Can I take the SAT while I'm in college?

Test Preparation
1

My last SAT score wasn’t as high as I had aimed for and I want to take it again. I graduated high school last month (I was homeschooled) at the age of 16 and will be enrolling at a local community college starting next month to get an Associate’s, transfer after 2 years to the university of my choice, and head on to med school.

My SAT score isnt high enough for me to get to med school, so I was wondering if I could retake it, only this time while I’m attending college.

I understand that the SAT is used to gauge your success in college. That being said, is it counter-intuitive to take it in college?

Thank you so much for reading and if you can, reply as soon as possible!

2

??? Are SATs required for med school? I thought GPA, MCAT, and extracurriculars were what mattered.

3

The SAT is a college admissions test and there isn’t any point in taking it after you are in college. If your goal is med school and you feel you aren’t prepared well enough then why are you rushing out of high school into college at such a young age? Take more time, develop your academics, start working on some medicine-related ECs. I think you’re making a mistake to rush into this. If your SAT score isn’t that high, then it’s unlikely you will do well enough competing with older students in college to get the kind of GPA you need to get into med school. Also, med schools value maturity. They won’t be impressed by your youth.

4

Your community college GPA will determine what 4 year college you are admitted to. It is not only the 4 year university of your choice but also you being the choice of the university adcoms. Then your community college and 4 year university GPA along with your MCAT score will determine if you will be admitted to medical school.

5

@mathyone, I see your point. I did consider that as well, but since I was already college-level last year (except for my math), I figured spending longer time in high school wasn’t going to help a whole lot.

It’s actually my math I really need to amp up: my writing was a 730. My reading was 660(ok,for me) but my math was a crippling 530,which is about 150 points too unusually low compared to my average practice SAT math score of 680-710. I still haven’t figured that huge discrepancy out yet.

So will med schools not accept an SAT score taken during college??

Thanks,again.

6

Thanks, @TomSrOfBoston . I’ll keep that in mind! :wink:

7

I’m not an expert on med school admissions, but I’m not sure that they even ask for the SAT. This is something you can and should look up.

Plenty of high school students are taking AP or cc classes in the later years of high school. Just because you’ve reached that point doesn’t mean you should get out of hs. Plenty of home school students are taking cc classes in high school. Have you taken calculus already? Physics? AP bio? AP chem? Your competition for med school admissions probably will have done most of this.

I really feel the SAT score is the least of your issues. Your SAT score indicates that your basic skills aren’t that high compared to high-performing entering college freshmen–and they are the ones you will be competing with. That’s what you should be concerned about and you can try to address that now by staying in high school and working on your reading and math skills. Once you start taking college classes, those grades will go to the med schools. Why would you want to put yourself at a huge disadvantage, and quite possibly not get into medical school because you skipped ahead?

Just wanted to add, I think cc classes taken in hs also go on your college transcript and count in your college GPA. So you might need to be careful about that if you aren’t confident you’ll do well. Look into it. Is there some reason you can’t transfer to your local high school and take their AP classes and graduate next year?

8

@bodangles ,med schools do look at SAT scores as well as GPA, extracurricular, and MCAT.
Unfortunately they look at SATs.:frowning:

9

@TheCollegeGirl Please post a link to a medical school website that states that SAT/ACT scores are required. I nor anyone here have ever heard of such a thing. If you are talking about combined BS/MD programs then yes SAT/ACT scores would be required but that is for the undergraduate admission.

Medical schools do not look at SAT scores!

10

I’ve known quite a few students headed to med school and I never once heard any of them express any concern about their SAT score or take the SAT in college. You don’t seem to be understanding that the SAT is the least of the obstacles to med school admissions. I have to repeat, I think it’s a very bad idea to rush into college if you aren’t that well prepared and you are aiming for med school.

Have you already started on premed ECs, eg. volunteering, CPR and EMT certifications? How do you know that you want to be a doctor?

