Data regarding perfect ACT/SAT scorers?

Und3rC0ver
Tue, 16 Apr 2013 12:42:49 +0000

I’ll add my piece of circumstantial evidence to this fray. Many around me were very score obsessed in terms of college admissions (ie. How could any school reject a person with a 2400/36 in favor of a better candidate with a 2250/34?).

With my ‘lower’ scores, I was encouraged by many to look at the less selective ‘lower’ Ivies outside of HYP. Due to this, my initial college list consisted of my once favorite school (P) for SCEA and then slightly less selective schools for RD.

In other words OP, I was exactly like you. I doubted myself because of lower scores and only applied to one of HYPS initially, even though I really saw myself at H, P, and S (never really at Y). I was deferred at P (another confidence blow) and thought I made the right decision not applying to my other ‘dream’ schools. However, upon looking at the results threads on CC and seeing no strong correlation between really high scores and admissions (many rejected with very high scores and many accepted with 21xx or 22xx scores), I decided that I should just shoot for the stars, pay the application fees, and see what happened. I changed my list on around Christmas Day and submitted my applications on January 1st.

On Ivy Day, I was accepted to Harvard and rejected by Princeton. After visiting Harvard’s campus again (pre-Visitas) , I realized that it is the perfect place for me to spend the next four years. Harvard has an excellent program in my major, a plethora of extracurricular activities that I can’t wait to join, and above all a group of talented, motivated, young adults with whom I will learn and grow.

If I had adopted the same logic as you did, and stayed with my original list because of ‘inferior scores’, I would never have even applied to H. It’s really funny how things work out, but you have to buy a ticket to win the raffle.