Should I re-take the SAT?

College Search & Selection
1

<p>I realize that many of the top universities super-score on the SATs. If I want to maximize my chances of admission into top universities such as Stanford, Columbia, or Harvard should I re-take the SAT?</p>

<p>I scored:</p>

<p>770 Critical Reading
710 Math
700 Writing (12 Essay).</p>

<p>Honestly, I'm happy with the 2180, but it's actually lower than the median SAT score of many top universities. Should I re-take the SAT, knowing that I can probably score at least a 750 on the math section and a 750 on the writing section if I do it again (on practice tests I have scored as high as 760 on math, and 800 on writing). </p>

<p>Would a top university like Stanford be impressed with the rare high reading score, considering that I achieved it by only taking the SAT once? Or would a top university admissions team be more impressed with a super-scored 2280 SAT score that I could potentially raise it to by taking it again?</p>

<p>In essence, I'm asking, if I should at least try to take the SATs once more in September and October if I really want to receive admission to a top university. Does super-scoring really help?</p>

<p>Thanks.</p>

2

<p>

Yes.

No</p>

3

<p>Could you elaborate more skieurope? Would superscoring really help me? Many people say that 50-100 point differences don’t really affect admissions that greatly. So why did you so quickly advised me to re-take the SAT? Just a little explanation would really help.</p>

4

<p>I wouldn’t normally recommend retaking it, but if you are applying to the schools you mentioned, you probably should unless your ECs are outstanding that you don’t need to. A good rule of thumb is to be at or above the median score of the reported school in order to be competitive. And yes many use superscoring which can benefit you greatly. 50-100 points don’t matter greatly, but that is after you have met a certain standard that the schools would consider the candidates similarly.</p>

5

<p>I’m not a big fan of retaking SAT’s just for the sake of it, but if you really feel that you can get to 2250+, I say go for it.</p>

<p>Considering that the 75th percentile is 2350 at Stanford, 2380 at Harvard, and 2390 and Yale and Princeton, I’d strive for above 2250, unless you have something else so amazing in your application.</p>

6

<p>Wow that’s actually pretty insane. Does that mean that 25% of admittances have a 2400? Crazy</p>

7

<p>@kei04086 No, actually, the numbers are probably lower for cumulative scores, because students are bound to have very high sections and sections that might not be as high when you look at the schoolwide population. Some have high Math scores and some have high CR scores and vice-versa.</p>

8

<p>So would I be at an advantage considering that I’m in the 99th percentile for CR scores? but just 94th for math, and 96th for writing?</p>