<p>I'm currently a senior who is planning to reapply to colleges next year.</p>
<p>I took the March SATI and received a 2400. The only problem is that this was my fifth time. I didn't mind this that much because I was planning to reapply to schools that accept score choice. That is what I also did last time(applied to MIT, Duke, Northwestern etc). I did apply to Penn with sending my four sat scores that showed improvements last time. BUT now it's my FIFTH time. I am seriously considering applying ED to Penn BTW.</p>
<p>I think I have the grades (will have taken 14APs + 2 college math courses by the time I graduate with UW GPA being 3.96). I think one reason that I didn't get into Penn or other top 5 schools was because of my low reading score back then (680); people who get into Penn from my school usually had 750 or above in CR (From my school the average SAT for Penn admitted students is 2320; my school gets quite a lot of perfect scorers (6-7) every year.)</p>
<p>Would this really hurt my chance and should I just apply to school that uses score choice like Columbia through ED (I've never applied to Columbia before..) or would Penn overlook my circumstances?</p>
<p>BTW I used to attend a Chinese public school before I moved here four years ago if that kinda explains why I initially struggled w/ the SAT....</p>
<p>If you apply to a college that rejected you before, (a) they will look at your old file as well as your new application, and (b) the people doing the looking will likely be the same people who decided to reject you before. There is no way that a 2400 on your fifth attempt at the SAT is going to convince someone that he or she made a mistake rejecting you last year when you “only” had 2300 or 2250 or whatever on your fourth test. You weren’t rejected because your SATs were too low unless they were a lot lower than that. SATs just aren’t that important.</p>
<p>For that reason, you would be far better off concentrating on colleges to which you did not apply before. And my advice would be not to waste an ED application on Penn.</p>
<p>How were you able to apply to college last time? Since you are a sr now, did you apply as a jr? Why did you take a gap year if this is the case? Something doesn’t add up in your post.</p>
<p>I think the OP applied this year, was disappointed, and is planning to reapply next year while doing a gap year. The only thing that didn’t make sense to me was why he was taking the SAT I again this March, when he wouldn’t have known yet if that would be necessary.</p>
<p>Sounds like you are placing way too much emphasis on the prestige of the schools you are applying to.</p>
<p>I hope you didn’t take a gap year just because you didn’t get into an Ivy last time.</p>
<p>Also, in my opinion, the importance of SAT scores are on a downward trend. I don’t agree with this trend (my son got a 2300 last year), but based upon the experience of my son and the son of a friend of mine, high SAT scores are probably not as critical as you think.</p>
<p>In other words, a 2400 will probably not do you that much more good than a 2300.</p>