<p>I was actually planning on responding to a comment regarding this topic in another thread but I feel that these issues deserved separate attention in a discussion of their own. I hope to address my concerns pertaining to the unfounded negative sentiments regarding the point at which the number of SAT sittings becomes excessive and lend a special discussion focus to the falsely perceived beliefs of the irrelevance of attaining or transcending beyond a particular score total.</p>
<p>First, one has the full right to take the SAT as many times as he or she feels best. It is absolutely no one’s responsibility to belittle anyone’s decision, make derogatory claims about an individual’s sense of prioritization, or to declare the completely baseless assumption that an individual who takes the SAT more than X times lacks more fulfilling ambitions. Retaking the SAT - or any standardized test for that matter - is a perfectly valid initiative for students that feel that their scores do not adequately provide a proper representation of their respective scholastic aptitudes. </p>
<p>Moreover, I frequently see many members criticizing others for retaking or having thoughts of retaking a 2200, 2300, or whatever. Nevertheless, these statements demonstrate a tenuous understanding of the basic strategy of admission practices at elite universities. (For those of you with Ivy League ambitions in particular, I believe that the remainder of this post will hold some significance to you.) There seems to be a common irrational misconception that the achievement of a score beyond some value X is irrelevant or offers diminishing or negligible benefits for purposes of college admissions. </p>
<p>In actuality, it is quite the contrary and I have substantive statistical proof from a scientific study that was referenced elsewhere on CC. From the source listed below, we can see an exponential increase in the probability of admission as SAT scores approach perfect levels. At less selective universities that do not formally compete for lower admission or matriculation rates, there seems to be a positive linear correlation between SAT scores and admittance. However, at Harvard, MIT, and Princeton, universities that are routinely acknowledged for their complex admission tactics, we can actually observe ** an exponential increase in admission probability as SAT scores approach perfection**. To analyze the relationship between SAT scores and admission probability independently for each school, Harvard has a relatively stable rate of admission for those who score between the 92nd and 98th percentile; MIT has an * exponential * increase of admission probability beginning at approximately the 94th percentile; and Princeton actually experiences a notable dip in admission chances for students who score above the 92nd percentile but below the 98th percentile. But the one behavior shared between each of the three universities is a radical increase in the rate of admissions for students whose scores transcend beyond the 98th percentile nationally. That is, the most remarkable point discrepancies for admissions chances at elite universities exists for students who score at the 98th and 99.98th percentile, respectively, which is most universally and illogically viewed as the percentile level in which the demonstration of additional academic merit is immaterial.</p>
<p> <a href="http://www.infogoaround.org/CollegesChinese/RevealRanking.pdf">http://www.infogoaround.org/CollegesChinese/RevealRanking.pdf</a> <a href="See%20graphs%20on%20page%208">/url</a></p>
<p>What can we conclude from this? The most apparent inference is that elite colleges and universities are predominantly self-serving institutions that sacrifice quality simply for the sake of manipulating admission and matriculation rates to increase their marketability and subsequent public desirability. But the most relevant conclusion for our purposes is that the effect of SAT scores on admission chances ** increases exponentially ** as scores approach perfect levels – not linearly and especially not regressively as most tend to assume. To place things into a concrete perspective, the importance of an SAT score between 2300 and 2400 is far greater than the difference in scores than say, 2000 and 2100. This may be simply attributed to the fact that a student with a 2400 is within the top one percentile of all applicants at universities such as Harvard, Princeton, and MIT and thus has effectively distanced him- or herself from the competition from students who achieved at lower score levels.</p>