Hi,
I am an international student. I already took the SAT but before March and got 1910 twice with a superscore of 1970. I was hoping to apply to colleges for a full scholarship because my parents can't afford the tuitions of the US colleges but I realised that most of the colleges that offer full scholarships require SAT score of 2000 or above. Does that mean I have no chance of getting a full scholarship with my current result?
I was thinking of taking the SAT again one more time if I get a chance of getting a better score but so far I took 3 practice tests and didn't really improve I still got 1350 or 1360. Should I risk it and take the SAT one more time or should I just continue with my results because I'm afraid that if I take the real SAT and don't improve it will look bad for my application since the colleges will see I took it 3 times and didn't improve. So can you please help me out in what I should do I'm a bit confused.
Thank you
Because it's more difficult for colleges to compare scores between the old and new SAT than it is to compare two old SAT scores, taking the new SAT isn't a bad idea. On the new test, you might do better on one section than you did on the old test, and while there is no superscoring between the old and new SAT, seeing that you got, for instance, a 600/610/660 on the old SAT and a 690/680 on the new SAT, the higher section scores on the new SAT will at the very least make a more favorable first impression.
The scholarships question is a little trickier. As Rebecca mentions in a comment to this article, SAT/ACT score scholarships are normally aimed at US students, and many times international students living overseas aren't eligible (if, for instance, there is a National Merit Scholar requirement as part of the scholarship). In order to qualify for one of the rare score-based scholarships open to international students, you'd likely need a higher SAT score than you currently have.
But don't lose hope of attending college in the US! Our article on the 25 best US colleges for international students has a section on the cheapest colleges for international students, and all of the schools in this article offer at least some financial aid to admitted international students.
A good phrase to look for on college websites is "needs-blind admissions"; this means that the college admits students regardless of how much financial aid they'll need, and works with students after admission to come up with a financial plan that will allow them to attend.