<p>My son's college advisor has recommended he hold off on submitting SAT scores until after his applications (RD) are sent in. I'm struggling with the logic behind this. I'd ask the advisor myself but my son has asked me "not to embarrass him with such a ridiculous question". {sigh}. Does anyone have an idea as to why this practice would be advantageous?</p>
<p>Well, the thinking may be that if SAT scores arrive at the college on Nov.30 and the application is not ready to send until Dec.30, they may not get “matched up.”</p>
<p>But that has not been our experience. No matter what document arrives first at a college, a file is opened on that student. Whether it is a recommendation letter or an art supplement. </p>
<p>Since you are talking about RD at this point, it does not matter terribly. Note that SAT and ACT scores can take 2-3 weeks to get sent and recorded. With ED I would never take the risk. Scores are sent as soon as she (DD) is happy with the scores. Application is sent as soon as she is happy with it.</p>
<p>The only reason I can think of is what chocoholic said -concern about the scores getting lost if there’s no application with which to link them. My D sent all of her scores before her applications went in, and there were no problems with matching her scores with her application. If the applications will be in long before the deadline, then I don’t see an issue with waiting on scores, but I’d request the scores no less than 3 weeks before the deadline (and even that would be a bit close for my comfort). FWIW, my D has gotten occasional bad advice from her guidance counselor - I would not blindly rely on everything they say.</p>
<p>lol</p>
<p>we did not rely on the guidance counselors for ANYTHING.
While some may be very knowledgeable, there are some pitiful ones. You just have to do your own research.</p>
<p>I can tell you that whether my kids were applying EA, ED or RD they never waited until after applying to send the scores.</p>
<p>This way, you’ll only send SAT scores to schools where you actually finish the application, LOL. </p>
<p>I am a fan of waiting until all the testing is over and then sending the scores you want to send (if you can use score choice). I know others like to use the free scores you get with every test taking, but because my kids sat for 4 SAT test dates, it got really confusing.</p>
<p>^ Agree. Especially if you are agreeable to taking both the SAT and ACT, you may be better off not using the free score reporting at the time of the SAT examination since you may want to submit the ACT only once you see the numbers.</p>
<p>I think the schools do a good job of matching up the documents in whatever order they come in and that should not be a big concern.</p>
<p>Sometimes kids change their minds and don’t apply to all the schools they thought they would so the worst case scenario is the you spend the money sending SAT scores to some schools that you don’t apply to. Small change in my opinion especially given the cost of the whole process.</p>
<p>If you wait to send them out your child’s application will sit there until they finally receive the SAT scores which can take 2 -3 three weeks. Don’t know why it takes so long for the College Board to get them out to the schools but our experience is that it takes about 2 weeks and then the schools take about 1 week to get it to the right place. We’ve received numerous “missing SAT scores” from colleges one or two weeks after the College Board said they sent them. My opinion - as soon as your child is done with the testing and is happy with the scores and has a list of colleges to send the scores to you should send them.</p>
<p>Scores don’t get lost just because they are sent early. If you request them to be sent to a college a file gets opened whether or not you send in an application. (That’s how my nephew got accepted to Bard without ever sending in an application!) Sometimes scores do go astray and the sooner they are theoretically at the college the sooner you can fix up any mishaps. (Caltech didn’t get a whole batch of SAT scores from the College Board the year my older son applied. They figured out what had happened and fixed it on their end, but I am glad we weren’t scrambling for time to figure out what had gone wrong.)</p>
<p>Scores ordered: Wed. 11/9
Scores shown as sent by CB: Fri. 11/11
Scores show up on URoch “check status” site: Wed. 11/16</p>
<p>I wish they all worked like this. Though Rochester states that they download scores every day. Love that.</p>
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<p>As my 13-year old niece would say: “For reals???” :)</p>
<p>FWIW–I agree that it really doesn’t matter. I’m quite sure that with DS#1 (procrastinator, didn’t send out a single app til mid-January), scores arrived first. With DS#2 (all apps submitted by early November), scores were sent shortly after applications.</p>
<p>I think that, for some schools, sending the scores early is advantageous, as it shows early interest. We sent scores early everywhere, and had no problems. I see no down side to it, especially if you know where your S or D will be applying and you won’t be wasting any money. (We ended up sending scores to a few schools my D did not apply to in the end.) We listened to the guidance counselor when the things she said made sense to us, but not about everything.</p>
<p>re#9 For reals. He had gone to some sort of day that is like an interview, but he never handed in the paperwork because he didn’t like Bard and got into his first choice. He was an interesting candidate. Amazing scores, mostly great grades, but the occasional terrible one because he’d neglect to do some major piece of work. He ended up going to St. Johns with it’s 100% Great Books curriculum.</p>
<p>Does anyone know how long it takes SAT scores to “show up” at the college one is applying to? S1 sent his scores to College X on Oct 22. Today we checked his on-line account at College X and saw that they have not yet received the scores. Should we be concerned or does this typically take awhile? Thanks.</p>
<p>Usually the smaller schools (by virtue of receiving fewer applications due to cost & size) are able to update a student’s status within days of receiving the scores.</p>
<p>Large State schools could take 2 to 3 weeks to update.</p>
<p>Supposedly ACT scores are sent electronically, and are at the designated schools within 2-3 days. So the sending part is not where the delay is.</p>
<p>Bflogal, is this an EA or ED school that your son applied to? Perhaps its time for a phonecall?</p>
<p>@chocoholic-- thanks for your input. S1 applied to one of the CSUs, so no EA or ED. It’s a relatively large state school. I’ll give it till after the Thanksgiving break and call if it hasn’t been posted by then. I have no prior experience with college apps (except my own, way back when, which was of course not done online), so I am new at this. I do have the receipt from College Board.</p>
<p>BfloGal - that’s exactly what I was saying - sometimes it takes 2-3 weeks for the college to receive/acknowledge, whatever, the SAT scores. And it’s not only the larger schools, sometimes the smaller schools are not totally computerized or they suddenly have more applicants than they had planned for, whatever, and they say they have not received the scores even though you ordered them and the College Board says they sent them 2 weeks prior. The sooner you send them the less stress, nothing lost by sending them early.</p>
<p>Thanks all. My gut told me that this was one piece of advice I should pass on. Appreciate the confirmation!</p>
<p>Just one short question to be sure: I take SAT in January this year, but I’m a junior. So, if I chose to use free score report, colleges will keep my scores until my application comes next year, right?</p>
<p>Yes. My D took the SAT, starting in November of Junior year and sent in her scores then. The colleges will open a file for you and will keep it until past your intended admission date.</p>