Will SAT score choice hurt me?

Applying to College
1

<p>I'm a senior at a public high school, and so we generally don't receive too much guidance on preparedness for college applications. As such, when the end of my junior year hit, I was unprepared for applications to top universities like Stanford and UC-Berkeley. I took the ACT in march and got a 35, but I took the test without an essay portion. As such, my score was invalid at pretty much every place it was competitive, so I had to take the SAT at the nearest available date. By the time I realized this, I had to wait until the October 10th date for the SAT.</p>

<p>I took the SAT last Saturday, but I'm afraid this will look sketchy to universities I apply to. Most seniors don't wait to take their first SAT until October rolls around, and since this is the first year of score choice, I'm afraid I'll look like someone who took the SAT several times, with October as my best one. This seems like an inference that would hurt me; if a college thinks that I took a bunch of tests, I think I'll look worse than someone who honestly is sending in his first and only SAT result.</p>

<p>Are my worries realistic? Or is my tardiness in deciding to take the SAT relatively insignificant?</p>

2

<p>Totally insignificant. Colleges don’t care when you took your test(s), only the top score. If anything, they are sometimes leery of people who take standardized tests many times.</p>

3

<p>My son attends one of the New England preps and his counselors say to submit all scores. They also have everyone take the SAT twice and a third time if necessary as well as the ACT once as a junior, and again as a senior in the fall (if necessary), along with SAT subject tests. I think this is the norm for these schools.</p>