Anonymous
02/07/2026 23:20
Subject: SAT above 1500- retake?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Here's a summary of the Dartmouth paper. The first chart is a bit hard to read, but for more-advantaged students, those with a 1500 SAT had about a 6% chance of admissions while those at 1550 had about a 10% chance. So meaningful. Note, this isn't all-else-equal, meaning that the 1550 kids might have been stronger in other areas. Still, which would you rather be?
I'd re-take IF I thought a higher score was possible. But people also reach their limits and hitting your head against the ceiling may not be helpful emotionally.
https://www.nber.org/digest/202504/test-optional-policies-and-disadvantaged-students?page=1&perPage=50
Anonymous wrote:On this forum I have seen posts claiming that Dartmouth published their data that demonstrated how incremental changes after 1500 did lead to higher acceptance rate at Dartmouth. One can argue its correlation as opposed to causation, but as an engineering faculty for many years I believe there is a tangible difference in how fast/well a new concept is learned and in exam performance between a student with a 780 math and another with a 720 assuming these scores are their ceiling after multiple attempts and assuming they have worked reasonably hard in the class.
It definitely looks correlation not causation. The same trend you described is also observed when scores are omitted (solid red line). The increase in admit rate is due to the other parts of the application.
Actually, for the 1525+ score range, the admit rate is decreasing as the score increases (when scores are not reported).
It’s also unclear why some applicants would choose to not report a 1525+ score.
Anonymous
02/07/2026 23:09
Subject: SAT above 1500- retake?
Maybe, but I actually doubt it’s just correlation. These days almost all the top applicants will have great GPAs. Could ECs correlate with SAT scores? Sure. But again, if it’s feasible to get to 1550, I’d got for it. I can’t think of anything else you could do with that level of time/effort that’s going to aid your application that much.
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Here's a summary of the Dartmouth paper. The first chart is a bit hard to read, but for more-advantaged students, those with a 1500 SAT had about a 6% chance of admissions while those at 1550 had about a 10% chance. So meaningful. Note, this isn't all-else-equal, meaning that the 1550 kids might have been stronger in other areas. Still, which would you rather be?
I'd re-take IF I thought a higher score was possible. But people also reach their limits and hitting your head against the ceiling may not be helpful emotionally.
https://www.nber.org/digest/202504/test-optional-policies-and-disadvantaged-students?page=1&perPage=50
Anonymous wrote:On this forum I have seen posts claiming that Dartmouth published their data that demonstrated how incremental changes after 1500 did lead to higher acceptance rate at Dartmouth. One can argue its correlation as opposed to causation, but as an engineering faculty for many years I believe there is a tangible difference in how fast/well a new concept is learned and in exam performance between a student with a 780 math and another with a 720 assuming these scores are their ceiling after multiple attempts and assuming they have worked reasonably hard in the class.
It definitely looks correlation not causation. The same trend you described is also observed when scores are omitted (solid red line). The increase in admit rate is due to the other parts of the application.
Anonymous
02/07/2026 23:02
Subject: SAT above 1500- retake?
Anonymous wrote:I highly doubt it. Once you cross the cutoff, they don’t look at your test score anymore. [b]They review the rest of your application. Same with GPA.
Any anecdote is just correlation rather than causation. High scorers probably also tend to have stronger applications. That doesn’t mean the score caused it.
Cite please because this is not true. The upper scores are critical even to the T25 because they report them to CDS, ED, USNWR, other rankings service, and to alums. Look at the comments above about “buckets” at MIT and CalTech of 1580-1600. This is also where merit scholarships come in. Once my kid hit 35, then a 36, the schools started making unsolicited offers for full tuition packages based upon info he had provided in the common app.
Anonymous
02/07/2026 22:22
Subject: SAT above 1500- retake?
For MIT, the 25th percentile math score is 780 and 50th is 800. Depending on your score split and targeted school, retaking might be needed as this suggests most applicants will have at least a 780 on math. The Cal Tech data also suggests that a very high score on math is needed.
Anonymous
02/07/2026 22:20
Subject: SAT above 1500- retake?
Anonymous wrote:Is 1500 after one try? If so, why not give it another shot. If not, it's possible to make a jump up to 1550 but I wouldn't get your hopes up.
Relatedly, if you have to study to jump up to 1550+, then you’d crowd out the time that could be more productively used.
There’s a former Yale AO saying that he views anything 1520+ pretty much the same. But he has senior colleagues (older folks) who would give brownie points to a perfect score. For them, 1580+ would be better than 1520!
Anonymous
02/07/2026 21:58
Subject: SAT above 1500- retake?
Anonymous wrote:Here's a summary of the Dartmouth paper. The first chart is a bit hard to read, but for more-advantaged students, those with a 1500 SAT had about a 6% chance of admissions while those at 1550 had about a 10% chance. So meaningful. Note, this isn't all-else-equal, meaning that the 1550 kids might have been stronger in other areas. Still, which would you rather be?
