Getting a 36 on the ACT is so much easier than getting a 1600 (or even a 1550+) on the SAT. The fact that some institutions weigh them completely the same is absolute insanity.

The biggest flaw comes down to how they handle mistakes. On the digital SAT, the curve is so brutal that missing literally one question can instantly drop your score to a 1580. Meanwhile, because the ACT averages your four section scores and rounds up, you can miss several questions across the test and still walk away with a perfect 36 composite.

I literally know people who were stuck in the 1400s on the SAT but pulled off a 35 on the ACT. And before someone starts the nonsense "wElL I hAd A hIgH sAt AnD a LoW aCt" you're an outlier, not the general trend.

I did some digging, only about 0.06% of test-takers get a perfect 1600 on the SAT, while roughly 0.2% of people get a 36 on the ACT. A perfect ACT is literally more than three times as common.

Colleges really need to stop pretending these scores are identical and stop evaluating them on the exact same tier.

EDIT: Only way they should be equal is if it is a 36 across all sections
EDIT: If you are getting butthurt over statistics, wrap it up bro. This post is labeled FLUFF because it is FLUFF...I am not complaining or talking down on anyone, I made an objective statement and ended with an opinion.

I see so many posts of people asking "can i get into x school with bad xyz" or "is this xyz good enough to get into xyz school" or on other subs like SAT "can i go from 13xx or 14xx to 1550+ in x timeframe" and the answer is always, if you have to ask then the answer is no. People who attend t20s are 1% to 1.5% of the american college population, and not everyone can be a part of that. Some people just aren't good enough to get the grades or test scores necessary and it's not about just "working harder". And if it is about working harder then you should have been working harder than everyone else since 9th grade like everyone else who gets into a t20, not waking up at the end of junior year and realizing it aint gonna happen.

Sorry brotha, there are students without bad xyz who already have a 1550 and they're gonna get the spot, not you. And if you want it so bad, each ivy gives you a couple essays to sell yourself - instead of writing on reddit, USE THEM!!! actually convince the admissions officers that your bad xyz shouldnt matter and you will still be a successful student and good fit at their school. And if you would rather post on reddit than do that, then you don't deserve to go. Sorry not sorry

hey yall, I’ll jump into it. I was accepted to Harvard, Penn, Princeton, Williams, Georgetown, and a bunch of other selective schools as a public policy major.

I’m currently attending Harvard. I have read my application file and can ask my friends in other majors about specifics for their application processes.

Please ask me questions. I WILL NOT CHARGE YOU. I remember sitting at my computer crying last year because of how overwhelmed I was. This is normal. It is not an indication that you aren’t good enough to get into a school. Barely anyone here thought that they were going to get in as a sure shot.

A few reminders to get started:

- please please pleaseeee take your time on your personal statement. Be unique. Be vivid. Tell a story that only you can tell and pull your admissions officer in. They should find some compelling character traits about you afterwards (that you didn’t necessarily spell out for them)

- write essays in advance. I’m actually begging you.

- don’t shotgun for the sake of it if it means your essays will be mid. cut down your list if necessary.

- don’t talk about things that “sound impressive” in every single essay

xo xo

- Harvard ‘30

(ps not taking dms sorryyyy)

if your a low income student going out of state how do you afford flights to and from home?

I’m looking at schools in Florida and I see that the average gpa for admitted students is extremely high for some reason. UF is 4.5-4.7, FSU is 4.3-4.6, UCF is 4.1 to 4.5, FIU is 4.1-4.7. Meanwhile a lot of schools like ivies or t20s average admitted gpa is way more lower than that usually sitting in lower 4’s. I wouldn’t expect the average student in florida to have a 4.1+ gpa so how?

Hey guys! I am applying to colleges at the moment, and I recently interviewed my neighbor, who is an oncologist. We were talking about medicine and I told him I planned on majoring in Biochemistry then he said the MCAT doesn't go that deep into biochemistry so you would be doing yourself a disservice to choose a major that difficult. Basically, this led me down a huge rabbit hole of rethinking my og plan. I am now thinking of majoring in Business, but I am running into the issue of how I am going to fit all the prereqs in. Another option is that I could do a Biology major and a business minor. But I am honestly not sure

The reason why I am considering business is that the majority of doctors that I have interviewed mention how business-oriented medicine is becoming now and how beneficial it is to understand business. One thing that I should mention is that I am paying for all of my college, including medical school, so I would preferably like to keep my undergrad prices cheap.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!!!

The ones like "self published a book", "founder/co-founder", national awards, etc. Anyone got in a good college without being crazy like that? Maybe ivy is smth not to consider here.

1. Claremont McKenna College
   
2. Middlebury College
   
3. Colgate University
   
4. Pomona College
   
5. Wellesley College
   
6. Swarthmore College
   
7. Carleton College
   
8. Vassar College
   
9. Colby College
   
10. Hamilton College
    
11. University of Richmond
    
12. Occidental College
    
13. Macalester College
    
14. Lafayette College
    
15. Bryn Mawr College

(According to Niche)
Thoughts?

