<p>On other threads people make it seem like super high SAT scores are a dime a dozen. Actually, the latest figures I could find were from 2009. That year there were approximately 16k scores of 1500 or more on CR + M combined. That includes both US and International students. </p>
<p>Considering that there are about 30,000 US high schools (public 24k and private ~6k) that means that there is approximately [strong]ONE[/strong] 1500+ score for every 2 HSs (and that is if NO Intl’s scored 1500+). And that is assuming that each of those 16k scores were from separate individuals. In reality, there are probably quite a few that are repeats from the same person. </p>
<p>Does a half a person per HS getting 1500 surprise you?</p>
<p>For some reason, in the news, family’s earning more than 200k seem to be very talked about when, in reality, they’re sparse. CC is the academic equivalent of the NYT society pages. That half a person per HS gets 1500 actually does not surprise me at all. </p>
<p>Rich people are a dime a dozen only at country clubs.</p>
<p>In addition to repeat-takers and internationals, it would probably be appropriate to exclude results from competitive private high schools. If I recall correctly there were five >1500 M+CR in my D’s graduating class … and bunches of >1400. Together they comprised 20% of the class.</p>
<p>No, it doesnt and keep in mind that high schools that regularly send 10+ kids to top 20 schools and other highly selective schools each year most likely have many (relative) 1500 CR/M scorer’s.</p>
<p>1500 isn’t at all easy to get; you need to score at least a 700 on CR/M (if the other is an 800), which means getting very few questions wrong</p>
<p>I think we also have to account that a lot of students, particularly in the midwest, don’t take the SAT, but just take the ACT. So we can’t really divide just the number of 1500+ SAT scores by the total number of schools. One idea would be to take the ACT + SAT and then reduce it by some percentage to account for overlap.</p>
<p>If you read the percentile thingy it pretty much explains all this. Our high school (the one my kids go to) has a 1300 wall (originally based on the old system, but being continued by just using CR+M now) They get somewhere between 6 and 15 students up on that wall with each graduating class of maybe 500. Granted some of them have taken the test 3 times. And 1300 is a lot lower than 1500 on the old bell curve. But CC is just for the kids on the wall. The mere mortals go to state colleges (not even flag ship) or the community college.<br>
Rich people are a dime a dozen at country clubs. And 2400 are a dime a dozen in the Ivy league and on CC. But if you filled the top 1% of all scorers into the the top colleges without regard to athletes, hooks, etc. You would fill the top 50 colleges. Add in the fact that there are only 8 Ivy leagues and hooks and the plan to apply to more than 1 and wha-la we have CC where we have to figure out the best fit for the least money with the best 4 and 6 year graduation rates and a decent male to female ratio… Because this it the biggest most permanent purchase you will every make and there is no way to sell it, get your equity out and trade up. You can sell a house, you can sell a car, but you can’t sell your education. You can only get more. And these kids are so young! So that is what this site is for. Don’t ever make the mistake of thinking this site is a cross section of America or even the college bound. The college bound whose only choice is the state U 40 miles east vs the state U 50 miles west will just ask their guidance counselor and their best friends and be done!</p>
<p>I think it has to be very unevenly distributed. At DS’ private high school, in his class of 129, 10 have total scores >2250 (they only report the 2400 scale), and 25 with scores >2100. But in the rural district where we lived a few years ago, one NMSF was considered great. In many of the urban schools near us, I’ll bet they haven’t had one in years.</p>
<p>Really? At my school we had around 35 NMSF semi-finalists this year (probably 5-10 will get it like last year). But of course, 83 kids went to Michigan last year, so I guess we are not your average high school…</p>
<p>“At my school we had around 35 NMSF semi-finalists this year …”</p>
<p>My niece is a GC at an inner city HS here in CT. They haven’t had an NMSF … ever. They haven’t had a student score 1400 in the time she’s been there, but that’s only fifteen years so there’s still hope.</p>
<p>Thanks, I see that now. I clicked on the first one which was only percentages and all the others listed under it looked like they were also percentages since they said “percentiles”, just like the first one. </p>
<p>As someone UM pointed out, the numbers are statistically similar enough to make the same .5 per HS avg.</p>
<p>Oh - Frazzled kids went to public high school. At least one 1600 on first sitting per graduating class, and probably a couple more when superscored. Scores above 1500 at one sitting were not at all unusual, even discounting superscoring, and might have been most students in AP/honors classes, and especially those aiming for merit scholarships or “top 20” admissions. I did learn that most students found it more difficult to get that 800 on the CR than on the math.</p>
<p>I did not get the impression that high scores were tied to extensive prepping or family wealth, either - who has time to prep for the SAT when they are taking a full load of these classes and participating in EC’s? Perhaps I didn’t know that much about what other families were doing. Maybe the wealthier families are sending their children to one of many excellent private schools in the area, and are paying for SAT tutors?</p>
<p>In any case, I would guess that high scorers are not evenly divided among schools, even though all public schools have low-scoring students. When families move into our town, they will pay far more for real estate than in neighboring towns, because of the school district’s reputation. But, many families bring in considerably less than 200k per year, and quite a few high-achieving students live in very cramped housing because that is all their families could afford in our town.</p>
<p>I imagine we have quite a few more than .5 student scoring 1500 at my D’s school. I looked at D’s school website and they provide SAT information in this format:</p>
<p>It is a private school which obviously can pick and choose its students, who all must take an independent school standardized test to be considered for enrollment.</p>
<p>We typically have around 15 NMF (and approx. 15 semifinalists) in a class of a little over 100+, so I’m sure a fair amount did score that high or very close to it.</p>
<p>It’s a tough environment in some ways if you are “merely” just very bright rather than brilliant.</p>
<p>I’m sure it is obviously quite variable across schools. My kids school has a few I know of that were either 1600 or just under that. Wow- 15 NMFs! I think our school had 4, and I thought that was really good.</p>
<p>If I recall…the numbers for perfect scores in 2010 were: SAT 382 kids out of 1.5 million test takers and ACT 588 out of 1.6 million test takers. </p>
or maybe their kids are self studying for 30 minutes every night…The study books are available at local libraries and the youtube instruction videos are free and numerous.</p>