<p>International student who will need a pretty much full ride. Studied for about a week and a half (but quite hard during that time). I want to go into Computer Science. </p>
<p>770 M, 680 CR, 580 W</p>
<p>And is writing that important - I’ve heard from a lot of people thats its by far the least important. </p>
<p>The major thing is I do sorta want to retake but its quite expensive because of the massive exchange rate and extra fees for internationals. If its necessary then I can afford it but if this is acceptable (along with very good stats on the my app) then I would much prefer not to. If its relevant my “realisitic’ish” dream school is University of Chicago.</p>
<p>My d applied to The University of Florida … an excellent state school. Her goal was to get in and get into the Honors Program. This year for the first time the Honors Program used the writing portion of the SAT’s. I think you needed a 2070 to be asked to join. My D had an SAT of 740 M, 700 V, and 600 W, (2040)almost identical to you. In previous years she would have been admitted because all she needed, I think, was a 1410 out of 1600 (MV), which she had by getting a 1440. This year … she was clobbered because of the addition of the writing portion. Thankfully, they also accept the ACT, and she got a 35 out of 36 on that, which was more than high enough to get accepted to the honors program. What we noticed this year is that more schools, if not for admittance but for other things like honors programs, are paying greater attention to the writing portion. If this is your first SAT sitting, what would it hurt to re-take and see if you could get your writing higher? Aren’t they allowing you this year to only send, essentially, the superscore of the subsections you want? Thought that was a new rule … in which case, you wouldn’t have to worry about going lower on your other subsections, right?</p>
<p>Thanks zebes you were very helpful. I think I will retake - It was my first sitting and I guess I didn’t really focus my studies on the writing section.</p>
<p>UChicago is my realistic-ish dream school too!</p>
<p>UChicago’s 25-75% SAT score ranges are
Reading: 670-770
Math: 660-760</p>
<p>I can’t find any on Writing, but we can assume they’d be about 670-770. So your writing score definitely needs to go up. A lot. Even if they pay less attention to it (and that’s rare now), a score so drastically below their 25-75% range will hurt you a lot. Raising CR would be good too, but your math score is excellent.</p>
<p>You especially should retake because you’re international. UChicago has a very high acceptance rate for a school of it’s caliber, around 35%, because it has a smaller number of applicants. But its rate of international acceptance is only about 14%. So you have to be better than most people applying. And you have to be <em>a lot</em> better if you want financial aid.</p>
<p>So I say either retake or reconsider your dreams. To me, retaking is far more appealing than giving up on dreams.</p>
<p>Hi SeanZA. It’s been long. Your SAT scores are not bad at all compared to other South Africans that I know. And Chicago doesn’t look at SAT writing so don’t worry too much. By the way I’m also retaking in October.</p>
<p>Considering the fact that you want a free ride (or as close to one as possible), I would get your scores as high as possible. If you’re applying for financial aid, that will definitely help but scholarships won’t likely be handed out to the middle percentages as generously as they will to the higher, stand-out applicants.</p>