Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
It's not a top 20, by my child got into Georgia Tech with a 1490 and top grades. He is a legacy, though, and not a ton of kids from his high school applied.


50% SAT for Georgia Tech is 1460. A 1490 is an above average score for Georgia Tech.

Absolutely not for a student coming from outside the state of GA. The standards are very different. 1490 is below average for a non-GA student.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I mean, that test score isn't really materially different than a kid with, say, a 1560. It's basically a lottery at those schools.

Would you rather have a 1 in 12 shot at the lottery or a 1 in 5? That is the difference in the Ivies between a 1490 and a 1560.

You're just making shit up now

Anonymous wrote:
It's not a top 20, by my child got into Georgia Tech with a 1490 and top grades. He is a legacy, though, and not a ton of kids from his high school applied.


50% SAT for Georgia Tech is 1460. A 1490 is an above average score for Georgia Tech.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I mean, that test score isn't really materially different than a kid with, say, a 1560. It's basically a lottery at those schools.

The problem is these schools are full of applicants with amazing ECs and over the top GPAs. A test score of 1560 certainly has an advantage over a test score of 1490. It's not like the one having 1560 has worse ECs or grades, they all have them.

The 1490 with solid rigor and great ECs is going to have a better time in admissions over the 1560 without the compelling ECs. That's college admissions in America today. To its benefit.

That's a weird comparison. Why are you comparing this pair?
Almost all 1560 kids i know all have extraordinary ECs, great leaders at school and in community, national awards, full of emphathy. In reality, I seldomly see 1490 kids get to the level of ECs comparable to 1580. One or two exceptions maybe.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The majority of NESCAC schools may be realistic for this student, particularly with the use of ED.

As examples, Wesleyan reported a median SAT score of 1430 on its most recent CDS and Hamilton reported a median of 1500. For this student, either of these colleges may be accessible.

Wes parent here. I won’t repeat my whole spiel again but if you are interested in the school I would encourage you to look at the admitted students profile range on the website as opposed to the CDS data to inform a decision on whether or not to apply TO. This issue as it applies to Wes has come up a few times on the board so you can search for the background if interested. Accept the analysis or not but I wouldn’t be feeling bullet proof applying to Wes RD with a 1490. At least, not without other charms. Institutional priorities become much more important in RD (kids from low yield states, etc.)

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Top 5 percent of class and willing to go TO? Yes it is possible. Go ED. Not top 5 percent of class? Unlikely but take your shot.

TO would be a massive mistake with a 1490.

Not at Vanderbilt where they don’t want to see that.

Vandy and WashU are close to being embarrassed at this point, with only half of their enrolled classes submitting.

Everywhere else in the T20 either requires scores or has a very high % submitting, such that one would only apply TO if hooked, and would certainly submit 1490. Not submitting 1490 would be a mistake, in my opinion.

Anonymous wrote:It's not a top 20, by my child got into Georgia Tech with a 1490 and top grades. He is a legacy, though, and not a ton of kids from his high school applied.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I mean, that test score isn't really materially different than a kid with, say, a 1560. It's basically a lottery at those schools.

The problem is these schools are full of applicants with amazing ECs and over the top GPAs. A test score of 1560 certainly has an advantage over a test score of 1490. It's not like the one having 1560 has worse ECs or grades, they all have them.

The 1490 with solid rigor and great ECs is going to have a better time in admissions over the 1560 without the compelling ECs. That's college admissions in America today. To its benefit.

That's a weird comparison. Why are you comparing this pair?
Almost all 1560 kids i know all have extraordinary ECs, great leaders at school and in community, national awards, full of emphathy. In reality, I seldomly see 1490 kids get to the level of ECs comparable to 1580. One or two exceptions maybe.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I mean, that test score isn't really materially different than a kid with, say, a 1560. It's basically a lottery at those schools.

Would you rather have a 1 in 12 shot at the lottery or a 1 in 5? That is the difference in the Ivies between a 1490 and a 1560.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I mean, that test score isn't really materially different than a kid with, say, a 1560. It's basically a lottery at those schools.

The problem is these schools are full of applicants with amazing ECs and over the top GPAs. A test score of 1560 certainly has an advantage over a test score of 1490. It's not like the one having 1560 has worse ECs or grades, they all have them.

Every Top 25 college does holistic admissions. To their credit. 3 questions on the SAT does not equate being class president or editor of the student paper or the volunteer working at the senior center or the internship at NASA or being the captain of the soccer team and on and on.

Does not always equate. Most of the time, they come together. The 1580 kids often are the class president or editor of the student paper or the volunteer working at the senior center or the internship at NASA or being the captain of the soccer team and on and on.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I mean, that test score isn't really materially different than a kid with, say, a 1560. It's basically a lottery at those schools.

The problem is these schools are full of applicants with amazing ECs and over the top GPAs. A test score of 1560 certainly has an advantage over a test score of 1490. It's not like the one having 1560 has worse ECs or grades, they all have them.

Every Top 25 college does holistic admissions. To their credit. 3 questions on the SAT does not equate being class president or editor of the student paper or the volunteer working at the senior center or the internship at NASA or being the captain of the soccer team and on and on.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:CS is being discussed here as if all colleges admit by major. Many colleges, particularly private ones, make all majors available to all students.

And it's smart to apply to several of those. In fact my kids applied to mostly those, because if engineering doesn't work out (it did for both) where do engineers go, business or something else stem..and you need to know you can change if you want, which doesn't Happen at a CV old that admit solely by major

Except if you have a résumé that screams computer science or engineering with all the attendant activities, including coding and competitions and robotics, and whatever else those kids have, a ln AO is going to take that into consideration because they cannot admit a whole class of those kids, regardless of how spectacular they are. They reach a quota. And sometimes that quota is reached pretty early on.

Ask any former admissions officer and they will tell you How this really works in action. Of course no one is admitting by major. But they absolutely do take your major into consideration. The Harvard litigation showed that precisely. They spelled it out. Read through that discussion.

You are naïve if you think your major designation is not taken into account by the university. It absolutely is. And it absolutely is with respect to your demographic information.

Being different is always a good thing. Standing out is always a good thing. That’s just common sense 101 when it comes to college admissions.

Not really, it's still a lottery whatever major.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I mean, that test score isn't really materially different than a kid with, say, a 1560. It's basically a lottery at those schools.

The problem is these schools are full of applicants with amazing ECs and over the top GPAs. A test score of 1560 certainly has an advantage over a test score of 1490. It's not like the one having 1560 has worse ECs or grades, they all have them.

The 1490 with solid rigor and great ECs is going to have a better time in admissions over the 1560 without the compelling ECs. That's college admissions in America today. To its benefit.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I mean, that test score isn't really materially different than a kid with, say, a 1560. It's basically a lottery at those schools.

Would you rather have a 1 in 12 shot at the lottery or a 1 in 5? That is the difference in the Ivies between a 1490 and a 1560.

Not really, it's still a lottery either way.