<p>My son is a junior and is looking to apply to Stanford as his first choice. He will be in addition, applying to other ivies and a few other top tier schools as well. He tooko the SAT once early in his junior year and got a 2340. He now wants to retake it. Many say there is a higher chance he will score lower than score higher.</p>
<p>I know many of the applicants have scores that are 2340's and higher, so this isn't anything that necessarily stands out in that particular pool. Fortunately, some of his accomplishments do allow him to shine in his own right. (At least we are hoping that the colleges will see it that way:)</p>
<p>Any thoughts on taking the SAT once? What kind of message does this send to a particular college? He is done with his SAT II's and did very well. He has not taken the ACT's. He will be applying to other schools as well, he has a total of 8 on his list as of right now. I welcome any thoughts and advice as to any experience anyone has with a similar situation.</p>
<p>When applying to top tier schools it always helps improving your scores, grades, EC’s, etc… Not familiar with Stanford, do they only take top SAT score, do they allow superscores, etc…? If so, studying, preparing and taking SAT again should result in some improvement I would think. Even at a 2340, with preparation you should be able to see some improvement unless you feel he completely over-scored his ability already. What would it hurt to take it again?</p>
<p>Since most people take it at least twice, I can see no particular harm in taking it again, except for the time devoted to prepping that might be better used in some other way.</p>
<p>opinions vary, but my thoughts are this:
unless student gets a perfect score, it’s ok to take test over. DO NOT check the box to automatically send test scores. Then after all test scores are in your hands, send in the best ones.</p>
<p>Also, some students test better on Act than Sat(and reverse) I recommend student take both, for the same reason: so student can send in his best scores.</p>
<p>That’s an amazing score and I believe at the tippy-top range of the sub-tests you are right that his score is as likely to go down as to go up. Most kids will sit for it 2-3 times, but they have significant room for improvement. Your son does not.</p>
<p>I also do not think another 10-20-30 points overall is going to change anything in terms of where he’ll eventually be accepted. </p>
<p>On the other hand, he doesn’t have to report all of the scores, so really no harm if he does take them again. I’d tell him it’s not necessary, but if he really wants to spend a Saturday morning re-taking them, I’d let him.</p>
<p>Congrats to your DS on the 2340, but IMHO it is not worth it to take it again. I think you need to focus on other things regarding his application. Honestly a 2340 and a 2400 will not mean a hill of beans if all he has as his EC’s Math Tutor. You state that he has other ECs to shine, those ECs will help him more than 10, 20 more points on the SAT. It will show that he is a well rounded student who can manage school and time. It will illustrate that to him there is more to life than keeping his nose in the books. Even Ivies care about how the student will transition from HS to college. They want to know that they can cross that bridge since everyone there is going to be high caliber. They want to make sure that they will not freak out when they are not the shining star…that is why EC’s play into the equation.</p>
<p>I would suggest taking the SAT II because it is course specific and can also help in the overall application.</p>
<p>If he takes the ACT be sure to not send it directly to the schools. Many times kids will do better on 1 than the other.</p>
<p>Finally contact your GC some schools include in their transcript all of their SAT/ACT scores. Thus, if your school does and he scores lower, the university will see it anyway from the transcript. In our NC school they included the date and score of our DS’s SAT/ACTs. In our VA school it is not part of the transcript, hence the university has no idea how many times it is taken.</p>
<p>I didn’t think you could cherry pick what SAT scores were forwarded to schools. I will have to check. I thought if you take it more than once and choose to send scores to a school they see them all. Also, I understood that most schools are going to take your top scores regardless of how many times or when you tested. They may not superscore but will take the top scores from one sitting.</p>
<p>I was wrong you can choose to send the scores you want. This is what I found on the College Board site.</p>
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<p>Score Choice gives you the option to choose which scores (by test date for the SAT and by individual test for SAT Subject Tests™) you send to colleges.</p>
<p>Score Choice can be used for any existing scores with your four free registration score reports or any additional score reports. You can choose scores from one, several or all test dates, as well as view the score-use practices of participating colleges and universities. Colleges and universities will only receive the scores that you send them — your scores will not be released without your specific consent
