<p>My son got a 2280 (770M, 770CR, 740W) on his his first and only junior year attempt last May. Is there any reason for him to take it again? If you listen to all of the admissions people, the answer would be no. In fact, the impression I get is that they would think it was neurotic to take it again. I tend to agree, but what about scholarships? I also get the feeling that I can't quite believe what admissions people say. My niece got a 34 on the ACT, but at one college, someone encouraged her to retake the ACT to qualify for more scholarship money. Are their other opportunities that are based on the SAT? Everyone seems to take the SAT at least tiwce, so what would be the downside of taking it again? We would hate to find out later that he should have done so.</p>
<p>This is a very good and well balanced score. Although it may look better to get 2300+ or even 2400, it is much better to spend the effort in writing good essays and deepen the EC. If he has already decided which schools to apply, is pretty much done with his essays, is very confident he can get at least 50-100 points higher, and has nothing else to day, then it may be a good idea to retake it. There is no down side to take it the second time except for the money and time you need to put into it.</p>
<p>The only reason to retake it would be for scholarship purposes. However, even that would likely apply to only a limited number of schools. You are not likely to get non-need based scholarships from the very high ranks and even getting a 2400 for those wouldn’t increase chances. However, there are many colleges that have partial and some full tuition scholarships that at least partly depend on test score (often a combination of grades and test score) but for most of those a 2280 is likely going to put you in the high group anyway and grades will be the big difference. Nevertheless, you may want to check colleges to which he might apply to see if a higher score could raise scholarship potential.</p>
<p>Thanks for the feedback.</p>
<p>Yes, the essays are still waiting to be done and the colleges he is applying to are all need-based only schools. His other scores and class rank can’t be any better. He was in the 75th percentile of the AIME test. He would fall into the top academic bucket for any college. He could get 60+ more points on the SAT, but can I believe admissions officers when they say things like:</p>
<p>"Also, if you scored 2150 or higher on the SAT, or 32 or higher on the ACT, walk away. Those scores are good enough at even the most selective schools. Higher scores won’t improve your chances, and taking the test again just makes you look neurotic.”</p>
<p>[I don’t know if I quite believe that.]</p>
<p>and this from MIT:</p>
<p>“Let me tell you one more story that I often relay. I was doing a regional reception in a city a few years back, and afterwards a student – we’ll call her Artemis – comes up to me and tells me that she has a 760 on the Math SAT. As I was about to tell her that her score was just fine, she keeps talking, to inform me that she was going to take the test again, since “clearly” her score was “too low.” I was like, “What!!!” I “ordered” Artemis to not take the Math SAT again, and instead to have a picnic on that Saturday. Because to us, a 760 math is the same as any higher score she could receive on the retest.”</p>
<p>[Hmmm. I don’t know if I believe that either.]</p>
<p>The only thing I can find that depends specifically on the SAT is the Presidential Scholar Program, but I don’t see that as a reason to retake the test, especially if it’s mostly based on just SAT.</p>
<p>It is the difference between student perception of the admission process and what actually happens. Applicants have a tendency to believe that the test score is the most important part of their application and that a ten point difference between two applicants can mean one will be accepted and the other rejected. The MIT response is far closer to reality. There really is not a difference of significance between a 760 and 800, the high test score is what keeps you in the ballgame at high ranked colleges, but ultimately grades and course difficulty will be more important, and, when reviewing one candidate’s particular file, they don’t sit around going “but Fred’s SAT is only 2240 when Bob’s is 2280.”</p>
<p>I thought about a similar question before. My son is taking ACT for the first time this September. Of course he would love to be able to score a 36, but we agree that if he scores 34+ then that will be it. It’s too stressful to get 2 extra points. I do agree with the others. I think his time will be better spent on writing excellent essays, volunteer experience and maybe a few awards on EC activities. Best luck to your son!</p>
<p>There was one student that I know who got 35 in ACT the first time and insisted to retake it and got 36 the second time. She received the presidential scholarship and should be senior in Yale this year. She has excellent credential and that 1 point was perhaps the only imperfection. In her case, the ACT retake has nothing to do with admission but for just scholarship and self-satisfaction. I am not sure if your son feels this way.</p>
<p>Thanks for the comments. I’m getting a better feel for the tradeoff and that we are not missing something obvious. I think billcsho’s example comes closest to my son, but will he feel the same way? It’s nice to know that Yale didn’t see it as weird that she took the test again.</p>
<p>I believe what the college people are telling you. Especially if his transcript is really strong.</p>
<p>I’d tell my kid to spend his time on the application essays.</p>
<p>For my son, it wouldn’t be a zero-sum tradeoff between better SAT scores or better essays. He just got an application guide to MIT in the mail yesterday that says:</p>
<p>“You shouldn’t stress out too much about your scores, because we admit people, not numbers. Seriously. That said, tests are important, and you should prepare for them as best you can. If you take the same test (SAT, ACT, or an SAT Subject Test) multiple times, we will consider the highest score achieved in each section.”</p>
<p>“that said”</p>
<p>We heard that at every single college info session.</p>
<p>Definitely a mixed signal. It’s OK to take the test multiple times, and they supersize your total SAT score, but they don’t want you to stress “too much”. It depends on what they talk about when they are choosing (at best) one-out-of-five applications from the top bucket. Will my son get any kudos for having taken the test only once when he could get 60+ more points on the SAT? If they want to view students “in their best light”, then they are encouraging “too much”; they expect to see SAT scores that are maximized. </p>
<p>I know that many colleges lump people into different academic and extracurricular buckets, but when they are choosing the one-out-of-five applicants in the top bucket, are their holistic brains completely ignoring that SAT score? Are they completely ignoring how that score will contribute to or detract from their college average? Will better scores at the top end help them be more holistic at the lower end and still keep their mean SAT scores?</p>
<p>I guess I just don’t believe them. Holistic hides too many biases and hidden (unspoken) agendas.</p>