<p>D is taking ACT at school this week and they were asked to write the "college" where they would like their scores to be sent.</p>
<p>I vaguely remember someone mentioning here to hold off writing prospective schools on the ACT and SAT forms . . . there are SO many to send to and this is only her first time taking the test. </p>
<p>I'm guessing it costs per school after the fact? </p>
<p>Suggestions?</p>
<p>It does cost afterwards, and there’s a lot of schools to send them to.</p>
<p>BUT.</p>
<p>Every single school we applied to would accept the ACT/SAT scores from the high school transcript IF the high school transcript included the official “sticker” (whatever that is) and not just a notation of the score. It happens that our HS included the “sticker” and so it was just as valid as a score sent directly from the ACT. This was at every school including some very academically select private schools and very large bureaucratic state schools.</p>
<p>We didn’t end up applying to Dartmouth or Oberlin but I believe, if I remember correctly, they had the same policy when I checked and if so then even tippy top and IL’s accept it that way.</p>
<p>You might check with some of the universities you think might be different for some reason just to be sure, but I bet you find out they all will accept that.</p>
<p>And our HS didn’t charge us anything to send transcripts.</p>
<p>So…call your HS guidance counselor and find out if they have the “sticker” on the transcripts; if so, then transcript and ACT/SAT scores are done all in one fell swoop. :)</p>
<p>Our high school was different. They do not include SAT scores on transcript. So we had to pay for scores to be sent. D did ask for scores to be sent directly from the test to a couple schools that she knew she was definitely going to apply to. She only took the test once, so it’s not like they wouldn’t see those scores eventually.</p>
<p>I decided to spend the money and not have any scores automatically sent. With score choice, I thought it was worth retaining control over the information and waiting to see what we wanted to send.</p>
<p>^^^That is what I recommend to my students too.</p>
<p>That’s what I was wondering about SDonCC . . . snapdragonfly: I did email counselor’s to see if they made scores “official” and which ones (best score as SDonCC referred to).</p>
<p>Thanks all!</p>
<p>One thing we found with the SAT was that if you send the free scores initially and your child scores higher on a subsequent test, you can always send the later scores if you’d like to. The advantage of doing this is that the schools will almost always weigh the highest score on each individual section (M/CR/W), even if they’re from different tests, which will make the composite score even higher. For example, S’s composite score the second time around was higher than the first time he took it. However, his Math score was slightly lower the second time, while his Critical Reading and Writing scores were significantly higher the second time. All of S’s schools factored in the higher Math score from the first test and the higher CR & W scores from the 2nd test, putting his overall score, in a few cases, above the minimum required for certain scholarship levels. Same thing applies if your child’s school lists all the test scores on the grade transcript (ours did) – again, the schools will usually weigh the highest score on each section, regardless of which test it came from. Hopes this makes sense…</p>
<p>Yes, that is called superscoring. However, now the SATs/CollegeBoard have Score Choice, and I would wait to see all test scores and then decide which ones to send. You may have to send from more than one sitting if that is what it takes to have a better superscore but it may be that the highest scores on each subtest in one sitting are the best and there is no need to show them your lower scores. Also, with the ACT, I believe you can choose which test date scores to send and only send your top score. There is SAT score choice on the Subject Tests as well. </p>
<p>I also would NOT want my high school to list SAT or ACT scores on the transcript as it is the student’s right to just report their best scores to colleges. </p>
<p>And honestly, most colleges still require OFFICIAL Score Reports to be sent by the College Board and transcripts are not enough. I would request my high school to remove all SAT and ACT scores from the transcript. My daughters took the SAT in 7th and 8th grades for the Johns Hopkins Talent Search and I noticed when viewing their transcripts that it was listed and had these removed as they were from middle school after all. </p>
<p>I would not send the free reports and would wait until all testing was completed and then decide which sittings’ scores to send and do it all at once (also easier to keep it straight rather than send some from one date and some from another date or in fall of senior year). Further, if you retake the test and do better in the second sitting, you are going to have to send a new report anyway. I realize there are fees involved but they are small in the scheme of college costs. </p>
<p>I would send score reports ONE time ever and ALL at once to all colleges once I decided WHICH scores I wanted to send.</p>
<p>Thank you all for your input - I’m so grateful for CC and everyone’s expertise and willingness to share.</p>
<p>Ok. Just found the next dates - I just searched for them the other day and couldn’t find them. </p>
<p>2011-2012 Anticipated SAT Saturday and Sunday Test Dates (US only)
October 1 and 2, 2011
November 5 and 6, 2011
December 3 and 4, 2011
January 28 and 29, 2012
March 10 and 11, 2012
May 5 and 6, 2012
June 2 and 3, 2012</p>
<p>So. This is the next question . . . would it pay to take the test again in October or November even if she’s applied early?</p>
<p>If she studies over the summer so that her score goes up, yes. Also if her scores go up, you can keep sending them to colleges even after the application has gone in (often up to about a month after the ap due date). We ran into one school (OK City Univ) that will even increase scholarships if SAT’s improve as late as June!</p>
<p>^^^ Thanks. And that’s good to know about OCU classicalbk. I love how OCU lays it out: for this score, you get this award amount. No surprises and those scores and award amounts serve as a nice goal. :0)</p>
