Anyone have a child with bad SAT scores?
What’s your idea of bad?
My D’s are lower than her GPA and rigor would assume. She doesn’t test well and tried several times. But, its subjective…she was initially looking at IVY and mini-ivy so low for that but not low for most schools and much higher than necessary for most schools.
I would consider the ACT. I can’t tell the difference personally but some people do well on one but not the other. Additionally, check out score-optional schools – a lot of them are very good schools. Additionally, it does make a difference if your “low” is “College Confidential low” (ie anything less than a 2150 means that college is not for you) or if it’s actually “low” (as in, you were sick the day of the exam and couldn’t concentrate at all because all the letters were blurry). It’s definitely not something that can’t be dealt with, whether it means looking for ways around the SAT score, looking for schools where the SAT is above average, or just trying it again with more preparation.
Well, my son got a 1570 on the one SAT he took. For CC, that’s probably considered quite low, but it is in the average range for all test takers. He was admitted to a good nursing program at one of our state universities with that score, so he and I really don’t care that he didn’t score any higher. He is also considering starting at our local community college, which doesn’t even ask for SAT/ACT scores.
“College Confidential low (ie anything less than a 2150 means that college is not for you)”
Hahaha! That describes some CCers. I’m not a parent, but one of my sister’s SAT scores were nothing to shout from the rooftops about. She didn’t quite know where she wanted to go with the whole college thing, so she started at the CC and eventually transferred into the engineering program at a 4-year university. It wasn’t the end of the world for her.
http://fairtest.org/university/optional
The number of schools on the list above that are test optional is very impressive and many are top, top schools.
Only catch is that sometimes merit aid applications do require scores.
If you believe College Board, none of my children has much potential.
If you meet my children, you’ll believe College Board is measuring the wrong things.
@stradmom SAT scores help colleges determine which applicants would be successful at their university. I’ve noticed everyone thinks they are going to one of the most competitive schools, but are scores so bad that kids are actually getting shut out of all colleges?
Any SAT can be matched to some college. The rest is up to a student. UG success is mostly up to a student, not the name of the UG. And for some places of employment, some careers and many Grad. school, ALL is the matter are college stats and other things that are done during college, not the name of the place.
Another note is that some are better at ACTs than SATs, particularly if the Reading section is a problem ( as was the case with my D.). She had 2140, but her ACT was 33 and it was enough for what she was looking for. She took each once. 33 produced a full tuition Merit award at state public and it happened to be the best place for her, the opinion that she still holds, 4 years after graduation.
Someone earlier today posted a great link to an article about SAT/ACT scores today which I think was in Slate magazine regarding this exact problem of high GPA’s and low SAT/ACT scores. I do agree with trying both tests. My daughter’s PSAT scores were not anything to write home about but performed extremely well on the ACT with no prep so she never took the SAT.
Both my sons did significantly better on the ACT than the SAT. However, I think neither test is a good indicator of academic success. Last year I saw a Senior Thesis study done by a student at Cal Poly SLO which showed that GPA was the best indicator for a successful college career. The study concluded that High GPA students had the excellent study habits and discipline to achieve their college goals.
In general I’d agree GPA is the best indicator for a successful college career. However, colleges have to assess applicants from hs with a varying degrees of rigor. You can’t blame them for leaning toward students with high GPA plus high test scores too.
The average SAT for kids with A+ average is in the low 1850 to 1900 range. There is very little correlation between SAT and grades. The two measure very different things.
I’ve never looked for the equivalent data on the ACT, but given the nature of the ACT, I would think there would be a stronger correlation.
Sometimes I have to laugh out loud when I read the posts about “I scored a 2230. I know that sucks”! I really can’t believe that people think their life is basically over because that “sucky” score won’t get them into a “top” school and therefore they will never amount to anything in life.
That being said, both my daughter and I scored “average” on our SATs. Overall average not CC average. I graduated from a “private” college and have been quite successful (and happy) in my career. My daughter is attending an out-of-state “state” school where she is happier than a pig in slop! It has the major that she wanted, and she was on the Dean’s List her first semester.
I wish that everyone realized that there are so any different avenues to individual success.
@JustOneDad I understand the utility of SAT scores, being both a college professor and a parent of three successful college graduates. It’s just that I don’t share the view that they are as useful as some people think they are. YMMV.
SAT scores are plenty “useful”- the question is are people using them correctly.
@stradmom Well, I’m sure some people think they are everything and others don’t worry about them too much, so I’m not sure what that comment means in the big picture. Apparently, they’ve been useful enough for colleges to keep using them.
You will notice that a large amount and variety of information goes into each application so it’s pretty clear that colleges aren’t relying solely on them.
The complaints about scores seem to come primarily from the people who don’t have them and don’t understand them; two things that might be highly correlated.
On a broad statistical level, they are a good proxy for family income level. So they are very useful indeed for “need blind” colleges that promise to meet full need of admitted students. It helps preserve their financial aid budgets.
There’s also the factor the college board and some colleges themselves cite how they found a combined assessment of SAT scores and GPA together correlate highly with college academic GPA in the student’s first year.
There’s also the factor some highly competitive employers such as organizational business consulting firms do ask for one’s SAT or if available, grad school oriented standardized exam results as they feel it’s a good proxy for “intelligence” or IMO…those who are “quick studies*”.
- A term popularly used to describe the type of college graduate prestigious Japanese public sector agencies and private sector corporate conglomerates preferred hiring. Basically someone who can be assigned something he/she had little to no previous experience with, expected to read and digest copious amounts of material quickly without sacrificing deep comprehension, expected to learn and get up to speed in an exceedingly and arguably inhumanly quick manner with little/no requests for assistance from supervisors/colleagues, and analyze the issues and problems to be solved so the solutions come quickly without sacrificing accuracy/great results.