Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That’s not that great a score! Also, what her paid tutor thinks she will get at a future date doesn’t count for anything. (What’s more, even if she does get it lots of kids can get that type of score through their own hard work, with no tutor.) for your daughter’s sake please tone it down and help her come up with a list that includes safeties where she can be happy.

It's the 98th percentile, numbnuts. The issue is that instead of having to compete with the 2% of applicants who scored at her level or higher, thanks to test optional she'll be fighting for spots with thousands more kids, many of whom would've been laughed out of the admissions office had they been required to take the test and submit it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That’s not that great a score! Also, what her paid tutor thinks she will get at a future date doesn’t count for anything. (What’s more, even if she does get it lots of kids can get that type of score through their own hard work, with no tutor.) for your daughter’s sake please tone it down and help her come up with a list that includes safeties where she can be happy.

It's the 98th percentile, numbnuts. The issue is that instead of having to compete with the 2% of applicants who scored at her level or higher, thanks to test optional she'll be fighting for spots with thousands more kids, many of whom would've been laughed out of the admissions office had they been required to take the test and submit it.

Anonymous wrote:That’s not that great a score! Also, what her paid tutor thinks she will get at a future date doesn’t count for anything. (What’s more, even if she does get it lots of kids can get that type of score through their own hard work, with no tutor.) for your daughter’s sake please tone it down and help her come up with a list that includes safeties where she can be happy.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sorry, op. That stinks.

But - test optional provides more opportunities to families who cannot afford tutors.

Check your entitlement at the door. The field is being leveled.

My daughter got a 1490 without a tutor or even a prep book from Barnes & Noble.

I'm not talking about kids who "only" get a 1490 as opposed to the 1550+ my daughter's tutor expects her to get as a result of their prep sessions. I'm talking about the kids who'd be in the 1200-1300 range and have also benefitted from easy grading (in some cases A's being handed out like candy) because of coronavirus and the move to Zoom school.

I agree with you that the field is being leveled. By taking away avenues for true high-achievers to shine, they're basically turning college admissions into a lottery as opposed to a meritocracy.

Anonymous wrote:The field is NOT being leveled. Get that out of your heads. College admissions officers HATE test optional. They have an even harder time trying to separate the wheat from the chaff.
After this year is over, they're going to try to backpedal hard, but it will take a while.

Anonymous wrote:The numbers are starting to come in and high scores still matter. The admission rate of test optional kids looks to be about half that (admittedly a small sample size as not all schools are revealing the data). But high test scores is still a huge advantage.

Anonymous wrote:Daughter who's a junior pulled a 1490 on her first SAT attempt in March, cold, I mean zero preparation. Now she has a tutor and is signed up to take it again in June. Her tutor told me that based on what she's observed in their sessions so far she expects her to get a 1550+ on the second try.

I want to be excited for her, but after reading this board along with so many newspaper articles on how test optional is changing the admission landscape, I can't help but think she came along a couple years too late to be a high-achiever but an otherwise normal kid, by which I mean she's ranked near the top of her class, plays sports, is involved in clubs, but isn't a "URM" or a "first-generation student" and has no interest in being some nationally known social justice activist or social media influencer.

She's just a really smart kid who'll likely become a doctor, pharmacist, PT, or something in that mold, and her test scores were going to be what set her apart from all the other kids who've been handed high grades during Zoom school and can make up a bunch of extracurriculars and "leadership roles" for their applications.

I worry that some kid like that who probably couldn't pull a 1300-1400 with a year of prep will end up taking a spot that should have gone to my daughter. That might sound bad, but what parent likes seeing their kid lose out on opportunities to someone who they know is less talented and less capable?

I hate test optional!

Test optional can SMD!

Anonymous wrote:Daughter who's a junior pulled a 1490 on her first SAT attempt in March, cold, I mean zero preparation. Now she has a tutor and is signed up to take it again in June. Her tutor told me that based on what she's observed in their sessions so far she expects her to get a 1550+ on the second try.

