I just received my SAT results: composite score 1860, where I have 630 for reading, 650 for math, and 580 for writing. I wanted to apply next year as a senior to Reed college as well as Oxford University in the UK, but have been worried that retaking the SAT will alter my chances too much for getting into these colleges, even if my gpa is very high. Is there still any chance of getting into these colleges if I retake the exam in October this year and improve significantly?
Your current scores are well below the usual range for those colleges. You should definitely take it again and improve significantly if you want a decent chance of admission. (BTW, Oxford doesn’t care much about GPA–test scores are what they’re looking for.)
Good luck!
I don’t think you could alter your chances too much. I think you want to alter your chances as much as possible. The concern is that your scores may not be available soon enough for your Oxford application. The application itself is due in early October, and I thought they wanted you to self-report the scores on the application (I am not sure about that). Have you taken enough AP exams and scored ‘5’ on them? Those two items, plus the interview, are going to be very important for you with Oxford.
Certainly take a prep course and retake the exam. For Reed, consider whether you really want to take the SAT versus the ACT. Some do much better on one than the other. I am not sure what Oxford requires.
Your SAT is low for both Reed and Oxford at the moment. For Reed, I’d say you’d need to raise your score to at least 2000 for it not to count against you in the selection process. And the Oxford website clearly states that US applicants are expected to score at least 700 on each section.
IMO your score would have to improve significantly to make a difference for those schools…
If you check the Common Data Set for Reed, the 25th/75th percentile is 1920 and 2140. Currently, you’d be a very LOOOONG shot to be admitted. I’d imagine Oxford’s numbers are even tougher.
Definitely retake – or try the ACT. Taking either, up to three times, won’t have any negative ramifications.
Do some more prep work and retake as soon as possible. Good luck.
As @ItsJustSchool says, GPA won’t matter for Oxford, but you need that 2100 AND your APs. Agreeing with @T26E4 wrt the ACT- it suits some people better than the SAT.
Ok, thank you! I’ll probably retake both of them.
Also, depending on what subject you are applying to study you may have an Oxford-specific test to take in early November for (and register for by October).
You may want to consider the ACTs instead. You haven’t listed enough information here. If you have 5’s on your APs and 700s on your SAT2’s then you will probably do better on the ACTs. Students with a good fund of information but who don’t game tests and whose goals focus on learning rather than grades will probably do better on the ACTs. Those that are very grade conscious, are motivated more by grades then learning will do better on the SATS.
^ What?? That doesn’t make any sense- “those that very grade conscious, are motivated more by grades than learning will do better on the SAT’s”. What are you basing this off of? Did you do poorly on the SAT and better on the ACT yourself- thereby putting yourself in the category of “those whose goals focus on learning rather than grades”. BTW my son who could care less about grades and totally motivated by what he felt was relevant to him scored a 800 CR 700M 740 Wr. No prep. You can’t guess what motivates a kid from the SAT/ACT.
I agree with @goingnutsmom about that.
“Students with a good fund of information but who don’t game tests and whose goals focus on learning rather than grades will probably do better on the ACTs. Those that are very grade conscious, are motivated more by grades then learning will do better on the SATS.” That might be one of the most ridiculous things that I’ve read on College Confidential. D took diagnostics for both and scored 2200 on SAT and 32 on ACT but opted to take SAT for real because she liked the format more and has a pretty good vocabulary from reading and studying Latin (which she, um, loves).