<p>With lopsided SAT scores we can tell a humanities kid from a STEM kid. However, if the SAT is <40 points apart, say, 760CR, 750M, 740W (a score of 2250), its hard to identify a students strength with confidence. What suggestions can parents give regarding college applications or what career predictions can we make? Those with older kids may have some insights here (or those who still remember their own SAT scores). Please share.</p>
<p>SAT might show a certain aptitude, but I dont think it can in any way project what people will do in college or with their lives. I got a 780 on reading and a 610 (on retake a 660) and I plan on being a science major. So as to career predictions, none. But for applying to college, I would say go with tendencies in grades and extra curricular interests, as those will be more telling anyway. :]</p>
<p>I think you go with your interests. My SAT scores were 10 points apart, my best grades were in math, art and history. I was interested in most things. In the end I found architecture (lots of architectural history) was a pretty good use of my talents. It turns out to require more writing and public speaking than one might think though not excessive amounts. </p>
<p>I think I could have done something like history of science as a major and written popular science articles if I’d been a bit more interested in writing. </p>
<p>Business is probably another field where being well rounded is helpful.</p>
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<p>Not in the least bit.</p>
<p>Agree that in the business world, having good communication skills, good social skills and good business acumen are all important.</p>
<p>"However, if the SAT is <40 points apart, say, 760CR, 750M, 740W (a score of 2250), it’s hard to identify a student’s strength with confidence. "</p>
<p>The student is all-around strong, of course.</p>
<p>Kids should go with their interests. As a parent to be supportive is generally the best path. The kids might not even hone in on what interests them until later sophomore year after they’ve “tasted” a few different types of classes…or they may find that they “thought” they wanted science or thought they wanted engineering or thought they wanted English and discover it really isn’t what they thought it would be. I’m not sure what suggestions parents can give unless it’s in response to a specific question. I do recall encouraging my middle to take an art class freshman year…art was something he loved and was very good at. He did, didn’t care for “structured art class” and continued on his merry way. He’ll always be an artist, he just won’t be an MFA.</p>
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<p>The student should identify colleges and potential careers based on their INTERESTS…not their SAT scores.</p>
<p>Often interests and SAT scores go together. What do you do if you like both writing and playing with numbers? My kid is similar to OP’s. Loves writing and all things humanity and also thinks solving calculus problems the best recreation. The scores reflect that. It makes it hard to narrow down college/career choices.</p>
<p>^My suggestion (it’s what I did) is to attend a college that provides excellence in many fields. Then take a wide variety of courses freshman year. Some of those courses should be in fields that one generally doesn’t meet at all in high school such as linguistics, anthropology, astronomy, philosophy. See what they end up liking. I took a few courses freshman year that I ended up hating to my surprise - another that I loved (a freshman seminar) pushed me in the general direction of my major. And by the way, if the school offers freshman seminars I highly recommend trying to take one, they offer opportunities to get to know faculty teaching something they really want to teach.</p>
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I had 680/600 and I now have a BS in engineering, an MA in mathematics, and a PhD in Physics. Can’t tell much from the SAT scores, lopsided or otherwise. Focus on other measures.</p>
<p>Around here at least, very few kids I know who are good students and educationally ambitious have lopsided test scores. A kid could be completely committed to STEM and disdainful of humanities, and still test perfectly well for CR, and plenty of humanities kids are capable of high math scores. Especially with kids who score 2250+ on the SAT I, the norm is going to be balanced test scores, because after all the higher the aggregate score is, the more balanced the individual components have to be.</p>
<p>With my own kids, if you relied on their SAT I scores to tell you which was better at math, you would be seriously mistaken.</p>
<p>730, 730 back in the day.</p>
<p>Now working in my fourth or maybe it is fifth career field. SAT scores are not good indicators for specific career-related abilities. For things like that, have your kid try a couple career-aptitude tests, and encourage your kid to try working/volunteering in a variety of professional fields and work environments.</p>
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<p>I’ll take it a step further…if you relied on SAT scores with MY kids…you would NOT be very mistaken about who was the higher GPA student in both HS and College…</p>
<p>You go with their interests and be glad that their test scores don’t indicate that whatever interest they may have is inappropriate.</p>
<p>My older son comp sci nerd through and through always got a slightly better score in CR than math. But of course a difference of 30 points doesn’t really prove anything. He has high CR scores because he reads so much, not because he has any interest in actually working with words.</p>
<p>Yes with scores that high and not very descrepent I would think they’d be fine in any field of study that interests them. It is a different story if a student gets 530 on M & 710 on CR and wants to be an engineer. They may have the interest but perhaps not the ability in that field to be successful. It usually takes care of itself because we tend to be interested in what we are good at. Visual-spatial kids like to build, tinker with mechanical things, etc. Language kids tend to like reading, dicussing, etc. …usually follows them to a profession they are suited for.</p>
<p>The very fact that we’re talking about a hypothetical 760CR, 750M, 740W and worrying about “but we can’t find their strength! oh noes!” just shows what a cluster-xxxx this is.</p>
<p>I don’t think it is wise to use the SAT as a tool to identify possible fields of study/careers. The SAT is a standardized test, and not even a particularly meaningful one. Its purpose is simply not to distinguish between future aerospace engineers and future literary critics. Both aerospace engineers and literary critics need basic literacy.</p>
<p>No. Whatever interest the student wants to pursue is the interest he or she should pursue.</p>
<p>By the way, my M+CR score was 1550 (M 770 and CR 780). I made one mistake on the math section and two mistakes on the critical reading section. I sound like a reasonably well-rounded student, right?</p>
<p>Well, not so. I’m absolutely hopeless with numbers. I didn’t get a single A in math throughout high school. I scored well on the SAT because the M section is so ridiculously formulaic that a week of intense practice is enough to make up for years of neglect, not because I have any aptitude for or desire to pursue anything math-related later on in life. I consider myself infinitely better suited to subjects that revolve around writing, reading and bull****ting, but my SAT score alone would never tell you that.</p>
<p>Ghostt, don’t boast. ;-)</p>