Should I appy to NYU???

To introduce myself, I’m a rising senior that goes to an IB school in MA. The school, Sturgis Charter Public School, is known to be the number 1 school in Massachusetts. The courses I take there are higher level Math, Physics, and Latin whereas my standard levels are Art, English, and World History. Yes, I take the full diploma and I have an unweighted GPA of about 3.6 to 3.7 and weighted at approx. 4.5-4.6. I want to major as an engineer for college (not sure which exact field) and I’ve been looking at schools that have really great engineering programs as well as schools that have a really great reputation. I’ve looking at NYU and judging from the campus images on Google and its statistics, I was quite impressed. However, there is one thing that has been bothering me and stressing me out the whole time when my summer vacation started…do I have a smaller chance of getting in because of my SAT scores? My SAT scores are not what you call great, but what call a big laughing joke.

CR: 400
Math: 690
Writing: 540

I know I can improve a lot on math since its my strongest subject, and I know I can improve writing because there are a bunch of grammar rules that I can learn and practice on for the SAT. I’m planning on studying over summer, but I have doubt about raising my CR score because I feel stupid knowing the fact that I can’t get a 500+ on it. Are there any amazing strategies to improving the CR score to 600 or so? I’ve been told by many people that reading books is the best way to improve your score, but some people say that practicing is A LOT more better than just reading books. And also for vocab, I can’t seem to find a way to memorize vocabulary. I tried mnemonics and visual memorization with pictures, but they don’t seem to work. And also, should I just practice on the Blue Book only, or can I do the practice tests on Princeton Review? Finally, if people say that I should take the ACT, I think its safe to say that I’m better off taking the SAT because I have a lot more material/books about it that it just seems more practical. The question is: Is it possible that I can achieve this goal? Every time I take/practice a CR section, I just zone out and at the end, get angry at myself, call myself stupid, and just give up because I never improved. It’s been rough because a lot of people at my school gets such amazing scores, yet, I’m the only one in the top 20 rank that has a low score. I’m such a let down that I just wish some colleges could understand that I’m a terrible test taker.

This comes to the question, should I give NYU a try? One of my former substitute teacher is a professor at Northeastern. He told me that a lot colleges look at a person as a whole. I mean, he’s not wrong, but SAT scores and GPA are also important too! Do you think that NYU could understand that I came from a difficult childhood and that me and my parents moved a lot because of job issues and stuff like that? To be frank, I’ve moved so much that I think I never had the chance to experience the full years of basically all my grades (from K through 5). I’m also the first family member from India to go to college for the first time. However, I live under a rough lifestyle because me and my family manage and partially own a motel business; in other words, I think my family is under a difficult economic situation. I was born at India and moved to the US when I was just 3. Its been difficult because a lot of my friends never experienced this, and I feel like I’m the only one. I believe in hard work, I believe in success, but in a lot of times, I can’t face the fact that this happened to me. Heck, I don’t even know if my parents can qualify for financial aid. I don’t think I can get a Merit Scholarship. SOMEBODY PLEASE HELP ME!!! It’s just how realistic colleges are…they look into the common app, look at GPA and test scores, and they throw mine in the dump. Simple as that.

Judging from a little bit about myself, is it possible that I can improve my CR score. I know a lot of people did, but there are some that don’t and I don’t want to be one of them.

Although colleges do take a holistic view of applicants, your CR score will likely exclude you from most top schools.

That’s what colleges really say, but in reality, they’re just lying tbh and I have a small chance of getting into NYU Poly

Colleges are not lying. Although holistic there would be cutoffs below which an admission would be an invitation for failure. , A 400 CR SAT score says that you would not perform well in the academic environment of a top university.

I would try the ACT maybe if you’re struggling with the SAT. I know you already have the books for it but I found the sections to be a LOT easier.

I already tried the ACT and I’m terrible at that too

TomSrOfBoston, do you think that I could get a higher chance of getting into NYU if I get lets say a 550 on CR? I know I can improve my score at that capacity, and I’ll try a little bit harder

@TomSrOfBoston Also, just because I have a 400 in CR reading doesn’t mean that I’m not going to perform well. What makes you think that? I can tell you right off the bat that the SAT is just a stupid test that has tricky answers that all look correct. I don’t care if you don’t think I won’t be able to get in, its your opinion, not mines. And why don’t you go through the IB, and see for yourself if its easy or hard. Right off the bat, I know that I’m going to improve my SAT score, and maybe even get myself to a 600 on CR. There are a ton of kids at my school who graduated who got into a college where they a 100 points below than what the college expected.

