<p>I repeal my above post - please ignore. Concerns have been raised questioning my harmless intentions of benefiting from this thread’s traffic. However if you do feel obliged to respond please PM me. Your help would be greatly appreciated with a prompt reply - that’s complete with good grammar and spelling^^.</p>
<p>Thanks, “THREAD STEALER Bad boy”</p>
<p>I’ll comment here that if two or more users have the same question, it’s probably BETTER for all those questions to be in the same thread. Having fewer rather than more threads here makes reading the forum easier. Considering two or three related cases makes the answers in a particular thread more nuanced and informative. </p>
<p>I’ll also mention that the better you title your threads, with specific titles that mention what your exact issue is (rather than titles like “Help!” or “Urgent Question”), the more likely you are to get helpful replies. Beyond that, try to keep any thread you open welcoming to further participation, just as this site’s [Terms</a> of Service](<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/faq.php?faq=vb_faq#faq_new_faq_item]Terms”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/faq.php?faq=vb_faq#faq_new_faq_item) remind every user to maintain a welcoming atmosphere to other users. </p>
<p>To answer the original question and the follow-up question, I’ll simply point out that I have asked </p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/377882-how-do-top-scorers-tests-fail-gain-admission-top-schools.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/377882-how-do-top-scorers-tests-fail-gain-admission-top-schools.html</a> </p>
<p>in a thread that got many interesting replies that may help you decide what to do about retaking or not.</p>
<p>Just because top scorers fail to get into top schools sometimes doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t all try to get top scores. Beyond telling us that getting top scores isn’t enough to gain admission, I don’t understand what other helpful information you provide when you repost that link to so many “should i retake” threads. I’m sure all of us have heard ad nauseam how so and so 2400-er was rejected, how many 2300s are rejected, and so on. That’s nothing new. The honest truth is that you give me any group of students with X criteria, and I’ll find you some of them who fail to gain admission into elite schools (IMO competitors, minorities, research competition winners, etc). That doesn’t mean those criteria are not very valuable in the college admissions process. It doesn’t mean we shouldn’t pursue certain goals simply because they aren’t enough, standing alone, to get us admitted into the Ivies.</p>
<p>The general rule for scores this high is to retake only if you feel you can improve with minimal to no preparation.</p>
<p>The cultural context for my bringing up the issues other than scores a lot is that many college applicants to United States colleges come from, or have parents who come from, countries where test scores are decisive. Here in the United States, the college admission nonsystem really is different. I was prompted to post my thread </p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/377882-how-do-top-scorers-tests-fail-gain-admission-top-schools.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/377882-how-do-top-scorers-tests-fail-gain-admission-top-schools.html</a> </p>
<p>after reading several million (conservatively estimated 
) threads in this forum and the related forums asking about test retakes. I am well known for another link I post often relating that most colleges don’t care at all if you retake your tests once or twice. High scores are important, as I fully agree. But I get the impression that a lot of the new participants who continually join the discussion here on CC have perhaps not heard how possible it is to be rebuffed in an admission application to a top college even with very high test scores. For anyone who has time to retake a test, another possibility is bolstering the aspects of an application other than test scores.</p>
<p>Okay. If that’s the reason behind the appearance of the “top scorers fail…” link, then I understand your rationale Thanks.</p>
<p>I don’t think anyone, even Asians (like me), are deluded enough to think that perfect scores guarantee acceptance. What we’re all concerned about is how much our chances improve with higher scores. Many CCers have painstakingly planned their routes and resumes every step of the way and would gladly commit murder if it helped their chances - a retaking a 2300 isn’t crazy or out of the question. You have to understand where people are coming from.</p>
<p>Again, with good time management, nobody needs to sacrifice other aspects of his or her application to study for retakes. There’s a limit to how much you could improve each aspect anyway - theoretically piling 100% of your time and effort to one aspect may sound good but often results in diminishing returns.</p>