<p>If I were an admissions officer, I would seriously wonder about a 2300+ applicant who had nothing better to do on a Saturday morning than take another standardized test...</p>
<p>The only reason I can think of is to try to qualify to be a Presidential Scholar.</p>
<p>"Concerning the OP, he is already in the 2300/2400 score range, so that 10% chance increase does not apply to him (I know you did not say it applies to him, but I just said that in case he is reading, not as a part of my argument lol). My basic belief is that once someone has a good enough SAT score (which he does) they should work to fill out other gaps in their application because doing so would THAN significantly change your chances for admission."</p>
<p>Uhm, I think there's a problem here. Calling the Princeton statistics to mind, you are mistaken in believing that the admissions rate is uniform over each SAT bracket. Although we do not have more precise data, I would bet my life that they would show an increase in admissions rate even when broken down by individual scores, although these changes may not be substantial. The acceptance rate for 2390/2400 scorers is undoubtedly higher than for 2300 scorers.</p>
<p>I'll say what others have said: If you are sure your next score will be better, retake. If not, then retaking is probably not a good idea.</p>
<p>But if you can give up a Saturday morning that would otherwise not be used totally productively, I fail to see a particular downside.</p>
<p>Baelor and I would choose to admit different candidates. [smile]</p>
<p>I have an academic index question:</p>
<p>Do they calculate it based on your mid-year report rank and final SAT scores? Or is it based on your first transcript rank and whatever SAT scores you had sent them when they first opened your application? It makes the difference between an 8 and a 9 for me (I just moved to valedictorian).</p>
<p>"Baelor and I would choose to admit different candidates. [smile]"</p>
<p>Interesting. Why don't you point to where I detailed whom I would admit before sowing the seeds for a strawman? I'm sorry that I operate on facts while you don't.</p>
<p>If the school gets the midyear data before they make their decisions (which is always the case unless admission is rolling or EA/ED), then I am betting that they will use the new data so long as your school sent them your updated class ranking as well.</p>
<p>First of all, he is a 2330, not a 2300, so thats only enough room for a 70 pt increase. Of course, it will "increase" your chances, but insignificantly. Look at Cicero's previous post about AI and SAT scores. By the way, this is about Harvard admissions not Princeton. So even if he is sure he will get a higher score, he is taking a risk for basically nothing.</p>
<p>Cicero, whats behind your name? Are you an orator who just admires Cicero? Just wondering. Did you take Latin in hs?</p>
<p>waitn, where is Harvard's data? They are not there, so people were referring to Princeton's. Harvard has a larger applicant pool, but I think it's a fair assumption that the data reflect the same trend, even though the intensity may be different. Challenge this if you wish, otherwise the use of Princeton's data holds.</p>
<p>So answer me this: If the OP has nothing to do on a Saturday morning (no activities, SAT IIs, etc.) and feels that he can definitely get a higher score, why wouldn't he retake? At worst, he raises his chances "insignificantly." If your chances are raised, it IS significant in a pool of 29,000 applicants.</p>
<p>Am I saying he should? No. Am I saying it will make any difference at all? No. But what can it hurt? If he doesn't stress about it, where is the downside?</p>
<p>Well the name Cicero was already taken and I generally like Latin. Cicero's works were extremely convoluted in a grammatical sense, which seems fitting for college admissions related things. I stole the oratore part from a part of Eutropius's Breviarium (Book 6): "In consulibus Cicero oratore et..."</p>
<p>Im not going to challenge it; I just checked back and you were right, my mistake :). It is still over 70 pts. Trying for a 2-3% extra chance (assuming he gets all 70 pts.) for acceptance is not worth the risk of doing worse or barely increasing your score, even if you "feel" you will do better. Either way, adcoms would not like the fact someone is wasting $ and their time to redo a well above average SAT score, and alot of CCers are fretting so much about the 2000 applicant increase which, percentage-wise, is about a .5% decrease in admissions (27000/2000= 7.4%; 29000/2000=6.9%; 7.4-6.9=.5) Of course data isn't exact, put you get the point. I admit .5% is kind of significant when the acceptance rate was only 7% to began with, but (at least for me) it shouldn't cause too much alarm.</p>
<p>Cicero: I had a feeling you plucked that out from some Latin. Personally, I dislike Latin. Im currently reading Virgil in class, and lets just say I would prefer a user friendly language; not one that takes out letters from words and words from sentences, scrambles words around to make it a more difficult translation, etc. I admit the chiasmases (word placement to suggest meaning), ellisions, etc. are kind of cool and complex. I just hate to translate them, too much work :), at least for me. At least the NLE gave me some national award to put down on the college app.</p>
<p>A 2330 isn't a 2400, nor is it a 2380 or a 2390 where it would actually be ridiculous to sit for the exam again. If you are confident that you didn't do your best first time around, don't listen to anyone else on here telling you not to retake it, do it, it will help you. If you don't think anything was wrong with your performance and that you aren't positive you'd do better on it second time around, then don't. That simple.</p>
<p>Don't listen to B Supreme. His priorities are misplaced. The other posters are right on target. Strengthen the rest of your application and present yourself as best you are able as someone NEEDED by Harvard for his special gifts, whatever they are. AdComs I know find "numbers seekers" annoying when their time is better spent elsewhere.</p>
<p>You guys are falling into the fallacy that by taking the SAT again, he is necessarily sacrificing something else. </p>
<p>If you have big extracurricular commitments and can spare some time for review, go for it.</p>
<p>Interesting thread. If you had posed this a few years ago I would have said you were crazy to retake, but here's what i've learned. Getting any SAT does not guaraqntee entrance to Harvard. If you don't have the hooks, ecs, transcrpt it won't matter anyway.
Assuming you do have those credentials, you should retake because a CR 750 is mediocre for Harvard, sounds like you have the potential to do better with minimal effort. In addition, a higher score may qualify you to be a Presidential scholar in your state. Sinc e you've only taken the SATs once, early in your junior year, colleges will not view this as excessive testing. Hope this helps.</p>
<p>trust me this guy's crazy. why'd u lie to us! u told us that u go a 760 on reading and over a 1500 on the old one -_-</p>
<p>What are you talking about? It was farrah that got over 1500, I never said that. </p>
<p>Anyway, thanks for all the replies guys. I'm still not sure but I really don't see a downside to taking it again so I'll probably just go for it.</p>
<p>Baelor, my point above is that, unless absolutely overwhelmed by the rest of the application, I would reject an applicant who retakes the SAT after scoring a 2330. (Why not spend that Saturday morning with Habitat for Humanity, or even just shooting hoops with your buddies?) You, on the other hand, believe there is no harm in the retake. Ergo, you and I would, I guarantee you, make different admission decisions.</p>