I can only imagine how hard it would be to have things not go as expected. It’s definitely a different compared to when I was applying to college. I have been trying to reinforce the idea that there are wonderful options beyond the top 20.
Based on your daughter’s interest in environmental studies, she may want to research these colleges for her greater list:
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My S took the SAT last month on school test day, and scored a 790 RW, 680 Math.
He’d taken about 6 practice tests at that point since the fall, and had always scored above 730 on the math (his last several practice tests were typically 740-780 with the last one 790). But he walked out of the math test saying there were 5 questions about a concept he’d never heard of in his life. He made educated guesses, but didn’t have a great feeling about it. Opening the 680 he immediately said: I want to take it again.
I had hoped he would be one and done, he’s not applying to any highly rejective schools, and his UW GPA is a 3.95. Part of him wanting a strong score is that he goes to a Waldorf high school which some may think isn’t rigorous (it is); having the strong score he thinks will “validate” his GPA.
And, I think/hope some merit money might come more easily if his math score is at least 720. 
My D’s last SAT score was from the school test day and she said everyone thought the math no calculator section was brutal.
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Perhaps our kids had this same version. Ugh!
Hopefully the SAT next weekend will be better; he’s only taking it 5 weeks after that test, but the June test comes directly after their outdoor week backpacking trip (aka: a week of no sleep) so he’s just going to go for it now. Whatever happens with this one I’m going to say “no” to taking it a third time. At that point I think it’s a much better use of his time to focus on his grades and wrapping up 11th grade; he’s at or above the 75th percentile for any college he’s looking at, so it would be a waste of time to keep his practice skills sharp and take it in August.
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How will her scores compare to applicants with the highest rigor at her high school?
Given her interest in computer science and desire to apply to highly selective/rejective schools, I think she needs to try again to raise her math score.
The guideline I have heard in the TO world is that a 35+/1520+ is a good threshold for applying to highly selective schools. That guideline may be even higher in the future, but for 2022 that was the suggestion to ensure an applicant would be fully considered. There will certainly be exceptions with lower scores, and a high score guarantees nothing, but that’s the bar.
If she weren’t interested in a science, especially CS, I might not bother. But she is going to be competing against really high scores in that applicant pool, without some sort of spike in her ECs or elsewhere on her application.
If she has studied and hasn’t scored higher on practice tests, then I might not bother re-testing but consider using her ED at a school where she has a higher probability of acceptance.
Good luck with your decision!
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Thanks for your perspective! She comes from a high performing high school and there are always kids who have perfect test scores but I think her scores are competitive for her school. Her class load does meet the criteria to check the “most rigorous” box. She has taken the two AP computer science course scoring 5 in both. Also currently taking calculus and AP Physics C (both courses) and doing well.
It will be interesting to see what happens with TO and how colleges handle it. I can understand why colleges might not want to publish average test scores during this time as it is a skewed perspective. Is it assumed that if you don’t submit then you don’t have a competitive standardized test score? Even though schools are going TO, most schools are not test blind like the UC system. Scoring a 34/1500 + still puts one on the 99th percentile regardless of what other people submit.
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I don’t think that AOs expect the worst when someone applies test optional. I think they assume that the scores didn’t enhance the application in any way. So, if you think the 34/1500 validates her grades or are as good or better than other aspects of her application, then I would include it. Does that make sense?
For instance, my 2020 had national awards, high rigor, high grades, and unique ECs. Her scores weren’t awful, but they weren’t on par with the other aspects of her application. She might have benefited from TO. But it sounds like your daughter’s scores are in line with her rigor, ECs, etc. Would that be accurate?
You are probably already doing this, but it might be helpful to talk to her guidance counselor to get a sense of what is working for students with a similar profile to your daughter’s. Naviance or SCOIR could help, too, if your school uses it, but with self-reporting and relatively little TO data, having the school counselor’s input might be a good sanity check.
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If I was an AO, and a good student submitted an application without scores, I would 100% assume the scores were sub-par and the applicant was hiding them. The real question is would I care? And the answer seems to be no, I wouldn’t, because this TO policy allows me as an AO to craft my incoming class any way I see fit, filling it with cellists and 1st gen and whatever proportion of STEM kids and humanities kids I want. basically it takes the handcuffs off AO’s.