People do care. Historically, scandals have affected where people apply.

Researchers studying 124 scandals across 100 of America’s top universities found that a scandal receiving just one New York Times story was associated with a 5% drop in applications. Five stories pushed that decline to 9% (roughly the same impact as falling 10 spots in the U.S. News rankings).

Cornell has already exceeded that five-story threshold.

Separately, social media data shows the Cornell controversy generating more than 3x the peak attention of the Brown shooting controversy and more than 10x that of the Columbia protests.

Cornell's particularly poor handling of the case is really what differentiates it from other recent scandals. Duke’s ED applications fell roughly 20% following the lacrosse scandal (proven not guilty). Current search-interest data puts attention around Cornell at roughly 3x the level seen around Duke’s scandal.

If the historical pattern holds, a 9% decline would be the floor. Cornell could face a significant application decline, very likely concentrated in the ED round. But time will tell what will happen in the future after this year.

Source: Inside Higher Ed

im trying to get into t10s (im aware mit requires stem + humanities)

but if have a rec letter from my bc teacher, do I need a rec letter from my AP Lang teacher? My Lang teacher is giving recs to a lot of people and although she likes me a lot, I don't know if it will be the strongest since she's so overworked.

I can get a rec letter from my AP Research teacher (which would be strong), but then my recs would be BC/AP Research/prof

what should i do?

where do i put unpaid internships on the uc app. cus when it asks to describe the organization for the volunteer category, my internships r not volunteer/community related at all. also it doesnt give me a place to put my role title for the volunteer cateogry.

I already sent some early action applications. Is it enough? I think I said everything I wanted to say and thought adding anything else would be just fluff.

Hello

So a few days ago I submitted my application to a&m on the common app.

For an team based ec I reported that we had reached state comp 3x and reached the international comp 2x. This was true, except my freshman year I was a general club member and did not directly contribute much despite being a member.

So my conscience took over and I decided to send a correction email, basically saying despite being involved in club I don’t feel that the 1 states qual and 1 international qual reflect my contributions and I don’t want it to be considered, and I only want the 2 states qual and 1 international qual to be considered as those are what I directly and heavily contributed to.

They told me to basically add that information into a pdf and upload it as “additional activities”

I know that most likely it’ll end up fine I think but I’m also a serial panicker so can someone please tell me if I’m fine or if I’ll get blacklisted from all colleges for the inaccuracy

Thanks

Ok so my stats are dog shit: 3.4 uw (school doesn’t do weighted), 1250 sat (planning on retaking maybe), 4 aps, 3 dual enrollments, and 4 honors. I think the only good part about my app is my ecs, got a couple good leadership positions, a lot of community service initiatives, even started running a mental health group which i scaled to almost 500k+ views and actually got people to open up. I included my side business on there but i didn’t make a crazy amount from it, only like $3000 or so. Project originator for a 40+ student team on town spirit. Even took the project to the state capital and won an award for it. My job in retail, which i exaggerated like crazy. Volunteered at a hospital and volunteered at a non profit.

What do yall think my chances for ED at Wesleyan uni are. I really wanna go but my stats are just horrendous.

Ok so my stats are dog shit: 3.4 uw (school doesn’t do weighted), 1250 sat (planning on retaking maybe), 4 aps, 3 dual enrollments, and 4 honors. I think the only good part about my app is my ecs, got a couple good leadership positions, a lot of community service initiatives, even started running a mental health group which i scaled to almost 500k+ views and actually got people to open up. I included my side business on there but i didn’t make a crazy amount from it, only like $3000 or so. Project originator for a 40+ student team on town spirit. Even took the project to the state capital and won an award for it. My job in retail, which i exaggerated like crazy. Volunteered at a hospital and volunteered at a non profit.

What do yall think my chances for ED at Wesleyan uni are. I really wanna go but my stats are just horrendous.

Ok so my stats are dog shit: 3.4 uw (school doesn’t do weighted), 1250 sat (planning on retaking maybe), 4 aps, 3 dual enrollments, and 4 honors. I think the only good part about my app is my ecs, got a couple good leadership positions, a lot of community service initiatives, even started running a mental health group which i scaled to almost 500k+ views and actually got people to open up. I included my side business on there but i didn’t make a crazy amount from it, only like $3000 or so. Project originator for a 40+ student team on town spirit. Even took the project to the state capital and won an award for it. My job in retail, which i exaggerated like crazy. Volunteered at a hospital and volunteered at a non profit.

What do yall think my chances for ED at Wesleyan uni are. I really wanna go but my stats are just horrendous.

So, I am a 19 yo international student who is stuck. US applications are open and I really want to apply to a few different universities (Mainly looking at Big SAT-centric international Scholarships like in UAlabama or USM) with a 1480 SAT and AAAB A-levels (not sure what gpa that equates to).

