<p>I know that some colleges state on their websites that it's not in our best interests to take the SATs more than twice. I took them freshman year just to see what it was like, and got a 2010, but I didn't really think about that score being sent to colleges to see...
I took the SATs this January and I plan on retaking them in October, but that means I'll be sending three score reports to every one of my colleges.</p>
<p>Do you think this will be viewed negatively, even though my score is from freshman year?</p>
<p>Gifted students take the SAT early for a variety of reasons, and there seems to be a significant enough gap between that first test and your recent test that they are likely to see it as just that - either a test to see how you would do, or taken to qualify for an enrichment program. Many here took them in 7th or 8th grade (though those scores are not usually sent to colleges). </p>
<p>For any college that offers score choice, you don’t have to send the 9th grade scores, though it doesn’t really matter. The thinking regarding not taking them more than twice relates to taking them more than twice within the college application timeframe. If you took them January of Junior year then May, then October of Senior year, it would be looked at differently than your case. If you got similar scores all 3 times (within 50 points on each section, up and down), it looks like you might have wasted time prepping inefficiently. If there’s significant improvement over those 3 times, they may discount the increase as being due to prepping.</p>
<p>*I know that some colleges state on their websites that it’s not in our best interests to take the SATs more than twice. *</p>
<p>Which colleges say that? I’ve never seen that. That may be a rarity. </p>
<p>That said, I doubt that even if a few colleges give that advice, they don’t include SAT tests taken in middle school or frosh year since those are often taken for other reasons.</p>
<p>Again, I’ve never seen that policy written on a college website, but if a college had such a policy, they’re probably talking about multiple tests taken month after month…not in various years or several months apart.</p>
<p>Colleges do not phrase it exactly as “best interests” but Harvard and Yale have both mentioned that they don’t believe it helpful to take it more than twice. One can attempt to read into those comments whatever parade of horribles one wants but all they are really saying is that taking a third SAT is not likely to provide any significant improvement over what you already have and thus your time may be better spent on doing something else. They do not hold having more than two tests against you although if someone were to take a huge number (e.g., six or more) some admissions person might get the impression the applicant is overly compulsive.</p>
<p>As to OP, taking it three times is not going to hurt but as some colleges try to point out, it may not help either because you won’t show any significant improvement. As to whether they will actually use your freshman score, it really depends on your subsequent scores. Colleges are generally of two types when determining admission: some use that SAT test with your highest composite score from a single sitting and the rest use the highest section scores from multiple tests. From the way you phrase your inquiry it sounds like your Jan 2013 score is higher but if one of your section scores in the old test is higher, it may still be used, depending on college.</p>
<p>As to sending all scores to colleges, many allow you to pick the tests you want to send but then many require you to send all tests.</p>