Send early SAT scores?

Just got the scores from the August test date. My son took the test before 11th grade. He did decently but not amazingly.

He is in conversation with several college coaches at academically selective schools. His scores are just below the lowest admitted scores for kids admitted from his school.

I would hope he could improve his scores by the 20 - 30 points needed to at least get to the minimum of those admitted, but since they aren’t there yet, should he send them to the coaches?

Will they look at them and understand they are preliminary, and that another year of math, English and brain development may well raise the scores? Or wait till he has the actual higher scores?

I don’t think scores from past students at your school are relevant. This early in the process, what coaches care about is whether an athlete is likely to be over whatever threshold score is needed to get in with coach support. Those scores are going to vary by school, program, year, and individual recruit. But if your son’s scores are somewhere above the 25th percentile for the schools he’s interested in, I’d say it’s worth sharing these scores and mentioning he’s planning to test again after some additional prep. Coaches will usually tell you the range of scores needed and they know the scores can improve. But, for example, if your son shares a 1480 score with the Harvard coach, that coach might want to nudge it a bit higher but will know that this is a recruit that’s in the ballpark and worth investing time and effort in recruiting; if the score is a 1200 then the coach might be less enthusiastic until a better score comes through. But I’m guessing if your son scored close to previously admitted students the scores are probably better than you realize.

I think it depends on the school and the score. If you think the score is sufficiently low that a coach would move onto another recruit, I would not share it. It would not be unusual for a high school student to have not taken the test by the start of junior year.

On the other hand, if you think the score is within range for recruited athletes, go ahead and send it on. The coach, if interested, will tell you if he or she recommends another test sitting.

How to tell what that cut-off score would be, ask the coach before giving the information. If, for example, you schedule an “unofficial” meeting with the coach, just ask what test scores are needed.

Be a little careful about pre read though. My son was being recruited by the elite D3 schools and at one gave them the early SAT results (>1500). They rejected him pre read though weeks later he received his new score which super scored him 70 points higher - just below 1600 - and they wouldn’t resubmit it to admissions (new coach). They wanted him in June 1 pre read and not sit the extra few weeks until March SAT results came out. Every other school passed him in pre read including a few much more academically selective with the March results.

So be careful around pre read time if you are waiting for March results.

If a pre-read is submitted in June, wouldn’t the March scores be available? What is a recommended timeline for testing? My D21 is going to meet some elite D3 coaches this fall during a school break, but has not taken the SAT. She only has one totally un-prepped PSAT in hand and does not want to share that score. We are trying to figure out a schedule for test prep aiming to have scores in hand before pre-reads.

I’m sure it’s going to depend on the sport. We received several recommendations to have a score going into junior year for men’s swimming. Some programs want to know that you’re at least close and with OV and verbals starting junior year, the more complete your information the better.

My DD20 took the August SAT last year, her first one, and she sent that score to the coaches in September. The fact that your son is in coversation with the coaches already sounds to me that he must be a competitive candidate sports-wise, which is fantastic . My daughter’s intitial score was either above or less than 100 points from the cut offs, and the coaches wrote back or talked to my daughter about the needed score (as a recruit). She did retake the SAT later and raised the score.
I would not necessarily look at the scores from the admitted students from your high school unless the D3 schools you are looking at don’t have much coach influence.

@shishamo what are the “cutoffs”? A score given by the coaches that a recruit must be at or above? Or something else?

I’m going to ask college advising my question too, and if I learn anything I will post back here.

When my daughter asked the coaches what SAT score she needed to be competitive at that particular school, almost all gave her a certain number ( above x score total, or at least y score for each section). The one that didn’t just told her that her score was already in range (in other words, don’t worry). So yes, my understanding is that recruits need to be above a particular score. I don’t think any coach used the word “cut-off”, but we saw it as a certain number that you need to clear.

An Ivy league coach suggested to us that prospective recruits, in a perfect world, should have their testing completed by the spring of junior year. That generally means, fall of junior year is the first round of testing, then more prep and re-test in winter/early spring, if necessary.

I had the test date wrong I guess. Must have been the May date. We just assumed >1500 was strong enough that waiting for the new higher one was unnecessary. I’m not sure it would have mattered but it’s hard to explain passing at equally or more selective schools then.

@arbitrary99 Yes, I would think a score that high would pass anywhere. It does raise the question about whether or not a coach would give you a chance on a mediocre pre-read if you were a top-recruit. I know a Senior who plans to take SAT one more time, even at this late stage, but I have no idea where she is on list of recruits. So for the OP , and my D as well, it’s probably best to wait for better scores and put your best foot forward - but try to get that done before May!

I think it’s a function of GPA and SAT so in his case the SAT needed to “pull up“ the GPA. I’d wait for the best scores as long as in contact with the coach and not close up pre read times.

Have heard back from my son’s school’s college advising. On the plus side, they told me his gpa makes him attractive at any school with coach’s support. On the minus, they said if his scores are below 1400 (and they are) not to send yet. This is considering academically selective schools.