semi-finalist? What do you need to be a finalist?

schee410

To go from semi-finalist to finalist standing, you need to fill out an application that the NMSC sends your school. My sister didn't fill out the application and didn't move on to finalist status.

ThisCouldBeHeavn

Obviously when they say 2400 they don't mean it literally. They're just referring to people with very good numbers.