Sending Test Scores to Colleges....An Important Step

Seniors, as you are completing your college applications you will notice that colleges are asking for SAT and ACT test scores.  One of the most common questions we get is, “Should I report all of my scores?”  The simple answer is, “YES!”  Colleges are going to take your highest score.  It doesn’t hurt you to show that you took a test again to improve your score.  If anything this shows that you care about your scores and want to put your best foot forward.  Colleges like to see growth, so don’t be afraid to show the colleges an improvement in scores.

Although some of you have your test scores on your transcript, this will not be sufficient for colleges.  Most require that you send scores directly from The College Board or ACT.  The colleges will tell you their deadlines through email.  It is really important that you are checking your email and spam folders regularly so that you don’t miss any communication from your college.  For example, CSUN requires that you send your test scores by the end of January.  If you miss this deadline they will no longer consider your application. No exceptions.  It is a very strict deadline that you can’t miss.   Every year we have students that wait until the last minute and try to send their scores for next day or same day delivery, this DOES NOT WORK.  The College Board will charge you an extra $31 for a rush delivery that goes out in 2 days, but the college still requires up to a week to record your scores.  You need to give yourself at least two weeks to make sure everything gets sent properly.  

It is important that you make sending your test scores a top priority.  If you are applying to one or more CSU schools you can send your scores directly to CSU mentor and it will go to every CSU school.  The CSU mentor code for SAT is 3594.  If you have ACT scores to send, you need to send your scores directly to one CSU and then you can use CSU mentor for the rest of the schools.   THIS link will give you more information.

If you plan to apply to UC schools, you only need to send your scores to one school.  Once the scores are received they will be shared with the other UC schools.  For colleges other than a UC or CSU, you will need to send the scores directly to each school.  This link takes you to the information on how to do this  for SAT and ACT.

For those of you planning to participate in NCAA sports in college, you also need to send your test scores to NCAA.  The NCAA code is 9999.  For instructions, please follow THIS link.

If you have any questions about this, or your college applications in general, please don’t forget that your counselors are in the library during 6^th and 7^th period from November 16^th to November 25^th to help.  Please stop by!!