Some Colleges Opting Out of the SAT ‘Score Choice’ Option
I recently answered the question "should I cancel my SAT score?" with information regarding the upcoming Score Choice option on the SAT. To refresh, the SAT used to require that all scores from every test administration be sent to colleges. With Score Choice, students are permitted to send only the scores of their choosing to colleges. In other words, they may choose to send only their top combined score, and the university would never see the lower scores.
However, this idealism seems to have changed.
It has now become clear that colleges can opt out of Score Choice, and require that applicants report every SAT score. Newsweek has indicated that Stanford, Cornell, Pomona, the University of Pennsylvania, and the University of Southern California will demand all scores. Other schools, including Harvard and the University of Chicago, say they will honor Score Choice. Many more, such as Yale and Princeton, say they have yet to decide.
This may be disappointing news for several students who believed Score Choice to be the cure of test taking anxiety. However, remember that the playing field has not really changed. Just because certain schools are requiring all reports does not mean that having lower scores will necessarily preclude you from admission; colleges still view the entire application -- scores included -- in totality. All this means is that when you decide to take the SAT, you should be ready for it.
For tips to succeed on the SAT, make sure you check out my SAT tips section.
Have a question or comment? 7 people do.Should I cancel my SAT score?
Good luck to all of the students taking the SAT today! To commemorate, I would like to answer the most common question I am asked on test day: should I cancel my SAT score?
The answer is easy: probably not.
You should definitely not cancel your score immediately after the test. Though you do have the option to request a score cancelation form from your proctor, never do this unless the reason you want to cancel your scores is that you threw up on the test. Otherwise, wait to see how you feel tomorrow. You have until the following Wednesday at midnight to request that your scores be canceled, so you should wait until the pressure of the test is off before trying to make this important decision. The exact procedure to follow is outlined on the College Board website.
So now it's Sunday or Monday and the initial stress after the test has passed and you still want to know if you should cancel your score. The answer is unsurprisingly still: probably not.
You likely did better on the test than you think. We tend to be an awful judge of our own success, and you may end up pleasantly surprised with your score. And even if you did do poorly, who cares? Universities now expect that students will take the SAT 2 or 3 times. One bad score on your record will probably not hurt you, especially since most colleges are happy to consider only your highest composite score. And if you canceled your scores, you would have to take the SAT again anyway, so there's no real incentive to even do so. You may as well take a chance and see what you got.
Plus, starting for the class of 2010, students can report only their highest score to colleges without needing to submit all of their other scores. The admissions officers will not even know about this bad test.
But now lets say you have read all this and you still want to cancel your scores. Sometimes cancelation is appropriate. Go through the following checklist and, if all the conditions apply, you may be a good candidate for score cancelation:
- You are not a student of 2010 or beyond (i.e. you are a senior and will graduate before 2010).
- You have some objective reason for knowing that your score suffered in some way (e.g. your calculator died in the middle of the math, you realized too late that you mis-bubbled an entire section, or you had some emergency during the test that prevented you from completing one or more sections). "I just don't think I did good" is not a valid reason.
- You have contacted the colleges you are most interested in and confirmed that they consider all of your scores in their admissions decisions (e.g. they do not consider just your highest score and instead average all of your scores).
Only if all three of these situations apply should you consider canceling your score. Otherwise, wait it out and keep your fingers crossed.
Want to know if you're a good candidate for score cancelation? Leave a comment below.
Have a question or comment? 20 people do.6 Laws your Letters of Recommendation must follow
Securing quality letters of recommendation is one of the most daunting tasks a college applicant must face. By understanding what exactly admissions officers use the letters of recommendation for, students are better able to tailor these powerful tools to boost their odds of acceptance.
There are six main laws your letters of recommendation must follow, and I explore all six in the newest Accepted to College article. You will learn not only how to pick a good recommender, but also how to guide that recommender toward writing the best letter possible.
Click here to read the full article.
Have a question or comment? 1 person does.College Affordability Websites Offering Free Hewlett-Packard Laptops
Fifteen websites designed for college students and students-to-be are using the month of October to give away fifteen free Hewlett-Packard laptops. The prize packages vary slightly at each site, but in general, each are giving away about $1700 worth of stuff. The competition rules also vary from site to site.
Each college finance website is running their competition during a different period this month, so be sure to check out each one in order to increase your odds of winning. The first competition is already over, but that still leaves 14 free laptops to try for. The hosting sites and their competition periods are as follows:
- Sep 28 - Oct 5: Broke-Ass Student
- Sep 30 - Oct 7: Broke Grad Student
- Oct 2 - Oct 9: Study Hacks
- Oct 4 - Oct 11: Cooking for Engineers
- Oct 6 - Oct 13: College Being
- Oct 8 - Oct 15: Paul Stamatiou
- Oct 10 - Oct 17: DormDelicious
- Oct 12 - Oct 19: Student Bloggers
- Oct 14 - Oct 21: Jessica Mah Meets World
- Oct 16 - Oct 23: UNEASYsilence
- Oct 18 - Oct 25: Gomeler.com
- Oct 20 - Oct 27: CampusGrotto
- Oct 22 - Oct 29: Hack College
- Oct 24 - Oct 31: The University Blog
Good luck!
Have a question or comment? 2 people do.Carnival of College Admissions: 6th Edition
Welcome to the 6th Edition of the Carnival of College Admissions! We had guest hosts for the past two editions, so if you missed them, you can find the 4th Edition at Great College Advice, and the 5th Edition at Step Into College.
Thirteen submissions came in for this issue, and I have selected the top ten to feature. Read on to the Carnival of College Admissions: Read more
Have a question or comment? 11 people do.Carnival of College Admissions: 3rd Edition
Welcome to the third Carnival of College Admissions. Eleven articles were submitted this time, and all of them provide some great advice.
This will be my last week hosting the Carnival of College Admissions for a short while because I have two guest hosts lined up for the next couple of weeks. Make sure to give them both plenty of articles to feature by clicking the links above to submit a post of your own for next week's edition. Or if you would like to host an edition yourself, be sure to e-mail me and let me know that you're interested.
Read on for all of the excellent articles from the 3rd Edition of The Carnival of College Admissions: Read more
Have a question or comment? 4 people do.