<p>My S is a junior in high school (Florida) and just took the SATs and got a score of 1840. Is that a good score? That was the second time he took them. He scored a 1680 then. I'm not sure whether he should take them again or not. Any suggestions? He's an A student with a weighted GPA of 4.3. We haven't gotten his ACT score back yet. He's interested in UF and FSU.</p>
<p>Thanks.</p>
<p>M</p>
<p>How does that score break down (i.e., Math, Critical Reading, Writing)? Based on a quick look at the common data sets for both schools and assuming each section is 1840/3 = 613, he’d be in the middle 50% of admitted students with respect to SAT score.</p>
<p>I’m not an expert on the Florida schools and hopefully someone who is will reply. I always suggest taking the SAT and ACT once and then retaking whichever has the better result. One more retake might not be a bad idea if he intends to do any prep work. Otherwise, I’m not sure what would be the benefit.</p>
<p>UF’s student profile for its last freshman class shows that students with scores between 1600 and 1940 have a 38% chance of admission. If his core is in the next tabulated range 1950 - 2090 his chance rise to 73%. With his score its probably a 50:50 proposition. If he wants UF, I’d suggest some extra practice and retesting so he know’s he’s given it his best shot. It’s easier to gain admission to FSU.</p>
<p>Google “Common Data Set” {school name} and look at section C7 to see what is uses in admissions, and section C9 to see what the SAT/ACT score distribution is.</p>
<p>MS, can you link to that? Are you sure that’s a chance of admission, or are those the scores of 73% of the people admitted?</p>
<p>Youdon’tsay - it’s published here for the 2012 entering class (chance of admit):
[University</a> of Florida - Admissions](<a href=“http://www.admissions.ufl.edu/ugrad/frprofile.html]University”>Freshman - How To Apply - University of Florida)
See the last graph on the page.</p>
<p>UF needs to brush up on their graph-making skills. The bars in those graphs totally do not represent the numbers they’re supposed to. The blue bars and the orange bars they’re being compared to are not on the same scale, and even the same-colored bars within the same graph are not on the same scale. What a mess.</p>
<p>I’m also curious as to how UF computes GPA, if a 3.9 gives you only a 27.7% chance of admittance. Maybe the same guy who made the graphs recalculates the GPA’s.</p>
<p>This is an example of what is really going wrong in our schools. GPAs above 4.0 should be HARD to achieve, and yet, they are not. I do understand that GPAs and SAT scores can measure different things about a student, but really, what that UF chart shows is how grade inflation has hit the entire public school system. An 1840 is a good score, but not a great score. A 4.3 GPA is a GREAT gpa. I know this isn’t what the OP asked, but I can’t help but shake my head at this kind of stuff. In our school, tons of kids have high GPAs because then the parents think that their kids are doing really well, and the school is awesome too, when they aren’t. Makes me so sad.</p>
<p>The breakdown is important.</p>
<p>Wait for the ACT before making any decision.</p>
<p>My son could not crack the SAT essay and that brought down his grade; while he scored perfect on the ACT essay.</p>
<p>Some schools throw out the SAT writing.</p>
<p>Can anyone verify if the two schools in question look at weighted GPA? Half the schools my son applied to did not considered weighted.</p>
<p>a 4.3 may or may not be a great GPA. I assume it is weighted.</p>
<p>^^Yes. UF recalculates GPA based on transcript, giving honors classes +.5 and AP/IB/DE +1. So a 4.3 UF GPA would be strong (~70%ile) but not spectacular. A 3.9 would put an applicant in the bottom quartile. So assuming the OPs S’s 4.3 is UF weighting he’s well within range. FSU’s middle 50% for GPA is a bit lower (3.7-4.2) using the same weighting.</p>
<p>All that said, UF admissions in particular have gotten much tougher in the last few years and are famously hard to predict. My DS is a junior in a well regarded magnet HS in Miami that sends a bunch of students to UF every year, and some of the decisions I’ve heard about this year have me scratching my head. I strongly encourage the OP to check out the UF forum.</p>
<p>This really torqs me off. UF has used the same weighted GPAs in their CDS when the direction is specifically to use a 4.0 basis. [University</a> of Florida - Common Data Set](<a href=“http://www.ir.ufl.edu/OIRApps/commondataset/c_ftic_admission.aspx]University”>University of Florida - Common Data Set)</p>
<p>I worry that colleges Ad Coms really won’t evaluate the school profile enough to know that a 4.0 at my son’s HS is so much more difficult to achieve than a 4.0 at these Florida schools. </p>
<p>I pulled the past three years’ profiles to confirm that the highest weighted GPA was 4.3 two years and 4.2 one year. Five to seven per cent of the class earned above a 4.0, with a mean of 3.2-3.3.</p>
<p>Difficult to comprehend that a 3.9 from Florida is the bottom quartile when it would be the top 10% at my son’s school. I realize I have strayed off topic…sorry. To respond to your original question: yes, I would have your son take the SAT again unless his ACT score is significantly higher when you look at the concordance table.</p>
<p>It is funny because my son graduated with about a 3.5/4.0. One of his friends graduated from a different high school with a 4.2. When it came time to go to college they were at the same college with the same major - and my engineer son has a higher GPA than his friend. It just goes to show you not all high schools are created equally and neither are the GPA’s. If you google any high school in the country you can see somewhere on their site how they calculate GPA. the math and values are very different even among AP and Honors courses.</p>
<p>Many, many colleges recalculate the HS GPA based on a defined set of core courses. It’s true of all the public u’s in Massachusetts. Also some give a boost in GPA to well regared, grade-deflated schools.</p>
<p>You also want to make sure that your son’s math and critical reading scores are at least 1290 so that he will qualify for the Bright Futures Academic Scholar.</p>
<p>How much do they get with the top tier Bright Future Scholarship?</p>
<p>OP- I had my DS take the SAT & ACT as a Junior and then both of them again as a Senior. He didn’t do any studying for them but they both went up just because he learned stuff his Junior year in school. I can’t see any harm in taking them again and depending on his scores might he qualify for some merit scholarships.</p>
<p>Gemini, these are the current Bright Future Scholar levels: [url=<a href=“Home - Florida Student Scholarship & Grant Programs”>Home - Florida Student Scholarship & Grant Programs]Florida</a> Student Scholarship and Grant Programs<a href=“Google%20is%20a%20wondrous%20thing”>/url</a>.</p>