In article <mIHkN6UTRhVbutzvsFk2gjJecSiW@4ax.com> , Peter Popov 
<pet### [at] usanet>  wrote:

> Are you sure about that "bit over 500" issue? AFAIR the average score
> my classmates had was around 740 and they were quite unhappy with it
> (except the gal that had 800 on verbal to the amaze of our beloved
> English teacher :) ) I mean, what you're saying sets the SAT score
> required at about 1200-1300. Isn't this too low?

For international students it doesn't seem to depend so much on the SAT
verbal score anyway (but you better get near 800 in the math part), at least
if you are up for a technical degree (like computer science), but I don't
know what if required for humanities. You may also want to take some SAT II
subject tests. If your school system is much different from that in the US
(like it is in my case in Germany), your high-school grades may also be
evaluated differently (meaning you get credit for them). Make at least sure
you have (certified) translations of your past few years in school. The
material/statistics universities have on their websites obviously account
for the majority of students who are of course native English speakers!
Do you also need/did you to take the TOEFL? If you get over 600 there it is
not a problem even for the well known universities.
And remember that a high SAT score is _not_ everything, your academic
history (meaning past grades, etc) and the other parts of your application
seem to be as important for most universities.
Look at the MIT, for example: The middle 50% of students have SAT scores
between 670 to 770 verbal and 730 to 800 in math, that gives 1400 to 1570
total score for 50% of students, so obviously there are quite a few lower
(as well as higher), and only up to 8% in this scores can come from
international students (MIT has a quota for international students).

And as far as I understand the SAT, 500 is some kind average/base the test
is adjusted to every few years. Oh, and notice how unsuitable a SAT score
really is if there are short-term preparation programs to boost your
score...


    Thorsten


____________________________________________________
Thorsten Froehlich, Duisburg, Germany

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