How important are SAT scores for a 2016?

[Indiana]

The importance of the SAT/ACT score depends on the schools your DD is interested in.....Ivy League schools are going to place more emphasis on test scores than most. My suggestion would be to have your DD take the test. If she scores well you publish the score with pride. If she doesn't score well, you do not publish it, and if asked she can simply reply that she plans to take it as a junior.

Just be sure to keep in mind that many schools want ALL of your scores, not just your favorites. I think maybe the OP is worried that the sophomore year scores specifically will be low? Low sophomore scores aren't the end of the world - the colleges will look at the junior year scores and improvement will be taken into consideration.

I just want to underscore that a highly motivated student will do well ANYWHERE.

 

[LeftiesDad]

I also have a 2016 DD, high academics, looking at the higher end schools. (unfortunately we cannot attend Pennsbury because the team is playing a national qualifier) We were wondering the same thing, take the SATs early or not. The best advice we received was to ask the coaches. Your DD should be emailing and calling the coaches of the colleges in which she is interested. Let them know she is out there, she is interested in the school and why and that she is interested in the softball program. Ask if it is important that she take the SAT/ACT test early.

DD received multiple answers for various reasons. Patriot league (D1) coaches preferred having the test scores and in fact some won't talk scholarship until the scores are submitted. The D3 schools seemed to be ok with waiting for the scores (no money) and are really looking for versatile players, they can't go after a start pitcher or SS in 8th-9th grade and fully expect that player to make it through HS and have the grades/scores to make it into the college, for that reason most don't even really start tracking the players until their junior year.

Have your DD contact the coaches and ask, she should be communicating with them anyway.

 

[LeftiesDad]

Those ^^^^ are D1s.

Top liberal arts D3s like Amherst, Williams, Middlebury, Bowdoin etc. are in the same 2200-2250+ ballpark - see the following link
Top College SAT Scores - Compare SAT Scores for Top Colleges

Not all D1s, MIT is D3, Harvey Mudd (top liberal arts school) tied with Stanford at #8 is a D3 as well.

 

[NoGolfTil2017]

Thanks for all of the responses. My kid is clearly not DI material, but she could probably play at some DIII schools. Just as with my eldest, softball will not be the driving factor in selecting a school - if she applies to her top choice DIII school (top choice subject to change) and is accepted, maybe she can play there. She will certainly contact coaches at the DIII schools she has interest in, as she knows softball could tip things in her favor. My eldest ended up at a DI school that doesn't have softball, but she is playing for the club team.

She might go to Pennsbury Academic Camp as we live near there. My eldest went at the end of her junior year and had contact with some top LACs. However, they didn't really fit what she wanted to study, so she went elsewhere (and loves it).

Just wondering about the guess that my kid was a catcher - are catchers typically more intelligent than say, outfielders? My kid's travel team has a very intelligent catcher (and my kid is the back-up, emergency catcher since we only have one real catcher). She is an outfielder, but what position she will play for HS remains to be seen (had her at SS yesterday, played JV catcher last year).

 

[Greenmonsters]

Thanks for all of the responses. My kid is clearly not DI material, but she could probably play at some DIII schools. Just as with my eldest, softball will not be the driving factor in selecting a school - if she applies to her top choice DIII school (top choice subject to change) and is accepted, maybe she can play there. She will certainly contact coaches at the DIII schools she has interest in, as she knows softball could tip things in her favor. My eldest ended up at a DI school that doesn't have softball, but she is playing for the club team.

She might go to Pennsbury Academic Camp as we live near there. My eldest went at the end of her junior year and had contact with some top LACs. However, they didn't really fit what she wanted to study, so she went elsewhere (and loves it).

Just wondering about the guess that my kid was a catcher - are catchers typically more intelligent than say, outfielders? My kid's travel team has a very intelligent catcher (and my kid is the back-up, emergency catcher since we only have one real catcher). She is an outfielder, but what position she will play for HS remains to be seen (had her at SS yesterday, played JV catcher last year).

The catching position tends to be attractive to the "students of the game". What I don't understand is that if catchers are so smart, why do they willingly don the "tools of ignorance"???

