caligirl22

I am going to be a senior in September, and I desperately want to go to Stanford. I took the SAT three times; most recently, I received a 730 in reading, a 710 in math, and a 740 in writing. The total is a 2180, and my superscore is a 2200. Do you think that taking it again in the fall would be beneficial if I want to go to Stanford, Rice, UCLA, or Northwestern?

caligirl22

Also, I have a 4.5 GPA (next year it should be a 4.8) and I'm involved in a ton of extracurriculars, including a sport, community service, and leadership positions. Can I get into one of those four schools?

almostcrimes

mm, everywhere i've read says that taking it 4 times is pushing it..i really wouldn't. after three times, you're not gonna see huge results.

qwert13

I have to agree. Theres a veryyyy unlikely chance that you will raise your score significantly if you retake it again. It might even decrease. And Stanford and possibly the other schools will see that you have take the test so many times because it requires your to send in all of your scores.
But with your GPA, ECs, cleadership, etc you still probably have a good chance

Gaoez

if you retake it will look bad, even if yuo get a better score

KansasGirl

Try taking the aCT this fall. Stanford takes both.

nooob

which of those 4 follow score-choice policies? I don't think stanford does. And I know the UCs only look at the best single-sitting test.

DunninLA

caligirl --

From what I've read here and elsewhere, adcoms don't treat an 2180 differently than a 2280. The 2100 might be a psychological mark for some... but past that, there isn't much information an adcom can gain about your contribution to their school from your SAT scores. Read this from an MIT adcom:

MIT Admissions | Blog Entry: "What's the big deal about 40^2?"

What might be worthy of some time and energy, instead of studying and sitting for a 4th SAT, is developing a coherent story about yourself in your admissions packet. An adcom, as described by the MIT link, wants to know what is compelling about YOU. Many really interesting, fascinating people don't really get that across in their college applications, thinking metrics are the main criteria for selection.

The adcom already knows you're smart and hard working from your 2180 and high GPA. What ELSE about you is compelling?

Let me put this a different way: Assuming 2100 - 2300 is viewed in the same bucket labeled:
- "smart enough to do well here",

and that Top 5% of the graduating class from a solid school is also into a bucket called
- "will work hard in the courses here and contribute"

and in very involved in ECs, some of which exhibit leadership goes into a bucket called
"is a high energy, involved leader who will contribute to campus life"

Assuming those three, which are minimum requirements for that school's acceptance, would you be surprised if I told you that 75% of the applicants to a school earned a place in all 3 buckets?

What then separates the 8%-25% or so who get in from the 50-68% who do not? Is it another tenth of a gpa point? Another 50 points on the SAT? Another club or sport of which applicant was President/Captain? I would say NO, NO and NO! It is the picture of an applicant the adcom really wants to get to know better... a fascinating applicant! All 75% can perform at the school, but not all 75% can make the adcom want to know them more.

When I applied to Stanford a long time ago (when over 30% were accepted), I filled all three buckets. So did the other 45% who were not granted admission. However, what got me accepted were some unique experiences in my life that were sure to make a contribution to my fellow students in the classroom, around the dorm dining table, and in student actitivies.

Gaoez

^very niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiice!

cjgone

Take it again. Until you tie the same score or so ,you haven't reached your highest. Obviously, by doing nothing, you won't improve, but i'm sure there's more tricks that you can learn, just as there are for the ACT.

Taking it more times does not look bad-- I don't even know how the hell someone came to such a generalization. Probably someone who is angry at other people for doing better then him because they studied more and took it again. Sure there's a few colleges that don't do score choice, but one more time doesn't hurt.. Think about getting a 2200+! :O!

THIS is only true if you haved peaked your score... How the hell are you supposed to know that you peaked if your score keeps improving? Why not take the chance? wow... People told me that too on the ACT, and now I can shut them up real fast after taking more then 3.