<p>If an applicant to HYPS has a 3.9 GPA, a good rank, a 2400 SAT II combined, good extracurriculars, and is un-hooked, what SAT I score is the lowest such that he/she should not retake? 2250? 2300? 2350? Thoughts?</p>
<p>It depends on the distribution. 750/750/750 is great whereas 800/800/650 is worth retaking.</p>
<p>That’s for you to decide.</p>
<p>The 75th percentile is 790 in each section at HYP, lower at S because they bend more for athletes and have more of them. If you don’t have a hook, you want to be there for all 4.</p>
<p>I think people bring up a valid point when it comes to numbers, but you should also keep in mind that there are other things outside of GPA/SAT that matter in college admissions.</p>
<p>^^ Redroses, that’s not accurate. On average it is. Yale’s 75% for math is 780. <a href=“http://www.yale.edu/oir/cds.pdf[/url]”>http://www.yale.edu/oir/cds.pdf</a> Same for Harvard. <a href=“http://www.provost.harvard.edu/institutional_research/Provost_-_CDS2008_2009_Harvard_for_Web_Clean.pdf[/url]”>http://www.provost.harvard.edu/institutional_research/Provost_-_CDS2008_2009_Harvard_for_Web_Clean.pdf</a> For Princeton the 780 is in writing. <a href=“http://registrar.princeton.edu/university_enrollment_sta/common_cds2009.pdf[/url]”>http://registrar.princeton.edu/university_enrollment_sta/common_cds2009.pdf</a></p>
<p>I believe you are right about the reason for Stanford being lower. They are the only one of those schools which participate in “big” college sports.</p>
<p>Looks like we were both wrong. From College Board for Yale:</p>
<p>Test Scores
Middle 50% of
First-Year Students Percent Who
Submitted Scores
SAT Critical Reading: 700 - 800 91%
SAT Math: 700 - 780 91%
SAT Writing: 700 - 790 91%
ACT Composite: 30 - 34 32% </p>
<p>The point is we’re looking at uber high scores for the unhooked and many here believe low 700s is competitive.</p>
<p>Would 800/750/750 be good enough?</p>
<p>Please, please, please don’t be ridiculous and retake anything above a 2250. It’s simply not healthy and not worthwhile. For that matter, there’s always the risk that colleges will not look favorably on perfectionism.</p>
<p>^This advice is simply not based on fact. Pure myth.</p>
<p>simo14 I hope that’s good enough…
Was that your first time taking it?
If I had a score like that I wouldn’t think twice about retaking it. No way.</p>
<p>
Any data to support such a claim?</p>
<p>I didn’t say that retaking the test multiple times would necessarily come across negatively to an admissions committee; I simply said that taking the test multiple times has the potential risk of doing so.</p>
<p>Do what you want to do. It’s your life - if you want to retake a 2390, you’ve got your own worries to deal with.</p>
<p>Ok, a lot of people seem to think that retaking the SAT with a score above, say, 2250 or 2300 or some other arbitrary threshold is pointless, obsessive and sad. This may be true, but I don’t think it is, especially if you’re thinking of applying to a very selective school. Literally every word on your application is of crucial importance if you’re competing with 11 other people for a place. And yes, a 10-point difference on the SAT is still a difference (though I agree that using the SAT to choose between two candidates whose SAT scores are within 10 points of each other probably never happens).</p>
<p>There may be other considerations as well. For example: If my GPA was above 3.8, I wouldn’t bother to retake (my score is 2370). But it’s not. So I’ll retake the SAT in October because my GPA is incredibly low and, while I have no illusions about my chances of getting into a top school, I still want to strengthen my application as much as possible.</p>
<p>I do think retaking a 2370 is a bit ridiculous. If you are really lucky, you MIGHT improve just marginally.</p>
<p>I took the SAT I once, got my 2270, and declared myself done. I had better things to spend my time on.</p>
<p>The College Board statistics are outdated; the ranges have gone up a bit.</p>
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</p>
<p>It’s not a matter of it being “sad” it’s strictly a matter of limited time and focusing on maximizing that time remaining. It’s not just a matter of showing up for the test but the prep time involved. Someone could use that time to enter two writing competitions (for example) and have a FAR better chance of impressing a college admissions officer than some 30 point gain on the SAT. Time should be spent improving the weak areas on your overall application not beating to death your strong areas. It’s really that basic.</p>
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<p>Getting a 4.0 for the first semester of your Sr year will help you far more than raising your SAT 30 points.</p>
<p>
I spent less than 30 minutes to prep for a retake after my 2370 in Jan. Guess your argument is moot.</p>
<p>Personally, I think a 750+ in each section would not call for a retake.</p>