SATs and US institutions (1 Viewer)

R0L13D

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Good evening all :) (it is currently evening at the current time that I am messaging this text)

My name is Roald and I’m currently a year 11 student (Sydney) and I’ve been setting my eyes out on attending American institutions; my top three are MIT, Yale and Harvard.

I have read about the different criteria’s and stages to apply to these prestigious universities and I’ve heard about taking the SATs and ACTs.

I’ve been wondering about where I could possibly take these tests here in Sydney, Australia, and if I do, when would be the best time too take them? (Year 11 or 12)?

Thank you :)
 

blyatman

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You can do a quick google search to find out. I believe you take them at a registered testing center, which if I remember correctly (from when I took the GRE's) is in Circular Quay. Might be different for the more common SAT's, so you should check to make sure.

You can take them any time. You should first look at the SAT guidebook and any sample SAT papers to make sure you know enough to do well in them, otherwise you'd just be wasting your money.

As regard to the university choices, note that it is extremely difficult to get into those schools you mentioned. You're literally competing with top high school students across the globe. Stellar academics is the absolute bare minimum to even be considered, but by itself, is usually nowhere near enough to get past the first round. Usually those that get in have something that makes them stand out, e.g. academic olympian, national-level athletics, etc.
 
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idkkdi

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Good evening all :) (it is currently evening at the current time that I am messaging this text)

My name is Roald and I’m currently a year 11 student (Sydney) and I’ve been setting my eyes out on attending American institutions; my top three are MIT, Yale and Harvard.

I have read about the different criteria’s and stages to apply to these prestigious universities and I’ve heard about taking the SATs and ACTs.

I’ve been wondering about where I could possibly take these tests here in Sydney, Australia, and if I do, when would be the best time too take them? (Year 11 or 12)?

Thank you :)
Harvard, MIT and Yale admit about 5 people a year from Australia for undergrad. Just curious, what is your spike?
 

R0L13D

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Harvard, MIT and Yale admit about 5 people a year from Australia for undergrad. Just curious, what is your spike?
My spike?
Well I just really really like maths and I've been interested in mechanical engineering. I've also been interested by Iron Man and his intelligence inspires me so, and knowing that he attended MIT just sounds really cool :)
 

blyatman

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My spike?
Well I just really really like maths and I've been interested in mechanical engineering. I've also been interested by Iron Man and his intelligence inspires me so, and knowing that he attended MIT just sounds really cool :)
Your "spike" is probably referring to your own personal crown achievement. I have friends who went to Cambridge, MIT, Harvard, and Princeton, and ALL of them are math olympians. Getting a perfect SAT score isn't that hard, and many people get it. It's not the same as getting a 99.95 ATAR - a perfect SAT score is probably equivalent to like an 85-90 ATAR. You need an accomplishment that makes you stand out from the crowd to even have a remote chance of getting considered. Those schools also charge about $50-$100 for application fees, so most people won't even bother wasting money applying for those schools unless they think they have a decent chance of getting accepted.
 

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Your "spike" is probably referring to your own personal crown achievement. I have friends who went to Cambridge, MIT, Harvard, and Princeton, and ALL of them are math olympians. Getting a perfect SAT score isn't that hard, and many people get it. It's not the same as getting a 99.95 ATAR - a perfect SAT score is probably equivalent to like an 85-90 ATAR. You need an accomplishment that makes you stand out from the crowd to even have a remote chance of getting considered. Those schools also charge about $50-$100 for application fees, so most people won't even bother wasting money applying for those schools unless they think they have a decent chance of getting accepted.
How far is a perfect SAT score going to get you in the US? Provided that you have nothing else in your application, like no extracurriclars, are there schools that will still accept you.
 

