Retake SAT with already quite-good scores?

[jmmom]

As many of you know, we are well finished with such questions in jmmom’s house (DS now finishing junior year). But I am asking this for a family friend.

Junior, female, SATs in one sitting are high 1400s (M and CR), over 2200 total.
SATIIs of 780 (MathII) and 750 (Chem).

She is happy with her scores and this family is NOT score-obsessed. But they are wondering what value or importance there might be in cracking the 1500 mark with these SAT I scores for *some* of the schools she is considering.

She is interested in the sciences or maybe Engineering.

She is not interested in the Tech schools and is already thinking in the way of a well-balanced list. She is fortunate to live in a state with top-notch flagship, which I think she likes although not her first choice, and she will apply there. She’s thinking of schools along the caliber of Tulane/Case/UMiami for safer schools. She really likes a couple at the next level of a Hopkins/Duke/WashU. And she has interests in one or two at the Ivy/Stanford level.

So it’s for those more selective schools that they have the question of whether to try again on the SAT I.

For a bit more background: she might well be val or sal of her class in a quality public school. GPA is currently 4.4w/3.9uw. Lots of APs and others are Honors where offered. Family feels she has pretty solid ECs and summer activities.

I haven’t talked with them about finances but my impression is that merit aid, while everyone likes it, is not something that they *must* seek out and they have not mentioned financial aid considerations to me as a criterion in choosing schools.

So, to retake or not to retake? That is the question.

[curmudgeon]

jmmom, for D it meant a lot at some schools and they admit it.

Academic Scholarships for 2008-2009 | University of Miami

And at some schools it just meant alot.


(That's a chance for $40K more at UMiami for a Saturday morning's effort .)

I'm kidding- sort of. D had a 1470 and a 32. We thought she was done but a few posters on cc really pushed hard that for the top awards she needed to give it a try. Her first ACT was a fluke score (we felt) so she took it again and had great results . Without the fluke factor , she may have played the cards in her hand.

But as you said, their search doesn't involve a need for cash. Our's did and I'm sure web pages like Miami's colored our thinking.

[JHS]

This isn't inconsistent with curmudgeon, but I think it probably matters ONLY in the merit-scholarship derby. Those scores won't disqualify her anywhere, and I think better scores won't help her meaningfully at the most competitive colleges. On the other hand, what's the harm?

[curmudgeon]

Just saw Case on the list. Case was another school where I felt D's award was positively impacted by retaking.

As I continue to think about this I think now that HOW the kid missed questions may be the decider here. If you can see a defect and feel confident that correcting that defect will give her a score more accurately representing her talents, then go for it. If you don't see a clear defect the student can correct then I'd take the ACT. If it's crap they'll never see it, anyway. Final Answer. Beep.

[idad]

Given that many the schools combine the best components of multiple SAT sittings to produce one best score, it can't hurt to retake, if the boredom tolerance is there.

[owlice]

What list is that, curmudgeon?

(I swear I am not following you around!)

[curmudgeon]

Originally Posted by jmmom

She’s thinking of schools along the caliber of Tulane/Case/UMiami for safer schools. She really likes a couple at the next level of a Hopkins/Duke/WashU. And she has interests in one or two at the Ivy/Stanford level.

This list.

[CountingDown]

I would ask if the SAT scores she already has were the result of lots of prep work (i.e, this is her maximum effort) or if taken cold. If she didn't put a lot of effort into the test, it might be worth some time with a review book to gain some more points that would make her more competitive for merit money and upper-tier schools. If she's looking at Tulane, Case and Miami as targets (and I hesitate to call them safeties these days), all of whom give merit $$ (and this is why I hesitate -- they are likely to see lots of kids going after the $$), I'd go for it.

Like Curm, I'd say retake it if she wants love and money from her targets/reaches.

Jmmom, if they aren't talking about money, maybe they haven't done the FAFSA reality check yet. That might change their minds about the need for merit $$.

[owlice]

Thanks, curmudgeon, and doh! Will apply clue-by-four to mine head as soon as I find it.

Find the clue-by-four, that is; despite appearances, I do know where my head is!

[wis75]

And a perfect SAT won't get you into a school (especially if you only apply to minimal numbers of very elite ones). Son, with high numbers, was supposed to retake his Math SAT II, he hadn't studied for it the first time around, but ended up retaking the SAT I (don't ask, his choices, ancient history by now) with said results. Let her retake the test if she wants to, or not if she doesn't. I'm glad you have a good attitude, good luck to your D. Sigh, if boys would only put forth the effort girls do...

[mammall]

As of this year, we are in a new landscape for selective admissions. Judging by the results at my D's high school - the scores matter enormously at the top tier schools AND for the big merit scholarships at school slightly down the ladder.

Let it be her decision completely. If she wants to re-test, certainly do NOT try to talk her out of it.

[wjb]

If she believes that she can improve her scores with additional work, I think she should take the SAT I again. Here in ACT territory, it is quite rare for an unhooked student to get into any of the Ivies (or Wash U and its ilk,for that matter) with less than a 34 ACT composite. The official concordance says a 34 is the equivalent of 1510-1550 Verbal + Math. http://www.collegeboard.com/prod_dow...oncordance.pdf
Since she has several Ivies and other highly selective schools in her sites, I'd recommend a retake.

[bethievt]

How about suggesting she take the ACT instead? It's a shorter test, more straightforward and she doesn't need to report scores unless they're great. I'd suggest looking at a practice test in Science first, though. My son and many others got hung up in interpreting the graphs and lost a lot of time.

[bethievt]

My son felt the SAT Verbal could be over-thought and that the ACT didn't play tricks. He had a V SAT of 760 and an ACT reading score of 36. I don't even know if that's a statistically significant difference, but a perfect score is nice.

[mafool]

Another vote for the ACT. As said before, some students perform significantly better on one test type than they do on the other. Only way to find out is to take the test.