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<p>I think there are a few colleges out there that tell you that you are REQUIRED to send all scores of every test you took. I am not sure what they can do to enforce this or what they would do if you didn’t send all of your scores.</p>
<p>Applicants must self-report and submit all SAT scores OR all ACT scores. After you decide which testing agency will send your scores, applicants cannot elect to use the College Board’s Score Choice or elect to “hide” any scores with either testing agency. The only exception to this rule would be tests taken for the purpose of talent programs in middle or junior high school (e.g. Johns Hopkins Center for Talent Youth, Duke University’s Talent Identification Program, etc.). Those test scores do not have to be sent to Stanford. Applicants may also selectively submit whatever SAT Subject Test scores they choose, as those scores are not required for admission.</p>
<p>Thanks for the replies…my gut was that another 20 30 or 40 extra points at this level wasn’t going to make a huge difference and as a few said…which echoes my feelings, his time could be better spend on more worthwhile activities (and he has plenty to do)</p>
<p>He has taken the SAT II’s, and did very well, so he is done with that. He hasn’t expressed an interest in the ACT’s, and since he is quite driven in these areas, we trust his instincts so are letting him charter his own course in these matters:)</p>
<p>Thanks for the advice…will show him all the posts when he gets home.</p>
<p>D had a 2310, one stting her junior spring in May. If I remember correctly, when she received her written scores, it actually said that her scores were more likely to go DOWN on a re-take. Took the SAT II’s in June. Did well. Done with testing. We saw no reason to re-take them as they were completely within the range for all the top schools. She concentrated on other things during the Fall of her senior year like essays and music supplements.</p>
<p>Here is some interesting info on retaking the SAT for those aiming for top tier schools like Stanford. This discussion went on in the High School CLass of 2011 earlier this week.</p>
<p>Most of the top schools will ask you to send all the scores. His score is more likely to go down than up. He doesn’t need to take the test again. His scores are almost certainly good enough. That said, if he wants to take it again it’s unlikely to hurt him as schools - even those that ask to see all the scores - say over and over that they look at the best scores. I know some kids are really bothered when they don’t get an 800 in a section that they “should have”. One Saturday morning working on essays or saving the world is unlikely to make much difference.</p>
<p>Sounds like he needs to learn to celebrate his success and stop worrying about reaching perfection. Help him to accept his fabulous score (a trip to the mall, cake, special dinner, movie night, whatever) and move on to the next step in the admission’s process.</p>
<p>He got 800’s on his subject tests except for one which he got a 780, personally I think its more than good enough…I told him to relax and pat himself on the back for a job well done, and that his ec’s and all the other great things he has accomplished will shine through the extra 60 points that he is lacking from that perfect score.</p>
<p>when my son, whose first SAT was the same as yours, retook the SAT, his math score went up 50 pts, his writing score went up 30 pts and his CR went down 30 pts. For him it was worth taking it again because of the improvement in Math, which he attributed to knowing better how to take the test and his additional 6 months of Math education. But this was in 2006, when the new SAT had just come out and when there was a lot of controversy about if colleges would even take into consideration the Writing element[ most top colleges did not at the time] So your son may want to factor in where his score could be “improved”. If his low score was in writing than I say let it ride.</p>
<p>If the breakdown is 800/800/740 (especially if the 740 is critical reading), there might be a slight reason to retake the SAT. But if the three subscores are evenly distributed, it is probably not going to help him to retake it. </p>
<p>There is another reason to retake the SAT- if your son wants to become a Presidential Scholar and you are in a populous state, he will probably need a much higher score to be named a candidate.</p>
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<p>Among HYPS, Y and S do not currently allow score choice while H and P do.</p>
<p>As long as your GPA is high, (3.9ish uw or better), I’d say go for it. If your GPA is less than 3.75, higher SAT scores will probably not help. It may even draw more attention to the difference between ability and performance, unless there is a compelling explanation for a bad semester, such as sickness.</p>
<p>Through a mentoring job at my D’s tippy top LAC, they mentioned that it is very unusual to see a student just take the test once and feel confident to get admitted. D took SAT once, and then ACT once, felt it was acceptable and got in ED. She said they looked at it as a positive if you took one test and done, FWIW.</p>