Contextualizing the SATs

[coase]

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My child had average PSATs (190-something) and got over 2300 on the SAT, taking it once.

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My daughter’s PSATs were nothing spectacular–180-something and 190-something. Her first SAT was 2180, and her second SAT sitting yielded, 6 months later, 2290.

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<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/sat-preparation/295650-sat-biggest-improvement-stories-15.html#post9342720[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/sat-preparation/295650-sat-biggest-improvement-stories-15.html#post9342720&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Most people would interpret “taking it once” as meaning that she took it exactly once.</p>

[DanAdmiss_Tufts]

<p>@Maggiedog - I think the broader issue came up in a slightly different form… let’s see if I can find it… </p>

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Actually GG, I would consider an associates degree from a community college to be within the broader spectrum of a first generation college applicant. Of course, this is in line with your point about Gray Areas, and is why we try to be so careful with context and reading applications for depth - and part of the reason we ask for supplemental writing. </p>

<p>One isn’t caught in a binary system of ‘Advantaged’ or ‘Disadvantaged’. As you noted, there are infinite degrees of both. Degrees that we consider thoughtfully.

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<p>Like most things, there are shades of grey to the first-gen piece. </p>

<p>As for the question about SATs:

I’ve heard that admissions officers think it looks “desperate” or “obsessive” to retake it a third time.

I think the above is the sort of crap (pardon the force of my language) that swirls around CC because of a critical mass of parents that believe our goal is to deny applicants for whatever foolish and arbitrary reason we can. If one assumes our end goal for every applicant is denial, instead of admittance, I see the logic in what you’ve heard. But those people are wrong.</p>

<p>Students should take it as often as they want to and they feel it would be productive to do so. Taking it more times does NOT negatively influence an application. There’s little in this thread that should be interpreted as “advice.” I’m not advocating that anyone do anything differently in their application. The broader point is that there are students applying from some backgrounds and places for whom 1800 is a powerful score, and there are other circumstances where such a score would be prohibitively low, and (more importantly) an infinite amount of grey-space in between. </p>

<p>Be careful with “Chance Me” threads, both posting the questions and in answering them, because other people on CC do not know your circumstance or high school and you do not now theirs. When we read and evaluate an application, we are using pieces of information beyond the test score to interpret the value and meaning of that score. </p>

<p>@Coarse: One could argue that sitting for the PSAT at all represents taking it more than once. In the instance you quote, the student described sat for the PSAT twice, then for the SAT twice. Even with no test prep of any kind, that’s a lot of exposure to one exam.</p>

[maggiedog]

<p>Dan,</p>

<p>Thank you so much for your response. It is good to know that your assessment of each student is so complex and takes into account their background. Your comments about retaking the SAT is very helpful. Thanks again.</p>

[DMA017]

<p>this thread is really informative! I haven’t read through the entire thread so forgive if this question has already been asked, but what is your take on international students and the SAT. would socio-economic background and geography still play a factor.</p>

[Acere]

<p>@DMA017 - I believe your question was answered in a hypothetical scenario by DanAdmiss@Tufts, I quote:</p>

<hr>

<p>We’re going to create two students.</p>

<p>The first: An American-born child of American-born parents. This student has grown up his entire life in the United States, and like most Americans has attended an English speaking high school his entire life - in face, the only language he speaks is English.</p>

<p>The second: A student in Thailand, born to Thai-parents, attending a Thai school. Thai is the language in the school, it is the only language his parents speak, and outside of an hour of English class every day and what he teaches himself using books, movies, and music, this student’s entire life is conducted in Thai. </p>

<p>Both of these students have a 650 on the Reading section of the SAT. </p>

<h2>Which of these students has the more impressive test score?</h2>

[DanAdmiss_Tufts]

<p>Thanks Acere! Beat me to it.</p>

<p>The above example is, obviously, pretty extreme and many (most?) of our international applicants fall somewhere in between those two polar positions. But, I hope the example illustrates why the context matters.</p>