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Care to elaborate on how you reached such a conclusion and why you chose to separate the effects of a retake on admissions to S from admissions to HYP?
Obviously there would be a degree of disappointment, but a 2390 is still a higher score than a 2360 and thus some gain was accomplished.
With roughly 300 2400 scorers per graduating class and around 1.6 million total testers in said class, those with a 2400 represent ~0.000188% of the total testing seniors in any given year. I’m pretty sure that any college, even the likes of HYPSMC, would regard a perfect score with some degree of novelty.</p>
<p>Mmm, what is exactly the definition of “plenty”? I’m sure they see a good number of perfect scorers, to the point where they won’t be jumping out of their chair out of sheer admiration for the 2400 or anything similar - they’ll probably see the 2400, mentally note that you’re a good test taker, then move on to examine the other parts of your application.</p>
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<p>On the other hand, what percentage of those 1.6 million testers actually apply to the same schools as those 300 perfect scorers?</p>
<p>Jersey13, post #61–my suggestion that retaking a 2360 for a 2400 would be a disadvantage at M, probably a disadvantage at S, and break-even at HYP comes from reading admissions materials and official online information (including admissions office blogs and advice to applicants), using outcomes known to me, and then filling in between the lines. I might be wrong about S. It’s just an impression. Also, S might be weighting qualifications slightly differently for applicants from California (and/or high schools that send them a large number of students) vs. east of the Mississippi. I believe that there was a student this year who retook at 2390, got a 2400, and was accepted by Stanford, but not by MIT. Retaking a 2390 looks either obsessive or courageous, depending on your point of view.</p>
<p>^ I have no objections to your statements if they are personal impressions. As for retaking a 2390, I would see it as the latter of the two choices you offered. I certainly don’t consider myself obsessive about the SAT and retook a 2370.</p>
<p>Got a 2360? Try the ACT. Only reason to go for 2400 would be to qualify for Presidential Scholar candidate for your State if you are ready for a little extra essay work almost at the end of your Sr. year.</p>
<p>qazqay recently posted a comment by a Stanford admissions rep that reinforces my impression that (generally speaking) they do not like to see retakes of high SAT scores.</p>
<p>A useful question to ask yourself: What are the probable SAT scores of the people working in admissions? What will be their likely impression of a student whose total is 100+ ahead of theirs on the first try, and then retakes? </p>
<p>Again, this is purely an informal impression, but I don’t think that one could outscore the Princeton admissions office average by 100 points–don’t think there’s that much room above their average. Based on their blogs, I’m pretty sure that one could outscore the average of the admissions representatives at MIT by 100 points (and most likely the OP already has). This probably goes for Stanford as well. For H and Y–haven’t encountered enough of the admissions reps to know.</p>