Retake a 2290 for HYP?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Hey y'all!</p>

<p>I'm applying to HYP (Harvard, Yale, Princeton), which I know is a huge reach, and UT PACT.
I just took the May SAT, 800M 760 CR 730 W (2290 total). My other two tests are 2150 and 2050, and the 2290 has my highest scores in all sections, so I can't superscore. Should I retake this (it will be my fourth try) for HYP and PACT?</p>

<p>I took my first ACT recently, 34 composite - 35 Eng - 36 Math - 36 Reading - 28 Science - 32 Combined Eng/Writing. I am definitely retaking this to get a good science score and aim for a 36.</p>

<p>I have a 4.0 GPA and I have 500+ volunteering hours.</p>

<p>Please help me decide if I should brave the application fees and actually have a shot at these amazing universities, and sorry for the length. Thank you so much for your help!</p>

2

<p>Those seem like decent safeties.</p>

3

<p>I don’t understand, what are safeties?</p>

4

<p>^That was supposed to be a joke. I was suggesting that because of your extraordinary extracurriculars schools like Harvard, Yale, and Princeton were “safeties,” or schools that you will almost definitely be accepted into. Your research is nothing short of remarkable, and I do not even fully understand the premise of your third example. Your leadership has evoked real change in the world, and your awards and volunteering are equally impressive.</p>

<p>In short, you don’t need to retake the SAT.</p>

5

<p>Thank you so much Discipulus Bonus, although I can hardly say that Harvard will ever be classified as a safety. :)</p>

6

<p>Your list of achievements nearly terrifies me. You’ll definitely get in, ESPECIALLY with a 2290 (is that a perfect score on your math section? holy crap!).</p>

7

<p>Hello truthandmercy,</p>

<p>I’m currently an undergraduate student at Harvard University but was accepted to Stanford, Yale, and Princeton. However, although, I had a perfect SAT and ACT (I took the SAT 4 times and the ACT 3 times), I was still originally wait listed at Harvard and Princeton. I had a 4.0 unweighted GPA and I scored 5s on all the APs I’ve taken (Calculus BC, Macro Economics, Micro Economics, Government, Stats, Biology, Chemistry, Physics C, French, Modern European History, World History, US History). Obviously, I was the valedictorian of my high school. I also received college credit in advanced mathematics courses at TCU while in high school.</p>

<p>For my extracurricular activities, I am unofficially top 100 in solving the 3x3x3 cube. I’ve won multiple prestigious piano and violin competitions. I was a semi-finalist in the Siemens competition. I have over 500 community service hours and have started 2 non-profit organizations. I’ve also competed in the Chemistry Olympiad and have placed in the top 150. I’ve been doing research since I was in middle school under multiple professors all of which have written exceptional recommendation letters for me. </p>

<p>For sports, I am a blue chip recruit in Texas football. I’ve been on my varsity football team since my freshman year and Division I schools such as Alabama, TAMU, and Auburn have interviewed me for my athletic ability. However, it is not my dream to pursue football so I declined.</p>

<p>Having outlined a brief summary my qualifications, it is my belief that getting into Harvard, Yale, or Princeton is a roll of the dice considering I was wait listed for Harvard and Princeton. Therefore, the decision to retake the SAT is completely your choice. However, know that whether you get accepted or not will under no circumstances be definite or guaranteed.</p>

<p>Best of luck.</p>

8

<p>I wouldn’t retake; if it’s already your third try, a slightly higher score, as compared to an already-good score, won’t make a difference. :)</p>

9

<p>Lol, OP, you have literally NOTHING to worry about. How did you even go about getting those opportunities?</p>

10

<p>^That’s what I always wonder. It almost seems like connections to people in high places are far more important than many other aspects of one’s extracurriculars. I’m doing an internship at a cancer research lab atm only because my dad has connections to those sorts of things. It’s not like I’m doing actual RESEARCH, unless you consider carrying stuff for grad students is research, lol. Another lab into which I applied to declined because they don’t accept high-school students. How on Earth did the OP get to do research in MIDDLE SCHOOL?! </p>

11

<p>Thank you everybody, especially HYPaccepted for showing me that the decision is pretty holistic. Bodangles: yeah, I thought so too, so I’ve decided not to do it again :slight_smile: Oh, and to KiaralynNYC and cjwu362, I go to a program called TAMS which is on the University of North Texas, which allows me to research :wink: To tell you the truth, my research/EC’s are pretty lame compared to most people over there, which is why I’m so scared of college apps :P</p>

12

<p>Oh, and thank you Luciani2730!</p>

13

<p>Yes that is my only question. If I were an Ivy, I’d consider rejecting op just for his privilege and apparent lack of actual intelligence to achieve these things ( 2290 on the 3rd try with barely 2000’s before). How do you do top-notch research without knowing any college level stuff unless you’re truly a genius? A true genius wouldn’t get scores that low. I’m just proud that the research opportunity I’m getting it is of my own merit even if colleges don’t care about and it’s likely not near this scale. </p>

<p>Regardless, Ivies seem to if anything prefer privileged kids so you’re in at nearly every one of these unless you happen to come across an ad-com like me which you likely won’t (no I’m not an actual ad-com but ad-coms are essentially as well-informed as us while having a little more information (not much it’s vague) on what the colleges want). </p>

14

<p>Thank you for your detailed response anaconda. The reason for my fluctuating SAT scores is that my English has always been pretty bad, and I studied exceedingly hard for my last SAT. My critical reading jumped from a 650 to 760 and writing jumped a bit too. Math has always been around a 750-800 range. I also don’t think I’m that privileged; this school is widely publicized for it’s research and I just happened to get in. I’m actually from a middle class income family (100-125K) so I’m certainly not THAT privileged.</p>

15

<p>Your SAT score is not the slightest indication of your intellect. It measures aptitude. So you can be brilliant and still get a 1600 and be a top students. The only thing the SAT tests is how well you can take the SAT. </p>

16

<p>“Research suggests that the SAT, widely used in college admissions, is primarily a measure of g. A correlation of .82 has been found between g scores computed from an IQ test battery and SAT scores”</p>

17

<p>Thanks for the responses guys :slight_smile: I agree with y’all. I kind of wish colleges would go by IQ rather than the SAT.</p>

18

<p>@foolish Look sat is definitely connected to intelligence. It’s obviously not a perfect connection (at all), but then again neither is IQ. Intelligence in itself is difficult to define and how much “intelligence” one has seems to be a product of both innate ability and the environment one was exposed too (especially in their very early years). Not to devolve too much, but some study showed that children from advantaged vs. disadvantaged backgrounds were exposed to something like thousands more and several times as many words, and you better believe this will raise their “intelligence” by any test measure. To further back this up, between the 1970’s and 2000’s the iq scores of all ethnic groups rose, and it was most striking among African-Americans who made huge gains in socio-economic status in this time period. </p>

19

<p>@truthandmercy I’m no SAT advocate, but the IQ ain’t a perfect measure of intelligence either (though it is probably better than the sat). Tbh, I’m perplexed at what the sat is exactly supposed to test. None of it really correlates with real-world skills (the grammar and critical reading will be rarely if ever seen in the world and the math section is extremely basic). I guess it’s just an old-fashioned method of testing intelligence which colleges are still fond of, or they somehow believe still connects to real-world skills. </p>

20

<p>You have massive improvement from your first to latest SAT score. With your extremely solid ECs and strong GPA, it is not necessary to retake the SAT imo. </p>