SAT - Should she take it again?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So your DC had every measure, CR, M, and W, all over 700, and they were W/L at Vandy? What does a child need to get in?

Luck.

SAT scores are not a definitive indicator of admissions at any school with holistic admissions - and most privates and a fair amount of publics use holistic admissions. You could get rejected from Harvard with a 2400. Vandy might not be Harvard, but the same thing applies. SAT scores are used to see if the applicant can handle the work and not much besides that. They use it to decide between "No" and "Maybe". To get a "Yes" you need to be lucky and hope the admissions officer decides s/he likes what s/he sees on your application.

The only real way to get into the top schools is to make it so if you are rejected, they will not find someone to replace you. They try to build a diverse class out of the many different types of people who apply. If you have similar interests and accomplishments as thousands of other qualified applicants, they basically just flip a coin to see which who gets in. It might be you, it might not be you. The less people there are who occupy the same interest niche as you, the better chance of getting in you have.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So your DC had every measure, CR, M, and W, all over 700, and they were W/L at Vandy? What does a child need to get in?

Luck.

SAT scores are not a definitive indicator of admissions at any school with holistic admissions - and most privates and a fair amount of publics use holistic admissions. You could get rejected from Harvard with a 2400. Vandy might not be Harvard, but the same thing applies. SAT scores are used to see if the applicant can handle the work and not much besides that. They use it to decide between "No" and "Maybe". To get a "Yes" you need to be lucky and hope the admissions officer decides s/he likes what s/he sees on your application.

The only real way to get into the top schools is to make it so if you are rejected, they will not find someone to replace you. They try to build a diverse class out of the many different types of people who apply. If you have similar interests and accomplishments as thousands of other qualified applicants, they basically just flip a coin to see which who gets in. It might be you, it might not be you. The less people there are who occupy the same interest niche as you, the better chance of getting in you have.

+1. Luck plays a bigger role than the colleges will acknowledge. Most of the top schools are getting 10s of thousands of apps with SATs over 2100. There is no way to sort throughout that many qualified applicants with tiny admissions staffs.

There is even a fair amount of luck on the SAT itself. Few questions separate a 730 and a 780. Those scores are usually both 99%tile.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For MIT, she is in the middle 50 for math, but below the middle 50 for reading. That is probably going to be well under the realistic range for MIT.

DD had a similar SAT composite and did not get in to any top 25 schools.

http://mitadmissions.org/apply/process/stats

Same here. My DC was in the same range but everything over 700. W/L at Vandy. Not in range for Duke or MIT. Definitely need to bring the CR up to be in range for those schools unless she's got something spectacular going for her. Suburban kids need to be at 2250 for those schools.

So your DC had every measure, CR, M, and W, all over 700, and they were W/L at Vandy? What does a child need to get in?

PP here with the kid W/L at Vandy. Here's the stats for this years RD admissions from Vandy's website. My DC's scores topped out at 750 so at/below the bottom quartile. Maybe the OPs DDs 800 will stand out more, but I'm afraid the 670 will be an application killer in this pool. It's important to note that this is RD - I think the stats are broader for ED.

Admitted Class of 2018 Profile – Regular Decision only
•Regular Decision applications: 26,293
•Admitted: 2,892
•Admit Rate: 11%
•% of students in the top ten percent of their graduating class*: 93.8%
•Middle 50% CR SAT: 740-800
•Middle 50% M SAT: 750-800
•Middle 50% ACT: 33-35

And 100% of students admitted Regular Decision held major leadership positions or earned significant honors in high school

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For MIT, she is in the middle 50 for math, but below the middle 50 for reading. That is probably going to be well under the realistic range for MIT.

DD had a similar SAT composite and did not get in to any top 25 schools.

http://mitadmissions.org/apply/process/stats

Same here. My DC was in the same range but everything over 700. W/L at Vandy. Not in range for Duke or MIT. Definitely need to bring the CR up to be in range for those schools unless she's got something spectacular going for her. Suburban kids need to be at 2250 for those schools.

So your DC had every measure, CR, M, and W, all over 700, and they were W/L at Vandy? What does a child need to get in?

PP here with the kid W/L at Vandy. Here's the stats for this years RD admissions from Vandy's website. My DC's scores topped out at 750 so at/below the bottom quartile. Maybe the OPs DDs 800 will stand out more, but I'm afraid the 670 will be an application killer in this pool. It's important to note that this is RD - I think the stats are broader for ED.

Admitted Class of 2018 Profile – Regular Decision only
•Regular Decision applications: 26,293
•Admitted: 2,892
•Admit Rate: 11%
•% of students in the top ten percent of their graduating class*: 93.8%
•Middle 50% CR SAT: 740-800
•Middle 50% M SAT: 750-800
•Middle 50% ACT: 33-35

And 100% of students admitted Regular Decision held major leadership positions or earned significant honors in high school

Of course "significant honors" can mean averaging 11.4 ppg on the varsity basketball team.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For MIT, she is in the middle 50 for math, but below the middle 50 for reading. That is probably going to be well under the realistic range for MIT.

DD had a similar SAT composite and did not get in to any top 25 schools.

http://mitadmissions.org/apply/process/stats

Same here. My DC was in the same range but everything over 700. W/L at Vandy. Not in range for Duke or MIT. Definitely need to bring the CR up to be in range for those schools unless she's got something spectacular going for her. Suburban kids need to be at 2250 for those schools.

So your DC had every measure, CR, M, and W, all over 700, and they were W/L at Vandy? What does a child need to get in?

PP here with the kid W/L at Vandy. Here's the stats for this years RD admissions from Vandy's website. My DC's scores topped out at 750 so at/below the bottom quartile. Maybe the OPs DDs 800 will stand out more, but I'm afraid the 670 will be an application killer in this pool. It's important to note that this is RD - I think the stats are broader for ED.

Admitted Class of 2018 Profile – Regular Decision only
•Regular Decision applications: 26,293
•Admitted: 2,892
•Admit Rate: 11%
•% of students in the top ten percent of their graduating class*: 93.8%
•Middle 50% CR SAT: 740-800
•Middle 50% M SAT: 750-800
•Middle 50% ACT: 33-35

And 100% of students admitted Regular Decision held major leadership positions or earned significant honors in high school

Of course "significant honors" can mean averaging 11.4 ppg on the varsity basketball team.

That wouldn't be relevant for regular decision as the recruited athletes would all be in the ED round. A basketball player applying in the RD round with no recruiting will not get any boost.