So I’m a junior in high school currently going through a lot of stress about
colleges, SATs, and ACTs. I’ve done a lot of research on these topics but
most of the time I end up looking at various responses that are different so I think it all depends on what colleges I’m applying to. These are some of the schools I’ve been interested in: Berkeley, UCLA, Notre Dame, and Univer-
sity of Michigan (Ann Arbor). Now the main question that’s really been both-
ering me is do these colleges mind if you take the SAT more than twice? I
want to take the current SAT twice and the new SAT coming out in March
once. Even though these are top schools, they’re not like Ivy League level,
so how bad would it look if I took it three times? I’ve asked my SAT Word
Power teacher this question and she says that I should be fine with 3 att-
empts considering that they only pick out your highest score, and also since there is a lot of hype going on about the new SAT, that colleges will most
likely be understanding of your situation. Is this true? Like I said, I’m not shooting for Harvard or anything like that and I always have the option of giving
them my ACT scores instead. So…it should be fine, right? Also, what kind oSAT and ACT scores would be needed to even get them to consider me as a worthy applicant? And what can I do toimprove as much as possible each time I take the tests? I would specifically like it if the answers to my ?s would be backed up by some credibility. Thanks
None of those schools care how many times you take the SAT. Guaranteed.
(and for “credibility,” well, I’ve been in the prep/counseling industry for over a decade and have known dozens of students who have been admitted to those schools and who have taken the test 3 or more times.)
Thanks! This really calmed down my SAT nerves
They can’t super score that 3rd try if they are a school that superscores. I think most of those schools are going to allow score choice anyway, so you don’t have to send all scores.
Are you in state for the California schools on you list? If not, can you afford to be full pay with out of state tuition?
Note that at least one of your schools explicitly states that it won’t superscore if you are taking the old and redesigned SAT. Here’s what Notre Dame says:
“The College Board will begin administering a redesigned SAT in March 2016. We will accept both the current SAT and redesigned SAT from students seeking Fall 2017 enrollment and beyond. The essay portion of the redesigned SAT will not be required, and we will superscore, using your highest individual SAT Evidence-Based Reading & Writing and Math sub-scores from multiple testing dates to compute your composite score. We will not superscore sub-scores from the current SAT with the redesigned SAT.”
In a holistic admision environment assuming that taking SAT too many times, not to have an adverse effect, is not realistic. I do not take it more than 3 times.