GC Letter for SAT scores?

calmom
Mon, 09 Apr 2007 17:05:45 +0000

I think it’s a big mistake to have the GC talking about scores. The GC should be talking about something personal to the kid – that kid’s accomplishments, or personality, etc.

Example: my daughter’s g.c. went to teachers at the school who had taught my daughter but were not the ones writing her recs, and asked them to submit a short note with 3 adjectives that came to mind when describing my d, and other comments welcome. Then he included a short summary of what he received in his report, with what he said were the 3-most common adjectives, and a few quotes of some of the best comments. I remember one of the words was “ambitious”. I thought that was the kind of thing that probably had a lot of impact, because it was giving a portrayal of my daughter as seen by the school community as a whole.

The test scores are what they are, and all of the top colleges require that SAT scores be transmitted directly from the College Board - so they are going to know about multiple sittings. I think focusing on trying to bolster the score with a g.c. report would backfire, because it would suggest that the kid doesn’t have much to offer other having people brag about his scores.

When I first saw the thread title, I thought you were asking about something different – what about the kid who needs to explain poor scores? For example, a kid with recognized LD’s who was denied accommodations by the College Board, despite having a 504 plan in place in the high school? In that case a word of explanation might be in order.