High test score kids who didn't get in where they thought they would

[Anonymous]

Dartmouth released a study on SAT scores and admissions. For non-poor students, about 9% with 1500 SATs were admitted; go to a 1550 SAT score and about 18% were admitted. (The trend for lower-income students was similar, just with somewhat higher admoissions rates.) When you get up to around a 1580 SAT, then around 22% of applicants were admitted.

So yes, in Dartmouth's case it seems that SAT scores matter, even if the baseline is already a very high level.

Is it similar at other colleges? Who can say? (But if I had to bet: Yes.)

See p 13 of https://home.dartmouth.edu/sites/home/files/2024-02/sat-undergrad-admissions.pdf

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are ppl willing to share generic profiles over last 2 years for high test score kids results (year, stats, major, public/private HS, general ECs, spike/hook)?

Curious where the high-test-score kids end up, and for which major.

What do you consider high?

35/1550

lol you're an idiot.

I think that is generally what is considered “high” test scores by most top 20s, college counselors, reddit forums, etc.

Chances 1550+ not getting into T20 much lower than 1500. Simple math.

As much as you’d like to believe this, it’s simply not the way that it works.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Most high-scoring kids wind up at the major flagships (Michigan, Georgia, Purdue, Rutgers, etc.). There just aren’t that many seats at the elite privates, and many of them are reserved for wealthy/connected/athletic students.

There are only ~17,000 1570+ students per year.

T20 75 percentile cutoff line typically at 1570. 25% of T20 admits have 1570+.

~7000 1570+ go to T20.
~4000 1570+ other top private, SLACs, Stern, Ross, Georgetown, USC, etc.
~3000 1570+ to flagships, Berkeley, UCLA, Michigan, Georgia Tech, UNC, etc.
~3000 1570+ to merit (full or half tuition), Case Western, Grinell, Rochester, etc.

[Anonymous]

Once you get down to 1500 level, the base number is huge. It becomes difficult to predict where they may end up.

[Anonymous]

It’s the high school.
Private HS kids have an advantage here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It’s the high school.
Private HS kids have an advantage here.

And the major. Humanities kids can get away with lower scores.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are ppl willing to share generic profiles over last 2 years for high test score kids results (year, stats, major, public/private HS, general ECs, spike/hook)?

Curious where the high-test-score kids end up, and for which major.

What do you consider high?

35/1550

lol you're an idiot.

I think that is generally what is considered “high” test scores by most top 20s, college counselors, reddit forums, etc.

Oh you polled them all?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Once you get down to 1500 level, the base number is huge. It becomes difficult to predict where they may end up.

1440 plus it becomes unpredictable. Depends on the rest of the app

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most high-scoring kids wind up at the major flagships (Michigan, Georgia, Purdue, Rutgers, etc.). There just aren’t that many seats at the elite privates, and many of them are reserved for wealthy/connected/athletic students.

There are only ~17,000 1570+ students per year.

T20 75 percentile cutoff line typically at 1570. 25% of T20 admits have 1570+.

~7000 1570+ go to T20.
~4000 1570+ other top private, SLACs, Stern, Ross, Georgetown, USC, etc.
~3000 1570+ to flagships, Berkeley, UCLA, Michigan, Georgia Tech, UNC, etc.
~3000 1570+ to merit (full or half tuition), Case Western, Grinell, Rochester, etc.

You know that UCLA and Berkeley are actually top 20s, right?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Most high-scoring kids wind up at the major flagships (Michigan, Georgia, Purdue, Rutgers, etc.). There just aren’t that many seats at the elite privates, and many of them are reserved for wealthy/connected/athletic students.

Agree. If they don't have a hook of any kind or, as a PP stated, "cancer curing level ECs", they end up at the state flagship with merit, especially if they don't have a lot of money.

That was my kid.

1580 SAT (800 math) (all 5s on APs).

Ended up at state flagship as a CS/math major with merit. At least they took all the credits, so DC will graduate in 3 years with two degrees.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most high-scoring kids wind up at the major flagships (Michigan, Georgia, Purdue, Rutgers, etc.). There just aren’t that many seats at the elite privates, and many of them are reserved for wealthy/connected/athletic students.

There are only ~17,000 1570+ students per year.

T20 75 percentile cutoff line typically at 1570. 25% of T20 admits have 1570+.

~7000 1570+ go to T20.
~4000 1570+ other top private, SLACs, Stern, Ross, Georgetown, USC, etc.
~3000 1570+ to flagships, Berkeley, UCLA, Michigan, Georgia Tech, UNC, etc.
~3000 1570+ to merit (full or half tuition), Case Western, Grinell, Rochester, etc.

You know that UCLA and Berkeley are actually top 20s, right?

