I had a genuine nightmare that I got a 900 on my SAT and it was sent to Cornell University (my dream school). In reality, I got a 1260 on the PSAT, and just took the March 10th SAT.
How do I stop worrying about this so much? I know it’s going to be okay regardless of what score I get, but I can’t help worrying about it. I’m a Junior so I have some time to retake in June or August.
We put too much stress on our high school students in the US.
A few points: If you do go to Cornell, then six or eight years from now you will find yourself working with peers who went to one of the SUNY’s, U.Mass, Rutgers, and/or a wide range of other schools. You are likely to have a boss that went to one of these other schools also (For example, as an MIT graduate, one of the best bosses that I ever had went to Rutgers, another went to seminary school, another went to a school I had never heard of).
When I was going back to graduate school, Cornell was my top choice. I didn’t get in and had to go to my second choice. I loved it.
I think that the biggest issue here is that you shouldn’t be fixated on one school. Cornell is a very good university. However, there are a lot of very good universities. You can do very well with a degree from Cornell and you can do very well with a degree from any of at least 100 or 200 other schools.
Yes, you will be okay regardless of how you did on the March 10 SAT. You do have time to retake it, but it is very likely that you won’t need to (particularly if you did some preparation).
lmao I already know of five other people who experienced this
It can be surely stressful, but still much less stress than many other countries particularly in the Asia. In many places, there is only one schedule standardized exam per year for college application.
I have much anxiety over my son’s SAT score release this Friday. He took the SAT for the first time June 2017 and scored 1350 (690 Math, 660 ER/W) without much prep. He then took the PR online prep course for eight weeks. We though he would do better but nope… LOL! 1340 (660 Math, 680 ER/W). So now he has 1370 with super score. So now we did one on one tutoring with ArborBridge and he said he felt the most prepared. So we are anxiously waiting for the score. Fingers crossed for everyone!
I just wouldn’t stress too much (easier said than done lol). Just remember that there are more opportunities to take the test, and that you can work to get a higher score (especially bc you can review for most of summer & take the test in august).
Cornell is also my top school! Good luck this fall applying, I wish to have us both there in 2019. Let us know how the real score is, I’m sure it’s higher than 900 
I got a 1290, so slight improvement, but not where it needs to be. I am going to be doing a few prep courses and retake in August, so the best of luck to me.
@jswaggy I hope we both get in! Are you going to be applying ED?