<p>A majority of the schools we looked at did their merit money that way. X score plus X rank equaled X money. She got award letters about that aid as soon as she was accepted. It was the grant, competitive, need based, and talent money that we had to wait to find out about.</p>
<p>I agree it’s very nice when at least some of it is cut and dried.</p>
<p>Some of the schools on our list would bump up the award amount right up to the last minute, but not all of them did (do, will do, will have done, whatever)</p>
<p>Concerning this subject and actually all of them, I reached only one conclusion that applies to every school: that no two of them do everything exactly alike and while people can tell you what the general rule is, the only way to be certain to avoid an unhappy surprise is to find out directly from the individual school and be notating the info in Ye Olde Spreade Sheet.</p>
<p>I was surprised that soozievt’s experience was that the schools want the scores directly from ACT/SAT because you would think almost 20 schools who accepted the transcript with a sticker that accepted my D (and we didn’t care that her lower scores were on them as they got progressively higher each time she retook them and they did base her scholarships on her highest score) would indicate an industry standard but since soozie knows of what she speaks and wouldn’t lie to us, 
clearly the only conclusion is that there isn’t an industry standard so I just wouldn’t take anything for granted at any particular school. It is helpful to know what the various different procedures usually are, but you better not assume any one school uses one or the other!</p>
<p>At more academically selective colleges, merit money is not a simple formula of X GPA and Y test score equals award. That is more common at less selective schools or public institutions.</p>
<p>For example, since OCU was mentioned, it is not too academically selective as it has a 79% acceptance rate.</p>
<p>I do think most schools require Score Reports to be sent directly from the College Board (for the SATs). I understand you (snapdragonfly) have found exceptions, but your D applied, I THINK, to some regional schools and such in your state with which I am not familiar. But in most of the colleges that I know on a national scale, official score reports are required.</p>
<p>The most selective academically schools we applied to were U of Tulsa, Southwestern, and TCU. I think actually that Tulsa is academically more rigorous than TCU, but they turn away fewer kids than TCU especially after that Superbowl upset. </p>
<p>But TCU did not offer a cut and dried merit aid policy. I can’t remember now (isn’t that awful? to forget so soon) if Tulsa did. Southwestern did, I think. The state schools we looked at did.</p>
<p>We didn’t apply to any of the really really tippy top academic schools like Northwestern or Ivies.</p>
<p>My D did get academic acceptances to all of them but it was a pretty clear correlation between my D’s ACT, the median ACT, and how much money they offered. Where she was slightly above, the money was a lot better than where she was slightly below (which was only one school.) With the exception of TCU, which she was right at exactly the median but they offered her from less than a fourth to less than half of what the other schools offered.</p>
<p>All of our schools were regional and I think there definitely tend to be some fairly significant differences in the overall trend of schools out here and in the East, as you say, soozie, based on what many people including you have reported versus what we and other parents and students looking in our area have experienced.</p>
<p>Which is important to know if you are in the East and look into our area, or vice versa. :)</p>
<p>As you say, the state schools had a formula for merit aid based on “stats.” Some of the privates your D applied to did not do it that way, as you say, but overall, most of those are more regional schools. </p>
<p>U of Tulsa is a national university (and as you say, did not equate merit aid with certain stats). </p>
<p>Southwestern is considered a national liberal arts college (though it truly mostly draws from that region).</p>
<p>Texas Christian University is a national university and didn’t have a formula for merit aid as you state.</p>
<p>St. Edwards University (you mentioned your D applied there) is considered a regional university.</p>
<p>OCU is a Regional University.</p>
<p>State universities tend to do admissions and merit aid more based on numbers/stats (though there are exceptions at some well known state universities, like UMich).</p>
<p>PS, I do see that Oberlin will allow test scores reported via transcript. But since so many schools of that type require official score reports, I think it is easiest to send them to all your schools (I realize that didn’t apply to your D’s college list with many regional schools).</p>
<p>By the way, I don’t mean “regional” to be your Texas/southern schools vs. East Coast schools. I deal with students applying to colleges all over the US and who live in all regions of the country and even out of the country. </p>
<p>But what I meant are the KINDS of schools and the terms “national university,” “regional university,” “national liberal arts college,” “regional liberal arts college,” are CATEGORIES of colleges that even USNews uses when they create their rankings. </p>
<p>For example, Quinnicpiac, Butler, Rollins, Elon, Santa Clara, and Chapman are all considered Regional Universities (even though they are in various regions of the US). </p>
<p>Endicott, Ohio Northern, Ouachita Baptist, and Rocky Mountain College are all considered Regional Colleges. </p>
<p>Harvard, CalTech, Duke, Northwestern, and Rice are all considered National Universities even though they are located in different regions of the country. </p>
<p>Williams, Pomona, Carleton, and Davidson are considered National Colleges even though they are located in different regions of the country.</p>
<p>Well, not a day goes by that I don’t learn there is so much to learn about higher ed; everything new I learn opens the door to even more stuff I didn’t realize.</p>
<p>What exactly is the criteria that determines that a school is “regional” versus “national?” Is it having to do with their sports conference or something to that nature?</p>