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

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For a fine college, a 1480 can neatly suffice. There may be perhaps two dozen colleges for which a higher score may be expected in order to enhance an application.

Over 700 in each is fine for all but the very top colleges.

Disagree. last year’s incoming class at W&M had a 1530 at the 75th percentile and a 1520 at UVA. Thats what you should be aiming for (also a gpa of 4.6) if white and unhooked and applying from DMV

Come on. UVA takes so many kids TO that those scores you are listing are a joke.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For a fine college, a 1480 can neatly suffice. There may be perhaps two dozen colleges for which a higher score may be expected in order to enhance an application.

Over 700 in each is fine for all but the very top colleges.

Disagree. last year’s incoming class at W&M had a 1530 at the 75th percentile and a 1520 at UVA. Thats what you should be aiming for (also a gpa of 4.6) if white and unhooked and applying from DMV

If the school is still TO than aim for 25th %ile or higher. If no longer TO, aim for median/mean (50th).

Agree that if the school is still TO, then submit if around the 25th percentile or higher.

If no longer TO, you have no choice but to submit; the choice is whether to apply or not apply. You stop testing when you think you have your highest score and craft your college list accordingly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For a fine college, a 1480 can neatly suffice. There may be perhaps two dozen colleges for which a higher score may be expected in order to enhance an application.

Over 700 in each is fine for all but the very top colleges.

Disagree. last year’s incoming class at W&M had a 1530 at the 75th percentile and a 1520 at UVA. Thats what you should be aiming for (also a gpa of 4.6) if white and unhooked and applying from DMV

If the school is still TO than aim for 25th %ile or higher. If no longer TO, aim for median/mean (50th).

Agree that if the school is still TO, then submit if around the 25th percentile or higher.

If no longer TO, you have no choice but to submit; the choice is whether to apply or not apply. You stop testing when you think you have your highest score and craft your college list accordingly.

+1

[Anonymous]

DD has a 1550 superscore but we’re still nervous about where she will get in as her schedule hasn’t been quite as difficult as some other students. Only 9 APs and 1 dual enrollment, no AP Calc, no AP Bio or AP Chem. But she got all 5s on the APs she took.

Chances good at Top 25?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DD has a 1550 superscore but we’re still nervous about where she will get in as her schedule hasn’t been quite as difficult as some other students. Only 9 APs and 1 dual enrollment, no AP Calc, no AP Bio or AP Chem. But she got all 5s on the APs she took.

Chances good at Top 25?

Depending on her GPA, chances good at top 25. 9 APs/DE is totally fine. Sounds like she's not going for STEM so not taking those APs for humanities major is fine. For top 10-15 you may need 1550 SAT but for top 25-30 anything over 1500 is fantastic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DD has a 1550 superscore but we’re still nervous about where she will get in as her schedule hasn’t been quite as difficult as some other students. Only 9 APs and 1 dual enrollment, no AP Calc, no AP Bio or AP Chem. But she got all 5s on the APs she took.

Chances good at Top 25?

Depending on her GPA, chances good at top 25. 9 APs/DE is totally fine. Sounds like she's not going for STEM so not taking those APs for humanities major is fine. For top 10-15 you may need 1550 SAT but for top 25-30 anything over 1500 is fantastic.

This is PP. GPA is 4.75, only 1 B one semester. But she actually wants to be premed. There’s just so many legacy kids and kids with similar stats at our high school in MoCo. Feels like a crap shoot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DD has a 1550 superscore but we’re still nervous about where she will get in as her schedule hasn’t been quite as difficult as some other students. Only 9 APs and 1 dual enrollment, no AP Calc, no AP Bio or AP Chem. But she got all 5s on the APs she took.

Chances good at Top 25?

Depending on her GPA, chances good at top 25. 9 APs/DE is totally fine. Sounds like she's not going for STEM so not taking those APs for humanities major is fine. For top 10-15 you may need 1550 SAT but for top 25-30 anything over 1500 is fantastic.

To be fair, chances are never good at T25 for anyone, especially unhooked. But they have a shot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DD has a 1550 superscore but we’re still nervous about where she will get in as her schedule hasn’t been quite as difficult as some other students. Only 9 APs and 1 dual enrollment, no AP Calc, no AP Bio or AP Chem. But she got all 5s on the APs she took.

Chances good at Top 25?

Depending on her GPA, chances good at top 25. 9 APs/DE is totally fine. Sounds like she's not going for STEM so not taking those APs for humanities major is fine. For top 10-15 you may need 1550 SAT but for top 25-30 anything over 1500 is fantastic.

This is PP. GPA is 4.75, only 1 B one semester. But she actually wants to be premed. There’s just so many legacy kids and kids with similar stats at our high school in MoCo. Feels like a crap shoot.

No taking AP Bio and going pre-med at top 25 will be tricky unfortunately.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DD has a 1550 superscore but we’re still nervous about where she will get in as her schedule hasn’t been quite as difficult as some other students. Only 9 APs and 1 dual enrollment, no AP Calc, no AP Bio or AP Chem. But she got all 5s on the APs she took.

