ED Chances and Questions

NixonDenier
Sun, 04 Oct 2015 05:00:55 +0000

4’s are great scores! I didn’t mean to devalue your efforts or accomplishments (and anyone else who is reading for that matter). I was trying to demonstrate that while you may be a top student at your school, you are moving from a pond to an ocean of other applicants. I’ve met students who were confident in their chances of getting in to the best schools since they were at the top of the class, valedictorians, 4.5+ GPAs etc., and they were floored when they didn’t. In the OP’s case he was debating if he even needed to take another subject test since he felt it might be unnecessary given his other stats - and he has great stats - but I wanted to show how admissions could begin to deflate his GPA, rank etc. based on standardized test scores when compared against other students. 4’s are great scores, but normally 10-20% of students get 5’s on any given AP exam (and you’re right, there is always a cut-off and a single question in theory will separate a 4 from a 5). Schools love standardized tests because they are designed to level the playing field and take the subjectivity out of some aspects of this confusing, abstract process of selecting candidates from a large pool of qualified applicants. If I meant to give a take-away it’s to value your efforts and accomplishments, but always strive to improve and be aware that if you can do something (within reason) to improve your chances you should attempt it. The last thing you want is to grow content and later regret it in hindsight as you wonder if a little more could have made all the difference.

For the record, nothing would please me more than all of you coming back to this thread on December 15th and posting that you got accepted and that I am nothing more than a fearmonger with poor self-confidence and paranoia.