<p>for whomever is worried about the excessive number of sittings:</p>
<p>The administrations of December and January allow a bit of strategic planning. Assuming that a student requested his scores to be sent before December 15th or 20th, the scores of December will not be part of the SAT reports. After receiving the late scores, a student could decide to ignore the results or ... RUSH them to the schools where an improvement would be beneficial. </p>
<p>This is not inexpensive, but a good way to remove the last doubts.</p>
<p>Thanks, xiggi, for elaborating on the point I tried to make earlier. People sometimes make mountains out of molehills. This is OPs one and only go-around with this crazy stuff; so do what you think you need to do, OP, and let the chips fall where they may. You only go around once, as the ad says. In the end, you'll be ok. Adcoms say different things in different contexts.</p>
<p>since you are a senior, why don't you send the scores you currently have to all the schools you are applying to. You can then prepare, as Xiggi suggests, and retake in December. If you perform much better, you can always send those test scores at that time.>></p>
<p>No matter how many times and how easy this is to contradict, this old myth won't die. So what if an Ivy adcom said SPECIFICALLY this is considered excessive ..."</p>
<p>I was there and he said it. That's not a myth, Xiggi. I didn't outline my conclusions based on his statement, I simply repeated it. Make of it as you wish and if you think his purpose was to travel to a feeder school and mislead the parents in the audience, that's interesting....but I just take it at face value and assume this is how he and his colleagues at this school feel about it - no big deal. Other Adcoms may feel differently. He didn't claim to speak for the Ivy League. It's an SAT - not a world conspiracy. </p>
<p>momsdream, we heard this exact quote at 3 different info sessions: Harvard, Yale, and Wesleyan. Now I'm not saying the adcoms were all forthcoming. I'm just confirming that you weren't hallucinating.</p>
<p>do u guys know if any of these schools I am applying to average SAT scores after 3rd sitting
Cornell
Washington St Louis
NYU
Boston Univ.
Carnegie Mellon
Univ of Michigan</p>
<p>I'm glad you heard it too.
Whether it's a conspiracy or not, I still believe there are better ways to spend senior year than trying to repeatedly crack this test and in my head, 3X is enough. But that's just me and I don't claim to be an SAT expert, nor an adcom SME.</p>
<p>I remember the conversation well because he made parents raise their hands to the number of times their child had taken it. This wasn't an info session, it was a discussion at our HS about becoming more at ease with the process, as a parent, and helping your children enjoy senior year. </p>
<p>If there was an upward trend, or a a-typical score for this student, I may feel differently.</p>
<p>I think my oldest took it four times. His score was very strong -- I think he had around a 720 in math or so. But he wanted to do it one more time for himself because he really believed he could ace the math. He took it the last time -- did not study any further -- and got an 800. I think it was something he needed to do for himself and I think he just went in there wanting to prove something to himself. So for that reason, I think it was worth it -- not everything someone does is for the college -- sometimes it's for the person.</p>
<p>I think Xiggi's use of the term "myth" was not to deny that the statement was made, but to deny that the statement correctly describes the actual practice of admissions officers. (That is how I would apply my 800-scoring critical reading skills to the paragraphs he wrote [sick grin].) </p>
<p>The value of taking the test one time depends much on what one will score the next time. Not knowing what that score might be sure does make for a lot of controversy, doesn't it?</p>
<p>Please try to understand what I wrote. I did not say that parents were hallucinating or that adcoms did not make the comment. That is not what constitutes the MYTH. The question remains if the same adcoms would PUT IN WRITING and confirm that it is a school POLICY to PENALIZE students with more than three SATs. As a comparison, ask Harvard if a student can submit an application without 3 Subject Test scores and the asnwer will be clear and forthcoming: the application would NOT be processed at it is incomplete. </p>
<p>FWIW, this is what I have done in the past: I have asked repeatedly for anyone to provide the name of the adcom and the name of the school that is supposedly penalizing students for multiple sittings. I offered to follow up with an email and reproduce the answer in its entirety. In the past three years, NOBODY on CC has been able or willing to do so. </p>
