<p>^Thanks, but I haven’t made a thread detailing score choice. I don’t want to directly ENCOURAGE people breaking the rules by broadcasting the information. If people inquire about it though such as your thread I usually am more than happy to pass down the information. </p>
<p>Again though, your choice not to send specific scores is no one but your own and the consequences, should there be any, are solely yours to bear. Knowing that, I hope you can now make an informed decision no matter what you decide to do. </p>
<p>And in all honesty, even if you decide to listen to me, it’s not some HUGE advantage that is amazing. If you weren’t going to get in it probably will not help you get in all of a sudden, but it will definitely give you a leg up on other people who decide to put themselves at a disadvantage. </p>
<p>“but it will definitely give you a leg up on other people who decide to put themselves at a disadvantage.”</p>
<p>USC states they do not take into any account the number of times a student sits for the SAT exam. An applicant takes a risk in using score choice against the policy of the admissions office, not to mention the reality that they are lacking a certain integrity to purposefully avoid the requirements as stated by the University.</p>
<p>Madbean, as I mentioned in my previous post, in my opinion, people would have to be total sheep to believe any college that claims they do not take into account the number of sittings or any other factor besides the highest score, but then in turn tell you that they REQUIRE that you submit EVERY SINGLE TEST ANYWAY. And the fact of the matter is, they never explicitly explain why they want all of the scores if all they consider is your best one. Most people seem to believe anything they are told, even if it makes no logical sense. It is obviously not for statistical purposes since data is never released on sitting and total score information. And it really serves no real purpose to the college whatsoever besides gaining more information about the applicant. I’m not trying to say that the college is trying to con or play enemy to their applicants - that’s not at all what’s going on here. Colleges that require all sittings of every test want to know as much information as they can about their applicants (this benefits the college because the more information they have the more informed decisions they can make on who to admit), but they know that collegeboard has given privacy control to their test takers by law so the only real way for colleges to see that information is to try to make it look like it is required through an honor system of score reporting. </p>
<p>Of course that is solely my inference, and no one but the actual admission committee knows the real answer. I just personally believe my assumption sounds way more logical and plausible than the hypocritical answer some colleges try to feed their applicants. </p>
<p>At the end of the day, it’s up to every applicant individually to hear both sides and consider for themselves if “it is worth it.”</p>
<p>I get the question you are raising. If they don’t take the number of sittings into account, why ask for all scores? Fair question…and I can see it makes you very skeptical. But that is not proof.</p>
<p>I was simply questioning your assurance to new applicants that being dishonest will “definitely give you a leg up.” Those were your words. Perhaps you meant to write that in your opinion it might give a student who has taken the SAT more than 3 times a leg up if, despite the adcom’s statements, they are lying when they say they won’t count multiple sittings against an applicant? </p>
<p>I don’t believe they have any reason to lie. But each student should weigh the potential risk, even though a poster from a rival college boldly brags (anonymously) that no one will ever know. </p>
<p>It’s not that I disagree with some of your questions, I am just reminding all who read it that these are moral choices and is it worth it?</p>
<p>^No I completely understand what you are saying and also stressed in my last post it is ultimately up to the applicant to decide if it’s worth it or not. I just wanted to get the other side of the story out there. Fair enough.</p>
<p>My apologies, I didn’t realize you were the doorman to this event. I’m certain that my invitation got lost in the email.</p>
<p>Do colleges want as much academic information as possible about there candidates? Of course. Is that in any way surprising? But I have a hard time building some sort of Machiavellian conspiracy out of banning Score Choice. </p>
<p>Colleges want your highest scores because it allows them to post those scores to show the elite nature of their admissions. Then why not encourage Score Choice? Simple - Money. The vast majority of college applicants need financial support, to require or even encourage them to use Score Choice would be an additional financial burden on those students - A burden that the colleges don’t benefit from. Only the collegeboard profits from Score Choice. If the collegeboard was willing to kick-back cash to schools I’m confident that Score Choice would at least be encouraged, but right now that’s not happening.</p>
<p>The conspiracy theory argument also assumes that your individual admissions decision hinges on one or two standardized test scores not super-scored. Ignoring an infinitesimal amount of anecdotal evidence, it is far easier to envision applicants being rejected because of indifferent essays or mediocre recommendations than it is to think of an admissions committee obsessing on a set of two year old SATs.</p>
