<p>in another thread, mentioning that some college admission officers have "pushed the concept of taking the SAT over and over (and over) again." That seems like an interesting example of colleges responding to incentives as they are compared with other colleges in college rating guides. What has been your recent experience? What have college admission officers told you about SAT I retakes, or whether it is possible these days to take the SAT I too many times?</p>
<p>When I went on my college visits last year, they all said that though you can take it as many times as you want, scores rarely continue to rise from test to test. They all said that taking it more than three times is excessive.</p>
<p>DS has heard the "no more than three times" spiel from various colleges, though many of the admissions folks were adamant that once you reach a certain threshold (mid 2200s), they would rather see you doing other things on Saturday mornings.</p>
<p>DS got his scores this morning -- he is one-and-done, and dancing a happy jig!</p>
<p>My d was one who hit that mid/high 2200 mark on the first try. I was a little concerned because she refused to take it again. Guess she was right when she said she didn't want the colleges to think she was a 'freak' (teen lingo for too perfectionistic). She's a girl who appreciates the fun things in life as well...so spending time chasing 20 or 30 points on an SAT exam wasn't on the agenda.</p>
<p>Ah kids...sometimes they are too smart for our own good... ;)</p>
<p>Six Ivy League admissions counselors all agreed on a panel last year that if you took the SAT more than three times they might start wondering why you didn't have better ways to spend your Sat. mornings. It's not grounds for not admitting you, but I think it might be a red flag to look for other signs of excessive perfectionism in an application. For someone on the edge it might tip you the wrong way. The from Clark U. (he's one of the contributors to College Unranked) was at our high school last night and he begged students to stop at twice on the SAT. </p>
<p>The one exception I'd make to the rule is there are some scholarships that are pegged at certain SAT levels. If my son had 10 more points on the writing SAT he would have been eligible for a $10,000 merit award at Harvey Mudd. I think could be worth another Saturday - although in fact I didn't make him do it.</p>
<p>Re-taking the SAT for the Mudd scholarship was about the only scenario we foresaw where DS would take it again. Now we have to figure out how to get the GC to vouch for top 10% -- the school doesn't rank.</p>
<p>The coordinator at DS's program recommends that the kids only take the SAT once, in junior year -- but it is an unusual program, and half the kids qualify as NMSFs. I think he meant that message mainly for the parents, as we know kids who will be pressured to take it (and get 800s on SAT-IIs, all 5s on APs, etc.) until their parents are happy. At 5:50 this morning, I was happy. :) At that hour of the morning, it takes a LOT to make me happy without caffeine!</p>
<p>Yes, all of the above is more of what I was expecting to hear - at least publicly. I do think it's possible there is still a bit of disconnect there, as in interviews not all that long ago even Ivy deans of admssions were equivocating on this question. </p>
<p>As I mentioned, I think that certain schools, particulaly those poised between tier one and tier two or on the cusp of a big move up in the rankings may be more likely to express this. Then again, maybe this was just the particular admissions rep that we happened to get that day and the fact that one of the parents in the audience asked this specific question. I'm glad to hear about Clark saying what they did.</p>
<p>it appears that even Alanis Morisette (funny reply, by the way) couldn't take the SAT I a full 1,000 times for an official score report sent to colleges. By College Board policy, students who take SAT tests (EITHER SAT I tests or SAT II tests) below ninth grade, for whatever reason (the most common reason being Talent Search participation) will find that their scores are removed from their permanent record of scores, unless the family acts affirmatively to keep a score from that grade level. So a college admission officer can never be 100 percent sure that an applicant submitting one score from ninth grade or higher has taken the SAT I only once. It is also possible to cancel scores. There are twenty-five test dates available for the regular admission deadline to students during high school grades (seven dates in ninth grade, seven in tenth, seven in eleventh, and four in twelfth), of which at least one test date must be devoted to SAT II tests at a highly selective college, so that the maximum number of reported SAT I scores would usually be some number no greater than twenty-four. And probably that number would be smaller [wry grin]. </p>
<p>Of course, the ACT is offered on some different test dates, so an avid test-taker could pile it on a bit more than I just mentioned . . . .</p>