DCUM Forum

Anonymous

11/21/2025 20:26 Subject: Retake a 1540?

Absolutely retake if she wants to. Every incremental boost gets you closer to merit scholarships because the top institutions will trade for bragging rights. The moment my kid moved from 32 to a 34 ACT to a 36, the unsolicited full ride scholarships started coming in.

Anonymous

11/21/2025 20:24 Subject: Retake a 1540?

^ if you want a dartmouth

Anonymous

11/21/2025 20:23 Subject: Retake a 1540?

Retake. Look at the Dartmouth data. The higher the SAT score, the higher the chance for admission.

It only costs a few bucks and your DD has nothing to lose.

Anonymous

11/21/2025 20:18 Subject: Retake a 1540?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is the biggest humble brag on DCUM.

1000%

OP here. HAHAHAHA - I wish it were a humble brag (I think if it were I would have tried to embellish the pedestrian (heh) ECs?)! But I just finished reading a few DCUM threads with tippy top GPA/SAT scorers getting shut out of most/all reach schools (of course, being DCUM, many on those threads called the OPs of those threads "trolls" ).

Anyway, my instinct remains - 1540 is good enough (but, I will admit, not tippy top!). PP is right - no guarantee of scoring higher (but I guess it doesn't matter if she scores lower?? So long as not applying to GT or MIT?). I do worry about devoting more time/mental energy to a dumb test. There are other things to focus on for sure.

Lower does hurt. It shows the first was a fluke or raises a lot of questions (nothing positive).

Anonymous

11/21/2025 20:06 Subject: Retake a 1540?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is the biggest humble brag on DCUM.

1000%

OP here. HAHAHAHA - I wish it were a humble brag (I think if it were I would have tried to embellish the pedestrian (heh) ECs?)! But I just finished reading a few DCUM threads with tippy top GPA/SAT scorers getting shut out of most/all reach schools (of course, being DCUM, many on those threads called the OPs of those threads "trolls"

).

Anyway, my instinct remains - 1540 is good enough (but, I will admit, not tippy top!). PP is right - no guarantee of scoring higher (but I guess it doesn't matter if she scores lower?? So long as not applying to GT or MIT?). I do worry about devoting more time/mental energy to a dumb test. There are other things to focus on for sure.

Anonymous

11/21/2025 20:03 Subject: Retake a 1540?

Anonymous wrote:My junior scored a 1540 on the November SAT (first time taking it). Yay! She is insistent she wants to take it again in December (she is annoyed by “Dumb mistakes” she knew she made). I am trying to persuade her to put a pin in it. Maybe take in again March or August - or not (wait and see!). On the other hand - she is interested in some reach schools - Penn, Pomona, maybe Princeton. She has a 4.0 unweighted with top rigor/APs (calc BC in 10th grade etc).

I think we need to turn to finessing the EC story (she has the usual two varsity sports, clubs, blah blah), and another 30-40 points on SAT (assuming all goes well) is not going to be what moves the needle. Thoughts?

For P, P, and P, no, 1540 is enough.
MIT, Caltech, different stories.

Anonymous

11/21/2025 19:58 Subject: Retake a 1540?

DS scored 1520, but not ideal conditions - testing site opened one hour late for last administration of paper test bc proctors didn't all show up. He still got into his top choice. Guidance counselors agreed 20 points or so were not going to make a difference.

Anonymous

11/21/2025 19:56 Subject: Retake a 1540?

Anonymous wrote:This is the biggest humble brag on DCUM.

1000%

Anonymous

11/21/2025 19:56 Subject: Retake a 1540?

Anonymous wrote:This is the biggest humble brag on DCUM.

Lots of kids with that score+ in DMV

Anonymous

11/21/2025 19:49 Subject: Retake a 1540?

Id leave it completely up to her.

That score won’t keep her out anywhere and a higher score won’t get her in anywhere. (The caveat being I’d advise her not to retake if it’s going to detract from either her quality of life or gpa in any way.)

Anonymous

11/21/2025 19:48 Subject: Re:Retake a 1540?

I agree with you -- 1540 one and done is a nice flex IMO -- but it's not a big deal either way.

The big deal is what she does with her life over the next year and how she narrates her story once applications roll around.

Think: community, service, contribution, interest, engagement. Whatever drives her.

But so long as it's not a big drain on your / her resources, I wouldn't worry too much one way or another.

Anonymous

11/21/2025 19:46 Subject: Retake a 1540?

Dumb to retake. No guarantee her score will go up. Whether she gets into her reach or not has nothing to do with her SAT score.

Anonymous

11/21/2025 19:45 Subject: Retake a 1540?

Anonymous

11/21/2025 19:45 Subject: Retake a 1540?

This is the biggest humble brag on DCUM.

Anonymous

11/21/2025 19:43 Subject: Retake a 1540?

My junior scored a 1540 on the November SAT (first time taking it). Yay! She is insistent she wants to take it again in December (she is annoyed by “Dumb mistakes” she knew she made). I am trying to persuade her to put a pin in it. Maybe take in again March or August - or not (wait and see!). On the other hand - she is interested in some reach schools - Penn, Pomona, maybe Princeton. She has a 4.0 unweighted with top rigor/APs (calc BC in 10th grade etc).

I think we need to turn to finessing the EC story (she has the usual two varsity sports, clubs, blah blah), and another 30-40 points on SAT (assuming all goes well) is not going to be what moves the needle. Thoughts?