Colleges that do not "view" or "use" SAT scoresAnswered
When colleges (UCs) say that they do not use SAT or any other standardized score to distinguish acceptance, do they really not give any look at it? If there were to be two same students, with same GPA, same extracurriculars, same etc., but one had slightly higher SAT score, wouldn't they pick the student with the higher SAT score? essentially proving their own statement about not viewing SAT score as false?
I still am in plan to take SAT and submit them using superscore rules but I wanted to know because I heard lot of stories about it.
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3 answers
Since the University of California college system is test blind then by their own definition,
"UC will not consider ACT or SAT test scores for admissions decisions or the awarding of scholarships for any applicants. If you choose to submit test scores as part of your application, they may be used for course placement after you enroll."
This means that if you submit a SAT/ACT to a UC school, it is most likely redacted or blacked out so the admissions officer can not see the scores.
So it will serve absolutely no purpose in your admissions decision to submit an SAT/ACT score to a UC school. The same goes for CalTech and other "Test Blind" colleges.
However, please note that if the schools you are applying to are test optional then there is certainly a good chance that a high test score will play in your favor over someone from your same school, zip code, demographic, who has otherwise near-identical attributes on their application file. Based on Class of 2025, and some early indications of the Class of 2026, it's clear that high achieving students are prepping for the SAT/ACT in order to get a high score because any sort of edge is something they are willing to work hard for. If you know you can get a 1550/35 and it will make a slight difference in how your application is perceived, would you take the extra 100-200 hours of prep to have that slight advantage? For some people it's a strong yes, for others a waste of time.
Here is the "acid" test to know if college are being 100% truthful in their indifference to submitting a test score. Just look at their stats. If a college states that 50% of the applicants did not submit test scores and that 50% of admitted students did not submit a test score, then you know that close to none of their admissions officers were standardized test biased. However if a school reports that 40% of applicants did not submit a test score but only 20% of admitted student did not submit a test score, then submitting gave the applicants nearly a 50% bump because 1/2 the students that didn't submit, didn't get in. Therefore, if you really want to know which schools that are on your college list lean toward test scores even though their marketing material says otherwise, research their press releases and common data sets.
Good luck.
To add to the other answers, schools that are test blind will not consider your test score at all when it comes to their admissions decision. Schools that are test optional, however, generally will give you a slight boost for scores that are at least comparable to those of the top 50% of accepted students. If you do not have a score in this range, you can choose to not submit a score and it will not hurt you in any way.
For more information about test optional policies, check out this CollegeVine blog post Hope this helps!
Worcester Polytechnic Institute is completely test blind
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I do have a 4.85 weighted/4.00 unweighted GPA (which will change by the end of my junior year and I'm sophomore) and 1360 sat score that I wish to raise up the to mid to high 1400s with the superscore system. Do you think that will be a good idea?