<p>“Waiving your right” to use Score Choice is not on the same level as free speech or freedom of religion. Everyone enters into implicit and explicit contracts every day in order to transact our normal lives. Go try getting an auto loan but tell the bank the credit report they require is an invasion of privacy! There are still plenty of jobs that require physicals and/or drug tests as a stipulation of employment. Tell your new boss you’ll take the job but they have no right to that information and if they require it you’ll sue. How do you envision those scenarios working out?</p>
<p>Finally, the idea that a big business (and colleges and universities are certainly big businesses) quakes in fear that someone will bring a civil lawsuit against them is laughable. Businesses know that someone will find a lawyer to sue them no matter how frivolous the suit. The smart ones know it will happen and plan for it; the aggressive ones are happy to watch as the suit withers on the vine while a commission based lawyer pushes to drop the suit when he realizes no settlement is coming.</p>
<p>To the OP, if you want to use Score Choice be my guest, it certainly doesn’t rise to the level of “high crimes and misdemeanors”. Just remember that you sign your application stating that it is truthful to the best of your knowledge. Remember as well that opting for Score Choice requires you to take active action (requesting and paying the CB - another sign that you knowingly failed to abide by the guidelines). In the admittedly unlikely event that you do get caught, USC or any other school will be within their rights to dismiss you for submitting a false application. You wouldn’t get dismissed for Score Choice, you get dismissed for misrepresenting your application, and that is most certainly defensible.</p>
<p>Perhaps it has changed in the past year, but when my S applied to USC for Fall 2010, USC recommended but did not <em>require</em> students to submit all sittings of the SAT. Since my S had his best score across the board in one sitting, he only sent that score. (He was admitted and matriculated to USC.)</p>
<p>I don’t even think any warning came up for USC when he submitted his scores (like it did for the UC’s, where he dutifully submitted both his sittings.)</p>
<p>Vinceh, sorry you got offended by my little figure of speech. Let me show you why your post still doesn’t hold much ground and that you misunderstood my posts. </p>
<p>
I explicitly said this is not some sort of conspiracy. I’m not trying to tell anyone that colleges plot and scheme evil plans behind closed doors. What was unclear about that? Obviously you lack enough English comprehension skills that you didn’t realize that what I meant to get across is that this isn’t something on as crazy and ridiculous as a 9/11 conspiracy theory. Wake up, this is just a small fib (if you can really even call it a fib since it is indeed in the college’s power to set their own guidelines) to get you to give them more information. It’s not a huge deal, it’s not a “conspiracy,” it’s just a fib at best telling applicants they MUST when they really don’t have to do anything. Calm down and maybe relax a little, no one is calling this anything even close to a “Machiavellian Conspiracy” except your crazy rambling post. </p>
<p>
Again, you make absolutely no sense. I think you didn’t research the subject you are trying to prove wrong. Your post would make perfect sense if all colleges did not care about if you send them all scores or not. Like jazz/shreddermom said, USC looks like it is one of those schools that indeed doesn’t care if you use or do not use score choice. Good for them, I was not addressing schools like USC. I was addressing schools such as the UC system and many, many more colleges where they tell you that you MUST send them EVERY SITTING whether you can or can’t afford score choice. This is where your financial argument crumbles. If this really had anything at all to do with financial strain then every college would let the applicant decide how to spend their own money. If they wanted to use score choice regardless of the extra money, they shouldn’t have a problem with it like USC. However, whether you are Bill Gates’ son/daughter or you are the inner city ghetto kid, certain schools have an issue if you are using score choice or not and DEMAND you send them every score. So no, this has absolutely nothing to do with financial aspects. Nice guess though. </p>
<p>
Again, for the third time, you seem to lack English comprehension skills. I didn’t say score choice is in the Bill of Rights, nor did I imply it. I just said that collegeboard keeps your right to privacy so that if you do for one reason or another wish to use score choice for ANY college whether they take score choice or not, you will be safe since collegeboard’s privacy policy adhere’s to the fact that they will not give any scores or sitting information to college’s unless you purposefully tell them to. Please stop taking everything I say out of context and blowing them up ten fold to serve your own position even though after all of that you are still wrong. </p>
<p>
