<p>Realistically, if you win a medal/honorable mention at an I*O, how high does your SAT I score need to be for your application to HYPM to be considered, provided a very high GPA (standardized across different schools) and strong/varied ECs? I’d be interested to hear what you think.</p>
<p>I’d think if everything was extremely high except SAT scores, you wouldn’t need anything over a 2000 or maybe even an 1800. That’s what “holistic” entails.</p>
<p>In theory, there is no cut-off for HYPSM in any of the application categories (GPA, SAT, etc.), so there is no definite score that you need to reach to be considered.</p>
<p>On the other hand, I have to disagree strongly with BMittman. There are just too many applicants who have near-perfect grades, scores, and amazing accomplishments on top of them. While winning a medal as you have done is a very, very impressive accomplishment, I don’t think an 1800 or 2000 would cut it at all. 2100 might be okay, 2200+ is ideal. And plus, someone who’s capable of winning such a medal should be perfectly capable of scoring well on the SAT …</p>
<p>EDIT - To elaborate a bit, yes they do use the word “holistic” when talking about admissions, but this is HYPSM we’re talking about. If you’re a little off in one or two of the categories, that’s fine. But 1800 or even 2000 is pretty far off for these schools.</p>
<p>My I*O’s in a few weeks, but here’s hoping for at least an honorable mention, which is still a pretty good accomplishment considering the international scale of the competition… in my opinion, anyway. Thanks for the feedback though - I did score well within your “ideal” range, so maybe not all hope is lost yet.</p>
<p>theyre harsh on internationals. mit especially takes into consideration the number of medals in I<em>O over the colour, one could say. ive vietnamese etc. friends who had to tally 3 gold medals in the physics and chemistry olympiads and took two gap years in order to take SATs etc but still got rejected by hyp. same with hyp. p may be slightly more lenient - friendly to intls. so don’t count on your medal/award to get you in. but by all means, do try your best at your olympiad~ i know a few prospective australian applicants for this coming cycle, and they’ve a lot of tricks up their sleeve, (most are I</em>Oers) with guaranteed silver+ medals.</p>
<p>BMittman is not correct. One competition will not blow HYPSM away, and even if a student was just amazing in one area, a below 2000 score would cause great concern at these schools. Below 2200 would.</p>
<p>That is not at all what holistic means.</p>
<p>Thanks anyway everyone - I know that a few of the I*Oers this year are applying from my country (although, to my knowledge, most of the applicants are IPhO and IMO), but I wasn’t aware that there were quite so many silver+ medals (I presume most of those come from IMO…). I might not end up applying anyway - one of my family members is under the impression that anything less than a perfect SAT warrants no chance whatsoever, and as I bombed out completely in June (still within in the top fraction of a percent, but hey, it seems as though that’s not even good enough for internationals), I might not be allowed to resit.</p>