Why is it that I hear more about score choice than superscore in discourses about sending SAT scores? How come so many people don’t know about such a great policy? What are pros and cons the superscores?
Superscoring has been around many years, is well known, and really needs little discussion. It exists when a college uses the highest section scores from multiple tests to determine admission and is considered favorable to those who take the test more than once, and perhaps unfavorable to those who cannot afford to take it more than once, or are in lower-income schools where there is no one advising them that they should take it more than once. Thus, there is little to add to the knowledge of superscoring today or to have any discussion about it except when someone needs to know whether a particular college does it.
Score choice, on the other hand, is only six years old, is not that simple to figure out how it actually works, has caused significant controversy – e.g., elitist and self-righteous colleges like Yale screamed liked they were having their arm cut off when College Board adopted it – and applicants are constantly trying figure out whether a college allows it (a list itself that keeps changing), whether a college that does require all scores is really lying when it claims it does not use lower scores against you, and whether it really results in the college’s not learning your scores. There is also an abundance of misinformation out there causing more questions, e.g., College Board created a list that supposedly provides all the colleges which require all scores and that list is available on the CB site. That list is one of the greatest pieces of false information ever published by College Board since the vast majority of the colleges it claims requires all scores have never required all scores. Moreover, other sites purporting to provide information on the colleges that object to score choice are also getting it wrong because they are relying on CB’s list. Even when colleges have anti-score choice positions, the stated rules may be ambiguous and may or may not apply to subject tests or the ACT. Bottom line: applicants are continuously trying to figure out whether they can really exercise score choice and get away with hiding scores without violating any admission requirement, and thus it is a constant subject of discussion.
You as a student don’t superscore. You supply the scores and the colleges (those that do superscore) do it for you. Score Choice is your action as a student.
If the college i am applying to did superscore, would it also use my low scores against me?
^They all profess that they do not use lower scores against you. The problem many applicants have is convincing themselves to believe that.
I believe the most important con of superscoring is that not many colleges do it.