Is it a good idea to take the SAT a third time after graduating high school, please any advice?

Transfer Students
1

<p>I graduated in 2012, I took the SAT twice and my highest score was 1550/2400. Honestly I believe I could have done much better, but I didn't really study for it, and during the test I wasn't really into it, I think I even dozed off a few times. I wasn't worried about it since I always knew I would be going to community college and then transfer to the state university, which guarantees acceptance to transfer students from my community college. the reason I took it twice was because my counselor told me to. I didn't really apply to schools, only to private schools that sent me special applications (I did get a few and i was accepted into all except one, but i couldn't afford those schools). </p>

<p>Anyway after HS I couldn't go to school, due to financial and family problems. However I'll start going to school this fall, that'll be 2 years since graduating HS. Now I've given a better thought to what I want to do and study. One thing I really want to do is, as the first member of my family to go to college, set an example for my sister and those that come after me by earning my degree at a top university. My Community college has a good transfer record, students have gotten into pretty good schools. Just over the top of my head students have transferred into Georgetown university, Vanderbilt University, John Hopkins University, even into Yale. </p>

<p>Now in order to raise my chances into getting into a good school after two years in CC I want to retake the SAT and hopefully get a really good score. However is it a good idea to take it after graduating from high school? and a third time? will schools see this negatively? </p>

<p>I plan to do great in CC, my goal is a 4.0 GPA in honor classes, join an honors program my CC offers, do all the EC I can, etc.
My HS GPA was 3.8 on a 4.0 scale, with many honors classes and 3 APs, and I had a few EC, so the only part that messed up my hs transcript was the SAT. </p>

<p>Even if I don't get into a great private school like the ones above I'll be transferring into University of Maryland College Park, which is a pretty good school in it's own right. </p>

<p>My CC is called Montgomery College, in Montgomery county Maryland.</p>

2

<p>I’d say yes, taking the SAT’s now that you’re in community college and want to transfer. This is actually a very good time to retake the SAT’s. Hopefully it’ll reflect your growth as a student.</p>

<p>good luck</p>

3

<p>Pay a visit to the Transfer Advisor at your community college. That person will be able to tell you whether or not an ACT/SAT score will be necessary for the places that are on your target list, and whether or not you should take the exam(s) before beginning your studies at the community college. You want to work closely with the Transfer Advisor throughout your time at the community college so that you are in the best position to transfer into a good university with the kind of financial aid that you might need then.</p>

4

<p>Or better yet, call UMD admissions…</p>

5

<p>I can’t believe that I missed that you are at MC! The Transfer Counselors there are fantastic. I’ve met several of them in person, and have heard others speak on various occasions. Get in touch with the one who is based at your primary campus. Here is a link to the Transfer page at the MC website:
<a href=“http://cms.montgomerycollege.edu/EDU/Plain.aspx?id=49246”>http://cms.montgomerycollege.edu/EDU/Plain.aspx?id=49246&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>MC is terrific. Happykid graduated from there with honors, and now is a senior at Towson. We all love MC!</p>

6

<p>UMDCP requires high school records and SAT or ACT scores for transfer students with fewer than 30 semester or 45 quarter credit hours of college work (about one year’s worth of full time college study).</p>

<p><a href=“http://admissions.umd.edu/apply/TransferApplicationChecklist.php”>Office of Undergraduate Admissions | Transfer Applicants;

<p>You may want to check other transfer target schools on whether they require SAT or ACT scores. If they do, you may want to try a practice ACT to see if you will do significantly better on that than the SAT.</p>

7

<p>We were told that the more time you spend in CC or further from graduating from HS, the less interest Us have in your SAT and ACT scores and more Weight to CC grades. I’d talk with your great transfer advisor before signing up for any retest. Our D didn’t bother retesting. She took the SAT once and then the GED. She was accepted to her transfer dream U based on her CC grades, perfect GED score and amazing recs, I believe. Her SATs were OK but nothing special. </p>

8

<p>You have to look at the transfer policies for each of the school you want to apply too. Some of them may want SATs, some may not, some may even deny you transfer if you accumulate too many units at CC. </p>

9

<p>Thanks guys. And thank you happymomo, yeah MC is a pretty good school. I would be attending Takoma park campus. I’ll try getting in touch with a transferring counselor. </p>

<p>Bomerr, i believe all school require that you complete no more than two years at CC, they require you spend two years worth of credits at their institution. </p>

10

<p>"For Yale’s purposes, a full year of college credit would be at least 8 transferable course credits (most courses in Yale College are term courses that carry one course credit). Two full years mean a maximum of 18 transferable course credits. Please read the section below on Transferring Credit for more information. "</p>

<p>If your CC is normal than most transferable courses are 3 or 4. So you could only take 4-6 before being auto rejected from Yale. </p>

11

<p>^Note that Y counts every course as 1 credit (with the exception of labs and FL classes), so when they say that 18 credits is 2 yrs of coursework, that’s because students on average take 4 classes (credits) per sem. </p>

<p>So, at 3-4 credits per sem class at other colleges, an applicant would go over their limit at 54-72 sem credits (although I would not advise going over 60, as it’s Y who determines if you’ve gone over the limit).</p>

12

<p>Be aware that Yale accepts few transfers, something like about 30 out of 1,000 applicants per year.</p>

<p><a href=“http://admissions.yale.edu/transfer#eligible”>http://admissions.yale.edu/transfer#eligible&lt;/a&gt; indicates that</p>

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<p>In contrast, there does not seem to be any such eligibility limitation at UMDCP, but the maximum amount of transfer credit given will be 60 credits from community colleges, or 90 from a combination of community colleges and four year schools, according to <a href=“http://www.admissions.umd.edu/requirements/TransferCredits.php”>http://www.admissions.umd.edu/requirements/TransferCredits.php&lt;/a&gt; .</p>