1600 and Rejected?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I heard recently that Cornell rejected ~88% of applicants with a 1600. Other ivies are probably similar.

That would be one way to get around the problem of Asians and whites needing hundreds of points higher than blacks to be accepted.

Have a finding that you don't think high scorers are good for the school.

Cornell FA is poor. They probably reject 1600s needing FA. They will go elsewhere.

No. Cornell is need blind for admissions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid is Asian American male from MCPS magnet school. He was rejected from many top universities with 1600, 4.8, NMS scholarship, national level EC, loads of volunteer work, published work, internships etc - for CS. We were told to apply to MIT for CS adjacent courses like Applied Math. My kid was not interested.

There were three main reasons -
- a lot of people apply for CS in top schools like MIT that are Asian- American males like my kid with perfect everything.
MIT cannot take majority of super qualified candidates because it does not have the seats and they want diversity of race and experience. And secondly, from his magnet school, every single person in STEM applied to MIT. Last - a large number of kids in the magnet program have similar profile. So the only differentiation is if they are URMs or women.

Do I mind? No.

Colleges should give the opportunities to the kids who will benefit the most. My kid is going to be ok at UMD. And in fact the 360K that he saves gives him the leg up that going to college does not give.

No university is going to accept 20 kids from the same high school graduating class even if they all score 1600 and are incredible in every way.

That is one of the big downsides to the really strong magnet programs. MIT gets dozens of applications every year from the same school and can pick any random one without having to look twice

Agreed. Happened to my DC this year, probably from same MCPS magnet. Makes me wonder if staying at local school might have produced better college results.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am curious if you personally know kids who scored perfect on SAT (or ACT) who received rejections and which schools.

(Please no "OMG don't you KNOW that 1600s get rejected ALL THE TIME?? It's not some automatic ticket!" Yes, clearly I do. Just interested in anecdotes about perfect scores.) Thank you.

I'll start. I know a kid with a 1600 who got rejected from Michigan and goes to Harvard now. Probably received other rejections, but I don't know about them.

Wait, 1600 gets admitted to Harvard??

URM??

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So what does it take to get into the top schools then? Perfect scores and GPA with good APs, well rounded... what else could they possibly be looking for?

Something interesting...a patent, a national lever award, owning a business

That’s just not true. My kid got into top ten schools. Had very high stats and very strong ECs but no national awards or nonprofit startups. Think he did have really good and unusual essays. Think it’s a package that looks strong + a lot of luck. Depends who else at your school is applying.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid is Asian American male from MCPS magnet school. He was rejected from many top universities with 1600, 4.8, NMS scholarship, national level EC, loads of volunteer work, published work, internships etc - for CS. We were told to apply to MIT for CS adjacent courses like Applied Math. My kid was not interested.

There were three main reasons -
- a lot of people apply for CS in top schools like MIT that are Asian- American males like my kid with perfect everything.
MIT cannot take majority of super qualified candidates because it does not have the seats and they want diversity of race and experience. And secondly, from his magnet school, every single person in STEM applied to MIT. Last - a large number of kids in the magnet program have similar profile. So the only differentiation is if they are URMs or women.

Do I mind? No.

Colleges should give the opportunities to the kids who will benefit the most. My kid is going to be ok at UMD. And in fact the 360K that he saves gives him the leg up that going to college does not give.

.
“Only” 35 ACT here on single attempt but otherwise similar profile. White CS boy from magnet. Will also be at Maryland on a scholarship. Glad to see that there will be lots of kids like him.

[Anonymous]

If you look up various colleges' Common Data Set, you'll see that most of them now put standardized test scores in the third-most-important category: "Considered." As opposed to factors like grades, essays, and recommendations, which are usually placed in the most importand category: "Very Important."

(For example, here is Carelton's CDS from 2022-23: https://carleton-wp-production.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/sites/292/2023/03/CDS-2022-23.pdf )

So top colleges will definitely take note of kids with 1600s, but a score like that might not compensate for lower GPAs or just-okay essays and LORs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am curious if you personally know kids who scored perfect on SAT (or ACT) who received rejections and which schools.

(Please no "OMG don't you KNOW that 1600s get rejected ALL THE TIME?? It's not some automatic ticket!" Yes, clearly I do. Just interested in anecdotes about perfect scores.) Thank you.

I'll start. I know a kid with a 1600 who got rejected from Michigan and goes to Harvard now. Probably received other rejections, but I don't know about them.

My 1600 kid was rejected from Stanford but accepted to MIT, Harvard, U-M, etc… waitlisted at a couple of Ivies. We joke that Stanford and Yale yield-protected my kid…just kidding of course but with no expectations of getting into Harvard, my kid fell in love with Yale!