<p>Ok so when I took the SAT in high school I scored 1080/1600. That was back in the days when I didn't give two squirts about my future. After high school I went to UMass Amherst but dropped out halfway through my first semester. Since then I have completely turned my life around. I lived on my own for awhile and then realized that the minimum wage working world was not cutting it. I enrolled at a local community college after 3 1/2 years of no schooling whatsoever. My GPA after 40 credits is a 3.7 compared to the 2.76 I had in high school. My question is...</p>
<p>If I want to give myself a decent shot at a top tier school, should I retake the SAT or take the ACT?</p>
<p>My econ professor from last semester told me I should shoot for a school like Brown because of my tremendous upward trend as of late and my love for economics. He told me that I "have what it takes to make it in the ivy league." Brown is also about 20 minutes from my house so that might be another reason why the school was on his mind haha. Now I know that Brown either wants the SAT I with two SAT II subject tests or the ACT with the writing part. It said on their website that if I only send in the SAT I that it will hurt my chances. I know there are some upcoming dates for the ACT test and I would not mind taking that despite a heavy courseload, but will it be effective in my attempts to transfer to a top tier school? or will they overlook my poor tests score from 6 years ago because of my application for junior standing?</p>
<p>Any insight would be appreciated...</p>
<p>Also, I work 25 hours a week, regulary weightlift and volunteer coach my high school's track team. I was just trying to give viewers a little more background to give me an honest answer about what sort of shot I have to get into a top tier school for the fall 2008 semester. I am applying to Brown, UVa, UCLA and Johns Hopkins.
Thanks.</p>
<p>I would recommend that you definitely retake it. With so many strong candidates, adcoms are looking for red flags that they can use to narrow down the field of applicants- and a 1080 is certainly a red flag, my friend. </p>
<p>To put it in perspective for you, I have a 4.0 after 35 credit hours, and I got a 1340 on my old SAT from 6 years ago, and I am in-state, and I STILL didn't get into UVA- and all of the schools on your short list are as hard, or harder, to get into, than UVA.</p>
<p>You can certainly retake the SAT and ACT. But realize that some schools will not require you to submit test scores if you have over 28-30 credits...as a transfer admission.</p>
<p>Retake it. Try the ACT if the SAT doesn't work for you. Your econ professor's words are kind, but I don't think he is knowledgeable about how competitive transfer admission to a school like Brown is. A 3.7 is a good GPA but coming from a CC I think it's a bit low for Brown. Always worth a shot, but be sure to throw in safeties/matches.</p>
<p>Yea thats the thing...My CC has joint admissions with every state school in Massachusetts. I figured I could just try for a few schools and if I didn't get accepted anywhere I could go back to UMass Amherst and I would get a 33% tuition discount because of the CC agreement. I still have this semester and next to raise my GPA a bit more. The worst part about this whole thing was that I was accepted to USC for fall 2007 but my acceptance was pulled when I made the mistake of not sending in my transcript from when I attended college right out of high school. I figured since I didn't earn credit I didn't have to send it, but they saw it as I was trying to hide my past from them and even after an explanation letter they still didn't see that it was an honest mistake. Oh well. Anyways...I figured if I was pretty much in at USC that I could give some top schools another go around. I am well aware that Brown and Johns Hopkins are far reaches, too.</p>
<p>Definitely. If you got into USC, a lot of top schools should be fair game. Brown's transfer admit rate is around 8% though and Hopkins is close to that. USC is known as a transfer friendly school. I would consider taking a look at the transfer rates page that is at the top of the transfer forum page and seeing if you like any top schools that list above a 20% transfer acceptance rate (quite a few).</p>
<p>Yea sounds like a good plan. I looked at UChicago and Cornell, but someone was saying that they were deceiving. Because of that, should I not consider those schools??</p>
<p>Maybe I'll go UVa, UCLA and like Providence College and Boston University. I don't know. I just want to be able to get into the best school that my grades and the like will allow me to because I want to apply to top tier grad schools for economics. I just don't know if I settle for a school like UMass Amherst or some state school within my state that I will be giving myself the best opportunity at that even if I can get my GPA up around a 3.9. Granted I am a PTK member and a commonwealth honors scholar.</p>
<p>Also, I know that Johns Hopkins does not require SAT/ACT scores from their transfer students. Would it be smart if I did retake one of the tests to send my scores in or do you think it would not matter?</p>
<p>Yeah I'd say Cornell is very deceiving as CAS (the main undergrad college) has like an 8% admit rate. Chicago's rate is not deceiving though judging from the results on College Confidential it looks like the transfer pool is very strong there. </p>
<p>UVA is worth a shot though they favor in-state, as does UCLA. Dunno about Providence. I think you'd be in at Boston University, and that is a good school IMO.</p>
<p>A retake on your test score would be good for the many schools that do accept it if taken during college. JHU does not require it, but judging from their admit rate it's probably a strong qualification.</p>