Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Have him try the ACT! My kid studied for & took the SAT twice. Had to take the ACT as it’s required for public high school students in NC. Did better. Your kid could surprise you with a 34-35.

Did your kid do much prep for the ACT? I could encourage DS to take it but can't imagine he will want to start prepping all over again, maybe beyond just taking a practice test.

Basically none (I think just one practice has to get a sense of the pacing since it’s different). But the studying she did for the SAT somehow translated to her doing well on the ACT. That was my point!

Anonymous wrote:Have him try the ACT! My kid studied for & took the SAT twice. Had to take the ACT as it’s required for public high school students in NC. Did better. Your kid could surprise you with a 34-35.

Did your kid do much prep for the ACT? I could encourage DS to take it but can't imagine he will want to start prepping all over again, maybe beyond just taking a practice test.

Have him try the ACT! My kid studied for & took the SAT twice. Had to take the ACT as it’s required for public high school students in NC. Did better. Your kid could surprise you with a 34-35.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is a big difference between high 1400's and mid 1500's. An appreciable one to admissions officers. Look at the Harvard SFFA data, the Dartmouth study, Caltech, etc.

2 million SAT test takers in 2025
1470 97th percentile
60,000 score 1470 or above
1560 99.5 percentile
10,000 score 1560 or above

Superscoring in the 1400's is common and easy. Superscoring above 1560 is difficult and uncommon. Books have been written about this on regression to the mean, ceiling effect, etc.

Half of all 1560+ SAT scorers attend a T20 college.

But what about a 1490 in one sitting? 98th percentile and it would be noted that it's one sitting?

If you get a 1540 on your next test, the college will also see that as one sitting (at all but the very few that don't make you submit all scores Georgetown, MIT, etc.). It will have no idea you took it earlier and only got a 1490.

My daughter submitted a 33 and a 34 ACT to Georgetown and was admitted REA. Everywhere else, she submitted the superscore of 35.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is a big difference between high 1400's and mid 1500's. An appreciable one to admissions officers. Look at the Harvard SFFA data, the Dartmouth study, Caltech, etc.

2 million SAT test takers in 2025
1470 97th percentile
60,000 score 1470 or above
1560 99.5 percentile
10,000 score 1560 or above

Superscoring in the 1400's is common and easy. Superscoring above 1560 is difficult and uncommon. Books have been written about this on regression to the mean, ceiling effect, etc.

Half of all 1560+ SAT scorers attend a T20 college.

But what about a 1490 in one sitting? 98th percentile and it would be noted that it's one sitting?

If you get a 1540 on your next test, the college will also see that as one sitting (at all but the very few that don't make you submit all scores Georgetown, MIT, etc.). It will have no idea you took it earlier and only got a 1490.

American University.

Chicago ED

USC RD

Anonymous wrote:Cornell, NYU.
Rejected UMD, UVA , UNC

Note that per the CDS, ECs are not hugely important at NYU

Anonymous wrote:1430 at Tulane. Dreams do come true in New Orleans!

Whoops, meant to put 1480.

1430 at Tulane. Dreams do come true in New Orleans!

OP back. Thank you so much pps for sharing your experiences. My kid is feeling pretty disappointed even though of course not everyone can score 1500+. He'll give the SAT another shot but his first two sittings have produced very similar scores and that's with lots of prep. He's fallen in love with some reaches that are a lottery for most everyone, and certainly for him, but I'm not sure it's even worth him applying if he can't hit the magic 1500 number. Some of the schools listed by pp's are on his list too and it's great to see that your kids had success with those applications. I had wondered about applying test optional to T20s, which seems crazy with a 1470, but maybe this is the world we live in.

Please keep the info coming, it is really helpful! This process can be such a roller coaster and very discouraging at times.

Cornell, NYU.
Rejected UMD, UVA , UNC

Anonymous wrote:There is a big difference between high 1400's and mid 1500's. An appreciable one to admissions officers. Look at the Harvard SFFA data, the Dartmouth study, Caltech, etc.

2 million SAT test takers in 2025
1470 97th percentile
60,000 score 1470 or above
1560 99.5 percentile
10,000 score 1560 or above

Superscoring in the 1400's is common and easy. Superscoring above 1560 is difficult and uncommon. Books have been written about this on regression to the mean, ceiling effect, etc.

Half of all 1560+ SAT scorers attend a T20 college.

But what about a 1490 in one sitting? 98th percentile and it would be noted that it's one sitting?

Columbia. Test scores submitted.