Advice for a student with a lopsided score

<p>My daughter's SAT I score is lopsided: 750 M, 770 R, 640 W. Her ACT is a little bit better but still average at best (at least per CC's standard): 35M, 33 E, 32 S, 31 R.</p>

<p>She took them twice already and at this point she's not planning to retake any of them anymore.</p>

<p>My question is which score to submit that will HELP her? I feel that her SAT's CR+M is really high but then her Writing score is very low and I'm afraid that it will not help her. Her ACT is more balance and her Math and English subscore is quite up there too.</p>

<p>She's so confuse which one to submit. Anybody who is/was in the same situation? Any advise is appreciated.</p>

<p>Many colleges don’t consider the writing part of the SAT, and many schools look at whichever is higher, the SAT or ACT. Some schools even convert them all to SAT numbers, and then pick the highest. Those are great scores in any case, so I wouldn’t sweat it. </p>

<p>Good luck</p>

<p>Her writing score is NOT “very low”. It is well above the average. Her CR/Math is fine.</p>

<p>I’m sure there are many colleges where she will get accepted. </p>

<p>What exactly is your concern??</p>

<p>I am sure her perfect, professionally polished essays will more than make up for her slightly less than perfect writing score. I wouldn’t call those scores “lopsided.”</p>

<p>Her scores are fine. I see from other posts that she is applying to UC’s – just go to [University</a> of California - Statewide path](<a href=“http://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/freshman/california-residents/admissions-index/index.html]University”>http://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/freshman/california-residents/admissions-index/index.html) and do the math, that will tell you which score is better: </p>

<p>From the UC web site:

</p>

<p>Her scores are fine. Lots of kids who write well don’t write the way the SAT graders want them to. My younger son had a math and writing score that was 100 points below his CR score and still got into Chicago, Tufts and Vassar. A lot depends on what the rest of your application looks like. You could always send both - or for the UC’s do the UC thing - I don’t think either set will hurt her.</p>

<p>My son’s scores are in the same ballpark–over 700 on M and R, writing in the low 600’s. I really don’t see it as a problem. He ran out of time and didn’t finish his essay or his score would have been higher. I had a brief I-told-you-so moment as his mom, because I had told him to practice and he really didn’t. </p>

<p>He is opting to retake it to try to bring up the writing score. Most/all of his schools don’t even look at the writing score, but he thinks bringing it up might help for scholarship apps and such. I would not have pushed him to retake; it’s totally his call. Since I am paying for it, I will nag him to do some timed practice, however :)</p>

<p>In short, I agree with others who say her score is fine.</p>

<p>Those are fine scores! What does she want to study in college?</p>

<p>It is not a lopsided score.</p>

<p>@calmom
Thanks for the UC link. Interestingly, her SAT point is higher (albeit just by 1 point) than her ACT. She will apply to about 6 UCs to cover her reach/match/safety schools but also looking for few private schools. We are full pay or near full pay so unless a school give her a considerable merit based aid, a UC school is a better option.</p>

<p>@colorado_mom
She’s leaning to take up Marketing or Economics/Business major but planning to complete all premed requirements as well just in case she’ll change her mind being a doctor someday.</p>

<p>My son had a 250 point difference in math and reading - that’s lopsided. I couldn’t even figure out what you were talking about. I’d hardly call those scores average.</p>

<p>not lopsided</p>

<p>Agree, not lopsided. Looks like a good student who is a tiny bit stronger in math which is becoming typical since the high schools started pushing math and science this past decade.</p>

<p>That CR score is extremely impressive, and considerably more difficult to achieve than the math score. As others have said, the writing score is ignored by many schools and I wouldn’t worry about it at all. Those scores are far from lopsided since she did so well on the most important ones.</p>

<p><a href=“http://media.collegeboard.com/digitalServices/pdf/research/SAT-Percentile-Ranks-2012.pdf[/url]”>http://media.collegeboard.com/digitalServices/pdf/research/SAT-Percentile-Ranks-2012.pdf&lt;/a&gt;
[Score</a> Information | National Ranks for Test Scores and Composite Score | ACT Student](<a href=“ACT Test Scores | ACT Scoring | ACT”>ACT Test Scores | ACT Scoring | ACT)
Your daughter did much better than the overwhelming majority of test takers.</p>

<p>I guess I have that notion that if you don’t have at least 700, it’s rather average. And considering her Math and CR scores are in the mid to high 700, I considered her SAT I score as “lopsided”. </p>

<p>She’ll probably submit both. Thanks all or the re-assurance that her scores are OK.</p>

<p>“Average” is more like 500. </p>

<p>Obviously a student aiming for a highly selective college needs to be substantially above average. But even so, your daughter’s scores are fine for just about any college.</p>

<p>From the college board website</p>

<p>“For the class of 2012, average scores are:
Critical reading:496
Mathematics: 514
Writing: 488”</p>