Chances good at Top 25?

Depending on her GPA, chances good at top 25. 9 APs/DE is totally fine. Sounds like she's not going for STEM so not taking those APs for humanities major is fine. For top 10-15 you may need 1550 SAT but for top 25-30 anything over 1500 is fantastic.

This is PP. GPA is 4.75, only 1 B one semester. But she actually wants to be premed. There’s just so many legacy kids and kids with similar stats at our high school in MoCo. Feels like a crap shoot.

No taking AP Bio and going pre-med at top 25 will be tricky unfortunately.

Not much we can do now. Changed her mind after a health-related internship and too late to add AP Bio. Well roll the dice or hope for merit someplace lower.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DD has a 1550 superscore but we’re still nervous about where she will get in as her schedule hasn’t been quite as difficult as some other students. Only 9 APs and 1 dual enrollment, no AP Calc, no AP Bio or AP Chem. But she got all 5s on the APs she took.

Chances good at Top 25?

Depending on her GPA, chances good at top 25. 9 APs/DE is totally fine. Sounds like she's not going for STEM so not taking those APs for humanities major is fine. For top 10-15 you may need 1550 SAT but for top 25-30 anything over 1500 is fantastic.

This is PP. GPA is 4.75, only 1 B one semester. But she actually wants to be premed. There’s just so many legacy kids and kids with similar stats at our high school in MoCo. Feels like a crap shoot.

It is a crap shoot, it is for all unhooked applicants. There isn't anyway to avoid that other than her applying widely, keep your expectations in check. Though it feels personal it truly isn't- there are thousands of UMC unhooked kids with the same grades/profiles, results are very random, not a reflection on who she is or will be.
Good luck

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DD has a 1550 superscore but we’re still nervous about where she will get in as her schedule hasn’t been quite as difficult as some other students. Only 9 APs and 1 dual enrollment, no AP Calc, no AP Bio or AP Chem. But she got all 5s on the APs she took.

Chances good at Top 25?

Depending on her GPA, chances good at top 25. 9 APs/DE is totally fine. Sounds like she's not going for STEM so not taking those APs for humanities major is fine. For top 10-15 you may need 1550 SAT but for top 25-30 anything over 1500 is fantastic.

To be fair, chances are never good at T25 for anyone, especially unhooked. But they have a shot.

+100

Chances at top 25 also not good for those with higher SAT and took more APs

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DD has a 1550 superscore but we’re still nervous about where she will get in as her schedule hasn’t been quite as difficult as some other students. Only 9 APs and 1 dual enrollment, no AP Calc, no AP Bio or AP Chem. But she got all 5s on the APs she took.

Chances good at Top 25?

Depending on her GPA, chances good at top 25. 9 APs/DE is totally fine. Sounds like she's not going for STEM so not taking those APs for humanities major is fine. For top 10-15 you may need 1550 SAT but for top 25-30 anything over 1500 is fantastic.

To be fair, chances are never good at T25 for anyone, especially unhooked. But they have a shot.

+100

Chances at top 25 also not good for those with higher SAT and took more APs

Yes, we get it. Three older kids so we’ve been through the gauntlet before

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For a fine college, a 1480 can neatly suffice. There may be perhaps two dozen colleges for which a higher score may be expected in order to enhance an application.

Over 700 in each is fine for all but the very top colleges.

Disagree. last year’s incoming class at W&M had a 1530 at the 75th percentile and a 1520 at UVA. Thats what you should be aiming for (also a gpa of 4.6) if white and unhooked and applying from DMV

Come on. UVA takes so many kids TO that those scores you are listing are a joke.

Not true. In fact, UVA makes a point of NOT disclosing a selection percentage for test optional candidates. UVA is currently discussing whether or not to drop test optional for 2026 applications.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The best part about a 1500 is that it’s not good enough for most T15s but if you got down the scale, colleges will ding these kids because they assume they are being applied to as the safeties and schools want to manage yield. At least that’s what I see in my kids Naviance scattergrams.

My DS jokingly suggested that for a couple of his safety schools maybe he should report his score from his first try at the SAT and leave the 1500 out. These schools are just absurd.

you sound absurd tbh.

The process is absurd.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DD has a 1550 superscore but we’re still nervous about where she will get in as her schedule hasn’t been quite as difficult as some other students. Only 9 APs and 1 dual enrollment, no AP Calc, no AP Bio or AP Chem. But she got all 5s on the APs she took.

Chances good at Top 25?

Depending on her GPA, chances good at top 25. 9 APs/DE is totally fine. Sounds like she's not going for STEM so not taking those APs for humanities major is fine. For top 10-15 you may need 1550 SAT but for top 25-30 anything over 1500 is fantastic.

This is PP. GPA is 4.75, only 1 B one semester. But she actually wants to be premed. There’s just so many legacy kids and kids with similar stats at our high school in MoCo. Feels like a crap shoot.

No taking AP Bio and going pre-med at top 25 will be tricky unfortunately.

And no AP Calc. Would be hard to claim she’s going to make it through the required courses.