^^^Some allow students to pick from a menu of information they would like to submit, including scores on AP or IB tests. 875 accredited four-year colleges -- 38% of the total -- provide some flexibility on the college entrance tests.

Thanks 15:03 and 13:56. Yes, more prep is happening, 13:56!

You can always consider test optional/test flexible schools too. Here are some options in the Wesleyan range (some above, some below but all top 35 schools or so).

Test Optional: Wake Forest, Bowdoin, Bates, Bryn Mawr, Holy Cross, Bard, Sewanee, Smith, Mount Holyoke

Test Flexible: Rochester, NYU, Middlebury, Colby, Hamilton, Colorado College, Trinity,

Anonymous wrote:DC's SAT scores were crazy lopsided, 97% Critical Reading, 95% Writing and, drum roll, 50% Math. The overall score is 90%. Yes DC is doing prep and hopes to raise the Math score.

Does anyone have stories of acceptance into schools like Wesleyan with such scores? Grades and EC's are strong.

Long-time SAT tutor here. Prep and take it again. This is NOT unusual, even for very smart kids. SAT tests a limited segment of 3-8th grade math concepts. If your child is taking pre-calc at this point, he/she has probably forgotten a lot of very simple math concepts and just needs to practice. If you came to me as a tutor with these scores, I would say that it is probably worth it to just do private tutoring on the math side since the critical reading is high. A prep course (as opposed to private tutoring) would also be a good way to go, but your DC doesn't really need to do much on the verbal side. But, a good course could ensure a consistently high verbal score and probably eke out a few more points. I would be very optimistic about getting your child up to the 90+%ile, considering his/her scores. Which to do (tutor or course) is really a choice based on available time and cost. If you can't afford a course or tutor, then get a book (like Princeton Review) and work thru the math sections. You may need to go thru the math after DC to check answers and look for patterns in mistakes.

Is your DC a good student otherwise? If so, this is very doable. Caveat is that I sometimes see smart kids who are scoring low in math, because their computation speed/math fluency sucks (don't know math times tables, how to quickly do long division, etc.). This can lower scores even though calculator is available. (Pros and cons of calculator use is another thread.) This can be overcome, but may take extra practice and working with a tutor who can tailor approaches for the student who has difficulty with math fluency (as opposed to simply not remembering/knowing the substantive math concepts).

With math scores at this percentile, I don't think taking the ACT instead would make a radical difference.

Thanks but again it depends on the schools, I just saw a post on CC that listed a set of schools that factors in Writing. Alas, this score is consistent with SSAT and PSAT. Also, I'm using Wesleyan as an example ... I also know several students with so-so SAT scores/grades who went to a backup school for a year and then got into some top schools in the US and the UK based on their freshman-year grades, didn't have to re-take SATs because they had proven themselves in an academic setting.

Then there's Lena Dunham's story. (Didn't get into Oberlin, went to the New School freshman year and did well, re-applied to Oberlin, and was accepted.)

In addition to prep, we've got Chang, one of the most frequently recommended Math SAT books. There's another one I've got to track down, too.

Anonymous wrote:OP here. 11:32 Per College Confidential, that's changing, schools discounted the writing section more when it was first introduced in 2005. Also everyone we know (including college counselors, parents of juniors and sophomores, and College Confidential posters) talks about breaking 2100/2200 on the SAT.

Thanks, DC's done prep, and will do more.

If anyone's got any stories of acceptance/rejection ...

It may be changing, but we've heard in at least 2 visits we did this fall that the writing scores are discounted or not even considered (e.g., Georgetown says they don't look at them).

Was the SAT score a fluke or was it consistent with PSATs and practice test scores and other standardized testing he's done? I think 50th percentile will be tough for the selective schools. Have you considered score optional schools? Some very good SLACs are score optional now.

When I look at naviance for our school for the selective colleges I see a couple of acceptances of kids with lower SATs - maybe recruited athletes or some other hook? Maybe take a look at Naviance or whatever your school has to see. I actually just looked at ours for Wesleyan (who knows if its comparable to yours) and there was one accepted applicant (ED) for our school with under 2100, the rest were all above 2200.

P.S. OP again. Of course it's school by school, how they consider the SAT.


Thanks for comments!

OP here. 11:32 Per College Confidential, that's changing, schools discounted the writing section more when it was first introduced in 2005. Also everyone we know (including college counselors, parents of juniors and sophomores, and College Confidential posters) talks about breaking 2100/2200 on the SAT.

Thanks, DC's done prep, and will do more.

If anyone's got any stories of acceptance/rejection ...

Keep in mind that many schools really discount the writing section so you need to consider the 1600 score percentile when looking at how he compares to admits.

Most schools post the 25-75% range of SATs by section. College Prowler is a good source of this data in one place.

And agree with PP about the prep. If it's just for the math section he shouldn't need that many sessions. I'd do one-on-one tutoring ASAP.

Take it again after some serious prep on math.

Have you considered the ACT?

DC's SAT scores were crazy lopsided, 97% Critical Reading, 95% Writing and, drum roll, 50% Math. The overall score is 90%. Yes DC is doing prep and hopes to raise the Math score.

Does anyone have stories of acceptance into schools like Wesleyan with such scores? Grades and EC's are strong.