 

[MsDinosaur]

Don't know if its desire or ability that led you to say that she may never play college SB, but the pool of academically-qualified great SB players is not very deep so academically-qualified good SB players make up the majority of many rosters. In fact, with acceptance rates in the 10% range at the schools you seem to be talking about, making the SB team may be easier than getting into the school! Depending on the school, a coach may be able to identify several prospects for special consideration by admissions. A student/athlete not gaining admission or an admitted student/athlete not receiving sufficient financial aid to make it viable for them to attend are real challenges that face D3 coaches.

This has been in my head for years now. DD loves softball, but she didn't grow up in California or the sunny south. Is she realistically going to be able to offer a big D1 what they want? However, she does score up in that 96th-99th percentile when she takes tests. I'd like to think that having a good bat and catching might give her a leg up on the huge crowd of straight A/good test-taking kids for the Ivies and the strong academic DIIIs.

 

[MsDinosaur]

Just wondering about the guess that my kid was a catcher - are catchers typically more intelligent than say, outfielders?

In my biased experience, yes. :-D I don't mean to say that outfielders are dumb. An outfielder can be exceedingly bright, but she doesn't HAVE to be. It's a lot easier to find a girl who's got all the physical skills to play catcher, but can't think quickly enough for the position, than it is to find a girl who's got all the physical skills to play outfield, but can't think quickly enough for the position.

 

[Indiana]

I wonder if we'll all look back 10, 15 years from now and see the SAT, ACT and SATii's in museums. The PARCC is an interesting development in testing. Colorado, along with 18 other states, will be using the PARCC in place of their state-run testing. The interesting bit is that higher education has taken interest in this new test. The word on the street is that the PARCC may be used for college placement. This is a potentially huge development, as currently state-run testing is not used for college placement, nor do the results count for anything other than a performance report card for the school itself.

Since the PARCC is administered in 9th and 10th grade (and possibly 12th - maybe 11th; they're still working on it), these results could potentially be used by college coaches to determine academic eligibility at an earlier date. We could see the potential for 9th and 10th graders to "verbal" to the Ivy's at an earlier date, thus giving the schools more access to coveted athletes. The Ivy's have always been an interesting conundrum, being division I, yet withholding athletic scholarships. When I attended way back when, the Ivy League was a great way for a slightly better than average athlete with decent grades to get a pretty good education. My little college field hockey team did pretty well in conference, but got pretty well smeared whenever we ventured out to play a "real" division 1 program. Over the past decade, however, the Ivy League has been working hard to become more athletically competitive. The stakes are much higher now, the Ivy's are beginning to attract top caliber athletes, and they are competing strongly outside of their conference.

As a 2016, it's a moot point for my daughter, and possibly for my 2019 son, but I do wonder what we'll see in the future for all of the 8Us and 10Us out there. The PARCC could bring balance and rationality to the testing madness, or it could be the beginning of our whole testing system becoming as complicated as the tax code.

 

[29dad]

DD had an unoffical visit a few weeks ago with one of the colleges listed in that Business insiders article (post #5). Even though the ACT range for this school is 29-33, the coach indicated that she can help get student athletes admitted even if they fall below that range. Although if memory serves 24 or 25 was about as low as she could go.

The problem with having a bright kid is that there are seemingly no merit based scholarships available at the top schools. D3 and the Ivys have no athletic scholarships available, nor do they give out academic scholarships because all of the candidates are highly qualified. At least that's how it appears. My DD is a 2017 graduate so we have some time to figure this out. My parents never had this issue.

 

[NoGolfTil2017]

Ivy League and top academic D3 schools may not have merit scholarships, but many have large endowments. Many give aid to families making less than $150K.

A player would need to be a real stud to get in with a 24 or 25. There is a big difference between the 29-33 kid (93rd to 99th percentile) and a 24 kid (74th percentile). I would be concerned that a 24-25 kid couldn't keep up with the academics - these schools don't offer easy courses for athletes like some big DI schools.

My kid is taking the SATs right now...I'll let you know if it went alright in a few weeks.

And she didn't make varsity, not even a "swing" JV/Varsity player...the varsity players were perplexed (though she certainly isn't a stud player). Wondering if DH's past issues with a coach (some of which had the potential to turn into physical confrontations) had anything to do with it. Now we are wondering what position she will play as there are a lot of freshman (all dozen are rec ball) who claim to be outfielders. I suspect she will be in the infield. She does not want to catch again, though the freshman catcher can't reach 2nd...we shall see. They have her practicing with varsity, only JV player to do so...we're all confused.