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Articles / Applying to College / Help! I Miswrote My Name on the SAT!

Help! I Miswrote My Name on the SAT!

Sally Rubenstone
Written by Sally Rubenstone | Oct. 6, 2012

Question: I have mistakenly written my last name as first name and first name as last name on the SAT reasoning test. What can I do? I am afraid that my won't be able to receive the score. Please help me!!! I am so scared!!!

Don't sweat this. People make such mistakes all the time. Telephone the College Board and tell them about yours:


Here are the numbers to try:

Domestic (866) 756-7346

International (212) 713-7789

You can also try email, although a phone call might put you out of your misery more promptly:

SAT@info.collegeboard.org

Note, however, that when dealing with big bureaucracies like the College Board, you may encounter customer service reps who aren’t as up to speed as they should be. So if the person who fields your phone call seems confusing or incompetent, just hang up and try again. And when you make your call, be sure to explain specifically WHERE you miswrote your name. If it was on the test itself and not on the registration, be very clear about that.

You may need a little patience to get through this, but it’s not an egregious error. You can also ask your school guidance counselor to help you navigate this maze, if you think that your counselor might have the time to do it.

Good luck, and don’t worry. If you get a chance, let me know how you made out.

(posted 10/6/2012)

Written by

Sally Rubenstone

Sally Rubenstone

Sally Rubenstone knows the competitive and often convoluted college admission process inside out: From the first time the topic of college comes up at the dinner table until the last duffel bag is unloaded on a dorm room floor. She is the co-author of Panicked Parents' Guide to College Admissions; The Transfer Student's Guide to Changing Colleges and The International Student's Guide to Going to College in America. Sally has appeared on NBC's Today program and has been quoted in countless publications, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, USA Weekend, USA Today, U.S. News & World Report, Newsweek, People and Seventeen. Sally has viewed the admissions world from many angles: As a Smith College admission counselor for 15 years, an independent college counselor serving students from a wide range of backgrounds and the author of College Confidential's "Ask the Dean" column. She also taught language arts, social studies, study skills and test preparation in 10 schools, including American international schools in London, Paris, Geneva, Athens and Tel Aviv. As senior advisor to College Confidential since 2002, Sally has helped hundreds of students and parents navigate the college admissions maze. In 2008, she co-founded College Karma, a private college consulting firm, with her College Confidential colleague Dave Berry, and she continues to serve as a College Confidential advisor. Sally and her husband, Chris Petrides, became first-time parents in 1997 at the ripe-old age of 45. So Sally was nearly an official senior citizen when her son Jack began the college selection process, and when she was finally able to practice what she had preached for more than three decades.

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