<p>The teachers in DS's school want students requesting college recs to give them a resume. DS's current resume includes his SAT scores. Should we delete these scores? Assuming he does better on the SAT he took this morning, should we superscore them? How do people handle this? </p>
<p>(DS's SAT scores in M+CR are excellent. He is taking the SAT over to get his middling W score up--and probably will do fine. DS's SAT scores are signficantly higher than most of his classmates.)</p>
<p>I’d say XXX Math, XXX CR, XXX Writing, superscored.</p>
<p>Why would SAT scores be included in a resume?</p>
<p>^^^ It’s not a resume for work; it’s a resume to give to his teachers who are writing his recommendations.</p>
<p>My D did not include SAT scores on the resume she gave to her teachers.</p>
<p>If she had been NMSF or Commended on PSAT scores, she would have included that.</p>
<p>Hmm, DS doesn’t attend a sophisticated school. I wonder if his teachers would know what “superscored” is (and/or whether they thing he was pulling a fast one!) </p>
<p>We could leave the SATs off the resume, and just say that he was “commended.” His SAT scores, however, are significantly better than his PSAT scores – so that actually gives teachers a somewhat misleading impression. Dunno. Any other ideas? </p>
<p>FWIW: Here’s by best idea – just hope that his October scores are better than his June ones. That resolves everthing.</p>
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My question stands: why should SAT scores be in a resume? </p>
<p>The LAST thing that should be in a letter of recommendation is a mention of the kid’s SAT scores. The whole point of a letter of recommendation is to give the colleges some information about the kid that the don’t already know.</p>
<p>If the teachers are forming their “impression” of the kid based on test scores… I’d take that as a bad sign overall for recommendations. </p>
<p>The resume should give the teacher a picture of the kid’s interests and activities, which allows the teacher to write a LOR that sounds like they might actually know the student.</p>
<p>Calmom, I understand what you are saying. . . .would you also exclude reference to the higher level classes he is taking (such as AP BC Calc)?
We had assumed that these classes would be on the resume, too. </p>
<p>DS’s school is big and not sophisticated and DS is on the quiet side. I don’t know how much his teachers know about DS academically-- or about his interests. When I meet his teachers (at back to school night or whatever), they inevitably seem surprised by DS’s intellectual ability. I guess part of the reason we assumed that his scores and classes would be on the resume is to signal that DS is an unusually bright kid–and that his application to the top tier schools (where they will be sending the rec letters) isn’t a fluke.</p>
<p>Again, his school is not that sophisticated. Most kids from his HS do not go onto college, much less a top tier one. Does this make any difference?</p>
<p>I say do not include standardized scores in Resume. He should highlight the things that he does in and outside of school on his resume. You can however, create a bragsheet for your son and include his scores to send to his teacher. Do a search for bragsheet on this forum to get some ideas.</p>
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The LOR’s from teachers are supposed to be based on THAT teacher’s knowledge of the student. Presumably, if the AP Calc teacher write a recommendation, he doesn’t need to be reminded that your son is in his class. If the English teacher is writing a LOR, she wouldn’t be expected to comment on your son’s math abilities. </p>
<p>The point of the resume is to give the teacher a good picture of your son’s activities in and out of school. If, for example, your son regularly does volunteer work, that is something that a teacher might mention. It’s likely that the teacher is picking it up off the resume rather than personal knowledge – but the colleges have no way of knowing that, and it provides a detail the teacher can work with in making some sort of statement about your son. “S. is caring and considerate, as exemplified by his volunteer work with the local chapter of the Red Cross.” </p>
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Don’t they see that in his classwork? Are his grades consistent with his test scores?</p>
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<p>Reality check: I’m not sure what you mean by “top tier”, but if your son doesn’t stand out in some way at his high school – it’s going to be tough to get into Ivy-caliber schools. It may be that your son’s teachers know him better than you think – but if he tends to be quiet and his work is undistinguished in the classroom, then its going to be hard for him to get the type of LOR’s that really help with admissions. </p>
<p>A LOR that refers simply to academic abilities as reflected in test scores or classes taken will fall into the category of “damning with faint praise”. </p>
<p>To impress the admissions committees at the top colleges, a student first has to impress the teachers at his high school – not by what is on paper but by what happens in that teacher’s classroom. The purpose of the resume is to help the teachers compose a better, more detailed letter – since a teacher can’t really be expected to remember all the details of a kid’s life. It also simply helps teachers get the details right – for example, the teacher might know that the kid has won some sort of award at a math competition, but not remember the name of the competition or the type of award.</p>