UCs don't even take SATs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most high-scoring kids wind up at the major flagships (Michigan, Georgia, Purdue, Rutgers, etc.). There just aren’t that many seats at the elite privates, and many of them are reserved for wealthy/connected/athletic students.

There are only ~17,000 1570+ students per year.

T20 75 percentile cutoff line typically at 1570. 25% of T20 admits have 1570+.

~7000 1570+ go to T20.
~4000 1570+ other top private, SLACs, Stern, Ross, Georgetown, USC, etc.
~3000 1570+ to flagships, Berkeley, UCLA, Michigan, Georgia Tech, UNC, etc.
~3000 1570+ to merit (full or half tuition), Case Western, Grinell, Rochester, etc.

Where do these numbers come from?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most high-scoring kids wind up at the major flagships (Michigan, Georgia, Purdue, Rutgers, etc.). There just aren’t that many seats at the elite privates, and many of them are reserved for wealthy/connected/athletic students.

There are only ~17,000 1570+ students per year.

T20 75 percentile cutoff line typically at 1570. 25% of T20 admits have 1570+.

~7000 1570+ go to T20.
~4000 1570+ other top private, SLACs, Stern, Ross, Georgetown, USC, etc.
~3000 1570+ to flagships, Berkeley, UCLA, Michigan, Georgia Tech, UNC, etc.
~3000 1570+ to merit (full or half tuition), Case Western, Grinell, Rochester, etc.

You know that UCLA and Berkeley are actually top 20s, right?

They are test blind. But many high scorers attend these schools happily.

The point is, the number of 1570+ at T20 (other than UCs) can be estimated because the 75 percentile line is typically 1570.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most high-scoring kids wind up at the major flagships (Michigan, Georgia, Purdue, Rutgers, etc.). There just aren’t that many seats at the elite privates, and many of them are reserved for wealthy/connected/athletic students.

There are only ~17,000 1570+ students per year.

T20 75 percentile cutoff line typically at 1570. 25% of T20 admits have 1570+.

~7000 1570+ go to T20.
~4000 1570+ other top private, SLACs, Stern, Ross, Georgetown, USC, etc.
~3000 1570+ to flagships, Berkeley, UCLA, Michigan, Georgia Tech, UNC, etc.
~3000 1570+ to merit (full or half tuition), Case Western, Grinell, Rochester, etc.

You know that UCLA and Berkeley are actually top 20s, right?

They are test blind. But many high scorers attend these schools happily.

The point is, the number of 1570+ at T20 (other than UCs) can be estimated because the 75 percentile line is typically 1570.

But (at least in recent years) they’re mostly test optional, so the number of kids scoring 1570+ is only 25% of kids submitting scores, or less than 25% of the student body. Eg at Vanderbilt (#18), half of all students were TO, so even though the 75th percentile score is 1560, that only represents 1/8th of the student body. The cutoff for the top 25% of the class would be the median reported score, which was 1540. If you assume that 25% of students at Vandy scored 1570+, you’d be dramatically overstating the number of seats at Vandy available for high-scoring students.

[Anonymous]

Right but they still need that 25 percent and there are fewer apps in that group so their rate of admission must be a lot higher.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most high-scoring kids wind up at the major flagships (Michigan, Georgia, Purdue, Rutgers, etc.). There just aren’t that many seats at the elite privates, and many of them are reserved for wealthy/connected/athletic students.

There are only ~17,000 1570+ students per year.

T20 75 percentile cutoff line typically at 1570. 25% of T20 admits have 1570+.

~7000 1570+ go to T20.
~4000 1570+ other top private, SLACs, Stern, Ross, Georgetown, USC, etc.
~3000 1570+ to flagships, Berkeley, UCLA, Michigan, Georgia Tech, UNC, etc.
~3000 1570+ to merit (full or half tuition), Case Western, Grinell, Rochester, etc.

You know that UCLA and Berkeley are actually top 20s, right?

They are test blind. But many high scorers attend these schools happily.

The point is, the number of 1570+ at T20 (other than UCs) can be estimated because the 75 percentile line is typically 1570.

But (at least in recent years) they’re mostly test optional, so the number of kids scoring 1570+ is only 25% of kids submitting scores, or less than 25% of the student body. Eg at Vanderbilt (#18), half of all students were TO, so even though the 75th percentile score is 1560, that only represents 1/8th of the student body. The cutoff for the top 25% of the class would be the median reported score, which was 1540. If you assume that 25% of students at Vandy scored 1570+, you’d be dramatically overstating the number of seats at Vandy available for high-scoring students.

The number comes out correct, albeit it's just an estimate. Also, we are talking about this year, not in the past years.

6 ivies are test required. 25% of all admits: ~3500
12 other T20 are test optional, ~1/8 of all admits: ~3500

6000-8000 1570+ go to T20. It's an estimate, I can assure you the number would not be 700. It's in that range.