아래 관계자의 요점은 일단 SAT의 경우 1450~1590점 사이에 대한 합격률의 차이는 거의 없으며, 다른 대부분의 학생들이 동등한 스펙(GPA, SAT, Activities 등)을 가지고 있기 때문에 에세이로 차별화할 수 밖에 없다네요! 그리고 보통 사정관들이 스펙 이상으로 눈여겨 보는 중요한 두 가지 요소는 학위를 이수할 가능성과 지원자가 그 대학의 학계(academic body)에 어떻게 기여할 건가라고 하네요~
I take the challenging classes and am valedictorian, but my SAT scores are average (1480 with a 23 essay score). My extracurriculars and volunteer activities are strong. Am I still a competitive applicant to Ivy League schools? What should I do?
Ivy League schools, along with Stanford, Berkeley, UCLA, Michigan, Chicago, GW, Johns Hopkins, and the many elite colleges and universities receive 15-20 applications for each freshman class position → that means only 5–8% of academically qualified applicants receive letters of admission.
Now, someone with valedictorian level achievements knows (or at least should know) that an SAT1480 is a very high result, 98th percentile (average is 1055). While acceptance rates for perfect SATs are significantly higher (40% acceptance), even those with perfect SATs are not accepted 60% of the time. Between 1450→1590, there is practically no difference in acceptance rates.
The reason I chide you regarding labeling a high SAT as “average”, is that that demonstrates frustration, humble/brag, and ignorance — not a great testimonial about you. And those are the judgments admissions officers look at when applicants all have comparable GPAs, test results and extracurriculars/volunteering. Like you, every qualified applicant is promoting their extras too.
Admissions officers are looking for two important assessments over-and-above grades/scores/extra: 1) likelihood of completing a degree; and, 2) how individual contributes to the academic body.
In your admissions essay, address dedication to education and extras. What makes you special, particularly when you consider that each of your fellow applicants believes they too are the special one. What adversaries did you face? What were your failures? And, how did you learn from failure to gain?
Remember, fellow applicants will include kids who lost [a] parent(s) very young and some while in high school. Some kids had to raise younger siblings; some work outside jobs; some are homeless; some care for grandparents. [When I wrote my essay, now 40 years ago, I included household duties I took over because my mom entered college, and, about weekly household cleaning and shopping for my grandmother.]
Also, include what special talent(s) or knowledge you have — some applicants will be concert-level (or near) musicians, some dancers, some chess and bridge, some sports. [I included my interests in bridge (had a few master points), cooking and baking (wrote how I learned from the knee with my grandmother and mother), and travel (had been to every state, Mexico and Canada).]
What to do? Charm them with your essay → that is the only printout that differentiates you from all the other applicants.
