My son, a junior, is taking his SATs on December 5. Based on the sample tests we have proctored weekly, we suspect he will do quite well, and certainly right were he needs to be for his top choice schools. As part of the SAT registration package CollegeBoards sends scores to a student’s top school choices. Is there a benefit to doing this if the college has not even received the student’s application yet? Like a said, he is only a junior, but is pretty resolute about where he wants to go - Ithaca College, Chapman University or Hofstra. Would this just confuse the colleges? He is in their database as someone who is interested, but won’t be applying until the fall of 2016. Thanks for any insight!
No it will not confuse the colleges and the benefit is that you won’t have to pay to send them later (I believe it’s $11.25 per school to send them later). But the downside is they will get sent before you have the chance to see them. So in the event your son doesn’t do as well as you anticipate based upon his practice tests, those scores will be sent anyway.
Unless $11.25 per report represents a financial hardship, I see no benefit of sending the scores now. Wait and make sure the scores come in where they need to be.
If I wait for the December scores and we are happy with how he did, is there an advantage to sending them junior year minus the application? Based on his GPA, courses and leadership activities, he appears to be eligible for merit money from two of these schools. Not sure if it helps to get a student’s name in front of admissions in the junior year or not. Thoughts?
No, there is no benefit. If he is done testing, send them a couple months before any deadlines or the actual app (they don’t go instantaneously,it takes a few weeks). There is NO reason to send them early. He might change his mind about where to apply in the next six months, too. Admissions is hyper focused on this year’s seniors right now – scores sent by a junior will not stir any interest.
If you think he has a shot at National Merit go ahead and send them to scores with your free scores. If he does retake them they will only consider the highest score. School will accept score sent as a junior and save them so if he doesn’t retake them you don’t have to resend them.
My son’s ACT scores were sent to Clemson as a junior and they contacted us offering provisional acceptance. I’m not saying all schools do this , but it worked to our advantage and definitely showed interest in the school .