<p>I took the SAT three times. My first score = 2170. My superscore = 2260.</p>
<p>Critical Reading: 660
Math: 800
Writing:800</p>
<p>I'm an Asian from the Northeast. Would this make me competitive/ in the running for Stanford? I know my CR score is low. It's only the 25th percentile. =</p>
<p>Stanford is my dream school. I think I'm going SCEA, but is there really an advantange or point to applying early if there's a stronger pool of applicants and no proven advantage?</p>
<p>Thanks.</p>
<p>There is no advantage to applying early and I've heard that Stanford has a habit of outright rejecting students instead of deferring. I would retake the SAT one more time in October to raise the Critical Reading score above 700.</p>
<p>Yeah, I plan on doing that.</p>
<p>Let's say I go...730, 800, 800. Good?</p>
<p>Any CR score 700+ would be great. The 660 is probably perfectly fine. 25th percentile seems a bit low, but I can't imagine the 660 in CR keeping you out of Stanford. They just aren't that into SAT scores. </p>
<p>Do you think that a 660 is an inaccurate representation of your ability? Do you think it's likely to get a 700+? If not, it might not be worth your time, as I don't think it will really matter in the end.</p>
<p>It's good advice from marlgirl.</p>
<p>Stanford looks heavily at your ECs, community service, leadership abilities, and general all-around quality. It may be one of the elite universities that places the least emphasis on SAT score.</p>
<p>Try to write a good essay to describe something unique or some special EC activities may help.</p>
<p>If you decide to retake the SAT, send your scores to Stanford before the retake. That way if your score goes down, you won't have to send it.</p>
<p>So I can send my scores early like September 30th...and then take the SAT again in October? </p>
<p>If my score goes up, I can resend my scores so they see the Oct. score (only if I improve)?</p>
<p>"I think I'm going SCEA, but is there really an advantange or point to applying early"</p>
<p>Nope, no advantage. It is more likely HARDER to get in SCEA.</p>
<p>I was about to suggest you retake the SAT, but then I re-read your post. Three times already, and your top CR is 660? OK, please use common human being sense: sitting through that fourth 4-hour test is so not worth it. I doubt CR will improve much if you've already taken it three times already.</p>
<p>Use your weekend to work on the essay instead, or studying to keep your first semester grades solid!</p>
<p>I know Stanford cares more about GPA than SAT. However, how much does Stanford weigh the SAT comparatively to its peers, the Ivies, MIT, Duke, etc?</p>
<p>Oh. I never really studied or practiced for Critical Reading. I guess I can get it up. I got a 5 on the English Language test.</p>
<p>And...four hours isn't that much time. I'd waste lose those hours and get a 730+ than sleep and still have a 660.</p>
<p>FredFredBurger- My GPA is low...it's a 3.76 UW. I got a 4.0 junior year. Will that be okay? My freshman year was bad.</p>
<p>Could anyone answer my previous question (Post #8)?</p>
<p>The answer to #8 post is "Yes"</p>
<p>imo...retake it and get a higher CR score.</p>
<p>Taking the SAT four times is too much, imo.</p>
<p>tokenadult- You are sure that the amount of times an applicant takes the SAT does not affect admissions in any way? Only the scores, correct?</p>
<p>I would hope so...it makes sense to me.</p>
<p>It's a good idea to get a target score (my recommendation, unless other aspects of your application are amazing, is to get into the top quartile of students at the college you are applying to, if you can) and then quit taking the test to do something more worthwhile. I met the Stanford admission officer who handles applicants from my state in May, and if she wanted to stress the issue of not taking the SAT I too often, she had ample opportunity to do that after I wrote ahead to the Stanford admission office by email. </p>
<p>Stanford describes what it is looking for as "intellectual vitality." If you can show that, whatever that is, then I can take Stanford's admission statement at its word that Stanford doesn't have a minimum score or cut-off score on the SAT I or any other admission test. You'll have to decide for yourself whether your current pattern of preparation, </p>
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<p>suggests intellectual vitality (because you were busy with something else more important) or suggests need for improvement in intellectual vitality (because you didn't become curious sooner about how to improve your reading, and thus your reading scores). I won't see all the other parts of your application, but the Stanford admission office will, and the total picture will help determine in what light your scores are viewed. </p>
<p>I hope all the Stanford applicants are aware of the thread "How</a> do top scorers on tests fail to gain admission to top schools?" which mentions other aspects of a successful college application to prepare before applying. Perhaps you will decide your time is better spent working on those aspects rather than on raising your SAT score one last time, but only you can figure out what is the best way to be as ready as you can for a challenging college experience.</p>
<p>JDorian: What I don't understand is why you've taken the test three times, but you still never decided to study for the Critical Reading section? </p>
<p>Nevertheless, the common wisdom on this board anyway is that a score of 2250+ is fine. You've done that, my advice would be to stop taking the dang test. I get this feeling from your posts however, that you would really rather keep taking the test. I could be completely off base, that's just the sense I get. </p>
<p>Regardless, you've improved 90 points after re-taking the test twice. Do you really think you're going to see a huge jump if you re-take the test one more time? And say you do end up getting a 730 CR, are those 40 points really worth it? If they are, then by all means, take the test. But my advice, and I'll say it again, is to stop obsessing over one aspect of your application and start working on other parts of it.</p>
<p>660 + 40 = 730.</p>
<p>Okay, 70 points, not 40, but my point remains the same.</p>
<p>Do what you want though, it's your time not mine.</p>