<p>I have heard from a few people that if you take the ACT and SAT more tham twice you will not be able to chose which scores the colleges see and that your most recent score will automatically be chosen. I signed up to take both the ACT and SAT a third time… Is this rumor true or false?</p>
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<p>This rumor is false. Whether or not you get to choose which scores colleges see will depend on where you are applying and NOT on how many times you take the test. Many colleges honor the College Board’s “Score Choice” policy, which means that you have the option of taking the tests as many times as you want and then deciding which scores you want to send to colleges. However, some colleges require that you send “All Scores” which means that you are supposed to send results for every SAT test you took (although most of these colleges insist that they will officially use your best scores, regardless of what they see).</p>
<p>Many of the “All Scores” colleges will not require you to pay for official score reports for every ACT you took, but they will probably expect you to send one official ACT score and to self-report the others.</p>
<p>Not that the above answer isn’t perfectly clear, but I’ll add this: I doubt that there’s a college out there that imposes a restriction requiring applicants to only report their most recent scores if they take the SAT (or ACT) more than twice. If such a college exists, you probably don’t want to apply there, regardless of how many times you’ve taken those tests, because clearly that admissions department is clueless.</p>
<p>The above response also speaks to the comment by cristiline that s/he “would send all my scores, but I can’t really afford it.” When it comes to sending SAT scores, the fee includes all tests. Sending less than all of your SAT (and SAT-2) scores costs the same and requires some minor additional effort to go through the Score Choice options. As for the ACT scores, sending all reports is often not required by colleges requiring applicants to submit ALL SCORES. Check the college’s policy on its web site, but colleges understand the expense involved and, as Sally_Rubenstone points out, it will likely require that only one report needs to be bought and paid-for, while scores from the other test dates can be self-reported (subject to a possible follow-up confirmation if the college sees fit). So, in most cases, money is not an obstacle to complying with an “ALL SCORES” requirement.</p>
<p>There are even many colleges that will accept scores that are on your official high school transcript as your official SAT or ACT scores. In such cases, you don’t have to pay for score reports to be sent from the College Board or ACT. But you CANNOT assume that scores on your transcript will count, because some colleges do NOT accept them.</p>
<p>So, like at so many other times during this insane process, you really have to check with each college on your list to see what their score-submission policies are, especially if you’re hoping to avoid paying for score reports by relying on those that appear on your transcript.</p>
<p>Conversely, keep in mind that colleges may see scores on your transcript, even if you don’t want them to. You might be using Score Choice and assuming that colleges won’t be aware of the low scores you excluded. But, in fact, these scores may show up on your transcript.</p>
<p>This is a response to Sally<em>Rubenstone’s post. The standardized tests serve as gate keepers to colleges. Their response to the score choice can be attributed to exactly what everyone else is saying. The elite colleges have no problem extending offers of admissions to legacy/offspring/umpteenth generation of privilege. If the real reason were parity, they would stop the legacy entitlements. Never is the real reason motivating protest to give others more power or influence. They are protesting because some power has shifted from schools to students. As for the colleges that don’t allow choice-there is another elitist move. They are instituting something that can only hurt honest students with integrity-as the others will simply lie and there is no recourse for them. Those that tell the truth and are rejected due to lower scores have no way to tell whether they have been treated unfairly because there is no way to monitor who is being truthful. If Sally</em>Rubenstone is correct (which I doubt), elite schools rejecting the no score choice option are trying to make sure the playing field is level for those students whose SES is squarely in the middle class, but they don’t really care about leveling the playing field when it comes to acceptance for people with generations of privilege-as they will continue their differential acceptance rates for legacy. The one thing you can count on when it comes to legacies is that, as a group, they do not compare to the rest of the student body-those accepted by their scores, grades and achievements alone. But, the focus here is the Choice. I think policies the differentially harm those that follow the rules, where their is no way to examine credibility, are by their very nature unfair and bad policy. Students should be encouraged to ignore the college preferences and, if necessary, leave the question blank. It should be a nationally movement by the next class of applicants. If nobody checks the question, the colleges will have to move on.</p>
<p>You guys seem like you know your stuff so I have an important question:</p>
<p>I took the ACT three times (28, 30, 30). Three of my twelve schools require that I submit ALL scores, I called ACT and even though I paid with a fee waiver for 2 of them, I don’t get free score reports like on the SAT. So what do I do? I can barely afford to send one score report let alone 3…can someone please help?</p>
<p>Because of the cost, we are only sending the last one to all colleges. It is my d;s highest score. No, we don’t get free testing and all the costs add up. I can’t see wasting our next daughter;s tuition on extra tests. It wouldn’t show much anyway so I can’t justify the cost.</p>
<p>search for the pdf file called sat-score-use-practices-list.pdf online, it has most of schools score use practices. Hope it helps</p>
<p>Some schools recognize that there’s a cost difference and only ask you to self-report your other sittings on the Common Application form…which, of course, you’re free to do even if they don’t tell you that’s an option. That way you’d comply with the reporting requirement and if they want you to send them, too, they could ask, I suppose. But if you’ve sent the highest scores and self-reported the other sittings, you should be in good shape: complying with the all scores obligation without incurring a significant expense. That’s if the objection is purely economic. In some cases, I suspect, the cost concern is a way to get around the all scores obligation.</p>
<p>I’ve come around on this issue myself. I now think there are some valid arguments about not bowing to the demands of colleges that ask for multiple test disclosures. But if cost is honestly and truly the objection, you can give the schools all the data without incurring multiple score transmittal expenses.</p>
<p>Yes, I submitted all required test scores. 
