New SAT: Is breaking 2000 barrier enough to be accepted by IVY league universities?

Test Preparation SAT Preparation
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<p>Please do not ignore this, I need help from you guys!</p>

<p>First of all, I am an international student, who has moved around the world - Saudi Arabia, United States of America, and India- to get education. I have, in my past life, shifted from American system to Indian system and back to American for numerous times due to my parents. Till 11th grade, I was not sure if I was going to continue with the American Education in which I will have to take the SAT, of course, and not the Board Exams, similar to the SAT but much harder, which does not have either writing or critical reading section. Thereby, having known my fate, I started preparing for the Board Exams, but I realized that I am going to continue with this system so I will soon enough have to face the SAT. Therefore, I took the SAT cramming all the rules and formulas I need for the test to make me competitive for an IVY league. Unfortunately, I ended up with 1500 on the SAT ( 450 W + 450 CR + 600 M). According to myriad websites, 1500 seems to be no special but an average score. Although, I have been practicing for just more than three months and I see no scope of breaking 2100 if not 2000 on the SAT. Yes, I can achieve 800 on both writing and math if no silly mistake is to be made. However, in reality, assuming I will end with 1800 (+ or - 200 points) will I be recognized as an exceptional student by IVY institutes such as Harvard or Cornell, when I mention about the life experience I have life? Will I be turned down due to my poor SAT scores compared to brilliant students? Assuming I get poor SAT scores then having 700+ on both Physics and Math Level 2 is negligible? </p>

<p>Stats: </p>

<p>SAT I BREAKDOWN: (Past: 1500) [Will take in OCT 11, which is in six days]</p>

<p>SAT II : M2 640 (Not final score because I will take it again) [Will take Physics + M2 + M1]</p>

<p>Extra curricular activities: Basketball Captain in Senior Year.</p>

<p>Nationality: Indian</p>

<p>Volunteering: Instead of going out and helping other people, I made a YouTube channel, where I uploaded more than 200+ videos on multifarious subjects to help people like me out. After creating the channel, within just a month, I got my YouTube partnership and donated all the money I received to a charity group to help people out in Africa.</p>

<p>GPA Cummulative: 3.3 out of 4.0</p>

<p>Languages: 6+</p>

<p>Job/Work Experience: N/A</p>

<p>Summer activities: Volunteering</p>

<p>Major: Astrophysics and/or Aerospace Engineering</p>

<p>Teacher Recommendations: Excellent.</p>

<p>Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): N/A</p>

<p>AP (place score in parentheses): Didn’t take them yet.</p>

<p>Senior Year Course Load: Calculus 12, Physics 12, Civics 12, Economics 12, English 12, Arabic 12, and KSA History 12.</p>

<p>Country (if international applicant): living in Saudi Arabia.</p>

<p>School Type: Private</p>

<p>Gender: Male</p>

<p>Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): First person from my family to attend any universities in America</p>

<p>I do not want to sound histrionic or overwrought, but do I stand a chance against those tough guys with 2400 on the SAT and /or possibly 800 on all those subject test? </p>

<p>My top choices are :</p>

<p>Boston University ( Early Action)
Harvard University
Cornell University
Duke University
University of California Berkely
British Columbia (Canada) </p>

<p>Please guys tell me if I stand a chance, although I do believe I will get 2000+ on the SAT.</p>

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<p>Hi people, please consider throwing back your response for it will really help me. Thank you.</p>

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<p>Boston University ( Early Action) - around 75%
Harvard University - no
Cornell University - no
Duke University - no
University of California Berkely - around 25%
British Columbia (Canada) - idk</p>

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<p>Don’t want to discourage you, but even a 2400 may not guarantee anyone a spot in the Ivies, especially if you’re an Intl student.
That being said, most people often say that you need at least a 2250 for the Ivy schools</p>

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<p>My son went from 1700 to 2000 with a lot of studying and taking a SAT course.</p>

<p>His hope for an Ivy League school is because he is a legacy and also plays sports and great other ECs as well.</p>

<p>BU is probably a good fit if you can get up to 2000 SATs, however, I don’t think BU has early action, only early decision (which is binding).</p>

<p>Your cumulative GPA is low too, especially if that is weighted. But if that is for international schools as well as US schools, that might matter some. </p>

<p>Also, it does not matter where you live, it matters what citizenship you have. A US citizen living in another country applies as a US citizen. An international student living in the US applies as an international student.</p>

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<p>@rhandco‌ GPA of 3.3 is unweighted, and thank you for your response :smile: </p>

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<p>@mathgeek2013‌ Thank you so much for the percentile. It surely will help me while I make my decisions. In any case, where do you think I should apply, where I am almost, if not less, guaranteed an admission, which is of course in competitive universities not like low-rank colleges. </p>

<p>Even with 2100, if suppose I get it, am I not guaranteed an admission in Cornell or lets say UPenn (IVY league) or maybe Princeton? Any IVY league, you think I stand a chance? </p>

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<p>you can answer these questions yourself, look at the common datasets for the top colleges and see where your gpa and sat scores fall. To get you started, Cornell is often characterized as the easiest ivy for admission. Here’s a link to the common dataset which I found by googling “cornell common dataset”</p>

<p><a href=“http://dpb.cornell.edu/documents/1000554.pdf”>http://dpb.cornell.edu/documents/1000554.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>luck,</p>

