Confused about which SAT scores to send

Parents Forum
1

<p>My D took the SAT in May, and took it again on November 3. We have not yet sent any scores to colleges.</p>

<p>College Board has it set up that you can only choose to send the free scores before the test scores are released. (Very clever, I must say!) The deadline to send the 4 free scores is tomorrow, November 12.</p>

<p>Not knowing what the scores will be, I'm reluctant to send them now. She was hoping to improve her SAT a bit on the November exam, but what happens if she doesn't, and she does considerably worse? </p>

<p>Does it make sense to risk it and send both sets of scores, not knowing what they will be? Or is it better to just wait to see the November scores, and pay the fees to send them? </p>

<p>If one SAT set of scores is considerably better than than another, won't this give the college pause when considering an app? Especially if the 2nd score is the worse one?</p>

<p>I know that college say that they just blindly take the highest sitting or superscore, but really it's hard to believe that they don't factor in score increases or decreases.</p>

<p>So, take a deep breath and just send the free scores, not knowing the November scores? Or just pay the price of sending scores when they are released?</p>

<p>Thanks!</p>

2

<p>It’s been a few years for me but I think I remember having the same dilemma. I just sent all of my Ds scores. It was fine. I really do believe they look at the top scores. Did she do fairly well the first time around?</p>

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<p>I would wait until afterwards and just pay for it. As it turns out, we ended up not sending any SAT scores. The ACT scores were much better for both of my kids (sent those after seeing them too). It’s a good option to send for free for those who want to save the money. But if the cost isn’t a big deal to you, I would rather know what is being submitted ahead of time (for the reasons you noted in your post).</p>

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<p>See <a href=“http://professionals.collegeboard.com/profdownload/sat-score-use-practices-list.pdf[/url]”>Higher Education Professionals | College Board; . If any college on the application list uses the highest score, or super scores, and is an admit-by-formula school (e.g. most California State Universities other than perhaps SLO), then you need not worry about the holistic look at a lower score if the student eventually submits a different (SAT or ACT) score later.</p>

<p>So if there are any such colleges on the list, you might as well use the free score sends on them, as there is no disadvantage.</p>

<p>Also, if some colleges require all scores (i.e. no score choice, like University of California campuses), you might as well use free sends on them (unless there is the possibility of sending ACT only and the college allows that).</p>

<p>On the other hand, for colleges which use holistic admissions and allow score choice, it may be better to wait until seeing the scores before sending.</p>

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<p>This is all good advice. I was also nervous about sending unknown scores, though, so just ponied up the $11/school to send them after we knew what they were.</p>

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<p>It really depends on the schools. I would go ahead and send the scores to the safeties and wait on the matches and reaches.</p>

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<p>Excellent link, ucbalumnus - thank you!!!</p>

8

<p>As usual, this is why I love CC, the responses were so helpful!</p>

<p>The link provided answered all of my questions. Turns out schools required all scores, so it made sense to just send them for free. Now, just hoping that the SAT November scores are ok!</p>