Advise on SAT scores

[Appolo]

[moderator action: changed topic to reflect thread]

Help,help and help.

My november SAT 1score just came out and my scores are lower than what I had in mind. (can't get a 700 for my critical reading and writing):cry: :cry: :cry: :cry:

I am trying to gain admission in Fall 2007 but the problem is all of the universities I wanted to apply to set 1Jan as the deadline for admission,making it impossible for me to resit the exam.

The universities I wanted to apply to are as follows:

brown university

cornell university

MIT

Northwestern university

Chicago

Penn

John hopkins

I'm taking SAT2 this saturday and I'm now worried that my SAT1 might not impress the admission officers of the universities mentioned above.I'm thinking of taking SAT1 for the second time in January but will the universities accept my second score?

A friend of mine told me that it is ok to resit my SAT exam since most of the universities in US only start looking at the scores in March.I am now desperate in need of advice because practically all of the uni I'm trying my luck on is either an ivy or an ivy-league standard uni.

Can anybody out there help me? I am desperately in need of someone that will tell me whether is it possible if I send my second score after the admission deadline.

[jiinjoo]

Appolo, kindly provide a better thread title next time.

Anyway, what's the fuss :) They are just SAT exams, Sit And Throw(forget).

The deadlines are closing year end. If you're applying this year, March is probably too late. Some do accept the scores if they really turn out to be better but not all - imagine the amount of overhead required especially if that particular school already finalize everything by feb.


But still, good luck trying again if you want to!

[suga]

hey

you can try taking the SAT 1 again in january. out of all ur universities, i know cornell will not accept jan scores. mit and penn will accept on a case-by case basis. chicago wont accept. not too sure bout john hopkins and brown though

[Andrew89]

appolo..are you a private student or sponsored? with a good transcript, essays and support of eg. jpa i think ull be fine

[anushree87]

As Suga mentioned, MIT and UPenn will accept you scores on a case by case basis but you should definitely send them an e-mail beforehand to let them know your intention to take the January SAT and make sure to follow up after you take the exam. Also indicate on your application that you will be taking the SAT in January.

[anushree87]

Also, for any of you who need practice with writing, the Collegeboard has an online SAT course where you can submit your essays( about 10 essay questions) and they will be graded electronically. I think it costs about USD 60 for the course. I found it very helpful to get an idea of what you SAT essay grade will be.

[andrewlza]

The Princeton Review (http://www.princetonreview.com/) used to have free essay grading sessions. About once every three months, they would have an essay topic online. You'll write the essay within the time limit, send it in, and get it back in three days or so.

Don't know if this program still exists though.

[chenchow]

Focus on preparing a very solid SAT2, as well as solid application essays and recommendation letters, with excellent performance in interview.

Your chance is still there. If you have strong confidence that you would improve significantly your SAT1 score, you could give it a good shot to try the January sitting, but do be aware of the risk, if you do not perform as well.

I would say that if your critical reading is above 600 (or even 500+) and your writing is above 650, you should be fine.

Many have gotten admission to those universities listed with those range of SAT score. What is important is not SAT score. For Cornell, average SAT 1 verbal is around 670. So, that means that 50% of students admitted has SAT 1 verbal below 670.

Good Luck on your SAT2!

[jojo]

One of my friend told me that universities look on SAT 1 score first, then only look on SAT 2 score (ie place more emphasis on SAT 1). how true is that?
for my SAT 1, i got CR 620, Writing 590, math 800 :cry:
for SAT 2, math 2 780, chem 790, phy 790
would i stand a chance if i apply to cornell? how importnat is SAT score in our application?
for colleges such as mt holyoke and bates that standardise score is optional, should i provide both of my SAT scores anyway since i've taken them? or should i just submit my SAT 2 score? will my SAT 1 score harm my application? if yes, to wat extent?

[anushree87]

One of my friend told me that universities look on SAT 1 score first, then only look on SAT 2 score (ie place more emphasis on SAT 1). how true is that?
for my SAT 1, i got CR 620, Writing 590, math 800 :cry:
for SAT 2, math 2 780, chem 790, phy 790
would i stand a chance if i apply to cornell? how importnat is SAT score in our application?
for colleges such as mt holyoke and bates that standardise score is optional, should i provide both of my SAT scores anyway since i've taken them? or should i just submit my SAT 2 score? will my SAT 1 score harm my application? if yes, to wat extent?

Hi Jojo. I would say that they both very important. Looking at you SAT scores, you should probably retake your SAT 1 if you have the chance to do so. Your SAT 2 scores are already very good so you probably don't have to retake those.

Always remember that NOTHING on the college application is ever optional. If it is on the application, you should definitely fill it in. It shouldn't jeopardize your chances especially since you have a perfect math score.