Granted, I only took the SAT once so I didn’t have much of a decision to make.</p>
<p>I do have a question, though, because I feel like this would be a good place to ask…</p>
<p>So you know how the college board has the option to send out 4 free score reports by a certain date? I sent my SAT scores from May 2010 to colleges last school year because I didn’t want the free score reports to go to waste and I was wondering if they would still have them on file for consideration for the 2010-2011 application. Is there an expiration date on how on how long colleges keep scores?</p>
<p>My son took SAT in May and scored 1260 (1880, inc. writing), after a night of little sleep & fighting off flu. He’s scheduled to re-take SAT in December. However, in September, he scored a composite 33 on ACT and 11 (out of 12) on Writing, which is good enough for his college choices. My question is whether he should even worry about taking the SAT again? He’s been studying/reviewing, but could maybe better spend the time on essays, etc. Thanks for your ideas.</p>
<p>Some schools require two subject tests and also require that all scores must be submitted. Does that mean that if I take three subject test that I have to send them all or can I choose?</p>
<p>If this was one of those tests, IJustWannaBe, what would your answer be? Is “all” all that confusing a word?</p>
<p>I seriously considered choosing scores (for those that require all) but I sent all because I would be terrified if they somehow found out.</p>
<p>I’m in the same boat. My 1200/1820 SAT makes my 33 ACT look horrible. Ohh well, colleges say that they only look at the best scores. If they’re lieing I probably don’t want to be a part of that college anyways.</p>
<p>Yep, I sent all of my scores. Some were fabulous (Math II 800, Chinese 790) and some were not as fabulous (Chemistry 750, SAT I 2180 - 660/800/720), but I submitted them all. </p>
<p>I took the SAT I in January and then took it again in October and I sent the October scores even though I don’t know what they are…hopefully they will be better!</p>
<p>^^Most colleges want the SAT or ACT. You don’t have to send both. If the college does not participate in Score Choice, they just mean that they want all the times you’ve taken one test or the other, not both types.</p>
<p>D scored 760.740.800 on 3rd take, increasing in all areas each time, in June and sent scores to the colleges to which she’s applying - paid for several. She’d taken the test Sept, Jan, and June of Junior year. The second two were paid by her high school to encourage improvement - not a need based thing. She thought she was done testing. </p>
<p>The beginning of this year, her principal encouraged (kindly harassed??) her to try again, he wanted someone to get a perfect score. The school pays so she took the October test. She had free scores sent to different schools that had mailed her scholarship info, but not the four highly selective she really likes, one that requires all scores. She improved to 800V, but dropped in M & W (lowest of all 4 takes?).</p>
<p>What do we do now? She does not mind self-reporting, especially since 800.740.800 would be nice if that is truly what schools consider, but I just cannot see paying more money to have them sent.</p>
<p>Any advice?</p>
<p>800 CR is impressive. What was the previous score? If it was <750, I would send the update. If it was 780, not much value in sending…adcoms may wonder why the retake, as in does your D not have anything better to do on a Saturday morning?</p>
<p>I didn’t read the entire thread, but according to collegeboard’s website:
“Colleges cannot “opt out of” or “reject” Score Choice. Score Choice is a feature available to students. Colleges set their own policies and practices regarding the use of test scores. The College Board does not release SAT test scores without student consent. This continues under Score Choice. Colleges, universities, and scholarship programs will receive the scores applicants send to them”</p>
<p>If colleges cannot reject/opt out of score choice, then why not use it? </p>
<p>One thing that bewilders me is that collegeboard says that it does not release SAT scores without student consent, however, it does ‘sell’ our SAT score information to colleges through the student-college-search service, right? That’s how colleges start e-mailing or snail-mailing (as in the case of Harvard) us, right? So does that mean colleges do get to know all our scores? Or is it that collegeboard only shares the general information we fill out when we register for SAT?</p>