<p>I took sat in June and got 2170 m720 cr690 w760. I just got my scores back from october
and I did even worse than I thought. I got m680 cr630 w780. I have already sent these scores ahead of time to my ea schools. Is this horrible showing going to hurt me or will schools really super score and not notice what order I received my scores. Basically is that 630 going to ruin me. I honestly cannot believe it. I am a great student and have always done well in language arts/literature/critical reading- I can't understand why sat messes with me. I got a 34 act reading but i am really worried this 630 will hurt me big time at some of my reach schools georgetown duke etc. Any advice is appreciated! Thanks for the help!</p>
<p>Bump, because I have the same question.</p>
<p>It’s like when a jury hears something and the judge says “the jury is to disregard that information” - impossible once the jury hears it. Same is true once they see a low score.</p>
<p>sharkey is completely correct</p>
<p>Really? 
What is your source?</p>
<p>The reason colleges super score is simple - to make their stats look better when reporting scores. A common sense approach would be if an admission officer sees two scores they would take the average of the two. It make applicants “feel” better to think that they can take the exam three times and say they have a score of XXXX when they take the highest of each of the three scores.</p>
<p>Again…how do you know this?</p>
<p>It is called “common sense” something which this board often lacks</p>
<p>You cant make assumptions like that.</p>
<p>Hm…I’m wonder though if anybody knows the actual admission process, like what happens to the score after it’s sent. I hear that an intern will take the best score and submit it in the admission package, so the people deciding on whether or not you will be admitted will never see the low scores.</p>
<p>Is this true?</p>
<p>If it makes you feel better to believe this then - yes
Do you think that “the actual admission process” is the same for over 2000 colleges?
If you don’t want them to consider a score then don’t ever send it.</p>
<p>how do you know that when scores are sent, there might be some computer system (for the colleges) that only pulls your highest scores?</p>
<p>Right. Too bad it’s too late for me to not send my bad score.
I just wish someone from the admissions process could explain what happens after the SAT scores are submitted.</p>
<p>I know that if you never send in the low score they can’t use it - score choice you decide what score to send. Don’t give them the opportunity to use it against you.
If they have two identical candidates and one has a score of 2250 in one seating and another took the test three time to get a super score of 2250 - who would you take - common sense.</p>
<p>It’s also “been said” that schools encourage students to send all scores to improve their own stats (for reporting,) since they report superscores. More than a 50 point difference might just hurt, but yours look consistent enough for them to not cast doubt on your ability.</p>
<p>OK, let’s apply common sense. Colleges know that competitive students virtually always take the SAT more than once. If they see one set of SAT scores from you, do you think they will assume you took the SAT once and only once? Maybe if the score is 2400 and the test date was March of the Junior year. Other than that, they will assume you took it several times and they are only seeing your best performance. It is left to them to speculate what those other scores might be. Given that you’ve gone out of your way to hide them, and that you’ve paid $$ do it ($10 a report, which comes to $100 if you are applying to 10 schools), they might assume those scores must be pretty bad. In any case, one thing they can conclude for sure is that you are gaming the score reporting in an effort to create an impression.</p>
<p>I doubt very much that they average scores for those who send in more than one. They know perfectly well that people who send in one score are hiding the others and trying to get an advantage, so averaging the scores of those who send in more than one doesn’t really level the playing field. Furthermore, the SAT produces remarkably consistent results over multiple sittings, unless there is some intervening factor, as statistical analysis has demonstrated (and the SAT has been beaten to death with statistical analysis.) So if there is big change in scores between sittings, the likelihood is that there was some other factor involved - the kid was sick, etc. My son, who is an excellent math student and got a 630 on his first SAT math sitting when he was sick, and a 750 the second time, is an example. There is no way to “get lucky” and get a 750 on the SAT math section. The score demonstrates real ability. We did free score reporting and let the colleges see all the scores. Any college that can’t figure that out isn’t one I’d want him attending in any case.</p>
<p>Following up on my last post, what impression does it give a college that they receive only one SAT score from you (say, the October sitting)? They know that in all likelihood you took the SAT several times and are hiding the other scores. What does this say about the rest of your application and its veracity? You’ve identified yourself as someone gaming the system, so it is reasonable to assume you are gaming the system in all the other areas of your application as well. Are the hours you volunteered or worked at a job exaggerated a bit, perhaps? Was that life-transforming experience in your essay honestly recounted, or was it written in a way that you figured would appeal to us? I’d rather give the school the impression that we are honestly laying all the cards on the table and letting them decide. Which, in fact, we are.</p>
<p>Well, it’s not exactly gaming or dishonest. It’s an option offered by College Board and the schools (and my DS is sending both) for applicants who did horribly at one sitting. My bet is that the colleges don’t give it half as much contemplation as the applicants. Or their parents.</p>
<p>Well, I agree with you. They are sorting through thousands of applications and I’m sure don’t have the time for elaborate machinations. My point is that if we are going to suppose that the colleges are spending the time/effort to compare various SAT scores and draw conclusions from them, then we can’t suppose they’d be naive about it.</p>
<p>Honestly I think it would really depend on the admission officers… Who said all admission officers have to be the same?</p>
<p>But my stand is as long as you didn’t do significantly worse on one section when you took the SAT again, it wouldn’t matter as much</p>