i really need to know. i am a chinese who moved to japan at age 6 and then lived in japan for 7 and half years. at age 13 i came to US without any knowledge of English (that was the beginning of 8th grade). now i am 17 and incoming senior, so i have been in this country for about 4 years. is 4 years considered long or short? my new SAT compasite of math (710) and verbal (630) was 1340 (total of 1990). i am retaking this test on october and is shooting for 1400. though i don’t know how much i can improve since i really don’t know what to do about it anymore. what do you think? will colleges excuse my low SAT score little based on my background?
<p>they won’t excuse your “low” score (a 630 on verbal is considerably higher than the nation’s average, and a solid score to many colleges, unless you’re talking top-caliber).</p>
<p>However, colleges, even though they won’t excuse it, will still give consideration to the fact that you moved here when you were 13. Quite honestly, getting a verbal score of over 600 is very impressive when you’ve only known English for 4 years.</p>
<p>That’s not a low SAT. A low SAT is below about 500 on each part since 500 is about average. Considering that you’ve learned English so recently, your scores are very impressive. Many if not most US colleges would gladly take you.</p>
<p>If you’re trying to get into a college like Harvard, however, you’ll need a higher SAT, particularly verbal one, because there are plenty of students who are nonnative English speakers who score very high on the SAT. </p>
<p>In addition, scoring high on the verbal part of the SAT especially is important because the top colleges want to make sure that students can understand lectures and write at as high a level as can the other students. The colleges also want the students to speak English well enough to be able to contribute to campus life.</p>
<p>the schools i am going to apply is mostly going to be Johns Hopkins (which i will probably do ED), U of chicago (thinking about EA), Rice, tufts, notre dame, and UMCP/UMBC, GW for my safties. i just don’t know if my SAT score will be too low for JHU ED or any other schools. Because other than my SAT score, i have very high SAT II scores and GPA. i’m just hoping colleges will be more lenient of my SAT score.</p>
<p>I think that right now your verbal score would greatly reduce your chances of admission to the places that you listed with the exception of probably UMCP, UMBC and perhaps GW.</p>
<p>The problem is that there are plenty of Asians applying to such colleges, including recent Asian immigrants with much higher scores than you have. This particularly is true in regard to your verbal score.</p>
<p>You do seem to have a facility with languages since you’ve learned English very well for such a short time in this country. You might do better by continuing to study for the SAT, and then taking the Nov. as well as Jan. SAT administration, and consequently applying regular decision instead of EA or ED.</p>
<p>do you mean that i will have better chance at RD than ED?</p>
<p>I’m saying that unless you raise your SAT verbal significantly, I don’t think that you’d have good chances of getting into those colleges whether or not you apply RD or ED. Giving yourself until Jan. to significantly raise your SAT scores would increase your chances of getting into those colleges.</p>
<p>With your relatively low SAT verbal score (in comparison with the applicant pool at the top colleges that you plan to apply to), I don’t think that you’d be able to benefit from any advantage that EA or ED confers at such colleges.</p>
<p>Is seira your real name? I think it’s really pretty.</p>
<p>i understand what you are saying. i am studying for the october SAT and like i said is shooting for 1400. i am studying for verbal part harder than i am studying for the math, but how much do you think is a practical number that i can increase verbal wise? also will november SAT be in time for ED deadlines?</p>
<p>Ask the colleges about the latest date that you can take the SAT.</p>
<p>Can you afford to apply ED? If costs are a consideration, I don’t suggest ED because you won’t get to compare options. While one theoretically can back out of ED because of financial need, it’s still difficult, and if your guidance counselor worked hard to get you an ED admission, the GC may not be willing to work as hard to help you if you back out of ED.</p>
<p>yeah finantial aspect is little concern, but my parents are pushing me that if i can get into hopkins, they are fully willing to pay for me with whatever they can. plus i have good feeling that i can get at least some finantial aid. initially i wasn’t even thinking about ED and was planning to do Chicago and rice EA, but then i realized that doing EA to those two school doesn’t really improve my chance from RD (i.e Chicago EA 46% and RD 40%) wheres JHU ED is 57-60% and RD 33%, so i feel like if i don’t try ED, i might never have a shot at JHU. i’m 90 % sure i will be going to med-school, and plus JHU is close to my house. that’s why i am seriously thinking about doing ED.</p>