Ivy Bound Test Prep : SAT Newsletter

The importance of the SAT for the Class of 2013 and 2014 – athlete version

By Mark Greenstein, President, Ivy Bound Test Prep

Every round of reported SAT scores brings questions from parents and students about whether a 1700 / 1800 / 1900 / 2000 / 2100 / 2200 (the child’s SAT score) is “good enough”. This article cannot do full justice to the question since grades, quality of the transcript, extracurricular activities, recommendations, competitiveness of the high school, personal statement, and college choice all contribute to a college’s acceptance decision.

On the ACT / SAT front, a student pining for a certain college should not be considered “done” if s/he has yet to post an SAT (or ACT) score that’s in the Top 25 percentile of the college’s last reported SAT range. The August 2011 US News Survey gives the 25^th and 75^th percentiles for the Class of 2010, and the colleges themselves give median GPAs in their catalogs.

For admission to top tier colleges in this modern era, very few students can feel an admission is highly likely until they have a GPA that’s WELL above the median and an SAT score that’s 50 points above the “Top 25%” mark.

Recruitable athletes have a built-in advantage: an athlete’s SAT can be lower than the college’s reported average. But it can’t be SIGNIFICANTLY lower. College admissions committees need to show that their “athletic exceptions” are not too far adrift. College coaches need to know that their recruits are not going to be on academic probation and thereby have to miss games. Recruits who bear high SAT scores give their coaches the confidence to go-to-bat for them with admissions committees.

At Ivy Bound Test Prep, we know of too many stories recently of students who would have been accepted had they reached a higher SAT threshold. We often have parents whose students earned very good scores ask whether taking an additional test is "too much" / "overkill". My answer is:

I don't believe in SAT overkill when targeting a top tier college.

If a student is eager, or at least neutral about SAT study, more study and practice testing is an opportunity to do great for him/her self. The extra study is the right thing to do so long as the student and parent realize:

A) falling short of a high goal is not a failure -- even a 100 point improvement significantly expands college opportunities

B) the extra study should not come at the expense of grades, good extra-curricular activities, and healthfulness.

C) extra tutoring and extra practice testing help only incrementally; the bulk of the improvement comes in the time we cover the Lessons and the first three Practice Tests.

Parents and students who recognize this have a prescription for maximizing the student's score with a healthy attitude. Our clients already appreciate that

D) the SAT / ACT is the most important single test in most high school students' careers
and many surmise that

E) attending a name college is a higher predictor of postgraduate success (including household income) than ever before.

Now to what few parents recognize: the overlooked reasons why 2013 and 2014 grads may want to push hard:

F) More students want to attend 4-year colleges than ever. Yet no new colleges are being built, and few have increased their class sizes. Though the American college-age population may decline after 2012, the college-BOUND population will not. The value of the 4-year degree from a competitive college is higher than ever, so more students will continue to seek it.

G) The competitive pinch will continue beyond 2012. That’s due to the stratification of colleges – top ones being pathways to BETTER grad schools and/or better post-graduate jobs. Top tier firms can only recruit in so-many places; more and more they are cherry-picking from the cream of the (perceived) best colleges.

H) The top tier competitiveness will continue also because top American colleges remain a beacon to FOREIGN applicants. These colleges LOVE strong foreign applicants because accepting them adds “diversity”, a trait colleges like to tout, and because foreign applicants pay full tuition.

I)      Foreign applicants will burgeon even more so long as the U.S. dollar remains low.

The best chance to avoid disappointment on the college front is to put yourself in the hands of a good college counselor, and take reasonable measures to maximize your SAT or ACT score. For three weeks in the summer, (or a few weeks over a long winter school break, 5 - 6 hours of tutoring a week and 5 - 8 hours a week of study is a mild sacrifice that yields big gains.   The student can consider it a part time summer job. Once school resumes, I believe in tapering to just 1.5 - 3 hours of weekly study, including practice testing and a QUALITATIVE review of those tests. That review can include "mastery mode": a student who can teach her study partner or her tutor why the wrong answers are wrong and where the source for the right answers is, is a student who is unlikely to get beat on test day.

Students who do serious study in the spring can take the summer off, but they should then do the 1.5 - 3 weekly hours ramp-up when school resumes.

So to end where I began: overkill. I'll qualify my remark slightly. Getting a perfect 36 ACT and then trying to get 2400 on the SAT may be overkill in the eyes of some peers.   Getting 2350 and taking the SAT again to prove something to yourself or someone may also be overkill in the eyes of some peers.   But no COLLEGE that requires SAT scores will shoot you down on grounds of overkill. Colleges love excellence, and college Trustees, admissions officers, and faculty love displaying excellence.   Even if you don’t want to gratify some college with a great SAT score, consider that there could be value beyond college -- investment banks, hedge funds, and certain top laboratories will continue to be impressed by a "perfect" 2400. (Ivy Bound itself gives teachers with 2400 higher pay). Don’t sacrifice grades, good sports, sleep or wholesome fun to pile on extra points. But for a few more weeks, you might jettison:

Xbox,
the mall,
your Facebook.com expansion
and voluminous IM time.

Short of 2300, there's room to improve in the eyes of many top colleges. At those colleges, a 50 point improvement CAN make a difference.

When assessing your score against a college's reported percentiles, please note that those percentiles will be three years old for the Class of 2013 and given the trends, for competitive colleges the percentiles for 2013s will be higher (my estimation is by 10 - 15 points on the 1600 scale, higher if compared on the 2400 point scale).

The good news in all this ratcheting upward is not stated enough: 1) the rewards for college success are higher than ever, as top graduates now receive starting salaries that were unheard-of 20 years ago, even adjusted for inflation. 2) Less-recognized colleges are better than ever. The quality of education at a “third tier” college may now be equivalent to the quality that "top tier" colleges provided 25 years ago. The student who knows he wants aeronautics may flourish more at Embry-Riddle University than Harvard. The student who is interested in mineralogy/oil exploration may be better set for a career by attending the Colorado School of Mines than attending Princeton. It is for the undecided student, or the decidedly liberal-arts-focused student that the “elite” colleges provide an automatic advantage.

Mark Greenstein is founder of Ivy Bound Test Prep. He holds free “Know the SAT / Understanding College Admissions” parent conferences the first Sunday night of every month. Parents and educators can reserve a spot by emailing

or calling 860-666-3999