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We were in a similar situation. My 2020 took the SATs in the fall of 10th grade. He got a 1500, looked at me and said, ‘I’m done with this’. I agreed. That was 2017, of course, but he went on to pursue other far more impressive things outside of school that made his application stand out among the crowd, even in highly selective applicant pools. We have no regrets.
If your daughter is one of the legion of applicants with a 4.0, 13+ APs, and >=1500, it will be about all the other stuff.
FWIW, few schools I’ve researched are as transparent at MIT. They break out test section scores for the admitted class. Example: ACT math 34-36 – 10% acceptance rate. ACT math 31-33, 4%. <31, 0%.
I use this as example for D, who achieved on 2nd attempt a composite 34, but math 32. Take again? More than doubles the odds, but odds still pretty dismal for the effort given all else going on.
SCOIR/Naviance can be very helpful in seeing outcomes from your HS for applicants w/ similar GPA/tests scores. Problem is, may not have enough applicants to produce stats for programs you may be interested in, esp if a Univ isn’t on the radar for many kids at your HS.
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Thanks! Yes, she is in that category. I have read that highly ranked schools could fill their incoming class several times with these types of kids. I agree that at that point, it comes down to other things in terms of acceptance.
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Good point. MIT and CalTech seem more score-driven than other top schools, but the OP mentions Dartmouth and Northwestern as the reaches.
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Caltech is test blind through Fall 2023
But yes, they and MIT tend to be more score driven
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A strong score, and this is strong, supports an application. I think this score is fine.
While schools may remain TO, students still want to submit applications that represent their ability to do the work, and this score dies that.
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Again I will preface this by saying it is complete speculation on my part.
My assumption is that each institution has a target range for how many test-optional students it is willing to accept, and what ends up happening is that TO candidates are compared and competing with other TO candidates.
So the 1500 isn’t going up against TO applicants who can be assumed to have scored lower; it is going up against the test-submitting group. This doesn’t mean that a 1500 can’t get in, but as the NYU and other rising median scores show us, the schools have a clear preference for higher scores. I don’t think the conventional wisdom that admissions offices treat everything above 1500/34 as the same applies anymore.
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Is this based on evidence? I don’t believe this to be the case. I am totally skeptical that they are comparing all the kids who submitted tests to each other, and the kids who didn’t submit are also compared to each other. They can’t afford to do that, because right now, I’d say diversity is THE #1 thing colleges care about, and the most diverse students are the ones least likely to submit test scores. They are limiting their pool of applicants that way. Why do that?
Schools HAD a clear preference two years ago. I doubt they do now. Again, only people who are getting high scores are submitting them. Effectively that makes scores meaningless. If you’re going to submit a score though, it had better be high. But I do not believe they are going to reject a kid just for scoring 1500 for a kid scoring 1540, or even 1560, if the rest of the app is strong.
My post and yours are both drifting into off-topic land, so I will leave it there.
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I understand what you are saying. A friend who is the head of CC at a BS and a former AO (and well-connected to currently AOs) was saying that they are encouraging students to test. And often, to submit scores.
The year that students couldn’t get tests is in the past - and that year did require some decisions as to whether to create separate pools for students with and without tests., While more schools are TO, they aren’t really handling their applicant pools any differently than the TO schools did pre-covid.
The goal of the schools is to create the student body that best meets the objectives of the school. They aren’t going to reject students with good scores because they have enough students with good scores. Every student who have to show they are capable. And students with exceptional scores and grades will have to demonstrate that they bring something to the campus beyond academics.
The schools are still looking for the same thing but applicants now have more, and less objective, ways to show they have “it”.
I’d hate to think that this is the new trend whereby TO can trump a 1500/34 but if it is then either the the standardized tests must be reinstated as a requirement or eliminated altogether. I understand that it was primarily a result of the pandemic to allow for TO at many more schools but the unfairness of allowing 30% or more TO with low SAT/ACT scores is troubling and makes a mockery of testing anything. Nevertheless, I think that 34/1500 is good enough. I would not retest, and I also agree that good EC’s and great recommendations are very important. Our DS was accepted to the only T20 school he applied with similar scores as the OP. However, I would recommend expanding the scope of applications, especially to the top state schools in the OP’s state where a 34/1500 has a great chance of getting accepted.
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Around 30% of four year colleges were TO prior to the pandemic including some highly rejective schools. At TO schools, some TO applicants are admitted, and some 1500/34 students denied. Not sure there’s anything unfair happening,especially at the schools that practice holistic admissions.
For OP I would not retest.