<p>I've yet to hear one concrete opinion on the issue, so I think we should conduct the discussion here.</p>
<p>The question is: if the college one is transferring to accepts college SAT/ACT scores, should one retake?</p>
<p>Let's look at cases.</p>
<p>Case one:
A hardworking but not particularly bright student gets a 1980 SAT (29 ACT) in high school, and then retakes and scores a 2080 (31) in college.</p>
<p>Case two:
A cliched high school slack-off who happens to be intelligent but very lazy scores under 1900 in HS, but starts working hard in HS and scores 2100 - a rare case, but some people do really wake up when they get to college.</p>
<p>Case three (that's me =P ):
A bright student scores a borderline good score - 2080 SAT/31 ACT in high school and then re-scores 2150/33 ACT in college.</p>
<p>Case four:
A decent student scores a 2020 in HS and barely improves on the college retake ( say... 2050). For example, his math is a little better due to a college math course he is taking.</p>
<p>In which of these cases [FEEL FREE TO PROVIDE YOUR OWN!] should a student retake?
My argument is that if a student scores poorly due to laziness in HS and then does very well in college and on the college SAT/ACT retake, the admissions committee will understand that he was absolutely not working to his full potential. At a top school, the committee may consequently state that they want to see more of an intellectual commitment (i.e. "reapply in a year")</p>
<p>If a student scores fairly well (2000-2100) and manages to improve his score sufficiently (2150-2300), the committee will understand that he has gained knowledge through college studies and will not give much regard to the new scores, as the old ones do not hurt the application. [This part a UPenn admissions representative confirmed for me]</p>
<p>Please comment and argue; I think we all need one good "Should I retake?" thread.</p>
<p>I was the cliched smart kid who did zero work. I was, in fact, drunk when I took the (old) SAT. I got a 1350. A respectable score, but hardly world-beating, so when I got out of the Army and got serious about college, I contemplated dumping time and money down the SAT hole. Best piece of advise I got? The SAT is a test for HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS. When I wrapped my head around that, I came to the realization that it was really true, and that I had been out of high school too long to cater to schools where an SAT score would be ‘make or break’. </p>
<p>Also keep in mind that the SAT has seemingly become less and less important as admissions get more and more holistic. Several adcoms have told me that it is one of the last things that they look at (tie-breaker situations). </p>
<p>In summery, I think it’s much better to put your efforts and resources into areas that will be more likely to payoff during the transfer process: </p>
<ol>
<li>your college grades</li>
<li>your essays</li>
<li>your extra-curriculars </li>
<li>a developed sense of understanding regarding the schools & programs you are applying to</li>
<li>how the first 3 things, aka your current life: a) demonstrate and reflect genuine pursuit of your stated interests and b) prepare you for these specific programs and places</li>
</ol>
<p>This is how I played the whole thing, and I just got into Dartmouth as a community college transfer student, and will attend there, barring acceptances to Duke or Yale.</p>
<p>As a student in high school, I performed marginal at best; thus I never took the SAT or the ACT. Do most Top 30 schools require junior transfer students to submit an SAT or ACT score?</p>
<p>I think colleges don’t really care for the SAT score when you transfer later on in your college career. The only plausible reason I think they would take it is to enhance their SAT score pool for transfer students, or also use it to compare you to other students in a time you were vulnerable (hs). It is an indicator of how you will perform as a freshman, and, from personal experience, a bad one at that (I scored 1280 but I have a 3.8 GPA in college).</p>
<p>I applied to two top 10-20 schools last semester with an SAT which you categorize as “very lazy scores below 1900”. I was rejected at both.</p>
<p>I applied to another top 10-20 school this semester after retaking the SAT and scoring 220 points higher during my first semester of sophomore year. I was accepted.</p>
<p>Personally, I think it won’t hurt (besides your wallet) to retake the SAT in college if you score significantly better. On the other hand, if you get significantly lower scores, they will definitely affect your admission decision negatively.</p>
<p>Good luck to those still in transfer limbo!</p>
<p>1) How do I sign up for the SAT if I’m in college? I looked on collegeboard and one of the first things it asks for when you register is your expected date of graduation for high school (and it doesn’t let you go back a year- its 09 and beyond). Do I need to get special permission? </p>
<p>2) If I’m applying to two schools and one accepts SAT retakes in college and one doesn’t, can I still re-take the SAT and only send it to the school that does accept it? Are you allowed to apply to a school that doesn’t accept SAT retakes (if you have retaken them in college)?</p>
