<p>I am applying to some hard to get into schools.</p>
<p>Here are my score so far:</p>
<p>610 M, 660 CR, 780 Writing</p>
<p>650 M, 690 CR, 770 Writing</p>
<p>Superscore: 650 M, 690 CR, 780 Writing = 2120</p>
<p>Should I retake them a third and final time? I want to apply to schools like BC, BU, Middlebury, Tufts, and Yale (super reach) --- and various other schools around the same caliber.</p>
<p>For those schools, I would try to get over 700. My daughter had one below 700. I believe it’s the reason that she didn’t get into her top choices.</p>
<p>I don’t think I could ever score a 700 on math…</p>
<p>good writing score. :]
I sympathize with you on the math–my highest is 680, and I didn’t even miss that many questions. But, a lot of kids who excel in the writing section tend to do well in reading also. . .if you can bring that up a lot, I think you’d be okay.</p>
<p>consider taking the ACT – it seems to be more heavily weighted towards reading/English. You take four sections – English, math, reading, science (which is reading and interpreting scientific info) – so those students a little deficient in math and can get a better percentile on the composite. It is worth a shot.</p>
<p>Not bad scores, but if you’re aiming for schools like Middlebury and ESPECIALLY Yale – they reject people with 4.0 GPAs and 2300+ SAT scores. If you really don’t think you can get to that point, however, your score is perfectly fine for BU, BC, and Tufts.</p>
<p>Hsmomstef, having taken both ACT and SAT, I’m actually pretty sure that the SAT is much more reading/English oriented than the ACT. For one, half of the ACT (science + math) is devoted to the sciencey/math areas, and the other half (reading, english) is not. However, on the SAT, 2/3 of the test (CR, W) is reading, only 1/3 is math. </p>
<p>PLUS, ACT math is definitely more advanced than SAT math. Harder material is tested. And there is the added element of the science section, which tests scientific reasoning. I have heard that people who score well on the ACT tend to be science/math oriented, while the SAT is more for humanities type people.</p>
<p>Take a practice ACT and see how well you do, though.</p>
<p>
Uh, no… They probably rejected her for reasons OTHER than not getting over 700 on that one section…</p>
<p>Actually,</p>
<p>I took the ACT once, cold.</p>
<p>I got 33 English, 28 Reading, 27 Math, and 25 science.</p>
<p>I retook it again after studying and taking several ACT practice tests, and I think I scored around a 35 English, 33 reading, 31 math, and a 15-ish science. The science section ruined any chance of me getting a good ACT score. I was hoping that the ACT would be the last test to take, but the science ruined everything…</p>
<p>It was immediately after the ACTs that I came online and asked about my SAT scores. <em>Sigh</em></p>
<p>D is not good in Math but took practice tests mainly to improve math and she raised her score from 690 to 800. It’s easier to raise the Math score.</p>
<p>Wow!</p>
<p>What about subject tests?</p>
<p>I am taking the SAT IIs.</p>
<p>I don’t want to retake the history, which I already got a 710 on. Should I retake it? I’m just so stressed out right now, and I get less than 4 hours of sleep a night because I’ve got such a crammed schedule. I want to re-take Math I, which I can probably raise 50 points to a 700+. As for the literature — hopefully, I’ll get around a 650ish.</p>
<p>Even if all my SAT IIs are in the low 700s for a big name school, is that okay? I think I can do better on my math subject test than I can do on the regular SAT math. Is it just me, or does everyone else feel the same way?</p>
<p>Four hours of sleep a night sounds bleak. It might be strategic to sleep more.</p>
<p>Bobmallet - daughter had over 4.0 UW GPA, great ECS, competitive private school, no need for financial aid, very good SAT IIs, 4 APs with scores of 5. What do you think it could have been? Maybe you have some insight that you could share with us. The only thing I could think of maybe just bad dumb luck.</p>
<p>
Maybe it’s because almost all applicants to ivies have that profile, and maybe your daughter didn’t stand out from all the homogenous apps… A college is not going to reject you just for having just one SAT section score under 700… They take into personal qualities and activities much more.</p>
<p>Very insightful.</p>
<p>bob - those top ivies will overlook your low SAT scores if you are a URM, first generation, athelete, and maybe legacy - are thes “personal qualities and activites” you are referring to? Next tier of ivies or schools would be more flexible with SAT scores or GPA.</p>
<p>They’re pretty good scores, I must say. If you can try to get CR and Math up to 750+, you’d be in a great position for college admissions. </p>
<p>Princeton Review has some pretty good tutors if you need them and math isn’t exactly your strong suit.</p>
<p>oldfort, I’m first generation!</p>
<p>Does that mean not to worry about my score anymore?</p>
<p>They will cut you a break. You sound like you really not into taking it again - because of that, your score may even come down. Your time is probably better spent on your essays. Go with what you have. Yale is a super reach, as you have mentioned, but it’s a super reach for everyone. Good luck.</p>
<p>What’s all this nonsense about “colleges will not reject you for having one SAT score below 700”?
Some of the top colleges accept around TEN PERCENT of applicants. It’s not that they’re rejecting you; it’s just that they’re not accepting you. And why should they, when they have plenty of applicants with your other qualities and SATs above 700 per section?
I’m sorry to sound cruel, but there’s this section of CC that perpetually obsesses over how we shouldn’t care so much about college, about how SATs do not affect your future, and about how most people would be proud to get a 1900 etc (on chances threads for ivies)…honestly, you may be making yourself feel better, but why are you on a college admissions website - basically a top 25 schools admissions website- anyway?
Sorry, I’m really not that passionate about this, but since I really did feel that way when I typed it–I’ll leave the above as it is :)</p>