Our TX school’s March 25th SAT was cancelled. The exam is now set for September (hopefully!!). DS would like to apply to a couple schools in late August – should we include his PSAT of 1460 instead for the interim? Will the colleges understand the score differentials?
Are the schools he wants to apply to without a test score test optional?
Yes, they are. We are considering sending PSAT scores for two reasons:
a)Many TX schools were able to take an earlier March SAT and we don’t want AOs to think he took it and did poorly
and
b) it’s a pretty good score and should point to an SAT of >1500
During a zoom meeting with a regional admissions officer for TAMU back in May, we were told that when applications open up Aug 1, go ahead complete the application, then once the student is able to test (end of august, september, october) to send the test scores at that time. As long as the test scores were received by Dec 15, it will be okay.
UT Austin and TAMU have both announced they are going test optional for this application cycle. My son’s school day SAT was cancelled also (March 25th) and he hasn’t been able to take SAT or ACT yet. He’s supposed to take the ACT July 18 and SAT Aug 29th. We’re not going to directly send scores for either. We’ll wait and see how he does and then decide if he’s going to apply test optional to those two, His application is pretty strong except for testing…he has test anxiety and doesn’t test well, but his gpa, class rank and EC’s are strong.
I’m not aware of any colleges that would use a PSAT score for admissions purposes, correct me if there are any of course. You can always call and ask, but I wouldn’t think that they would accept it. There’s also no way to send official PSAT score reports to colleges through the College Board website from what I can see.
My son’s spring SAT test dates were canceled and he has not yet been able to get a fall test date. All schools but one of twelve that he is interested are test optional. We may submit his PSAT score to those schools. He is a NMCS so we will at least list that on the Common App.
I should clarify – I don’t mean to send it as anything “official,” rather, to mention it supplementally in hopes of boosting our chances. Some schools have been known to reply with admissions decisions before the time the SAT scores will be available this fall.
DS is also commended and we’re hoping against hope that the selection index will go down from last year so he’ll be a SF :). Do you think all the AOs understand the PSAT is not on a 1600 scale? Maybe that’s obvious but I still wonder.
I don’t see a downside to self-reporting the PSAT on the common app, or Apply Texas app. I also think AOs know the PSAT is not on a 1600 scale, but you could always write 1460 out of 1520, or 1460 (99th percentile).
Thanks, that’s helpful.
It’s not going to hurt, but I doubt it’s going to help.
Why would mentioning a PSAT score on the application eliminate this concern?
I’d suggest a better strategy to address this would be a note on the application that the state SAT test at your school was cancelled as he plans to take it in September.
Maybe I’m overthinking it.
My thought was that it would show a decent score on the PSAT to give them an idea of where he stands until he’s able to submit actual SAT scores. I’m also considering that some of the schools may make admissions decisions before his scores are released.
Considering that the game has really changed with going TO, I’m trying to find any angle. 
I would have your child use the new covid box to let schools know his test date was cancelled and share the PSAT score.
You evidently believe that the PSAT score will give a bit additional consideration. No one can with veracity say it absolutely will not , so go on ahead.
If AOs are thinking along the line you believe they are, they well know when the students can next test and if those scores don’t show up, possibly make assumptions down the path you are assuming. The PSAT score does not show up in any of their internal records sonI truly doubt they ‘ll give it a thought. I’ve known too many kids who did not live up to SAT expectations extrapolating upwards from PSAT.
With the number of apps these AOs have to process, it’s not going to be something to consider.
But when one gets a thought, an idea like this in mind, difficult to dispel so go ahead and include the score somewhere.
LOL! I guess I’ll give it some time to see how things play out. The situation is unprecedented so I suppose a lot of our decisions will just be us winging it…
Yes. But if you have a gut feeling about something, do act upon it because it may bother you if you do not. I recommend being discrete about it. You may well be right that it could make a bit of a difference. Unlikely either of our opinions get proven one way or the other