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<p>Well, my son got a perfect 36 and he got into Brown and 3 other top-20 schools. However, he was rejected by Yale, Princeton and MIT. Even a 36 isn’t a magic entry passport.</p>
<p>He also received personalized letters from 3 of these schools, one from his regional rep and committee advocate from Brown and one each from Amherst and Williams in conjunction with his early-write acceptances. All 3 first mentioned his commitment to community service. No one specifically mentioned his stats.</p>
<p>I have no doubt that a 36 will get you noticed – anything that makes you stand out from the crowd will help – and that it might be worth ten hours of time for a quick review and retake. But if it’s going to take 50 hours or more of prep time, you’d be better off starting an innovative community service project and writing about it.</p>