<p>I'm sure that there have been posts about this before but it's quite hard to search for them.</p>
<p>What scores would you consider to be good enough to apply at schools and not have the scores hurt you?</p>
<p>Top tier/ivy league:
Top 50:
Top 100:
State Schools:
College period:</p>
<p>I realize that some of those overlap.</p>
<p>There's no magic formula because it depends what the rest of your resume looks like. If your GPA and extracurriculars and really strong, you don't need as high of SAT scores. On the flip side, aim to get really high ones if the rest of your application is lacking. So, really, there is no "magic threshold." People with 2400's get admitted to all of the categories on your list, and people with as low as 1800 or 1900 get into top tier/Ivy Leagues. </p>
<p>However, if you want to apply to really competitive schools, you really need to be past 2000 unless you have some other nice hook.</p>
<p>the magical score for me is a 2240. if i get that, or anything higher than a 2200, then i will be satisfied.</p>
<p>There's no such thing.</p>
<p>Yes I realize that there are many more factors, but there is a point where it will be really hard for someone to get into a certain school no matter how great the rest of their stats are. I'm asking what the average applicant should score in order to have a chance at a school.</p>
<p>Ivy: Depends on the Ivy. HYP: 2250 Others: 2150
Top 50: 2100
Top 100: 2000
State Schools: Depends, but probably around 1800 in most cases.</p>
<p>It is an enduring myth among students that what matters is the aggregate SAT score. Colleges don't really look at aggregate scores. They look at each of the individual scores. In other words, a 800R+800W+600M=2200 is not the same (and not as good) as 750R+720W+730M=2200. </p>
<p>With all other aspects of the application being competitive, scores in the 740+ range are great for the top 10, 700+ for the top 20, and 650+ for the top 50. </p>
<p>The best place to look at all the data is of course the Collegeboard's own website where it gives the distributions of SAT scores.</p>