My Test optional Strategy
- If score is above 50th percentile → submit
- If score is less than average, consider percent of students who submit scores and scale accordingly (using datausa and individual incoming freshman stats from each college) . For example, if 60% of kids submit then submit score at 40th percentile and above. If 80% of kids submit then submit score at 20th percentile and above. If fewer than half of students submit scores then submit only if above average.
- Consider how the student performs relative to their state and school. (podcast “Your college bound kid”, episode 357 interview with Dartmouth dean stating lots of kids withhold scores even though they are very good in context of their school). SAT stats from your state can be found using googling “your state” and “sat scores by high school and district”
Example:
In state at Clemson:
SAT mid 50% 1230-1390. Median - 1310.
Clearly submit if >1300.
Since less than half of admitted students submit scores, wouldn’t feel compelled to submit lower scores. Per datausa “40% of enrolled first-time students at Clemson University in 2021 submitted SAT scores with their applications.”
REALITY CHECK:
Based on state SAT statistics there were only 23,851 students who took the SAT as a senior. There were 48,000 total seniors in the state (data per SC dept of education “national assessments”)
Clemson admitted 22,704 students.
Using a mean of 1023 and standard deviation of 200 then a score of 1310 is ~ top 10% of ALL scores in South Carolina.
So only ~2,385 SC students made an above average score at Clemson.
Even at 1230, that is a score at 83rd percentile. Meaning only ~4,054 SC students scored a 1230, which is the 25th percentile for their statistics. They still have a LONG way to go to fill their class!
After doing this exercise, I think even a score of 1200 would aid in the application since you’d be in the top 5,000 students in the state.