LinkedIn and Resumes: Scores Etiquette

Would college students be better advised to include their SAT or other scores on their LinkedIn profile or resume if they are very good scores? This would be in relation to obtaining future summer internships, summer jobs generally, first jobs out of college or perhaps undergraduate or graduate research positions. Once they have a few years of work under their belts I imagine SAT scores might seem silly or bragging. But when you’ve only had one or none jobs and your a student - perhaps it’s more the case of flaunt it if you got it? Or cringe-worthy bragbot??

I’ve heard of certain industries wanting test scores (investment banking and some consulting). In general I would say to leave high school test scores off; no one is really going to care. Do well in your classes in college, take initiative and seek leadership opportunities, and try to find a job at school if you haven’t worked before.

Cringe worthy.

LinkedIn is a tool for networking. It lets people know what kind of fields and roles you have experience in. Nobody browsing your LinkedIn profile cares to see your SAT score.

If your scores are really impressive, I think they’re fine to leave on your resume until you have enough post-highschool experience to fill an entire page. Academic research internships very may well ask for test scores. As @TheSpartan mentioned, there are definitely finance and consulting companies that ask for your test scores, even as you’re graduating college and applying for full-time positions.

One of my relatives (a college student) did this and I was wondering about that too!

Never heard of anyone in the computer industry (since you apparently have a kid who is a CS major) caring about a candidate’s SAT (or ACT) scores. Plenty of people working in the industry do not even have SAT (or ACT) scores (e.g. those who did high school and undergraduate study outside the US, those who attended college by starting at a community college, those who self educated CS).

Maybe, just possibly, if the CS major kid aims for a job in elite consulting or investment banking, those employers will ask. But he can tell them then.

Do NOT do this.

The people who are saying investment banking & consulting are right- those firms do ask for that info. In fact, you have to provide backup documentation of your scores if you are hired. The about-to-be university graduates that I know who are applying in those sectors put their scores under the secondary school info.

No, no, no. They will ASK if they want them. You look like an a** in the adult world if you put them on your resume or profile.

I hesitate to take on @intparent, so I will narrow my answer. If you are just graduating from college and are applying to graduate schemes with IB or Consulting firms, scores limited to headline scores (especially in the UK) will not make you look like an a**. Will concede all other circumstances, and will add that the moment you have actually been hired you have to take them off.

I have worked for one of the major consulting companies (for many years, and was involved in hiring), and currently work for an investment bank. In the U.S., someone who did this would not be seen as a sophisticated applicant… it might be excused for someone right out of school who didn’t know better, but it really is “cringe-worthy” as noted above by another poster. I grant that things may be different in UK hiring, but am not sure what meaning a SAT or ACT score would have in that context anyway.

Super cringe-worthy on public sites.

Wait for them to ask you.

Only thing that could be listed is graduating with honors or summa cum laude etc.

What are people’s thoughts on mentioning NMF?

I’d mention it in the context of listing a scholarship for it, maybe. And possibly okay when looking for internships when in college. But by the time you graduate, that is an honor from high school.

@ucbalumnus I have another Score-o-matic (S2) coming up behind S1 (CS). S2 is less driven to hit the work world and more into life sciences. So he’s less likely to have something to point to when applying for research positions or what-not. But he does well at school, scores, sports, music and enjoys friends and fun. S1 is indeed pretty much all set work-wise based on the feedback from his first job/internship, interest.area and proximity to Silicon Valley.

I appreciate everyone’s feedback. Thank you.

If you are applying for a job or a graduate program or research grant that requires seeing your score info, there will be a space on the application to provide that info. And you might well be required to send official scores from the testing agency as proof. I don’t see a big benefit from including this info on linkedin, and do see a very real possibility of people viewing this as a negative.

The only time I would think you could put SAT scores on your resume (NOT on a general website like LinkedIn, but on a resume that is specific to a position) is if it was a situation where you knew your SAT scores were directly relevant to the position. For example, if you were a college student tutoring the SAT, then listing your SAT scores would likely be relevant. But in most other situations, your SAT scores are NOT relevant. If an employer wants them, they will ask for them. I certainly wouldn’t put your SAT scores on your resume after you’ve graduated from college, even if you are looking for your first post-college job. By that point everything from high school (in my opinion) should be off, unless it was something very significant or something you continued well into college.

No GPA and no SAT scores for my kids.