Also, by starting in cc, you take yourself out of the running for big college scholarships and might end up paying more than you would have if you’d done a full high school program and gotten a good scholarship to college. Have your parents looked into how much all this is going to cost?

11

http://hms.harvard.edu/departments/admissions/applying/selection-factors-admissions-statistics

They break down their stats by GPA and MCAT, no SAT. I really don’t think it’s as relevant as you believe it to be. Could they ask you in an interview or something? If they wanted to. Will a 4+ year old score be more important than your college coursework or MCAT??

12

@mathyone , transferring to a high school isn’t possible since I was homeschooled for complicated reasons. I was originally going to be dual enrolled at a cc as well as hs.

However, I want to go to UVA, which will not recognize dual-enrolled homeschool students as juniors(my plan is to transfer from Germanna CC to UVA as a junior) and requires them to apply as freshman.

Considering what you pointed out, I think it might of helped to stay in hs a little longer. I already sent in a hs transcript,got a loan,etc so it’s already set, I guess. @TomSrOfBoston , @mathyone , I briefly looked up med school requirements and didn’t find the SAT on there, to my great surprise.

I’ve aspired to be a doctor all my life, a passion that has led me to volunteer at a rescue squad (two now,actually) as an EMS provider at the age of 14. I am certified in CPR and I’m a state-certified EMT and will be a nationally-certified EMT in a couple days. I’ve loved every moment I provided care to seizure patients, trauma patients, and drug-overdose patients, to name a few. My goal is to be a trauma surgeon and continue volunteering as an EMS provider.

I’ve been homeschooled nearly all my life so yes, unfortunately I miss out on a lot of benefits from high school. But there are thousands of scholarships out there outside of high school, some of which I’ve won.

And my parents have looked into all this and more, and decided that the CC route to transfer to a university of my choice under a Guranteed Admissions Agreement is cheaper! CC tuition is so much cheaper than the tuition of a typical 4-year university, not to mention having no room-and-board fees, being close to home, and getting “easy grades”. My CC offers a lot of financial aid ,as well. So actually, this route is a lot cheaper for me, since being close to home let’s me commute, volunteer, and get a job as well.

That SAT thing really thunderstruck me! Thanks,everyone, for the heads up!

13

@bodangles ,thanks Very much!:slight_smile: guess I have more research to do!

14

By the way, won’t higher SAT scores distinguish you from the rest of the crowd? Say, if the adcom compared two applicants both with years of medical volunteering experience, good MCAT scores, and great GPA, but one had a great SAT score and the other one not so much.
Does the adcom even consider it?

15

I think what you are not realizing is that your SAT scores are ancient history by the time you apply to med school. Kind of like colleges don’t really care what you did in middle school when you apply.

Are you aware that if you were trying to dual enroll at Germanna cc as a high school student, you’d need a 550 math (I’m assuming you took the new SAT). So they wouldn’t even let you enroll, but you seem confident you can ace their “easy” classes and then succeed at UVa, whose students are no slouches. I wouldn’t let my kid embark on this but it’s your life. I hope you have a good back up plan.

16

Be careful with which Pre-Med courses you take at a CC. Some Medical schools will not accept CC courses in the required Medical school requirements. You want to save these for a 4 year university. Take your GE’s at the CC and any supportive classes to help you succeed at the 4 year university.

Some schools require applicants to complete a certain list of premedical course requirements while others have moved to a competency-based admissions. At a minimum, students will likely complete the following types of courses:

One year of biology
One year of physics
One year of English
Two years of chemistry (through organic chemistry)

17

@mathyone , I took the old SAT, and my scores (R & W) more than qualified.
I don’t mean to just pass at GCC(Germanna) and I do understand that UVA and GCC are in completely different leagues.
However, other students have taken this path and I know if I work hard, focus, and prioritize, I think I can get there. I just need to work my rear off.:wink:
Thank you very much for all your time and help!
And I do have a backup plan.:slight_smile: thanks!

18

@Gumbymom ,thanks! I’ll look into that!:smiley: