<p>I am taking my SATs for the first time this January (2014). It gives the option of sending score reports to four colleges right after the scores are out. Is this a good idea? I read somewhere on here that it's good, even though the scores are bad, to send the scores to the colleges I want to go to right away, so that it shows that I am interested. Is it really good, or should I just wait until I take my SATs thrice? (I will be taking them thrice, this January is my first time, and I am applying to NYU for Fall 2015).</p>
<p>There’s really no reason to send out this first score report . . . unless you’re applying to schools that award automatic scholarships based on SAT scores. If this first score is high enough to get you the scholarship, then why not? It’ll save you having to send it later.</p>
<p>But for the more competitive private colleges, you might as well wait.</p>
<p>It’s not a bad idea, exactly . . . it won’t hurt you to send them. I just think it’s less confusing to wait until you’re done, instead of having your January scores at these four schools, your June scores at those four schools, and so on . . . especially when you’re probably going to have to send your final scores to all the schools anyway.</p>
<p>TwoTravelin - College Board (the organization that administers the SAT) charges the same amount to send ONE score that it does to send ALL scores. And the score reports that you get for free after taking a test can include as many of your scores as you want - they’re not limited to that one test. So there’s no monetary advantage to sending scores each time you take the SAT.</p>
<p>The ACT organization charges for each, individual score. College Board does not.</p>
<p>I was wondering about this as well. My D is a junior and is taking the Dec 7 SAT. We know some of the colleges she wants to apply to but haven’t finalized a list yet. For example, we know she wants to apply to Pomona which requires you to report all scores. Based on her practice tests, we’re hoping she’ll do well enough not to have to re-take the SAT. But she will be taking subject tests probably in May. So, based on what Dodgersmom said, it sounds like we should just wait to report the scores, right?</p>
<p>Thanks Dodgersmom. She’s not applying to any of the automatic scholarship colleges, so we’ll just wait. We figured it made sense to prep for the PSAT and the SAT at the same time, which is why she’s taking the SAT now.</p>
<p>In general (and I realize that it really varies) but do most selective colleges require you to send in <em>all</em> scores or can you chose? My DD (a junior) took her first SAT in October and it wouldn’t be the score that she would want to send around (she did not request that college board send to any particular school…she left that section blank). She plans on taking it 2 more times.</p>
<p>Southern Hope–there aren’t all that many schools that require applicants to send all scores. My son applied to one school that did require all scores, so all three sittings were sent. His other schools superstore but do not require all scores, so he sent the scores from two sittings. </p>
<p>You may know this already but I didn’t initially—in order to take advantage of super scoring, the scores of all three sections must be sent even if the student only wants to use the score from one section. Subject score reporting differs in that the student can elect to suppress a subject test score but send another subject test score from the same date.</p>
<p>I suspect that may be because NYU has different schools, and different campuses, and the policies at each may be different. My experience with NYU is that they’re happy to answer any question you have, but are hesitant to publish things for fear of having applicants assume that the policies for one school apply to all the others, as well. So call or email them on Monday if you can’t find the info you need on their website.</p>
<p>Thank you so much dodgersmom! I think I’ve gone with the option of sending all of my SAT scores… even if I am unhappy with them. Haha! Thanks! :)</p>
<p>Although a lot of colleges “superscore”, I think it’s best only to send multiple scores only if the college uses Highest Section Scores Across Test Dates — Version 2, which specifies:</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>On the other hand, colleges like Harvard that use Highest Section Scores Across Test Dates — Version 1 specify only that:
</university></p>
<p>I interpreted this as the following:
Version 2 means that they ONLY consider your highest sections.
Version 1 means that they consider your highest sections but ALSO look at your lower sections as well.</p>
<p>My point is that if you’re applying to say, Amherst College, which uses version 1… and you have two SAT scores, and one of your total scores is higher than the other by a large margin (eg: 100 points), then USE score choice despite the fact that your superscore may be higher. If you’re applying to a college like Princeton which uses version 2, send both.</p>
<p>That’s just how I interpret the link, and I thought that the whole “superscoring” thing with Version 1 can be a little deceiving.</p>
<p>Although the language is somewhat confusing, I believe your interpretation of Version 1 is correct: (1) they look at your combined high score and (2) they include all your scores in your file, and can look at them if they choose to do so.</p>
<p>I also believe, however, that you’re overstating the importance of having all your scores included in your file. Yes, they’re there, so they can arguably make a difference. But I suspect that whatever influence they would have would be slight. Certainly, they would be less important than (1) your superscore, (2) your grades, (3) your other activities, (4) your essays, and (5) your recommendations. Maybe I’m wrong, but I’d guess your other scores would have a significant impact only if there were some striking discrepancy between the scores . . . striking enough for someone to question the validity of your high score.</p>
<p>High test scores alone are not enough to gain you admission to the most competitive schools. So, if you have what it takes to be admitted (in other words, you’ve got more going on than just high scores), a bad result in math (for example) on one isolated test date shouldn’t be enough to disqualify you.</p>
<p>I understand what you’re saying and completely agree that all those things are far more important than a discrepancy between a single sitting and superscore.</p>
<p>But consider a student with two scores of 2190 (750M,730CR,710W) and 2110 (710M,670CR,730W). That’s a 20 point superscore increase and a drop of 100 points in CR+M.</p>
<p>I’m not saying it’s going to get you rejected. However, when you’re applying to colleges like Harvard and they say they consider all SAT section scores, I think playing it safe is best. They might not like the 670 CR score for all we know.</p>
<p>One could argue that if having all scores sent isn’t important and the rest of your application is strong, then sending only the first score is reasonable here since a 2190 is a perfectly good score and showing them you increased by 20 points in Writing won’t really sway their decision.</p>