Should I honestly retake?

bclintonk
Sun, 06 Jul 2008 18:41:20 +0000

Depends what you mean by “top tier.” There are tiers, and then there are tiers. Look at the 25th/75th percentile median SAT scores reported on US News. For the top 20 or so national universities, you’re probably out of the range they’re looking for—bottom quartile of SAT scores, and your GPA and ECs (the way you describe them) aren’t going to do much to pull you up. I’d say you’re probably out of the running for these. The next 40 or so (roughly #20 to #40 in the US News rankings) are probably reaches; you’re likely in the bottom half in SAT scores, again not much help from GPA or ECs, but you have a chance. Pick a couple of these that seem like a good fit, and apply; as they used to say in thed ads for the NY lottery, “Hey, you never know.” Below about #50 or so you start to get into “match” range; you’re at or slightly above their median SAT, and they probably admit a lot of students with comparable GPAs. Again, pick a few of these that seem like a good fit. Below about #100 on the US News list, you start to get into “safeties”—schools where you’re a likely admit because your 1230 combined Math + Verbal SAT is in the top quartile of their class and they’re got a pretty high admit rate anyway, so it’s likely someone with your credentials would get in. But your “match” schools will include some pretty good colleges; your “reach” schools could include some outstanding ones; and even your safeties will include some decent schools.

Now do the same thing for LACs. Here the top 30 or so are either out of your range or distant reaches. Roughly #30 through around #60 are probably reaches, #60 through roughly #100 are matches, and beyond that you start getting intyo safeties. Again, a lot of quality schools in the reach and match range, and even in the safeties.

But why not retake the SAT? If you could bump your total score up by 200 points, or even 100, it starts to put you in a different range for cutoffs on match schools. All it costs is a few bucks and a little investment of time in test prep and actually taking the test. There’s no downside risk because schools will only use your best scores anyway, but there’s potentially a big upside. I’d say you’re not in such bad shape, as long as you don’t have unrealistic hopes of getting into an Ivy.