<p>I'm curious now as to whether Phil's S is studying and is he following the Xiggi method:).?</p>
<p>My S two years ago applied ED to Dartmouth with 790M adn 700V, 2 sport captain varsity athlete, cum laude, etc. was defferred and then rejected. My vote would be retake SATs as our college counselor reported that a WASP male HAD to be over 1500 on M and V to get in (per his conversation with Dartmouth's admissions office).</p>
<p>mit, possibly not, but any other top 10 school (beside CalTech), yes, would recommend a retake if the student thought s/he could do better -- not as easy to raise the verbal score as it is the math.</p>
<p>fwiw: MIT's verbal range was 680-760 (two year's old data). Assuming it's gone up, as have the score of most highly selective colleges, that 690 could well be in the lower quartile of the matriculating class of '06 -- not a good place to be for an unhooked candidate. Of course, if that 690 was from an Intel/Westinghouse winner....don't waste the time or money, IMO.</p>
<p>How would they view a 690 CR with a high Writing of 750+? MIT and Harvard both required the SAT II writing section until this up-coming application season. Do you think they would take the 2 scores and average them for equating purposes until they know what to do with the writing section?</p>
<p>Agreed on the Intel/Westinghouse perspective. For this exercise I am assuming an unhoooked student. Of course there may be other biases or tips in the system that would impact the outcome both positively and negatively. A 1490, excellent grades and ECs should be sufficient to get in to Dartmouth or many other highly competitive schools.</p>
<p>Eagle:</p>
<p>I'm not even sure if the adcoms know exactly what they should be doing with the new SAT, let alone the adcoms of different colleges. I'd play it safe.</p>
<p>cannot see any downside to taking the test again. IMO it is well accepted that schools take the best score(s). some will even take the best parts from different test sessions and combine those.
I think it is completely myth that doing "worse" the next time will hurt you.</p>
<p>You also mention your S is a varsity athlete. Is he being recruited at any schools. If so talk to the coach. they will let you know the score you need. Athletes need to be in the "ballpark" of the accepted range for the school, but definitely get a break (within reason) if the coach wants you.</p>
<p>Ahhhhhhh the pressure we exert on our kids to fufill our dreams for them. Scores are just one part of the process and if he has other areas well covered ie... community service, school organizational involvement etc. getting 10 or more points on the math is hardly worth putting him through the ordeal again that he clearly doesn't want to do. The key thing is does your son have a passion for learning that will come through clearly to all during the interview process. Passion got a friends kid into Yale with a 1300 SAT Score. Passion!</p>
<p>My older son took the SAT one time in junior year. He got 700 and 800 (with 760 average on 3 SAT II's), He was told to get into the upper Ivies he would need to get the 700 up to 750. On one of his SAT II's he had a 720 and the MIT interviewer told him to take it again or it would look bad to MIT. He refused to take any test again, and was rejected by Yale and MIT but got into Brown. I could see the idea of retesting was very stressful for him and did not push it, even though he could have raised those scores without much work. In fact, he did study and did raise his scores in practice tests, but actually sitting to test again was very unpleasant for him. On the day of the tests he refused to go. Brown is a great place for him --I am so happy he was rejected by those other schools. Perhaps our kids know themselves and the level of pressure they feel comfortable with. Some kids just cannot stand to be "on" in terms of performance all the time. I say that it is best to let it be.</p>
<p>Some schools like Bowdoin and Holy Cross have made SAT's optional,</p>
<p>That is wonderful! Lucky him. If he personally can rethink a retake and go along with it, great. If not, he has a lot to do in the coming months with other parts of the application process.</p>
<p>Your son is going to love Brown University! Congratulations! I'm praying my daughter gets there or Yale. We have a ways to go as Prep School is stage one of her long journey to a first class well rounded incomparable education.
My state of CT is suing the Federal Government for requiring that kids be tested to death without providing scientific evidence this helps the child. Not only that The C Student from Andover doesn't want to finance this lousy program.</p>