Does SAT matter for IB recruitment?

There are some years old threads on this, but I wanted to get some more input. Given how much benefit is given to target schools based on the idea that they're super smart if they got into an elite school (ignoring alumni who just like the school they went to), do people care about SAT/ACT? Because personally, if a kid had a 1570 and went to like Vandy or UVA vs. a kid with a 1450 at Harvard, I would care more about SAT as a sign of intelligence because college apps care so much ab essays and full character, which is something I could find from interviews.

People who know more than I do, would you be more impressed by a 1600/36 or just going to HYPSW?

33 Comments
 

I think part of it is that you can safely assume HYPSW kids are pretty much always "smart enough" — yeah a student at Vandy or a full-ride state school scholarship might be smarter than a given particular kid at HYPSW, but you know the HYPSW kid is smart enough whereas you have to do a little more verification for someone from other places.

Also, to an extent, HYPSW type places are pre-recruiters. They're a business that wants to attract kids who will be as successful as possible and either give good PR for the university or donate back a lot of money. Historically, they've been pretty good at finding people who will go on to be successful, so as a company, you can trust that the target school has vetted them in sort of a prescreening type situation.

 

Just my two cents, but seems like IB would rather take a kid with a lower SAT score from a target school than a kid with a higher SAT score from a non-target school. Kids with perfect SAT scores get rejected from top schools all the time. And HYPSW are super targets. Hope that answers your question.

 

My career center has told me to put it on my resume but don’t know if banks ever looked at it or cared. I would only put it if it’s impressive or if you go to a non-target and want to show that you’re still smart (assuming you have target-level scores).

Believe it or not you’ll need to list your scores for PE recruiting / headhunters

 

If you have a 1570+, put it on your resume but on the bottom - if you have an accomplishments/awards section it goes there.

I don't totally agree with the character comment, you still need to show that on your resume. If you seem like a hardo with no personality I'm probably interviewing the kid with the 1450 and lots of cool involvement. Banking isn't that hard.

PE cares much more about SAT but would still keep it for IB

 

Same. I guess we can just convert unless they take ACT. Hilariously, they can’t do anything to verify scores (theres another whole thread on this) anyway. If you’ll recall, SAT scores are only valid for 5 years anyway so they’ll likely be expired by PE recruiting time.

Also, if you remember applying to college you need to send your scores yourself to the school. They cannot pull them on their own. Professional firms don’t (and probably can’t) request official score reports so many just ask for you to upload screenshots on your own. Take it as you will, but if I believe I’m on the lower end I have no problem doctoring that screenshot.

Ridiculous that they require them. How is a “college readiness” exam a more valuable signal than someone’s actual college performance?

Don’t want to overblow this because I think it’s more of a “meet the minimum cutoff” thing but still

 

I think it's a pretty basic intelligence metric because pretty much anyone can do well in college. My target with a big sports presence (think Duke or Stanford) had quite a few athletes get in with 1300s or below, so maybe firms are trying to weed those guys out. Who knows...

 

I put my 1400 SAT on my resume and will be at a top BB. 1400 is a decent score in my eyes but can be terrible for many (and amazing for others). It is a subjective topic and isn't a big deal whether its included or not

 

Never put my test scores for recruiting as it can hurt if you have a low score.

 
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I don’t think anyone cares, and GPA and school is much more important. That being said, I believe I had my ACT score listed on my resume when I was recruiting for internships as a sophomore and junior. It was a good score so it didn’t hurt, and honestly at that age you don’t have anything else to put because you’ve not done anything, so just looking at ways to add more info. I doubt any employer looked at it. If your test score isn’t strong, I would not list it.

My understanding is that post MBA firms do actually ask for a gmat score and use it as one element to evaluate candidates (generally pre interview at the screening stage).

 

I kept my score (36, 1590) on my resume when I recruited from a semitarget public school (UCB, UVA, UMich) and got positive comments on it more than a couple times. In combination with a good GPA I think it erases any question of academic ability and personally think it contributed to me getting past resume screens at places where I couldn't network because we didn't have any alumni.

 

I am same at top public, would you leave off a 1510? For me it seems decent but if people think it has to be 1550+ I’ll just leave it off

 

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