<p>My daughter is a freshman at Harvard. Like you, she is white, middle class, and had a ton of EC’s. Her SAT scores were 710 CR, 730 M, and 800 W. Most of the freshman she has met this year had similar SAT scores. For Harvard, much depends on your total package rather than a perfect score. Let it go.</p>
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I believe Jersey13 perfectly fits this - he went from a 2370 to a 2400.</p>
<p>@gibby: Unfortunately, the rest of my package isn’t spectacular. My ECs are pretty run of the mill, and my GPA is less than perfect (3.93).</p>
<p>Work on the rest of your package then.</p>
<p>I have less than 1 year. There’s not much I can do to change my GPA or start any awesome new ECs in that time.</p>
<p>There’s nothing wrong with 3.93 assuming that’s unweighted and you take hard classes.</p>
<p>I don’t think that 40 point gap makes much of a difference. Harvard won’t necessarily choose you because you have a 2400. There are other factors that go into play. But if you are so ardent to get those 40 points, then by all means, go ahead.</p>
<p>Hate to hijack your thread but I should for sure retake, right?</p>
<p>CR: 800
M: 690
W: 800</p>
<p>C: 2290</p>
<p>@HIGHreachNoob: Yes.</p>
<p>Yay… another torturous waiting period.</p>
<p>My other worry is with my essay grade. I worry that colleges seeing it (9) will think my application essay (likely quite good) isn’t legit. Of course, the real problem is terrible hand writing. :/</p>
<p>Kameron, if you’re thinking of retaking because you think your chances of getting into Harvard (or any other school) will be better with a 2400 than with a 2360, then don’t. Even if you get the 2400 on the next try - by no means a certainty given the flukiness of the test - it will not change your odds. On the other hand, if you’re thinking of retaking because getting so close to a perfect score and not achieving it gnaws at you and you want to take one more shot - and your parents are willing to pay the fee for you to take it again (or you can pay the fee yourself) - I would say why not. It’s not a rational choice, but I understand the emotional pull of striving for perfection.</p>
<p>I agree with cosar. kameronsmith, stalk the college decision threads tonight and you may see that those accepted are not necessarily those with the highest scores, not when the scores are already so close.</p>
<p>Wow. I have the exact same situation, except that I got an 80 on the multiple choice part of the writing section and a 7 on the essay. I actually found this thread by Googling my grade.</p>
<p>Besides for being extremely confused about my essay grade, as I’m an AP English student and editor-in-chief of the school newspaper, I understand your concern. However, I know that I won’t take it again. Imagine the scenario. A bunch of admissions officers are sitting in the “smoke-filled room”, deciding your fate. Or maybe it’s just one poor soul who has to pour over thousands of applications. Either way, they most likely won’t say, “Hey, look! This person has the EXACT same application as this other person, but he/she got a 2400. Let’s accept him/her!” It’s a very unlikely scenario. No two applications are alike. It’s probable that an extra forty points won’t make it or break it for you. </p>
<p>Also, how do you know that next time you will do better, rather than worse?</p>
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<p>Because I usually get an 800 on the practice. Oh well. I’ll see how my AP Lit exam goes and consider retaking the SAT next year.</p>
<p>^^ Love the Chuck allusion in your forum name</p>
<p>OP: I personally retook a 2370 Jan test, cue the barrage of verbal attacks, for a 2400 in March but my situation was slightly different. I received a 770M in Jan due to a really dumb mistake, misreading a question to be exact, so I was fully confident that a repeat would result in a 2400. </p>
<p>If you usually expect an 800W, then by all means retake. Otherwise, a 2360 is already a superb score that over 99% of the U.S. population of HSers would die for.</p>
<p><em>sigh</em></p>
<p>I guess if you really want to retake it that much, just retake it. After all, you only took it once.</p>
<p>I’ll trade you my 800 W for your 800 CR!</p>
<p>@sd6
I would do the same.</p>
<p>@kameron - 2400 seems like your goal, and seeing as this was your first SAT, I don’t see how retaking could hurt you (if you do decide to retake, do it in June so we’ve got your experience for the consolidated lists 
)</p>