Stanford Class of 2021 Applicant Discussion

https://www.quora.com/Is-there-a-significant-difference-between-a-33-and-36-ACT-score-in-the-college-admissions-process

@DryMango @hhjjlala right? he makes the argument that there’s no difference between a 33 and a 35 yet got a 33, took the ACT again, and talks about how he has a 35 superscore. why take it again if theres “literally no difference”? why send both so you have a 35 superscore if theres no difference?

This is my last post because @skieurope is going to at some point delete all these posts because they have no value to this thread whatsoever, but I do so to make a point to arrogant applicants who believe that they can flaunt their 34/35/36, and think that it can be a breaking factor in admissions. I’m also done dealing with people who are overconfident that they can’t accept the fact that they might be wrong, and another person might be right.

You look at the composite score, I look at the subscores. I didn’t like the fact that I got a 31 in math and a 32 in reading, so I retook the test. I was completely fine with my composite; I wanted a higher reading / math score because I thought those two subscores are the MOST ESSENTIAL. I was fine with my 33.

Again. my 2180 SAT. I was completely satisfied with that, because i got a 710 CR / 800 M. The only problem was my writing section, which I got a 670 on. It was a fluke because CollegeBoard takes off an entire 40 points for getting one problem on the MC section wrong. Some schools consider your writing section, so I retook it and got a 720 on the writing section. I have a 2230 superscore. There is LITERALLY NO DIFFERENCE between my 2180 and my 2230, other than the fact that the way YOU look at it, it looks more aesthetically pleasing. There’s a difference between me and you, and it’s the fact that I don’t care about a higher SAT / ACT score, and neither do the admissions officers who get 40,000 applications with numbers ranging from 2100~2400 and 30~36. They check the box that says “has SAT/ACT within our range” and MOVE ON. They spend TWO SECONDS looking at the score you earned in 4 hours of your life, and move on to look at the 40,000 hours that you spent in your high school career.

I’m quoting this to prove that you care more about your objective stats than you as a person.

No. No. No. Like I said above, AOs spend two seconds looking at that score. They then use the ESSAYS, LETTERS, and the TRANSCRIPT to differentiate applicants. They don’t use a 2 point difference in your ACT score to determine who gets in and who doesn’t. Have you heard of affirmative action?

To prove this statement, here is Yale’s dean of admissions:

@DryMango No, I spent my Saturdays playing tennis and going out to eat with friends while you studied 7 hours a day all summer just to get a 34. I took the ACT having taken ONE practice test, and then I retook it after having studied some math concepts and revamping my reading strategy, which couldn’t have taken more than 2 hours.

What “extraordinary ability” is this kid talking about, and why are you citing someone in the college admissions industry, who probably doesn’t know what he’s doing? He went to the UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON. Yeah, 36 scorers have an extraordinary ability, alright. It’s the ability to get one more question right than others, and there are plenty of factors that go along with that: luck, conditions at the time of testing, time inconsistencies, if any, by the proctor, and even what one ate for breakfast. Literally, ANYTHING could make or break a 36. On my second sitting of the ACT, my proctor started the timer before anybody had time to break the seal that opens the test. I lost 15 seconds that could have been used to answer another question. Maybe I could have gone from a 33 E to a 35 E, simply because the curve was like that. The SAT / ACT are not perfect indicators of success / aptitude / or whatever else CollegeBoard / ACT claim they do.

Here is a CREDIBLE person on Quora saying something COMPLETELY different:

https://www.quora.com/For-the-purpose-of-college-admissions-what-is-the-difference-between-a-34-a-35-and-a-36-on-the-ACT

He went to Dartmouth undergrad, and is currently at Yale Law. He graduated summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa at Dartmouth.

@Multiverse7

I’m going to have to disagree with that. Say you’re a doctor, and you’ve been working in surgery for the past 5~10 years. In medical school, you’re throwing up and getting disgusted, because naturally, you’ve never seen the insides of a human body, or a large amount of blood. Now, you can look past that and focus on performing the surgery (trying to make a good analogy). In the same way, an AO has been working that long, and has a different perspective on admissions. While the general populus has its mind set on getting the highest SAT/ACT score possible (and that AO was part of that bias until the AO learned the admissions process and how it works), the AO knows that the SAT/ACT score is minuscule compared to the TYPE OF PERSON he/she wants to admit.

Watch this video for reference: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2AB-5dCFQrs&t=1s

NEVER ONCE does ANYONE on that committee vote to admit PRIMARILY based on “he has a 35.” In fact, they NEVER mention what scores they have. They look to the essays and their extracurriculars. Let me also mention how they consider a 750 on the subject test to be very good, though it’s the 82nd percentile. Does the committee once mention that they want to admit because he has a high test score? I feel like the argument that AOs are looking for objectively perfect students is insulting because AOs are human too. They’re not robots. College isn’t for robots. AOs want students who can handle the workload, but will also contribute to the community and those who have key character traits.


@DryMango

A final thought, attacking someone because they gave an opposing viewpoint is not part of the college experience today. I hope you do make friends wherever you end up because in today’s world, people are sensitive about every little thing you say. Look up the Yale halloween email scandal if you don’t know about it.