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<p>I doubt many Ivies offer aerospace engineering. Did you check? My suggestion is that you stop chasing prestigious names and look for schools that offer your majors of interest and are likely to accept you. Your grades and test scores are both very weak for Ivy level schools, especially as an international student. Have you looked at typical GPA and scores of successful applicants to these schools? 1500 and 3.3 is just not competitive. Sorry, but unless you’ve omitted something compelling from your description of yourself, I think you’re wasting your time and money. </p>

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<p>@Mathyone would you like to read my essay that I wrote for Application process, perhaps that will give you some insights where I come from…Indeed, 1500 is not a good score, but I am retaking it this OCT 11. Nonetheless, I have 700+ on subject tests. </p>

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<p>@quietdesperation‌ Thank you so much for the link! :slight_smile: </p>

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<p>Remember, you are not guaranteed ANYWHERE, even if you were 4.0 GPA and 2400 SAT score.</p>

<p>Look up 25th percentile and 75th percentile SAT scores for each college. I happen to have Penn, Brown, Cornell, and Columbia handy:
25th percentile (3 out of 4 accepted students are better than this, M + CR): 1350, 1330, 1310, 1400.
75th percentile (1 out of 4 accepted students are better than this, M + CR): 1540, 1540, 1520, 1570.</p>

<p>You list 1500 for all three SAT areas. You say that you should be able to get 800 on math and CR. I highly doubt that, because 600 M and 450 CR indicate a lot more than silly mistakes. There are <em>many</em> smart students who can’t break 700 in math and CR.</p>

<p>You need to put together a list with reaches (you have not too good a chance to get in but want to try), matches (you should have an even chance as anyone else), and safeties (you are at or above the 75th percentile for that college).</p>

<p>BU’s numbers are 1190 for 25th percentile, and 1390 for 75th percentile. You have 1050 now, so if you improve an average amount, you should be in their range.</p>

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<p>I’m sure you have an interesting story but with stats like that, I expect you’d need an extremely interesting story or significant international recognition to be admitted to the most highly selective schools. Speculation about what scores you think you might get is just speculation. And there isn’t much you can do about your grades at this point.</p>

<p>700+ on the SAT2’s is a good start but it’s hardly going to wow these schools. Have you looked at the percentile chart for math level 2? Wait, I looked again and you say you have 640 on the math sat2 and have not taken others. How is that 700+? You do realize that 640 is only the 49th percentile, and that many kids taking this test are not even proposing to major in STEM?</p>

<p>Being the first person in your family to attend a US college is not a hook. If anything, it’s an anti-hook since admissions are more competitive for internationals.</p>

<p>I think you need to take a good long honest look at who the schools you mentioned are admitting. We are just trying to save you from being one of the kids on here in the spring who didn’t get any acceptances. Go ahead and apply to some of those schools if it makes you feel better, but you need to be realistic and put plenty of schools you can get into on your list. </p>

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<p>Listen to mathyone; he or she speaks the truth.</p>

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<p>Does aerospace engineering require citizenship and security clearance?</p>

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<p><a href=“No Chance | MIT Admissions”>http://mitadmissions.org/blogs/entry/no_chance&lt;/a&gt; read this and the comments. And listen try to apply in lot of schools this will increase the probability to get accepted at least in one of those schools. </p>

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<p>@mathyone‌ Yes, I understand that even with 4.0 GPA and 2400 SAT score, I am not guaranteed anywhere. In my case, I simply have a hope with the poor SAT score, which is less than 2400, and a Cumulative (Unweighted) GPA of 3.3. However, I intend to get 2150 on this SAT… </p>

<p>In any case, you are great peer! Thank you so much for in-depth analysis. I will look over and over again, when I start picking colleges! :smiley: </p>

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<p>@rhandco‌ & @mathyone‌ I have bad GPA, yes I completely agree with you guys. However, I have heard that college prefer those students who have increasing GPA rather than those students, who have been getting 4.0. Actually, the reason I have bad GPA is because when I came to my new school, I was forced to take online courses through BYU independent study because I had missed one quarter of the school. I got either an A or A- on those course that I took; however, my school GPA shows 2. something - when I have more. I talked about this to my counselor, but she said this is what will go in my transcript and that is the end of discussion. But I assure you my grades are almost always in every quarter 3.459 or at least above 3.299, which makes my cumulative to be 3.3. There is more to my story, but this is just a little picture from my whole story. Apart from that, I really hope to get more than 2000 - seriously, without a joke. I would feel really stupid, if I don’t get above that. </p>

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<p>I love that link. Because people post “chance me” responses to a blog that says “THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A REAL “CHANCE ME” ANSWER”.</p>

<p>An indication of that are the “good ECs vs. bad ECs” arguments. Think of SAT scores and GPA as a bare minimum.</p>

<p>When people answer “chance me” threads, their thoughts are towards “will this person’s application be tossed out before their activity list and essays are read?”.</p>

<p>Of course, colleges don’t make it easy on applicants, because they could give the SAT scores and GPAs for students NOT admitted so we could see if 6% admission rates were real (from a set of people with similar scores) or fake.</p>

<p>For example, if less a quarter of the people applying have stats in the range of the admitted class, that means you are looking at 6% out of 25% = 24% chance of being admitted <em>if</em> you are in the stat range. 6% would be “real” if everyone applying was in the stat range of the admitted class.</p>

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<p>The point raised by @wordworker is a good one. I can’t answer it but if you have any idea about working in the US, you need to investigate this. </p>