<p>Please realize that I am not a crusade to induce people to spend more time on the SAT. I simply want the facts to be clear. Again, I do not believe that it is necessary to take it four or five times. My point is that students should not hesitate to take it multiple times if their situation dictates it. That is quite a difference. </p>
<p>Finally, I'll leave you with a thought. At your next school meeting, ask any adcom from Yale, Harvard or Wesleyan if an average white-non athlete-without special artistic talent student with test scores below the 25% percentile would waste his time applying?</p>
<p>xiggi's right, as usual. My uncle is the Dean of Admissions at a mid-size selective university in the Northeast and while he does say his staff tends to roll their eyes when they see a kid with a zillion SAT scores and maybe say "well now I understand why you have so few EC's," they certainly do not average scores or in any other official or unofficial way penalize students for any number of sittings. Sure, an admissions counselor here or there may make a comment about the recommended number of times to take the test, but that doesn't mean it is institutional policy.</p>
<p>I understand the thinking in this forum that if you can get XXXX score in one sitting, you are somehow more pristine or "worthy" than someone who needs three attempts, but it is silly to think that adcoms have time to split hairs so finely on an issue that means so little. We're lucky if our essays and letters of rec get a close read. They're not taking the time to play "Dr. Freud" over what it means that you took the test two times or four times or whatever. </p>
<p>And besides, how would that really change your decision? If you think you can raise your score, you should take it again. Period. Can someone actually make the argument that the benefit of a higher score would be negated by this perceived negative of too many sittings? </p>
<p>Finally, there's the fact that few people see much improvement after the 2nd or 3rd sitting anyway. If you've been preparing as best you can from the beginning, you're going to hit your potential and max out. Law of diminishing returns kicks in and you're no longer getting value out of your time. Log off of CC and go do some volunteer work.</p>
<p>xiggi, I did want to say that I think there are unofficial policies in effect that adcoms will never admit to and put in writing. For example, IMHO, certain highly-selective schools pretending ACT alone is just as good to them as SAT + SAT II's, or maybe "need-blind" admissions. But I guess those aren't the issues on this thread, and certainly the issue we're discussing is not one of those unofficial policies.</p>
<p>I think this thread has gone off the deep end and I'm not sure where things got so twisted. </p>
<p>Nobody on this thread ever said a school had an official policy about the number of SATs one can take before being penalized - that's ridiculous. I never even said they had an unofficial policy ....nor did anyone else. </p>
<p>The simplicity of this topic is being lost in the emotion of some student posters who have much invested into the game of mastering the test.</p>
<p>By the way, adcoms don't have to spend time figuring out how many times a student takes the test. Once the app arrives at the school and the summary card is being created by the admin assistant, it's very easy to note:
SAT combined score: XXXX</p>
<h1>of sittings : 10</h1>
<p>...just as other details are boiled down and extracted.</p>
<p>The app is processed before the adcom sees it. When it is presented to the adcom, the details have already been extracted for ease.</p>
<p>Mini, good point -- and I agree. Let's not pretend this is a test of intelligence.</p>
<p>2004 - you seem to agree that this student shouldn't re-take: </p>
<p>2004 wrote:"Finally, there's the fact that few people see much improvement after the 2nd or 3rd sitting anyway. If you've been preparing as best you can from the beginning, you're going to hit your potential and max out. Law of diminishing returns kicks in and you're no longer getting value out of your time. Log off of CC and go do some volunteer work."</p>
<p>I think that's the point some of us were trying to make. For this student, the list of intended schools would need SIGNIFICANT SAT increases. IMHO, that's the conversation to be had. </p>
<p>I wonder if Sonic's GPA, rank and ECs are strong enough to make up for these scores at the schools on his/her list. Assuming the score won't increase much, what are the chances for a successful admit rate at these schools?</p>