Heck, maybe if I don’t get in, I’ll still be happy at the college I want to go to…just not UMass Lowell or Dartmouth. Now let me tell you this again: Do I have a chance to get into NYU even if my CR score is 100 points below on what they’re expecting…out of all the things that are required for the application like the college essay, extracurriculars, GPA, etc?

Hi! I know that admission into NYU is very different for some of the schools (Stern, Tisch, CAS, etc). I won’t lie I do not know a lot about the NYU Poly admissions, but I do know that some of the programs are sort of test optional. There are other scores you can send in lieu of SAT/ACT. You may want to go down that route and submit IB scores or another alternative. Check their website for more information. If poly isn’t like this, you could apply to another school and transfer in but I am not sure how difficult it is to change programs at NYU.

No one is saying that IB isn’t hard. However, your CR scores (and frankly your writing score as well) show that you have some SERIOUS deficits in reading comprehension. You wrote that every time you practice CR, you zone out at the end? Well, at NYU, you’ll be expected to get through and understand hundreds of pages of reading a week, and based on your CR scores, it seems highly unlikely that you are going to be able to do that.

@jazzcatastrophe, to be frank and honest, I think that’s invalid. People who take HL English even get bad SAT scores. In all honesty, like I said before, and it has been said by a friend who is a college professor, smart people can get bad SAT scores. And let me tell, yes, I do zone out, but that does not mean I zone out on reading a chapter, lets say, magnetism on a physics textbook. The reason why I usually zone out is because I usually didn’t get enough sleep. You may think that its a lame excuse, but let me tell you, it isn’t. I’ve also been so stressed about homework because there had multiple assignments during the months of the SAT. Because of that, I wasn’t studying effectively. Now, however, since its summer vacation, I have all the time to practice for the SAT and study ad review my mistakes. If you seriously think I have “SERIOUS deficits”, you’re wrong! Why don’t you try writing a 1200 word essay for IB English and see if you can get an A. I dare you

@pineapplemango Hi, thank you for giving me this advice. If you saw my comment above, it just shows how frustrated I am and how I hate it when people criticize how my SAT score correlates to my academic performance and comprehension even though I’m perfectly strong at those two. The SAT in my opinion is just a test that tests you on how well you test. I’m perfectly fine if people disagree with that, but what I’m not fine is that people assume that I’m a bad test taker right off the bat even though we take a bunch of tests at my school, not even multiple choice, and I manage to get good grades on them. I don’t know if I can submit my IB scores because I take them at May of 2016, I’ll try to improve my SAT math and physics test, but they require a third subject test on humanities. I don’t think I would be comfortable with Latin since I take that, but we don’t really emphasize vocabulary or translation as much compared to a Latin school in Boston. Any suggestions? SAT History?

You appear to have come on CC looking for people to support you. Any advice that does not support you is dismissed.

Apply to your preferred schools but also apply to UMass Lowell and some safeties. Otherwise there is a good chance you will be stuck this time next year.

@TomSrOfBoston My safety schools are UMass Amherst, UConn, and University at Buffalo. I’m not going to apply to Lowell because it just does not fit me well enough.

None of those schools are safeties.

NYU is not the only school where you will have to read a lot and be forced to understand large amounts of information- that’s just the nature of a college level education. This may be a weakness of yours that you will need to work on now through college. Speaking purely to admissions, I think that NYU may not focus as much on your SAT score if they are willing to make a decision without it for other students. That being said, I still think you should study a lot and try to improve your score. In regard to taking SAT History, you may want to consider it if your main SAT score is low due to CR (any test score that wills now that you aren’t a bad test taker). Best of luck.

@TomSrOfBoston Well, what do you think are my safeties from the colleges I listed?

@pineapplemango Okay, but what makes you say that I “will need to work on [understanding large amounts of information] now through college”? I’m perfectly comfortable with learning a ton of in high school just like I will be in college. Is it different that I’m learning material that the IB is requiring us to learn or is good preparation for college? Also, I haven’t visited NYU Poly just yet, but judging from your knowledge about it, is NYU Poly just as rigorous as MIT or RPI is?

A safety is a school where you are 99% certain of admission and you can afford it. None of the schools that you list are safeties.