<p>@happyORmom: The SAT score can be significant or insignificant in the admissions process, depending on the school. </p>
<p>Most colleges keep saying that the number one criterion for admission is a strong academic record (transcript). SAT’s certainly become significant at the elite schools, and many state schools use a combination of SAT scores and GPA as the prime determinants for admissions. The upper end private schools look at applications holistically, and Lafayette told me that they don’t distinguish between engineering applicants and non-engineering applicants at all, since this year’s engineering major so often becomes next year’s English major.</p>
<p>70% of Princeton graduates do not graduate with the major they started out in. Your daughter could easily change her mind regarding what she wants to study for any of a thousand reasons. </p>
<p>Most of the research on the SAT has indicated that the test is only a good predictor of freshman grades. The University of Oregon study mentioned above is one in the mix that does contradict that.</p>
<p>Union College (NY), which has a very good, but small engineering school, did a study that showed no correlation at all between SAT scores and performance at the school. [No</a> SAT or ACT score? No problem](<a href=“http://www.union.edu/N/DS/s.php?s=6710]No”>http://www.union.edu/N/DS/s.php?s=6710)</p>
<p>Regarding studying for the test: the research I’ve seen shows that the biggest increase in test scores takes place from the first 5 or 6 hours of study time. That means that getting used to taking the test seems to be the most productive use of her time. For what it’s worth, I never studied for the SAT (no one did 35 years ago), and my SAT verbal score was 150 points than my PSAT score, and my math score was 120 points higher. I did take the SAT three times, which probably indicates that I got more accustomed to taking the test (the first two tests were the equivalent of 6 hours of practice time). </p>
<p>You probably can’t force your daughter to study for the exam, or choose her college for her. You can tell her that a lower SAT score may limit her college choices, and may make college cost her more. I think she’ll do better (and like I said, her math score is already good, and her other scores are very good) when she takes the SAT again, just because she has taken more math since the PSAT. And if she’s a lousy test taker with a strong transcript, there are many, many solid schools that will accept her even if she has a math SAT of “only” 620 (78th percentile).</p>
<p>As parents, we have to walk a fine line. I just saw something posted on another college’s board where some kid was freaking out – waking up in the middle of the night in a panic – because she thought her essays weren’t good enough, and then other kids said they were undergoing the same thing. That kind of pressure isn’t healthy for a teenager.</p>
<p>We all have to realize that there are countless very successful graduates of “third rate” engineering schools. I’ve interviewed many graduates of these schools who oversee staffs of 500 or 1000 employees.</p>