My kid got a 1500 on the SAT (780V, 720M), which I know is a great score (his high school’s average score is 1120, for context). He has a couple of true safeties (academic & financial) that he would be fine with, but he is really hoping to be competitive for top merit scholarships at some liberal arts schools (he will probably be NMSF, so will have a few merit options at state schools). GPA 3.9 UW, 9 APs, good ECs, social science or humanities major, budget 50k (should get some need-based aid at meets-need schools). His scores are high for his target schools & if we were full pay I’d say he could be done with testing, but since he needs merit for small schools I’m wondering if it’s worth him trying to raise his math score. Will a higher score make a big difference at these places, or once he clears a score threshold do other factors matter more?
Schools he’s targeting for merit:
Clark
Connecticut college
Dickinson
Oberlin
College of Wooster
St Olaf
Macalester
Fordham
Syracuse (maybe)
It’s really a matter of what else is competing for his time. Don’t assume any prep will improve his scores though. With scores that high, he only missed a small handful of questions. That can be the result of a momentary lapse in concentration. Congrats to him!
My kid got a 750V / 750M without any studying. As an engineering applicant, he wanted to improve his math score. We told him we’d support him taking it one more time, max.
His close friend had studied a ton and got a 1570, so he thought a higher score might be within reach with a bit of work. He borrowed his friend’s study guide and studied some, but not a ton. He ended up with a 760V / 750M, which gave him a real chuckle. We told him to forget about it and that any potential improvement in score over 1500 was unimportant and not worth pursuing.
It didn’t matter a bit and he got great merit offers (including at Cuse). 100% of his offers came in under $50K. Your son could give it a shot if it’s important to him to try. But I don’t think the schools he’s applying to will care about marginal increases above his already high score. As another option, he could try the ACT without studying. I was stronger in V than M and my ACT was better than my SAT (didn’t study for either).
FWIW, his high-scoring friend didn’t do much research about the college app process and was underwhelmed with his offers, and thought about transferring this year… In the case of my kid and his friend, I think the extra time spent on the app process yielded better results than the extra studying. Both kids needed significant merit aid.
Too hard to know if it would move the needle as these schools don’t publish merit tables - but I wouldn’t push my kid on a 1500. And truth is - you won’t know if it would or wouldn’t matter.
If he becomes NMSF, Tulsa might be closest to these size wise vs. state schools as you mentioned - full ride.
Perhaps the answer is - if the student wants to they can and if not, I wouldn’t force the issue.
Full tuition (excluding summers) for five years or until an undergraduate degree is earned. Students must maintain a minimum of 15 hours of coursework per semester. The National Merit Semifinalist Package cannot be stacked with other TU funding or scholarships…
Tier I Housing (upgrades are available at your expense)
Tier II Dining (upgrades are available at your expense)
Standard Student Fees
Textbooks (all incoming students receive free textbooks for the entirety of their undergraduate years)
Secured spot in Leadership TU led by President Brad Carson
A minimum $750 scholarship for National Merit Finalists from the National Merit organization. Renewability is based on the type of National Merit funding received.
$6,000 monetary gift per year (funded by the Oklahoma Regents or the TU Board of Trustees)
** A portion of your supplemental scholarship paid for by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation and Oklahoma State Regents will be applied to your student account within the first six weeks of each semester.*
Based on observation of my students, it is quite practical to improve math from 720 to 750, especially when Algebra II was taken the year before taking SAT. I can recall 5 kids who did it. I would estimate 50-60 hours of active study, focusing on the missed questions and related topics. However, how much this improvement might help with getting merit scholarship is a another question.
Tagging onto this thought, it also depends on whether or not the target schools super score. If they do, he could just prep for math.
Again though, it depends on the test and the curve. Results aren’t always the same. My son for example scored a 760 on math and only missed one question. That exact same result, one missed question, can result in a score anywhere between 760 and 800. He just got unlucky that he hit a tough curve. In the end it made no difference to his outcome.
Mac is likely the most selective school on the list.
It’s TO - the latest CDS shows 58% submitting with a 1480 75th percentile. The others will be much less. For example, Connecticut College (two year old CDS) had a 1390 75th percent.
Again, without knowing how they award merit and it’s likely holistically - my presumption based on the list would be - likely no more merit for say a 1550. If the entirety of the students profile is good, they’d likely already max out at these schools. The test at these LACs will be one small component of the overall and the 1500 will blow away the student body.
So I’d go back to - let the student decide - want another shot or not?
I personally doubt a higher score will lead to anything more $$ wise.
Thanks, all. At the least, it sounds like it doesn’t make sense for him to spend much time on test prep. He might decide to take it once more in June, but I will let him make that call. I agree that he might do better on the ACT given his verbal strengths, but he gets 50% extra time on math for SAT & is not approved for that for ACT—we could apply for that approval, but he’s not really interested in learning a new test & I suspect it’s not worth the hassle at this point anyway.
Thank you for the Tulsa info—that school is definitely on our list to investigate.
Hi: My 2 kids had similar stats (one was a NMF, and the other had a bad day on his PSAT but his but SAT score was 1530).
We were also in a very similar boat financially: full pay but had a max budget of about 50K/year, so were ‘chasing merit’ as the same type of schools that your kid is targeting. I have lots of posts about it if you want to search my earlier threads.
Schools were of course cagey about what stats would garner the top merit scholarship, but as others have posted they hinted that a 1500 SAT (and/or being a NMSF) was sort of the ‘threshold’ for the top merit award. (FWIW, S23 did receive the Buntrock at St. Olaf but declined it.)
My advice is on retesting is, like everyone else’s, ‘it depends’. All of those schools care a TON about demonstrated interest and fit: they don’t just want the highest stat students; they went kids who they think will really attend. So, at this point, if he’s really busy, I think your son is better off knocking all his supplemental essays out of the ballpark than retesting.
Also, after seeing two kids and all their friends go through the admissions process in the last few years, I think the CDS has become basically useless for the ‘25-75%ile test score stat’ since so many kids now go test-optional. Most schools’ scores look so high because most don’t kids to seem to submit, including many kids I know who have gotten into some of the schools on your list who were accepted test-optional.
Yes the CDS is enrolled I believe whereas this is admitted.
Either way, it’s likely the most competitive on the list and the student is above the 75th percentile in a situation where a boat load don’t even submit.
No one can say for sure - but a student like described would likely be up there in their merit consideration $ wise.
I prefer the publics that publish a table - in this size realm a Truman State…not suggesting the OP apply or consider another just noting I prefer that they have a table - if your SAT moves from A to B, your merit aid goes up this much.
No such luck with this list which will be holistic but as noted before, I don’t think a higher score will help - but certainly wouldn’t hurt of course.