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It helps a lot!
It doesn’t hurt.
@Euler2718 While there’s no doubt that a 2400 is impressive, it is often not much more helpful than, say, a 2300, especially when many selective schools look at the application holistically.
There is a book written by N. Vasavada titled Ivy Admission Analytics for the Fox Parent that looks at this quite closely. The author argues that once you reach a 2400 on the SAT the rates of admission to ivy leagues approaches 50%. This is far higher than the overall admit rate (5-10%).
@sgopal2 That’s likely because the students with a 2400 SAT also have a wide array of other impressive academic achievements.
It helps a good amount.
I’m not sure what you were looking for with such a vague question. It gives you more opportunities for scholarships. Your chances improve by a lot, but that improvement is less and less once you get to the highly selective and selective schools.
It’s nice to have on your resume of course. Test score heavy schools like Vandy, WUSTL, and Cornell become near matches assuming a decent (3.8+UWgpa, some leadership) rest of your application. I would say that it helps fairly noticeably at every school barring HYPSMC just because they probably have enough perfect scores to fill up an entire class of applicants at their disposal.
There are only a bit over 2000 out of over 2 million kids who receive a 36 or 2400. It’s not going to make a difference vs 2300 at holistic schools but will make a big difference at test and grade oriented schools. UC’s, Caltech, Georgia Tech etc. will look favorably , plus you have bragging rights for the rest of your life.
My data suggests that a 2400 confers no real benefit compared to other students who score 750+ in all three sections.
I’ve heard to aim for 2400 but be satisfied with a 2300+. I think that, in a college’s perspective, a 2350 and a 2400 are essentially the same.
I laugh when I read about students “aiming” for a test score. Of course you aim for the highest score! How does one aim for less? “Well, I could get a 2400 tomorrow, but I don’t need that much, so I’ll play WoW all night, and then I’ll be too tired to do my best.” Or maybe, “I don’t want a perfect score. I’ll deliberately answer two questions wrong.” No one does that. No one sane, anyway.
You do the best you can and apply to schools that match your scores - leaving yourself some safeties, of course.
Everything else is just planning - once your apps are in - how much you need to worry. Which is nuts. “Let’s see, on March 15, on a scale of 1-10, I should worry at about level 8.” That’s just crazy talk. Ripping off mental scabs and scratching your brain till you bleed. Not fun. Not helpful.
I remember once running for a subway in Chicago. I needed to get to the airport, and I was a bit late. So you bet I ran for that train. I ran hard. I pushed my lungs to the max. Because my running speed, and how much I was willing to punish my body, were under my control.
But once I was on the train, that was it. There was nothing I could do to make the train go faster. So I chilled and forgot about my flight. And enjoyed a peaceful train ride. And whether I made my flight or not is irrelevant to this story. Because it was out of my hands.
Contrary to what most people, I think there is a difference between a 2400 and a, say, 2300. However, it’s not significant and nothing to worry about.
Hahahaha! Love that @WasatchWriter ! A 2400 guarantees you nothing. My D’s best friend got 2370, single sitting. For all practical purposes, there is virtually no difference between that and 2400. She is also valedictorian. She got deferred from her top Ivy choice. So yeah, it is great, but don’t count on it doing anything more than ensuring your app isn’t automatically put in the reject pile. Anyway, isn’t 2400 going to be obsolete soon? Let’s all embrace 1600!
@marvin100 , care to elaborate on your data and how you came by it? Curious.
@Lindagaf - it’s part of my line of work.
There is a difference between 2300 and 2400, particularly for merit scholarship chance.
@billcsho - any link or cite for that?
@marvin100 SAT 2300 is below the threshold for large scholarships at many state flagship.
^ Huh? Which ones?
2300 in SAT is at the low end of ACT 35 while many students with ACT 35 did not get large scholarships, or even any scholarships, at Purdue, UIUC, UMich, CAL, etc. Indeed, SAT 2300 is not too far off the 75th percentile of UMich admission (2280 last year). Large merit scholarships are only offered to the top few percent of admitted students.