How important is 1500 SAT for Top 50 schools (national/LAC)?

[Anonymous]

Is SAT of 1500 an important score to achieve (or exceed)? Or is 1480 or 1490 interchangeable? 1500 appears to be 99th percentile.

Does it matter if it's one sitting or is superscore as good (for schools that are not not MIT/georgetown)?

[Anonymous]

For non MIT/GT, it really doesn’t matter if it’s a superscore.

I wouldn’t think there’s a big difference between 1490 and 1500 but I don’t really know how firm the deciles/buckets are.

[Anonymous]

1530 is 99th now-due to tests being taken multiple times.
i think its very important, signed someone whos kid finally got above 1500 on 4th try-1550

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:1530 is 99th now-due to tests being taken multiple times.
i think its very important, signed someone whos kid finally got above 1500 on 4th try-1550

+1 there was a definite difference in results for those over 1500 in my DC's class and it stood out in the Naviance data for prior years. Check your schools data

[Anonymous]

Depends on the specific college, major, and what else your kid has on EC/awards (if they have national-level accolades, it matters less; if all they have is school clubs and leadership, it matters more).

For example, know several kids who got into Vanderbilt ED last 2 years from our private TO (school president leadership) bc a 14xx is not submittable there, but they had the other leadership that Vanderbilt desires.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Depends on the specific college, major, and what else your kid has on EC/awards (if they have national-level accolades, it matters less; if all they have is school clubs and leadership, it matters more).

For example, know several kids who got into Vanderbilt ED last 2 years from our private TO (school president leadership) bc a 14xx is not submittable there, but they had the other leadership that Vanderbilt desires.

Vandy loves test optional, I would not assume this applies to any other T20.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:1530 is 99th now-due to tests being taken multiple times.
i think its very important, signed someone whos kid finally got above 1500 on 4th try-1550

+1 there was a definite difference in results for those over 1500 in my DC's class and it stood out in the Naviance data for prior years. Check your schools data

+2

[Anonymous]

Not to hijack, but I read that the test was recalibrated in January 2025 and it is now more difficult to get 1500+. Is this true?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Depends on the specific college, major, and what else your kid has on EC/awards (if they have national-level accolades, it matters less; if all they have is school clubs and leadership, it matters more).

For example, know several kids who got into Vanderbilt ED last 2 years from our private TO (school president leadership) bc a 14xx is not submittable there, but they had the other leadership that Vanderbilt desires.

Vandy loves test optional, I would not assume this applies to any other T20.

Agree.
In T25, the only schools I wouldn't submit a 1480/90 to would be Vanderbilt and WashU (only because both came out and said not to when the kid asked regional AO about a 33 directly).
Would submit to all other T25.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not to hijack, but I read that the test was recalibrated in January 2025 and it is now more difficult to get 1500+. Is this true?

yes that is why so many people are going mental about things now that tests are becoming increasing more relevant and/or required.

crossing 1500 seems like an important differentiator in the application stage.

[Anonymous]

I think 1450 or over is also a strong differentiator for most top 50 (maybe not top 20).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is SAT of 1500 an important score to achieve (or exceed)? Or is 1480 or 1490 interchangeable? 1500 appears to be 99th percentile.

Does it matter if it's one sitting or is superscore as good (for schools that are not not MIT/georgetown)?

Georgetown?? Hmmmm

[Anonymous]

My kid finally reached what he thought was the 1500 promised land recently. Once we dug into Naviance, it seems like for the most selective schools, you start seeing the green checkmarks at 1550. I’m not sure 1500 is much different than 1490. 1550 seems to open a lot of doors from our HS.

[Anonymous]

Bare minimum for T25 is 1500 I won’t apply with less than that

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is SAT of 1500 an important score to achieve (or exceed)? Or is 1480 or 1490 interchangeable? 1500 appears to be 99th percentile.

Does it matter if it's one sitting or is superscore as good (for schools that are not not MIT/georgetown)?

1500 is not needed for most of the T50. T15 yes usually needed.