Should I tell colleges my SAT was taken without proper accommodations?

Applying to College
1

I have accommodations for extended time under college board policy for issues that I will not get into here.

I signed up to take the SAT last October as a junior, I thought that I would have no issue applying for those accommodations that I had previously not acquired because my guidance counselor said I wouldn’t need them yet. After I signed up for the exam during the first week of September, I told him it was time to get them so we got everything together and sent it in. About 3 days before my exam, he called me into his office and told me that there was an issue processing my paperwork so I would not have the accommodations. Although I was upset, I didn’t want to be charged for a refund of the test and I decided to take it anyways, knowing there were more test dates. (I was already planning on taking it twice)

I took the test without the accommodations and scored pretty well, 1340, but I was very anxious and definitely could’ve used the extension. Within the next week, I got the letter that my accommodations had been approved and I signed up to take the exam again in May. Well, that exam got canceled, as did the June one I signed up for. Currently, I’m supposed to re-test in August, but I have little confidence I’ll actually be able to.

Now, I’m stuck wondering if I should submit my test scores and/or tell colleges about the issue that probably impacted the score. All of the schools that I plan on applying to are test optional now, and most of them are highly selective. Besides the tests, I have straight As, AP classes, ranked 2nd in my class, captain of both of my swim teams, in multiple clubs, and have 3 different jobs that I work throughout the year.

Do people have any advice about what I should do in this situation? My score is only 40 points shy of my top choice’s average, but its significantly lower than that of my dream school.

2

Looks like the rest of your application is strong, so you don’t have to submit your score, which is actually pretty good. You may be ok sending it to the school where you’re only 40 pts below the average. Talk to your GC and parents though before making a decision like this. good luck!

3

Definitely YOU should not inform the colleges. I hear Admissions Offices really don’t like to hear students making excuses. If your GC feels it is an important detail for your app, then they can mention in their recc. Let the GC decide.

I lean toward sending the score, at least to the school where you’re near the mean. Although there’s lots of debate over TO admissions this year, my feeling is that submitting a pretty good score (which yours is) is better than no score. In any case, you probably have 4-6 months to decide this, and you may even get another test date before apps are due.

4

Many schools are going with an optional testing policy, meaning that the SAT and ACT exams are now optional for the class of 2020 and 2021. Your scores look great, so submit them if you want to and inform them about the issue. But for now, focus on your APs and GPA since they will play a bigger role now since SATs became optional. Good Luck.

5

Thanks! I’m applying EA to most of the schools, minus the Ivies because they don’t offer it. I also changed my SAT date from Aug. to Oct., so hopefully it will actually happen.