Retake with a 2260?

Jewel63
Mon, 31 May 2010 20:47:04 +0000

If you are applying to a college that is about 25% selective or less, don’t take it again unless you want to; i.e. don’t feel pressured to retake it, unless you are just a perfectionist like that Just teasing, I’d feel the same way. But if you are applying for a very selective school–think Princeton, Harvard, MIT/Caltech, etc. etc., I would HIGHLY suggest taking it again and trying to get the HIGHEST score possible. The reasoning? The funnel effect.

It is important to remember that many, many exceptionally qualified students apply to selective colleges, and that a high proportion of those have SAT scores of 2200 or above. A score of, say, 2254 might look really good to admissions officers in a public or state university, but almost normal or average (even low, in some cases) to officers at a selective school. At these schools the test scores are not by any means the most important factors (many people with 2400s get rejected), but because of the narrow amount of available openings, they can certainly serve as a weeding tool when combined with other things like personality, activities, school involvement, character, etc. Having a Filibuster-proof SAT/ACT score of 2300-2400 can force admissions officers to look elsewhere on your application for weaknesses and faults, or just reasons why you might not be suited to go to the college. Try to give them less opportunity to drop you because of grades or scores.

I just finished my freshman year application process and am contendedly bound for Vanderbilt University this fall. BUT I got rejected from Princeton and MIT, and waitlisted for Harvard and Oberlin. My SAT was a 2190 (800 CR, 740 W, HORRIBLE 650 M because I did everything by gut without practice and never retook it) and my ACT was a 31. Now, food for thought–Vandy was the one school I got into, and they were the only school to which I only sent my ACT score, not my SAT. Could this mean that the other schools factored in my low Math SAT when processing me? I leave it up to you to decide. So be careful and best of luck!