Lmao chill y’all
What’s done is done

@hhboyji Again, over 56,000 kids have a score of 33 or higher. Only 2200 achieved a 36! If you don’t think there is any value attributed to that accomplishment then you are certainly welcome to your opinion. It’s funny, but you get nominated to be a national Presidential Scholar for a perfect score. Being invited to Washington DC if you are named a Presidential scholar to receive an award for something that is equivalent in your eyes to a 33 or what 56,000 kids can achieve seems incongruous.

I guess you don’t think higher AMC scores are better than lower ones because anyone can get lucky, or worse yet, actually prepare for the exam AND be intelligent.

The AO who admitted me to Harvard had just graduated earlier that year in May. I guess he wasn’t used to the sight of blood yet and was still under the false impression that higher scores are better than lower ones lucky for me.

I will repeat that from the data I have seen, the Ivies and Stanford admit perfect ACT scores at around 25%. There is no possible way that 33 ACT scorers are admitted at anywhere near that rate given the sheer number of them, it’s probably closer to mid- to upper-single digits . So, you claim there is no difference between them in the eyes of AOs because of the rhetoric you quoted but I would still much rather have a 36 than a 33 just based on the actual numbers vs. what is said (or unsaid).

Anyway, I find this back and forth to be silly. Let’s just agree to disagree and move on. Shall we? Best of luck to you!

@hhjjlala I’m sorry if I hurt your feelings. I actually didn’t even know you got a 33, I commented that as a joke because you were so livid about how a 33 is equivalent to a 35. It sounds like my assumption was correct.

It’s funny that you think I studied so much. I did not study at all and got a 33. Then, 3 weeks before the December ACT, my counselor told me that I should take it again. I had no intent of taking it again. I, like you, was content with a 33, but I also did some research and decided it couldn’t hurt to take it again. With all of Pre-Calc under my belt, I got a 34. No “studying all summer” required :slight_smile:

@DryMango Congrats on your “belt” of Pre-Calc. There is no debate that high scores/ GPA/ Course rigor are most critical. But, the admit rate of a 36 is not a 25% chance. It’s a 6% chance (which means a 94% of rejection). Stanford is also virtually impossible for Asian males with 34/35s with no hooks at all.
Honestly, no with an overall rejection rate of 96%, no one has really a good chance in getting into Stanford unless they are Intel winners/ Katie Ledecky/ Olympic-D1 athlete/ a URM genius/ Malala. Don’t believe me? (Maybe you will March 31.)
To end this ridiculous argument once and for all on this thread, here are some actual statistics: http://admission.stanford.edu/basics/selection/profile.html

^^ Where did you come up with the 6% chance for an ACT score of 36?

@bubblepop12444

I think this discussion was started by someone speaking of an accepted Asian male with a 33. So, not impossible.

@bubblepop12444

I think you are looking at the data from your link for the incoming freshman classes of the fall of 2014 and 2015 where the acceptance rate is 6% for ACT scores of (30-36) NOT 36.

Yes, the statistics clearly show that for each section of the SAT, an 800 score applicant is accepted at much higher rate than a lower score. If you were to have an 800 score on EACH of the section, it’s not a stretch to assume the acceptance rate for this 2400 score would be at least 25%. I have seen data for Stanford and Princeton that is several years old in which the acceptance rate was about 30% for perfect scorers

Here is the most current data from Brown which shows that an ACT score of 36 had a 28% acceptance rate versus only 11% for (33-35) and 7% for (29-32%). The SAT score data shows a similar pattern.

I think this should end the discussion about whether higher scores are more preferred or not.

MODERATOR’S NOTE:

Whether is should or not, the discussion is indeed over. The point is unanswerable and debating the issue goes against ToS. Move on please.

I applied to Stanford RD and I REALLY regret not applying REA. I guess I figured out too late that it really is my dream school…hopefully this doesn’t hurt my chances.

@astrophysicistx Theoretically, applying RD shouldn’t hurt your chances. Stanford claims that if you are the caliber of student that will be accepted, you will be accepted in either round. This is why they defer so few students.

I just got accepted REA this year and I had like 3 or 4 errors. Don’t sweat it. I remember I did and it all worked out fine.

That was directed to fedfan1998

All y’all worrying about the ACT or whatever that was can chill - none of us are getting in anyways, Jesus Christ.

@hhjjlala No use explaining. That is why I said this is the number 1 misconception/mistake applicants and their parents make when applying to high-ranked colleges, especially HYPSM. I as a parent intentionally steered my kid away from precisely this kind of narrow thinking.

Once my kid got 33 in ACT, I persuaded him not to take another ACT. Told him that was good enough to get into Stanford because they will see you have other qualities besides your ACT score. I even persuaded him not to apply to Harvard or Yale after he got into Stanford because why apply to more schools when you already got into your number 1 choice? I told him to instead do something fun during his high school. My kid thought about applying to Harvard and Yale Regular Decision but he just couldn’t get himself UP to write more essays. I even told him to just make sure to get Bs during his Senior year but he still seems to be putting in school work.

I also told him not to be in hurry to go to college and apply for a Study Abroad Program. My kid probably will take a gap year and defer enrollment to Stanford for one year. If he takes 2 years gap, I was afraid, he would forget everything he learned in HS.

^^ We were told to drop the discussion about ACT scores.

@TikopiaRock28

Realist or pessimist? :slight_smile:

@websensation

And I’m glad there is someone who understands the college admissions process isn’t just about one number after taking a four hour test.

Haha I think we all understand that “the college admissions process isn’t just about one number after taking a four-hour test.” We understand, further, that no one truly understands the entire process. How ironic! @hhjjlala