Help with Early Action SAT Score

Hi, I’m taking the SAT on May, then on June, and if my score can be improved, I will also take the test on October. The thing is that I may want to apply Early Action to some universities, but most of Early Action deadlines are on November 1st. The October SAT scores will be available late in October, giving me no time to fill Early Action applications with those scores before November 1st. Can you apply Early Action with June SAT scores and then, after the deadline, update them to the October ones? What about updating your Early Action app with November SAT scores too?

What do you mean, “giving you no time” to fill in scores in the application? If you know you’re taking the October SATs, wait to send your early applications until those scores come out (usually October 26th or so), and then update those scores within the common app and send them. Updating the scores in the common app takes 5 minutes, and it’s totally fine for the official score reports to arrive after the deadline. I believe that the schools I applied early action to (Umass, Fordham, and Northeastern) would consider October scores but not November scores. I think the deadline for the official score reports is about 3-4 weeks after the application deadline. You have a little more leeway for RD schools.

For most ED and EA programs, the Oct test is fine and it can arrive after Nov 1; in fact many of them with Nov 1 application deadlines even take Nov test scores for EA and ED. There are a small number of colleges that actually require the official scores to be in their hands by Nov 1. Those that do tell you that on their sites and for those, to get them delivered on time, you need to name the college as one in your test application to receive the Oct scores as soon as they are available, e.g., as one of your free sends, and thus you do not get to see the scores before they are sent.