<p>My son is a junior in high school, he is crazy about physics. He got national prize of physics in China, and set his goal to be a physics professor. He is now in Cornell Summer College studying physics and math, it seem very easy for him to handle them. He got a very low SAT1 scores, but does not want to pay more time on it (he will use the time to prepare for another national contest in physics).</p>
<p>SAT1 math 800, CR 600, Wr 640
SAT2 math 800, physics 800, chem 800</p>
<p>AP CALCULUS BC, PHYSICS C waiting for scores.</p>
<p>EC: Founder of the first culture promotion team in the city.</p>
<p>Do you think the above 3 colleges are match for him? If yes, please compare them. Thanks!</p>
<p>Well, it’s very easy to tell that he’s extremely passionate about physics. </p>
<p>He could probably get into UCSB. If he’s in-state and an ELC, he’s in. Most likely anyway, I can’t claim that I’m 100% correct.</p>
<p>UMichigan, on the other hand, would probably be harder to get into because they place more weight on SATs than ECs. However, a great application essay and great recommendations may save him.</p>
<p>As for UIUC, he seems to be taking pretty advanced math/science courses. If he’s taking a lot of AP/honors classes and has a good GPA, he has a good chance of getting in.</p>
<p>Yes, each of those colleges is a match for your son. 600 is actually a solid CR score for a student from outside the U.S.</p>
<p>However… I would advise your son to indeed try to increase the CR portion of the SAT. He’s already proven that he is very strong in math and science. However, the US educational system has other class requirements in English, and a few other courses that require writing papers. He is obviously intelligent, so if he can apply perhaps just 20-30 hours taking practice SAT test in the CR portion, he might improve it substantially. This will be relevant if he decides over time to target even more selective schools like UC Berkeley, UC San Diego, USC, Carnegie Mellon, Cornell, Northwestern, etc.</p>
<p>agree with Dunnin. An increase of just 100 points in the SAT-CR puts all colleges into play including Cornell (where he is currently). I’d also consider ED at Cornell.</p>
<p>As a full pay international, he would also have a great shot at any UC.</p>
<p>The 600 CR may have an effect in admissions (but maybe not, considering English is probably not his first language and the math stats and physics quals are off the charts), but I doubt that someone with a 600 CR would have trouble handling the academic requirements anywhere - well, maybe in philosophy or literature at a rigorous school, but not in the run-of-the-mill GEs that a hard science major would have to take. A 600 CR is the 80th percentile.</p>
<p>^^That is not the point. The fact is that there are plenty of internationals who score a 700+ on all three portions of the SAT and they are the competition for admissions to highly selective colleges.</p>
<p>All replies are good suggestions, thank you so much.
I also suggested him to increase the score of CR, but he really hates this kind of test. He needs to prepare for a Chinese National Physics Contest in Setp. The admission rate of his high school is 1.5%, and the honor class is 5% in the grade, so the competition is very tough. I understand his pressure and won’t force him any more. I think all top 100 US universities are good enough for him, he can apply to a topper graduate school with his efforts in the future. So I just give him more information for a better choice reachable.
He got 104 for TOELE test, and has no problem in Cornell class now. I don’t know if he can handle liberal class, which is more difficult.
I would like to hear more advices, thanks.</p>