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I'm an African-American male at a good public school in the DC metro area. I have a 3.8 UWGPA and 4.6 WGPA. I'm a full IB student and will have 6 AP courses by graduation (Amer. Gov't & Politics, Calculus BC, Comp Sci AB, Statistics, Physics, US History). Involved in quite a bit at school (Track & Field, Math Tutor, Academic Team, Student Government, Digital Art Club) with some leadership positions. Also attended a summer program at Carnegie Mellon and took Differential Calculus (did pretty well). My problem lies with my SATs. I took them in March and got a 1310. After taking the Princeton Review Prep program this summer my scores (on their tests and a few from the 10 Real's Book) are consistently in the range of 1400-1470. Im interested in Engineering, Business/Economics and Public Policy. Are my chances at MIT shot if I can't hit that 1400+ score in October?

By Misterpeachy (Misterpeachy) on Sunday, August 22, 2004 - 12:39 am: Edit

Absolutely not. But how much it (not just your SATs) depends in general will be due to your general socioeconomic background, i.e. number of siblings, parent's education level and income level, adversity overcome, quality of high school, lots of work experience for family, etc. If you come from a modest backgrond, it shouldn't matter one bit, and there are definitely kids with below 1400 SATs. nonetheless, try to get it higher!

By Mrowry (Mrowry) on Sunday, August 22, 2004 - 12:47 am: Edit

You should be fine; your academic prep looks pretty strong, and will speak for itself.

By Gustav (Gustav) on Sunday, August 22, 2004 - 10:49 pm: Edit

Given your IB status plus AP courses, I think you are in excellent shape, especially with your Carnegie Mellon seminar. Being a URM will help, too. Your ecs and involvement are strong, too. How are your SAT II scores? Strong scores in Math and Science could help even out the SAT. Consider the ACT, too. I did much better on it than the SAT, and I'm a math/sci person.