Chances for an international with unfortunate SATs?

MeredithBelle
Mon, 09 Nov 2009 22:45:20 +0000

Sorry for jumping in so late…I’m surprised my standard answer “OMG chance me!” has become so “iconic” already haha. Nonetheless I’m gonna say it: none of us are admissions comm folks so it’s not like we have a say. But you seem to be a good student if it makes you feel better. I really hate to sound snarky, it’s just that it doesn’t really matter what we think, because we don’t have a say in the decision.

Though I will say you shouldn’t be so anxious about your SAT scores- 2/3 of them are more than acceptable and even though Smith hasn’t made scores optional for international applicants…admin has spoken out time and time again questioning how much they matter overall. Not to mention mine personally were nothing to write home about and I got accepted. So yeah, I actually don’t think Smith will care just your math score is less-than-steller. What they will care about, though, is how challenging your courses have been all 4 years of high school vs. your senior year alone as well as your grades GPA. And if your GPA isn’t weighted, it’s a good number.

Your awards show your talent for writing which is very very favorable & I hope you’re looking at our English dept. because it’s well-supported though at the same time, there are slightly less academic opportunities apparently for creative writing specifically I’ve heard. But it’s not my major, so don’t trust me 100%.

Lastly, you need to show specific instances of leadership in extracirricular activities since that’s what shows your character & capabilties vs. simply attending meetings regularly. Admissions will have no idea what your level of involvement is in anything if you just throw activities down without any explantion of what they entailed/your role is.