I want to be excited for her, but after reading this board along with so many newspaper articles on how test optional is changing the admission landscape, I can't help but think she came along a couple years too late to be a high-achiever but an otherwise normal kid, by which I mean she's ranked near the top of her class, plays sports, is involved in clubs, but isn't a "URM" or a "first-generation student" and has no interest in being some nationally known social justice activist or social media influencer.

She's just a really smart kid who'll likely become a doctor, pharmacist, PT, or something in that mold, and her test scores were going to be what set her apart from all the other kids who've been handed high grades during Zoom school and can make up a bunch of extracurriculars and "leadership roles" for their applications.

I worry that some kid like that who probably couldn't pull a 1300-1400 with a year of prep will end up taking a spot that should have gone to my daughter. That might sound bad, but what parent likes seeing their kid lose out on opportunities to someone who they know is less talented and less capable?

I hate test optional!

Test optional can SMD!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sorry, op. That stinks.

But - test optional provides more opportunities to families who cannot afford tutors.

Check your entitlement at the door. The field is being leveled.

My daughter got a 1490 without a tutor or even a prep book from Barnes & Noble.

I'm not talking about kids who "only" get a 1490 as opposed to the 1550+ my daughter's tutor expects her to get as a result of their prep sessions. I'm talking about the kids who'd be in the 1200-1300 range and have also benefitted from easy grading (in some cases A's being handed out like candy) because of coronavirus and the move to Zoom school.

I agree with you that the field is being leveled. By taking away avenues for true high-achievers to shine, they're basically turning college admissions into a lottery as opposed to a meritocracy.

Anonymous wrote:Daughter who's a junior pulled a 1490 on her first SAT attempt in March, cold, I mean zero preparation. Now she has a tutor and is signed up to take it again in June. Her tutor told me that based on what she's observed in their sessions so far she expects her to get a 1550+ on the second try.

I want to be excited for her, but after reading this board along with so many newspaper articles on how test optional is changing the admission landscape, I can't help but think she came along a couple years too late to be a high-achiever but an otherwise normal kid, by which I mean she's ranked near the top of her class, plays sports, is involved in clubs, but isn't a "URM" or a "first-generation student" and has no interest in being some nationally known social justice activist or social media influencer.

She's just a really smart kid who'll likely become a doctor, pharmacist, PT, or something in that mold, and her test scores were going to be what set her apart from all the other kids who've been handed high grades during Zoom school and can make up a bunch of extracurriculars and "leadership roles" for their applications.

I worry that some kid like that who probably couldn't pull a 1300-1400 with a year of prep will end up taking a spot that should have gone to my daughter. That might sound bad, but what parent likes seeing their kid lose out on opportunities to someone who they know is less talented and less capable?

I hate test optional!

Test optional can SMD!

Anonymous wrote:Daughter who's a junior pulled a 1490 on her first SAT attempt in March, cold, I mean zero preparation. Now she has a tutor and is signed up to take it again in June. Her tutor told me that based on what she's observed in their sessions so far she expects her to get a 1550+ on the second try.

I want to be excited for her, but after reading this board along with so many newspaper articles on how test optional is changing the admission landscape, I can't help but think she came along a couple years too late to be a high-achiever but an otherwise normal kid, by which I mean she's ranked near the top of her class, plays sports, is involved in clubs, but isn't a "URM" or a "first-generation student" and has no interest in being some nationally known social justice activist or social media influencer.

She's just a really smart kid who'll likely become a doctor, pharmacist, PT, or something in that mold, and her test scores were going to be what set her apart from all the other kids who've been handed high grades during Zoom school and can make up a bunch of extracurriculars and "leadership roles" for their applications.

I worry that some kid like that who probably couldn't pull a 1300-1400 with a year of prep will end up taking a spot that should have gone to my daughter. That might sound bad, but what parent likes seeing their kid lose out on opportunities to someone who they know is less talented and less capable?

I hate test optional!

Test optional can SMD!