idkkdi

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Your "spike" is probably referring to your own personal crown achievement. I have friends who went to Cambridge, MIT, Harvard, and Princeton, and ALL of them are math olympians. Getting a perfect SAT score isn't that hard, and many people get it. It's not the same as getting a 99.95 ATAR - a perfect SAT score is probably equivalent to like an 85-90 ATAR. You need an accomplishment that makes you stand out from the crowd to even have a remote chance of getting considered. Those schools also charge about $50-$100 for application fees, so most people won't even bother wasting money applying for those schools unless they think they have a decent chance of getting accepted.
Lol what, perfect SAT rate is 0.05%. It's probably because all your friends who did the test are math olympians and already have a brain in the top 0.05%, so it seems normalised.
 

idkkdi

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How far is a perfect SAT score going to get you in the US? Provided that you have nothing else in your application, like no extracurriclars, are there schools that will still accept you.
Perfect SAT and perfect ATAR are useless when your opponents attended international olympiads or are on the national rowing team/attending international golf tournaments.
 

brent012

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My spike?
Well I just really really like maths and I've been interested in mechanical engineering. I've also been interested by Iron Man and his intelligence inspires me so, and knowing that he attended MIT just sounds really cool :)
Out of curiosity, why Harvard and Yale if you want to study engineering?

MIT is self explanatory but, even among the Ivy League universities, Harvard and Yale aren't the best known for engineering. CalTech is up there with MIT and even plenty of public universities over there like UC Berkeley, Georgia Tech, UIUC, UT Austin etc. usually edge out many of the Ivy League unis for engineering and comp sci in rankings.
 

idkkdi

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Out of curiosity, why Harvard and Yale if you want to study engineering?

MIT is self explanatory but, even among the Ivy League universities, Harvard and Yale aren't the best known for engineering. CalTech is up there with MIT and even plenty of public universities over there like UC Berkeley, Georgia Tech, UIUC, UT Austin etc. usually edge out many of the Ivy League unis for engineering and comp sci in rankings.
Probably because Harvard and Yale offer full-ride bursaries if your family makes under six digits, lmao. Also, connections.
 

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Your "spike" is probably referring to your own personal crown achievement. I have friends who went to Cambridge, MIT, Harvard, and Princeton, and ALL of them are math olympians. Getting a perfect SAT score isn't that hard, and many people get it. It's not the same as getting a 99.95 ATAR - a perfect SAT score is probably equivalent to like an 85-90 ATAR. You need an accomplishment that makes you stand out from the crowd to even have a remote chance of getting considered. Those schools also charge about $50-$100 for application fees, so most people won't even bother wasting money applying for those schools unless they think they have a decent chance of getting accepted.
Wow man the entry requirements for international students are much higher than for domestic students. My cousin got into MIT and she had a really good SAT score and a few competitions but nothing close to olympiad level or anything.
 

blyatman

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Lol what, perfect SAT rate is 0.05%. It's probably because all your friends who did the test are math olympians and already have a brain in the top 0.05%, so it seems normalised.
Yeh my bad I was probably a tad overexaggerating. Point was that the SAT's are not that hard, and silly mistakes are usually what stop people from getting the extremely high scores. Regardless, you don't need perfect scores to get into many of the top schools - as long as you get "high enough", they'll look at other factors in your application.
 

blyatman

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Out of curiosity, why Harvard and Yale if you want to study engineering?

MIT is self explanatory but, even among the Ivy League universities, Harvard and Yale aren't the best known for engineering. CalTech is up there with MIT and even plenty of public universities over there like UC Berkeley, Georgia Tech, UIUC, UT Austin etc. usually edge out many of the Ivy League unis for engineering and comp sci in rankings.
Agreed. Caltech even ranks no.1 every now and then. Harvard isn't always ranked 1st. I went to UT Austin, and their aerospace program was top notch. I think people just want the brand name associated with those unis, and aren't really too concerned about the quality of the program.
 

blyatman

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Wow man the entry requirements for international students are much higher than for domestic students. My cousin got into MIT and she had a really good SAT score and a few competitions but nothing close to olympiad level or anything.
Yeh I would imagine so. There's only so many international spots, and most of the applicants are coming from outside of the US.
 

Sir Jigger II

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So can someone explain the process and requirements needed for getting into ivy leagues or international universities from a place like sydney
 

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