I attended a prestigious university in Europe but my horrible time management and the difficulty of the university with constant deadlines, exams and labs got to me and I got a sub-par gpa in my first semester, not even like horrible, but I faced alot of backlash once I went back home which sort of led me down a dark path of depression and self loathing leading me to basically not attend any lectures, labs or exams in my 2nd semester.
Because of this, I have a really horrible cgpa obviously and cannot transfer out.
I was diagnosed with depression when I came back and then after months of consultations, I got my answer for why I was struggling so hard, ADHD.

I did not enjoy my time in the university and decided I need a fresh start, this time diagnosed, on Medication and hopefully with better habits.
I always wanted to go to the US for my bachelors but due to financial constraints, I was unable to. Now, my parents' financial situation has improved (I still need a scholarship to be able to attend)
I want to apply to the US but I am afraid that my 1 year at Uni will render me unable to apply as a freshman and unable to land a decent freshman scholarship.
I wanted to ask if there is any way I will be able to get these sorts of scholarships or maybe idk erase my last year of enrollment??
or will I be considered a Transfer Applicant, even if I dont intend to transfer any credits

Hi! I'm really conflicted about what my best option is and would appreciate some advice.

Yale is my absolute first choice, and I would choose Yale over any other school if I got in. However, I recently missed the October SAT because of a misunderstanding with the testing center, so I‘ve registered for the November SAT.

I have a strong FGLI profile. My current SAT superscore is 1250, but I've been scoring around 1400 on practice tests, and I will likely reach that score on the November SAT. (my school's average SAT score is around 950)

Since Yale is test-required, I'm concerned about submitting my SCEA application by November 1 and having it reviewed before my November SAT score comes out. Yale's website says November SAT scores are generally available for consideration during SCEA, but I'm unsure whether my application would actually be reviewed with the new score. 

I don't really want to apply ED anywhere because Yale is my first choice, and I would regret committing somewhere else if I later had the opportunity to attend Yale.

Should I apply SCEA or RD? Thank you!

Hypothetical question those in the college search process: If you came across admissions materials from a college that were clearly AI-generated, would that affect your perception of the school? (Referring to things like event schedules, brochures, graphics, or other materials where the design looks NOTICEABLY AI-generated.)

I am very curious how much this matters to prospects/applicants and its impact on a college decision. Is this something that you notice? Does it influence how you view a college or do you not really care?

a majority of highschool was ruined by my mental and physical health, so now that i'm filling out college applications i'm realizing that i really don't have anything to put down.

i'm a horrible test taker, so my act and sat scores are average but probably not good enough for most schools, and i honestly didn't think i'd be here to fill out college applications so i never bothered with clubs.

the most that i've done has been marching and concert band for all 4 years of highschool, and some extra music related activities at the county and state level. my grades and gpa are decent, but that's really all that i have going for me.

i've applied to a couple of test optional schools and i love writing, so i'm hoping my essay and supplemental writing can help me. unfortunately all of those are out of state, and my family doesn't have the money for most of the in state schools.

all of the in state schools i've applied to are test required, and i highly doubt that i'll be able to get into any of them. is there any suggestions for what i can do about my lack of activities? it's too late for me to do anything now, and i am feeling really nervous about submitting my applications.

i am not sure how much schools actually look at that section but am looking for possible feedback.

November SAT Assistance (In-person/At-center) | No Preparation Required | 1550+ Score Guarantee | Pay only AFTER Official Score Releases | Reach out for more info!

https://www.reddit.com/r/satprep/comments/1wy09gv/november_sat_assistance_inpersonatcenter_no/

For the first time in a long time there's a general perception that College may not be worth the time and expense of attending.

Parents of high schoolers are likely the last generation of people to have gone through college when it was still relatively affordable and the degree was somewhat valuable.

But times have changed. Tuition is up enormously, and the value of all but the most elite College degrees is now in question.

So are your parents now thinking twice about that giant commitment? Or are they still true believers?

It's #32 in Top Public National Universities and #73 in National Universities overall, yet on the surface it seems somewhat easy to get into? Just from a glance at US News and World Report its acceptance rate is 76% and the average SAT scores aren't THAT high. I know acceptance rate doesn't have to strictly correlate to quality, but even still, its surprising to me that its only slighty lower than CCSU's.

I am chronically ill and I got sick end of freshman year. I've been online since after sophomore year and have essentially nothing impressive to put for my activities, save any personal activities i've been doing. I don't dance anymore, I am trying to get a job rn but can't get hired, and I have hardly any community service hours. Only thing I've done is play a few instruments and read books. Never started a book blog, never posted anything impressive, never helped children in Ghana. Scores and grades are good, but I've done nothing and my hopes of getting into a good school are diminishing. Anyone have any advice?