I'd re-take IF I thought a higher score was possible. But people also reach their limits and hitting your head against the ceiling may not be helpful emotionally.
https://www.nber.org/digest/202504/test-optional-policies-and-disadvantaged-students?page=1&perPage=50
Anonymous wrote:On this forum I have seen posts claiming that Dartmouth published their data that demonstrated how incremental changes after 1500 did lead to higher acceptance rate at Dartmouth. One can argue its correlation as opposed to causation, but as an engineering faculty for many years I believe there is a tangible difference in how fast/well a new concept is learned and in exam performance between a student with a 780 math and another with a 720 assuming these scores are their ceiling after multiple attempts and assuming they have worked reasonably hard in the class.
It definitely looks correlation not causation. The same trend you described is also observed when scores are omitted (solid red line). The increase in admit rate is due to the other parts of the application.
Anonymous
02/07/2026 21:43
Subject: SAT above 1500- retake?
Is 1500 after one try? If so, why not give it another shot. If not, it's possible to make a jump up to 1550 but I wouldn't get your hopes up.
Anonymous
02/07/2026 21:40
Subject: SAT above 1500- retake?
Here's a summary of the Dartmouth paper. The first chart is a bit hard to read, but for more-advantaged students, those with a 1500 SAT had about a 6% chance of admissions while those at 1550 had about a 10% chance. So meaningful. Note, this isn't all-else-equal, meaning that the 1550 kids might have been stronger in other areas. Still, which would you rather be?
I'd re-take IF I thought a higher score was possible. But people also reach their limits and hitting your head against the ceiling may not be helpful emotionally.
https://www.nber.org/digest/202504/test-optional-policies-and-disadvantaged-students?page=1&perPage=50
I'd re-take IF I thought a higher score was possible. But people also reach their limits and hitting your head against the ceiling may not be helpful emotionally.
https://www.nber.org/digest/202504/test-optional-policies-and-disadvantaged-students?page=1&perPage=50
Anonymous wrote:On this forum I have seen posts claiming that Dartmouth published their data that demonstrated how incremental changes after 1500 did lead to higher acceptance rate at Dartmouth. One can argue its correlation as opposed to causation, but as an engineering faculty for many years I believe there is a tangible difference in how fast/well a new concept is learned and in exam performance between a student with a 780 math and another with a 720 assuming these scores are their ceiling after multiple attempts and assuming they have worked reasonably hard in the class.
Anonymous
02/07/2026 21:21
Subject: SAT above 1500- retake?
On this forum I have seen posts claiming that Dartmouth published their data that demonstrated how incremental changes after 1500 did lead to higher acceptance rate at Dartmouth. One can argue its correlation as opposed to causation, but as an engineering faculty for many years I believe there is a tangible difference in how fast/well a new concept is learned and in exam performance between a student with a 780 math and another with a 720 assuming these scores are their ceiling after multiple attempts and assuming they have worked reasonably hard in the class.
Anonymous
02/07/2026 20:59
Subject: SAT above 1500- retake?
Caltech divides scores into buckets: 780-800, 750-770, and 740 and below: "while falling into bucket A and bucket B gives students the best chance at getting into Caltech, the Institute has typically admitted a handful of students with scores below 750 each year." https://www.admissions.caltech.edu/apply/first-year-applicants/standardized-tests/standardized-testing-buckets
Anonymous
02/07/2026 20:56
Subject: SAT above 1500- retake?
Anonymous wrote:I'm not asking for anecdotes or hearsay truisms, just [u]hard data[/u].
Anonymous
02/07/2026 20:54
Subject: SAT above 1500- retake?
Depends. Is that the only time he took it? Then yes I would re-take. If that is the best after multiple attempts then be done. It is submittable everywhere
Anonymous
02/07/2026 20:48
Subject: SAT above 1500- retake?
Retake it. You don’t the kid asking “what if” questions.
Anonymous
02/07/2026 20:24
Subject: SAT above 1500- retake?
I highly doubt it. Once you cross the cutoff, they don’t look at your test score anymore. They review the rest of your application. Same with GPA.
Any anecdote is just correlation rather than causation. High scorers probably also tend to have stronger applications. That doesn’t mean the score caused it.
Any anecdote is just correlation rather than causation. High scorers probably also tend to have stronger applications. That doesn’t mean the score caused it.
Anonymous
02/07/2026 20:09
Subject: SAT above 1500- retake?
I'm not asking for anecdotes or hearsay truisms, just hard data.
Does anyone have any data for any T50 school that indicates a 1500 SAT scorer has a lower chance of admission than a 1550+ scorer? Something like 1500 SAT scorers were admitted at 10% rate, 1550 scorers were admitted at 20% rate?
Does anyone have any data for any T50 school that indicates a 1500 SAT scorer has a lower chance of admission than a 1550+ scorer? Something like 1500 SAT scorers were admitted at 10% rate, 1550 scorers were admitted at 20% rate?