Should i retake the SAT?

Test Preparation
1

Hi everybody. I took the January 2016 SAT. This was my first attempt. I got a 2160 (cr -680 math -800 writing - 680). I know its not that bad of a score but i was aiming for 2200+. I’m an international student (Indian) and im interested in universities like columbia, cornell, georgia tech, nyu, ucb etc. So I’m wondering whether i should take the sat again because now its changing and i won’t be able to get the benefits of superscoring(?). If its of any concern I’ll be applying for tech and engineering related majors. I also plan on taking sat subject tests as many of the schools require/recommend it. Should i study for the new sat and give that or use my time to strengthen other areas of my application and give the subject tests instead?

2

i have the same scores and the same concern.

3

I got the same score as you! Your 800 on the math section will help you out a lot with tech and engineering. Because your strength is math and math counts as 1/2 of the score on the new SAT as opposed to 1/3, I would try to take a practice test for the new SAT and see if your score is substantially higher in proportion to that of the old SAT. If not, I’d just focus on the subject tests.

4

You are in a highly competitive international pool for universities which are reaches even for those with close to perfect SAT scores (Columbia, Cornell). And there are many of those from India. The CR and writing scores are at the low end for some of the universities you listed - yes - even for engineering. Check collegedata.com to see the middle 50% of the scores at those universities. AT UCB, engineering is impacted - so the overall UCB data may not pertain to engineering.
You may be a match at Georgia Tech or NYU. I suspect they will be full pay for you - they like international students for the dollars they bring in. If you are aiming for Columbia or Cornell, then those reading scores will need to come up.

Also, can your family afford to be full pay at a US university?

5

If you are confident you can replicate your perfect Math score
You should retake it (assuming your practice test scores indicate you underperformed on one or both sections)

6

@mathprof63 No I’ll be applying for some financial aid as well. I’ll pay heed to @txrunner9728 's advice and give the practice tests a go to see how i fare in the new sat. What is a competitive score for these universities in the 1600 scale?

7

A couple of things:

  1. Financial aid for international students can be hard to come by. Take note: US universities want full-pay international students for the dollars they bring in. And there are now enough parents from India and China who can pony up that kind of money without financial aid. And the kids have the requisite stats. I think there are many threads on CC on financial aid (or lack thereof) for international students -so I suggest you spend some time with that.

  2. Who knows what the score ranges will be for the new SAT. Just take it and hope to do well. The Reading/writing part may be more challenging for non-native speakers of English than the old SAT CR. Does not matter if you are from Inidia and have been educated in English your whole life. The level of English instruction is quite different in the US than in India (I say this as a person of Indian origin who has grown up and educated in the US since childhood.)

  3. Can you take the ACT in India anywhere? It may be a better bet.

8

I took the pSAT, modeled after the new SAT, out of 1520 and scored a 1400, which put me in the top 1% of the United States. For the new SAT, I’d aim for a 1430+