A few more myths: Busted

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A few more myths: Busted

Every once in a while, while I’m doing research (or, lets be honest, looking at college confidential threads) I come across a statement that is just objectively wrong. These are myths that just won’t die, no matter how illogical they seem. So here are some more college myths (some I’ve mentioned before, some new) that need to be busted.

Myth 1: You get 300 points on the SAT for spelling your name right

I’ve mentioned this one before, but I’ll do it again.
This myth is partially true; you do get an automatic 300 points on the SAT.
BUT it’s not for spelling your name right. It’s for sitting your butt down in the chair and taking the test (which, lets be fair, you deserve those points, the SAT is stressful!)

But you can totally misspell your name and it won’t affect your score.
It can make things a bit difficult with reporting if you really screw up, but if you accidently fill a bubble out wrong for your name it won’t change things. 

I know this one for sure because my sister spelled her name wrong on the SAT. Even better, my other sister’s acceptance letter to her college spelled her name wrong.
We have a long and storied tradition of spelling errors in this family…

Myth 2: Doing a summer program at a school increases your chances/counts as demonstrating interest

This is a myth that is never outright supported by the programs, but they’re not going to tell you otherwise. So people assume “Oh if I spent my summer there, it will help me get in!”
This just isn’t true. The admissions standards for (MOST) summer programs at colleges are much lower than the standards for the actual undergraduate programs.
So look at the quality of the program, not the quality of the school that hosts it.

Additionally, if you spend a summer at a school make sure you sign up for the tour. I know that in your head you go “well clearly I like it and am interested if it’s on my application that I was there for 2 months.” But that doesn’t count as expressing interest, and there are schools where that really matters.

Spending a summer there doesn’t count as looking at the school. For whatever reason they’re not the same thing. Just take 2 hours out of your day and take a formal tour.

I know this one from a few anecdotal pieces of evidence, as well as what I was told at the summer program I did my junior year. It was competitive admissions-wise, and held at an amazing school. Did approximately 50/150 of us end up attending that school? Yes. But we were very explicitly told that if we wanted to attend we had to tour.

Myth 3: 2400 on your SATs is an auto-accept into any school

This one just logically makes sense to people. Schools are looking for the best and 2400s are the best.
But this ignores everything else we know about admissions. Soft factors matter a lot, and if the SAT were the only determining factor I’d be out of a blog and admissions wouldn’t be so darn confusing.

A 2400 is going to help quite a lot, but it will not guarantee you admissions anywhere.

Myth 4: They read everything you send in

This one is really pushed by many liberal arts schools “No, really, we read everything you send in!”
I will say that from my conversations with admissions people and research that read is a strong word. Smaller schools will definitely skim everything you send in… IF you’re a competitive applicant.

If you’re remarkably under qualified, they’re not going to waste their precious time reading your heartwarming story about overcoming shyness to get onto homecoming court and collection of short stories.

At a big school (or a school where they’re getting tens of thousands of applications) you have to be at least near-qualified (or hooked) to have any of your soft factors really looked at.

Myth 5: Schools won’t superscore your SATs/will de-superscore them/will only look at your lowest reported scores

This is a big college confidential myth. The reasoning is that schools need to find a reason to reject you, so instead of looking at your highest scores, they’re only going to look at your lowest ones.

This can also be a conclusion drawn from misinterpreting the type of advice I give where it’s not necessary to send all of your scores 

So here’s the skinny:

If you have drastically higher scores (to the point where it looks like cheating/a fluke/you got lucky), you don’t want to send in your crazy low scores.
This is a 500-750 jump, not a 670-800 jump. In my case, this was my 99^th percentile ACT vs. 95^th percentile SATs. I didn’t report my SATs because 1. I wanted to save the money and 2. My ACT was dramatically higher because my math score didn’t bring me down as much due to lovely composite scores.

But if you have a bit of a jump, but overall all of your scores are fine (said 670-800 jump) go for it. The schools want to see you in the best light possible. They also want to report the smartest/most competitive incoming class possible, meaning they will look at your highest scores.

There will always be myths about anything that is as mystical and confusing and seemingly illogical as college admissions. But always look at the myths from the school’s point of view, rather than taking them at face value. Ask if you don’t know, because assumptions can hurt you.