Princeton and SATs?

<p>So I got my SATs back, and I got 800 M, 780 W, and 670 CR...yeah. So 2250 overall, which isn't bad, but the CR really brought me down. I am contemplating over whether or not to retake them in October, so I wanted some opinions and perspectives. How important are SAT scores to Princeton? Do they count the writing section (I did very well on that, so I wouldn't want them to discount it and just look at a 1470/1600 because of the CR..)? Also, do they superscore and not look at your worst sections, or do they superscore but still account for all sections? With practice through August and September, I am sure that I can bring my CR score up past 700, and I might even be able to up the writing score to an 800 if I do some practice with that (I winged the writing section this first time around).</p>

<p>I got 800 M, 780 W, and 690 CR (2270 overall), which is very close to your scores, and I got in. I think you may need to take it one more time to see if you can get your reading up to 700+, though, since that would be better.</p>

<p>Definitely need to improve CR.</p>

<p>If you are willing to make the time commitment and actually study, and you’re sure that you can “definitely” improve your score, go for it.</p>

<p>Honestly, you just kind of need to evaluate the rest of your application and evaluate how much you need better scores. I personally am of the opinion that approx 2100+ is when they start looking deeper into applications and that especially beyond 2200, your score won’t hurt you.</p>

<p>Yeah, I just don’t like that my CR is 30 points below 700. I’d take it in October, which would give me lots of time to study. But really, the range for my CR score is 640-700 (30 points up and down), so I am not really sure. I don’t know how much that 30 point increase would really help or not. I figure that if I am able to increase CR by at least 40 then it would make a difference. Do they superscore? I know they say that they superscore, but do they still take into account your lower scores or if one score goes down the second time you take the SAT?</p>

<p>Do you feel like you were just unprepared for it? If you felt like “oh if I had just studied that a little more, I think I could have it”… if you really feel like your ability doesn’t match your score, then go ahead and retake. but if you feel like you studied, you don’t think studying more would help that much, etc then don’t</p>

<p>Obviously 30 points would HELP, but I don’t know how significant it would be during admissions.</p>

<p>I’m not too familiar with Princeton’s policies on this, so I can’t answer any questions about superscoring.</p>

<p>I got my scores back too: 800 CR 800 WR 710 Math</p>

<p>Do any of you think I should retake to improve math? I’ve gotten mixed responses on that. I hear princeton is particularly sympathetic to 2400s…</p>

<p>If you’re unhooked, I’d try improving your scores (especially if it was your first time taking SAT). Try taking the ACT - maybe you’d do better. A higher score will NEVER hurt you. Make sure you concentrate on CR, and just try to get around the same scores for M and W.</p>

<p>Yeah, I think it was just the last passage that killed me (the Indian programmer/writer passage). I could have probably been a bit more prepared with the more difficult passages, and if I work in August and September on the passage-based questions I’m sure that I’d be able to raise my score above 700. I know that my math score will stay the same, but I’d just be afraid that my writing score would drop. I do have some interesting activities and I do have a definite strength in my application in the maths and sciences. Not sure, but I’ll think about it. Also, I am not really “diverse”, so my race/economic situation/whatever will not help me out (white, income between $100,000 and $150,000, male, MA).</p>

<p>xatuuatx, what are your academic interests? If you are interested in math, science, or engineering then you might want to try to raise your math score, otherwise I’d say your score is plenty good enough.</p>

<p>There’s a chart in this link with the percentage of applicants accepted by SAT range for the class of 2012 that might help with your decisions.</p>

<p>[Princeton</a> University | Admission Statistics](<a href=“http://www.princeton.edu/admission/applyingforadmission/admission_statistics/]Princeton”>http://www.princeton.edu/admission/applyingforadmission/admission_statistics/)</p>

<p>And this Common Data Set link has the SAT scores broken down by category for the same class</p>

<p><a href=“http://registrar.princeton.edu/university_enrollment_sta/common_cds2008.pdf[/url]”>http://registrar.princeton.edu/university_enrollment_sta/common_cds2008.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>I might be interested in biology and there’s a small chance I might be interested in math, but otherwise my choices are linguistics or Spanish.</p>

<p>Maybe retaking would be a good idea.</p>

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<p>I’m very similar to xatuutax - 2310 total with 720 Math & 790 CR. Should I retake if I’m interested in math/engineering? I’m also interested in Caltech/MIT if that would change anything.</p>

<p>i would say anything above 2250 and your time is better spent write a stellar essay.</p>

<p>^^ Bump… any other advice on a retake?</p>

<p>What about a 740 CR, 790 M, and 780 WR? I’m sure I could bump up M and WR to an 800 if I didn’t make silly mistakes, but do you think it would help at this point if I could raise CR somewhat?</p>

<p>A 1530 // 2310 is fine, I believe.</p>

<p>I had less than that (a 1490 // 2270) and still got in. It’s not all about the test scores.</p>

<p>Of course, the higher you can get, the better. But focusing on something to make you stick out (i.e. furthering a passion you have like music or volunteer work, etc.) would be much more worthwhile than studying for and taking a 4-5 hour test.</p>

<p>On the subject of Princeton and test scores: does Princeton admissions take into account AP scores?</p>

<p>I don’t think AP scores are that big of a deal in college admissions.</p>

<p>I haven’t taken any AP exams yet (I am taking 4 this year), so even if I don’t do that great on them, it really shouldn’t make much of a difference admissions wise? Not that I am planning on flunking them, but just in case…(and yes I do know they are self-reported).</p>