<p>“I applied to another top 10-20 school this semester after retaking the SAT and scoring 220 points higher during my first semester of sophomore year. I was accepted.”</p>
<p>Anecdotal. Could have been because of a number of things: better fit, better essays, better recs, more college work completed, their preference for junior level transfers, etc. If anything, your retake effort could be viewed as one of those “above and beyond” type of things.</p>
<p>I would be willing to guess that in this day and age, a school is probably more concerned about your score helping to pull up their average SAT than providing an indicator of your future success.</p>
<p>I think this is a golden list for prospective transfer students. I didn’t have great SAT score–I’ll leave it at “very lazy scores below 1900”-- and got rejected from my top choices which were top 15 schools. I thought taking the SAT in college would be too burdensome and I focused on my college grades, essays, and getting good recs. In the end, I was accpeted into Georgetown and BC (two schools I originially did not apply) and Wharton (after being rejected the first time). </p>
<p>I believe what helped the most in my success were my essays. I started my researching my transfer schools during November~December, started the essays during Winter break, and polished them until the deadlines. So anything can be possible in the transfer process.</p>
<p>Which of the SAT/ACT is better to retake? I mean, when you send ACT score, you can just pick the best one, while you cannot choose just the best score for SAT.</p>
<p>hmm i’m thinking of retaking. it’s weird because i’ll be taking it with my twin brothers during their first time. the next one is in october, yes? the school to which i’m applying wants all application materials by november 1. do you think i’ll have my score by then? i don’t remember how long it takes for these things to process.</p>
<p>Dupes: Because the exam is NOT easy to score well on without a significant time commitment. Unless you are naturally gifted(very few) the amount of studying it would take to get an SAT score that would “wow” the Adcom (I’d say 2200 or higher depending on the school) would be overwhelming.</p>
<p>Yes, you can improve your score by a couple hundred points with a little more effort and studying, I even did so myself, but the minimal improvement on an exam for HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS is not worth it imo.</p>
<p>Bait & Switch has got it right. Your time is much better spent writing compelling essays and developing great relationships with your professors.</p>
<p>Many of the top schools I applied to, or was considering, flat-out told me that retaking the exam was unnecessary, I was too boneheaded to listen however. </p>
<p>In all honesty, the SAT should be done away with for all students, its stated goals are not accomplished by the exam now, nor have they been for a very long time. It might have some correlation to how well a high school student might do in college, but it has no correlation for a current college student, especially when you have REAL college grades to look at. Adcoms are not stupid and they realize this.</p>
<p>my reading and writing SAT scores were pretty good, but i had a really hard time with math and didn’t do well. i could get a near perfect score on the w and cr sections now, and i also think i could improve my math score by at least 200 points i’d say. in this case, i think retaking might be a good idea. it would be awesome if you could pick your highest score to send now because i plan on completely rocking that test. i’ll be studying for it either way because my brothers want me to help them all summer. might as well.</p>
<p>I’m definitely the cliched smart kid. couldn’t care less about HS, but somehow walked out with a 3.0 (I have no idea how, I deserved far less). </p>
<p>SAT was 1740. </p>
<p>I re-took it in college after reading a 2 page phamplet with some ideas on better test taking (ie which types of questions to leave out), and I got a 1900. My Verbal score jumped 100 points all by itself. Now I’ve decided I should actually TRY to re-take it, and am planning on taking the august test, I’m studying about an hour a day for it off one of the Baron’s books. </p>
<p>I always felt like I could figure all the math questions out easily if I just knew the ‘trick.’ (ie how to find all the prime numbers from 1 to 1,000,000 without actually counting them one by one…ROFL). </p>
<p>Anyway, that’s why I did so porrly on the 1900 SAT, I bombed the math.</p>
<p>I’m sorry for bumping this. I hope no one minds me asking this, but…</p>
<p>I got a 2000 on the SAT. If I decide to transfer from a top 25 liberal arts college to a top tier research university for junior year, would it be advantageous to retake my score? I froze up on one section and didn’t even complete half of it, I know I could get a higher score if I took it again. Would it even be worth it though? It would be a top tier school, after all.</p>