To send or nt to send these SAT scores

Applying to College
1

<p>I would appreciate your advice on how to approach the following situation with SAT subject tests. My daugther's current resultes are:</p>

<p>two good scores, 770 and 750 on bio and history from spring of junior year;
a poor math level 1 score (700 and 690) from nov-dec of junior year;
the latter are probably crossed over by two 780s in math sections on two SAT reasoning tests later [she wasjust learning to take SAT tests on level 1 math];
in December she took subject SAT level 2 and got 730, much less than expected; she will retake it in Jan. (hopes for an increase, but will not have too much time for preparation, so may end up scoring 740-760)</p>

<p>All results except the Dec math score have already been submitted to all schools. She needs to decide where to send and where not to send the 730 Dec score. </p>

<p>She is applying to schools with different requirements for subject SAT tests. What should she do in each case:
1. Reach schools (Harvard and Princeton) require three subject tests. Both accept Jan subject tests. Should she sen Dec scores now or wait till mid-Feb. for Jan scores ?
2. Reach schools that require subject test in math or need three subject tests and have Dec testing as cut-off (Cornell, JHU, Carnegie Mellon). Should she send 730? (I guess it is better than 700 on level 1 math)
3. Reach schools that require only two suject tests (Yale, Columbia, Northwestern, WUSTL, U Mich). Should she send it at all or will a score under 760 only hurt her?
4. Match and safety schools requiring two subject testsor not requiring them. A 730 may look good there. But will it matter? Will it help? For merit aid and honors colleges? Or will it hurt? (her other scores since spring are higher)
Any suggestions for each type of schools?</p>

2

<p>Just my personal 2 cents (worth maybe 1 cent).</p>

<p>I think you're putting way too much emphasis on the scoring and testing. Keep in mind that it is only one small part of the whole picture of why a college makes their choices.</p>

<p>My son, had just about average scores (although he did better on the ACT) and got in for other reasons. We now think it was for the essay and a bit of the off campus interview.</p>

<p>I guess what I'm saying is that you can beat yourself to death with the tests and scoring, but when (or if) you look at the breakdown of GPA vs SAT scoring and acceptance, you'll see that many students either get rejected or accepted for other reasons.</p>

<p>Of course, one big reason is that an ton of students have high SAT and GPA grades to start. Most are excellent to begin with. So.....other factors have to play in for acceptance.</p>

<p>Still you can't ignore scoring completely when some schools now use them as the minimum to even get considered. But even so, geographic location of student, ethnicity, alumni connection, gender.......now seem to play important parts in acceptance.</p>

<p>Generally speaking, taking the tests over and over will tend to help improve ones score, but only to a certain level and that is only if the student is relaxed and confident to begin with. If they are stressed over the process (as my son was) then taking them 2 or 3 times is just plain worthless.</p>

<h1>1: Send all the scores, since the schools "should" consider only the highest regardless of when you take them. You may want to simply call admissions for their rule on this.</h1>

<h1>2: Makes sense to me.</h1>

<h1>3: Depends on what she's been taking as a senior (easy or hard) load. You see, colleges look for a challenging load for a senior. If she's been taking lots of AP or IB classes and doing well, perhaps you can not include the scores. Again, call the admissions office and ask for advice. Silly as it may sound, they "work for you" and many time will give advice.</h1>

<h1>4: It won't matter much for safety schools.</h1>

3

<p>Thank you!
It's not that we are putting too much weight on the scores. Simply daughter needed a decent math score for some schools and had to take the test. She looked at it as a minimal requirement. Now she just needs to decide what to do with what she has. Hide it or show it. Unfortunately the score is in-between,not good enough to show everyone (and she has to take the test in Jan to convince her reach schools), but not bad enough to hide whenever possible. At her school this score pretty low. So I need an outsider advice.</p>

4

<p>Any time you send SAT scores to colleges, regardless of whether they are for the SAT test or subject tests, the collegeboard sends ALL the test scores they have on file. You can't pick and choose which ones to send.</p>

5

<p>I would send them all. I've seen kids with perfect SAT II and SAT I scores got rejected and deferred ED/EA. Don't fred too much, it's only one component of an applicant profile.</p>

6

<p>Send them...</p>

7

<p>Thank you!
Menloparkmom, I know that they will get all previous scores if she sends Dec. ones, but all her schools have all her earlier scores already. The question is whether to send Dec. scores again.
Am I correct that if we do not re-send the scores now, the schools will see only what was on the report on the date when we pressed "send" button? Regardless on when they decide to look at her scores (I assume after Jan 1). Or will they get some kind of password to her file and will be able to see both her past scores and scores from future tests as soon as they are available?</p>

8

<p>Yes, you are right. They will only see the scores that you have sent already.</p>

<p>I suggest sending the new one because it DOES look better than the previous one. Plus, it's on a harder subject (though they do have a more generous curve)</p>

9

<p>"the schools will see only what was on the report on the date when we pressed "send" button?" Yes
"Or will they get some kind of password to her file and will be able to see both her past scores and scores from future tests as soon as they are available?" No. Colleges do not have access to student accts see test scores. The responsibility for sending [and paying for new test scores to be sent] rests with the student.</p>

10

<p>Plus I think you have to list them on the application that you are planning to take the test otherwise they would not wait for you to send the scores. They would go ahead and process your application.</p>