Anonymous
Post 09/26/2025 21:51     Subject: How important is 1500 SAT for Top 50 schools (national/LAC)?
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.
Anonymous
Post 09/26/2025 20:55     Subject: How important is 1500 SAT for Top 50 schools (national/LAC)?
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.
Anonymous
Post 09/26/2025 20:21     Subject: How important is 1500 SAT for Top 50 schools (national/LAC)?
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.


Try..let's say...750 in each. 🙂

Anonymous
Post 09/26/2025 20:19     Subject: How important is 1500 SAT for Top 50 schools (national/LAC)?
Anonymous wrote:DD scored 1530 and thought she was done but CC recommended aiming for >1550 as she was applying to most selective schools. Unfortunately, next score went down.

She was accepted to 7/8 T16-50 and 1/8 T15. deferred/rejected from T15 legacy school and otherwise unhooked. so anecdotally, i do think 1500+ matters for T50 and 1550+ for T15.


congrats to your DD!

what college did she choose to go to ultimately and what was the deciding factor?
Anonymous
Post 09/26/2025 20:15     Subject: How important is 1500 SAT for Top 50 schools (national/LAC)?
DD scored 1530 and thought she was done but CC recommended aiming for >1550 as she was applying to most selective schools. Unfortunately, next score went down.

She was accepted to 7/8 T16-50 and 1/8 T15. deferred/rejected from T15 legacy school and otherwise unhooked. so anecdotally, i do think 1500+ matters for T50 and 1550+ for T15.
Anonymous
Post 09/26/2025 20:14     Subject: How important is 1500 SAT for Top 50 schools (national/LAC)?
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).


Agreed. These are also important benchmarks to clear more generally, depending on how competitive school admission is:
1350 - 90th percentile

1440 - 95th percentile

1510 - 99th percentile
Anonymous
Post 09/26/2025 20:11     Subject: How important is 1500 SAT for Top 50 schools (national/LAC)?
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).
Anonymous
Post 09/26/2025 19:37     Subject: Re:How important is 1500 SAT for Top 50 schools (national/LAC)?
Not important at all for the test blind ones.
Anonymous
Post 09/26/2025 19:23     Subject: How important is 1500 SAT for Top 50 schools (national/LAC)?
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
Anonymous
Post 09/26/2025 18:59     Subject: How important is 1500 SAT for Top 50 schools (national/LAC)?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:My DC's dream school has mean SAT of 1510 and median SAT of 1520. DC scored 1510.

Is 1510 submittable or should she retake again? She doesn't want to if possible to move on. Her GPA is 25th percentile for the school, and SAT seems close but just a hair below 50th percentile.

She definitely will not go TO but she is just tyring to figure out if she's done now or needs to retake another time?


I'd let her decide, it is a lot of work and stress to re-take it. You'll never know what made the admissions difference either way. This will be judged by her in hindsight, let her know she is the only one who can decide where to put her limited time/resources at this point.


+1

1510 is a great score! At this point, it’s up to her where she wants to spend her time and at what cost. For some kids, taking it again would be very stressful. For others, it would not, especially knowing it’s all upside with a 1510.

Let her choose what’s best for her so she feels ownership of the results.


PP here. DD has thought about it and decided to stop the madness and not retake. We're doing a celebration party tomorrow night at her favorite restaurant followed by her two besties sleeping over!
Anonymous
Post 09/26/2025 16:49     Subject: How important is 1500 SAT for Top 50 schools (national/LAC)?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:My DC's dream school has mean SAT of 1510 and median SAT of 1520. DC scored 1510.

Is 1510 submittable or should she retake again? She doesn't want to if possible to move on. Her GPA is 25th percentile for the school, and SAT seems close but just a hair below 50th percentile.

She definitely will not go TO but she is just tyring to figure out if she's done now or needs to retake another time?


I'd let her decide, it is a lot of work and stress to re-take it. You'll never know what made the admissions difference either way. This will be judged by her in hindsight, let her know she is the only one who can decide where to put her limited time/resources at this point.


+1

1510 is a great score! At this point, it’s up to her where she wants to spend her time and at what cost. For some kids, taking it again would be very stressful. For others, it would not, especially knowing it’s all upside with a 1510.

Let her choose what’s best for her so she feels ownership of the results.
Anonymous
Post 09/26/2025 16:45     Subject: How important is 1500 SAT for Top 50 schools (national/LAC)?
Anonymous wrote:Not to hijack, but I read that the test was recalibrated in January 2025 and it is now more difficult to get 1500+. Is this true?


Not for our kid. But maybe they prepared more effectively this summer than they did before taking it the first time in fall of 2024?
Anonymous
Post 09/26/2025 16:42     Subject: How important is 1500 SAT for Top 50 schools (national/LAC)?
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.
Anonymous
Post 09/26/2025 16:37     Subject: How important is 1500 SAT for Top 50 schools (national/LAC)?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:For the love of God. Abolish the SAT already. It’s absurd the amount of wasted time and money people spend trying to score well on the test. Unless it’s the top Ivies, it truly does not matter at all. The amount of hoop jumping and “me I’m unique and special” essays and activities and test scoring nonsense is insane and not useful. There are families not willing to play this game anymore.


So, tests are stupid (not sure I agree) and essays are stupid (with AI, I definitely agree). GPA is non-standard and pretty meaningless with grade inflation. How should those schools that are in such high demand select students to admit? Lottery? Should there be any floor as to who is allowed a lottery ticket?

The system stinks, but it's hard to imagine a more practicable one.


A single high stakes exam!! /s
Anonymous
Post 09/26/2025 16:04     Subject: How important is 1500 SAT for Top 50 schools (national/LAC)?
Anonymous wrote:Not to hijack, but I read that the test was recalibrated in January 2025 and it is now more difficult to get 1500+. Is this true?


The test is different as others have described. But in our experience, the test was less stressful because it wasn't as long, but the score was not greatly impacted. Paper results from ACT correlated to score from SAT digital as expected.