I'm not sure about your chances of getting into Cornell in particular but it is impossible to evaluate your chances of getting into any college just based on SAT scores. You have to look at the whole package. I'm sure you've heard this before and are probably sick of hearing it but it is true. There are many applicants with perfect scores who get rejected because they are not well rounded enough.

[chenchow]

One of my friend told me that universities look on SAT 1 score first, then only look on SAT 2 score (ie place more emphasis on SAT 1). how true is that?
for my SAT 1, i got CR 620, Writing 590, math 800 :cry:
for SAT 2, math 2 780, chem 790, phy 790
would i stand a chance if i apply to cornell? how importnat is SAT score in our application?
for colleges such as mt holyoke and bates that standardise score is optional, should i provide both of my SAT scores anyway since i've taken them? or should i just submit my SAT 2 score? will my SAT 1 score harm my application? if yes, to wat extent?

Hi Jojo. I would say that they both very important. Looking at you SAT scores, you should probably retake your SAT 1 if you have the chance to do so. Your SAT 2 scores are already very good so you probably don't have to retake those.

Always remember that NOTHING on the college application is ever optional. If it is on the application, you should definitely fill it in. It shouldn't jeopardize your chances especially since you have a perfect math score.

I'm not sure about your chances of getting into Cornell in particular but it is impossible to evaluate your chances of getting into any college just based on SAT scores. You have to look at the whole package. I'm sure you've heard this before and are probably sick of hearing it but it is true. There are many applicants with perfect scores who get rejected because they are not well rounded enough.

I fully echo what Anushree mentioned. Your SAT2 score is very good already, so don't worry at all on it. For your SAT 1, if you think you could have an impact and improve on it, no harm try taking it this Saturday. If you are not sure whether you could improve on it, then you could choose not to have the results send to universities and after you get the results from collegeboard, you can opt to send additional reports to those universities. This will incur cost, as each university sent would cost another USD10 or so, but if you are not too sure on whether you could improve on it, then do it this way.


Full package matters, and as far as I know, there is no such thing as looking at SAT1 first, at least speaking from Cornell's perspective. For Cornell, SAT score is not too important. My SAT score is around yours, and I managed to get in. Average SAT1 verbal for Cornell is around 670, and Math is around 730. Since your Maths and Sciences scores are very strong, Cornell would look at your language command in your application essay and your TOEFL score to ensure that you have a decent level of English.

I would echo what Anushree said. Whatever that is said as optional in the application form, you shouldn't just treat it as optional. Try your very best to fulfill it, unless you know that you are 100% sure of getting in. You should definitely make full use of all opportunities to impress the admission officers.

If you have anything outstanding that is not shown in application, do submit it as well. It would help to differentiate you from other candidates. Stuff like impressive art work, songs written, fantastic calligraphy etc.

[lyzzy]

Jojo, high SAT scores will favour your application, and your Writing and Verbal scores falls below the mean SAT scores for Cornell.

HOWEVER, this does not mean you should automatically retake SAT I. In my opinion, many people are under the impression that retaking (and retaking, and retaking... ) the SATs would give you better scores at every test. This is may or may not be true. Retaking the SATs multiple times means that you have the opportunity to practice; however, doing practice SAT tests has the same effect. So, don't just blindly retake the SATs multiple times in hope of a miracle. You should only retake the SATs if you feel you can do better, if you have been getting consistently higher scores in your practice SATs!

Of course, there's that small chance that you are extremely lucky and get really high marks, far above what you have been getting on your practice SAT tests. However, there are better things you could do with your time and your money (think opportunity cost) - i.e. apply to more colleges, join more extracurricular activities. Admission officers like to see high SAT scores, but they also like to see a well-rounded applicant.
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[chenchow]

Jojo, high SAT scores will favour your application, and your Writing and Verbal scores falls below the mean SAT scores for Cornell.

HOWEVER, this does not mean you should automatically retake SAT I. In my opinion, many people are under the impression that retaking (and retaking, and retaking... ) the SATs would give you better scores at every test. This is may or may not be true. Retaking the SATs multiple times means that you have the opportunity to practice; however, doing practice SAT tests has the same effect. So, don't just blindly retake the SATs multiple times in hope of a miracle. You should only retake the SATs if you feel you can do better, if you have been getting consistently higher scores in your practice SATs!

Of course, there's that small chance that you are extremely lucky and get really high marks, far above what you have been getting on your practice SAT tests. However, there are better things you could do with your time and your money (think opportunity cost) - i.e. apply to more colleges, join more extracurricular activities. Admission officers like to see high SAT scores, but they also like to see a well-rounded applicant.

Fully echo what lyzzy says, especially the underlined portion. That should be the basis of whether you should retake SAT1 or SAT2, ie you have the confidence that you could do better.