No surprise here either, lack of reading comprehension. I never even implied that they “quake in fear” to anyone bringing a lawsuit. I merely said that the thought of any college attempting to revoke admission based on the fact that you used score choice or not is so ludicrous it wouldn’t make sense. I’m not saying a civil suit is too much for them to handle, but in order for them to dismiss you they actually have to be sure you did something wrong and also be able to prove it at least to themselves that they aren’t making an arbitrary decision. To think that they would go through all of this and also risk a civil suit to revoke one student’s admission sounds more conspiracy theory to me than what you labelled conspiracy. Again I am not implying that a civil suit is scary business for a college, I am merely saying it’s another stupid factor they have to consider before they expel/revoke admission to one student who happens to be only about ~.125% of their entering freshman class. I think everyone except you would agree with me here that they would not push for something like that. Can they? Of course - but I never denied that. I just said they won’t. It makes no logical sense for them to do it even if they did find out, and the odds of them finding out are still zero unless you give yourself away. </p>
<p>Anyway, good try, but pretty much everything you said in your post was things I made clear I WAS NOT trying to imply or say yet you tried to run with it and blow up those things tenfold to try to argue a futile position.</p>
<p>Students admissions get revoked all the time. The schools talk about it in information sessions and it always comes down to lying to them.</p>
<p>Both Stanford and Columbia revoked their admissions to a student this year who was certain they would nt find out she applied EA and ED to both of them. They must have broken some rule in figuring out she did it right? I am sure she has a case.</p>
<p>FWIW, Jazzmom is correct in that USC does not require all the scores. They suggest they will choose the highest scores if the applicant submitted all of them for SAT but they only require the highest single sitting for ACT. So sending them only the best is not going to impact OP but it is the general principle of honoring the requirements of each college on the premise that they won’t find out because I did it and got away with it is just promoting dishonesty.</p>
<p>^That’s unfortunate about the female student. Also though, I never said that college’s don’t revoke admission. I said that it’s unlikely that they will revoke it due to score choice. However, I can completely see the EA/ED thing happening. If there was any slight suspicion all Columbia had to do was call the school they suspected and ask if said applicant was in their application pool. Colleges can tell them yes or no because they never gave you the written guarantee that they will keep your privacy in a situation like that. She took the risk and got nailed. </p>
<p>But I do agree with you, texaspg, for the most part.</p>
<p>LOL. Goldie, Goldie, Goldie, take a Xanax and come back when it kicks in. </p>
<p>Is that how they teach you to debate over in Westwood? Gloss over your own errors and then personally attack anyone who dares question your rambling, contradictory pontifications! </p>
<p>Let’s see…</p>
<p>From Your Post #5</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>It’s good to know you aren’t advocating knowingly violating any ground rules or stipulations.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>The first reference to rights and laws.</p>
<p>Your Post #7</p>
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</p>
<p>Or go to an open internet forum and anonymously brag about doing it yourself, but I digress.</p>
<p>Your Post #9</p>
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</p>
<p>Again with the “inalienable” rights.</p>
<p>Your Post #16</p>
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</p>
<p>Good to know that colleges and businesses don’t worry about lawsuits. </p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Ahh Goldie, you’re starting to tap dance, but the “cover your tracks” tip is a good one, after all you really can’t rely on honor among thieves.</p>
<p>Your Post #19</p>
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</p>
<p>No, as I said they’d dismiss you for misrepresenting your application information.</p>
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</p>
<p>Oh good, I’d hate to think you thought something untoward was going on.</p>
<p>Your Post #21
</p>
<p>No, no, of course not. We’d never think that. </p>
<p>Your Post #23
</p>
<p>Nope, no conspiracy theory here.</p>
<p>I’m not going to bother with your latest rambling, but here’s a debating tip: personal attacks on the messenger of opposing opinions betray the weakness of your own arguments. On the other hand, combining your obviously well developed situational ethics with a tendency to “attack the messenger” you have a promising career in either politics or TV punditry.</p>
<p>^LOL thanks for the fun post. It made me crack up. I’ll pursue a political career possibly, thank you, if one in medicine doesn’t work out. I appreciate the tips. :)</p>
<p>Just another 2 cents here: D works in the admissions office for a university that requires “All Scores”. She told me just this summer that the admissions counselors actually shake their heads and discuss openly how many calls they have to field from prospective students/parents about this. They absolutely only use the highest numbers from each sitting at this particular school. The reason they ask for “all” is so that students don’t try to second guess their “high numbers” and it does show them where natural strengths lie but in no way is there anything negative in supplying all scores.</p>
<p>Again, this is just one school, but it did put it in perspective for me as her brother is now navigating the admissions process.</p>