Pushing back on SAT scores
I know this is an in-the-weeds question for recruiting, but which would hurt me less with a PE recruiter: not giving my SAT score OR telling them I got an average / low score.
Was thinking this is how I could frame it when/if a PE recruiter asked:
"Listen, I've been taking a firm stance on this in my PE recruiting -- I'm not going to share it. I wasnt the student that I became in college. As you see on my resume, I got a 4.0 in college. In high school I got all A's but didn't have to put in any effort and that's reflected in my SAT score, so it doesn't represent the type of worker I am today"
For reference, I think I got about a 1650/2400 on the SAT (i can't even remember it was so long ago, might have been 1850).
Holy shit that's awful. Are you sure you're not retarded?
Jury's still out on that one
Maybe just retake it or take the GMAT?
Juggling with this issue as well. Have a feeling your approach probably wouldn't smooth out too well with headhunters. If I had to guess, they would probably say your SOL and move on to the next candidate.
Just make your score up. No one checks
Bro literally wtf
I took the SATs in like 7th grade through some accelerated nerd program and still got a >1600. Did you fall asleep halfway through 2 sections?
Welcome to being the first person in my family to go to college. I did 0 prep. Not even a practice exam. Completely raw.
Parents actually talked down to the exam, stating that it's just a college requirement. So I took the test, didn't really care, and got into an average college like I planned. Was not ingrained with IB -> PE in high school or what would be required in that path.
Relevant detail. Better positioning than what you had in OP. "As a first generation college student, I didn't fully appreciate the importance of high standardized test scores at the time but quickly after getting exposure to higher education, I more fully understood the importance of educational achievement and what the "bar" of excellence really meant, put my head down, and gained a 4.0. As a result, I feel my GPA is more reflective of my abilities than my SAT score and I'd orient you there as the best metric of my academic ability." is so much better than the "Look, this is my policy!" message you were planning on which was overly defensive and aggressive. This tells such a better story and shows humility and that you're a hustler. Someone likes that personality and wants to hire that.
Not that you should play a sympathy card so you need to choose your words carefully, but I actually do think people understand the key disadvantage of first generation / low income background is one of awareness/information. So many smart kids who end up in mediocre schools and mediocre kids who end up in top schools as a result of who was handed a more clear path as a result of their background. People now understand this more and more. As soon as you say "first generation", I think people will get it.
All that said, your challenge is the HHs are gatekeepers so in your case, I actually do think networking directly with PE firms will help you. And in any event, I still think you should just take the GMAT and erase the conversation entirely.
Bro I'm also first generation college and my mom's mom was literally a fresh off the boat from an island in the Pacific. I didn't discover that finance was even a career option till halfway through college. These tests barely need prep they need problem solving skills and a pulse.
When in doubt, stick to the facts. “Exact score escapes me, but very close to 1600 on the SAT. It was over 1550.”
LMAO
Like a third of the freshman/sophomores at my alma mater, an Ivy, don't even have standardized test scores anymore, and it's not required next year either. Maybe it's too soon, but in the near future the SAT will be pretty irrelevant
This is hilarious but honestly if you want a clean slate just do your GMAT and slap that on your resume. Don't draw more attention to it than need be, also supports your first gen upward trend story.
This. In all honesty fresh GMAT with low 700s or better should do the trick. Looks achievable if you can pull a 4.0 GPA. You don’t value/buy a business based on its stale EBITDA. Show em what you’re worth.
It has been several years since I went through PE associate recruiting, but I only ever recall getting asked about my SAT score once. I'd just leave it off the resume, and on the off chance you are asked, the first generation student answer is totally reasonable.
Unfortunately headhunters straight up ask for them now in initial outreach forms.
Take some advice from someone who has had to deal with Headhunters throughout my career on Wall Street. Headhunters are MORONS. They are dumber than the clowns in HR. The only reason why they ask for your SATs is for marketing purposes. They think that they will have a better placement rate and be able to get more money(higher salary) from the client. That is not how hiring works. The odds of them seeing your exact SAT scores from the testing center is rare so give them a high ballpark number, and just say you can not remember on top of your head. If you have been out of high school for a certain time, it will take a long time for the testing center to send your score. Headhunters do not have time to wait for a score.
SAT scores do not measure intelligence. It measures one's readiness for their freshmen year in college. Being that you are around 23, you obviously moved past that level so the test is irrelevant. It is should not be used as a measurement for a job. In fact the testing centers are against using the SAT scores for a job qualification. There are better measurements to weed out the herd, such as CFA, CMA, CPA (if you are eligible to take it), Mircosoft Certification, GMATS, etc. These are more relevant measurements that a test that you took at 16.
My best advice is to network as well with all types of good quality PE firms. If a manager likes your background, he/she will request a headhunter to set up an appointment. The headhunter will have to obey or they will lose a client. Though, I have seen a headhunter this stupid that they argued with the client's choice because the headhunter wanted to place an overqualified candidate. That idiot headhunter lost out on that commission.
You have to position it right. I didn't have good SAT scores and certainly had no desire to list them on my HH forms / resume. I basically worked to control the narrative with them, getting ahead of it by mentioning briefly that I didn't list my score due to a few factors which affected me during that time in my life (family issues / maturity / etc). I never said it defensively and I always stated it as a fact rather than in a questioning manner which would let them poke holes in what I said. I had exceptional college exp, exceptional work exp, and was able to blow all the HHs away with the "why" part of my story. So basically my story, like yours should, held up because I had every other data point to prove that I was an exceptional candidate.
Sometimes it might not work, you never know, but you should be fine if you position yourself correctly. I would definitely not say something like "I'm taking a firm stance against this" though as it makes it look super defensive and that you're hiding more than you're telling, even though the facts point the other way. Hope this helps.
I just got a call back from Apollo. You have been blacklisted from the firm for eternity
SAT scores are dumb as fuck. Asking for it is just to show who was a greasy palw virgin with a 1580 yet couldn't get into the ivory towers of OCLWYD, and had to settle for some third rate STEM factory via affirmative action like Georgia Tech, Stanford, CMU, Virginia Tech, Massachussets Tech, etc.
ok VT
No one has once gave a shit that my SAT score is in the 99.99th percentile. As such, no one should care that your score is "low". It's a stupid test that was a money grab by "CollegeBoard", a cult organization.
The whole point of the SAT is (was?) to provide a standardized metric with which to cut through the nonsense of grade inflation, wide disparities in academic rigor, tear-jerker recs, and odd extracurriculars.
So no, saying “I’m not doing to disclose it, but check out my 4.0s” probably isn’t going to fly. I would either 1) take it again or gazump it with a GMAT, 2) lie [risky, because some firms do ask to validate], or 3) feign ignorance on details and say you’ll follow up, but never do.
Tell them you got a 1550 on the 1600 scale... (post 2016 SAT)
Just say you don’t recall the exact score but it was good enough to get you in the school you are currently at. Give a wide range if you must or “superscore” it.
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