# What is lowest SAT-Math score of one with college math professor potential? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 27, 2018, 11:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-lowest-sat-math-score-of-one-with-college-math-professor-potential/809672 "2018-02-27T11:39:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Steven\_Estes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/94ad74/32.png) [@Steven\_Estes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steven_Estes)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2018, 11:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-lowest-sat-math-score-of-one-with-college-math-professor-potential/809672/1 "2018-02-27T11:39:58Z")
What was the lowest SAT (quantitative, i.e., math SAT) score that would still make possible eventually becoming a math professor at a (1) selective college and (2) any college. NOTE: I do not refer here to a rare talented mathematician who, for some reason (nervousness, flu, whatever) had an SAT score clearly not reflecting talent: I refer to the lowest score that reflects the minimal aptitude still capable of becoming a math professor. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2018, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-lowest-sat-math-score-of-one-with-college-math-professor-potential/809672/2 "2018-02-27T11:42:01Z")
Nobody hiring a professor is looking at SAT scores. ---
**Author:** ![MikeS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MikeS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeS)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2018, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-lowest-sat-math-score-of-one-with-college-math-professor-potential/809672/3 "2018-02-27T12:20:18Z")
The answer is “whatever the lowest SAT grade is that allows you to get into a college that offers a math major”, since that’s the usual first step after high school towards becoming a mathematics professor. Your question implicitly assumes that people have a certain level of “math aptitude” which is innate and can’t be changed over time. While there is certainly the occasional gifted mathematician out there, this is by and large false for the majority of people. Much research has shown that hard work, coupled with a belief that hard work makes you more intelligent, actually does result in increased test scores. See [this article from the Atlantic Monthly](https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2013/10/the-myth-of-im-bad-at-math/280914/) for a summary of this research. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2018, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-lowest-sat-math-score-of-one-with-college-math-professor-potential/809672/4 "2018-02-27T12:21:41Z")
> [@MikeS](#): > > The answer is “whatever the lowest SAT grade is that allows you to get into a college that offers a math major”, since that’s the usual first step after high school towards becoming a mathematics professor. That score is zero, since it is not necessary to take the SAT to attend college. ---
**Author:** ![MandaJo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac91a4/32.png) [@MandaJo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MandaJo)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2018, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-lowest-sat-math-score-of-one-with-college-math-professor-potential/809672/5 "2018-02-27T12:32:57Z")
The current SAT does not even pretend to test for aptitude. It tests for skills. They’ve given up pretending you can test for “aptitude” isolated from skills. We selectively admit kids to my magnet high school. Ive seen plenty of kids come in with very low math scores and graduate with top math scores–basically perfect math scores in any test you’ve likely heard of. They had bad middle school instruction. We fixed that. The same could be true of a kid at 18. ---
**Author:** ![Steven\_Estes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/94ad74/32.png) [@Steven\_Estes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steven_Estes)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2018, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-lowest-sat-math-score-of-one-with-college-math-professor-potential/809672/6 "2018-02-27T13:36:38Z")
These replies simply demonstrate how widespread i among non-scientists is the is the wrong-headed view that genes are not crucial to mathematical ability and, indeed, intelligence e. (“Intelligence” being defined by IQ score, so one need not get involved in murky arguments about the definition of “intelligence”. ) The evidence for this is overwhelming. One need merely take a cursory glance at the scientific and academic work done on the subject. IQ score is by far the strongest of all predictors of attainment (school grades, income, social position). I have informally asked about thirty university mathematics profess) their SAT scores (which correlate highly with IQ scores) and not one failed to be in the top five percent. These professors are forty years old or older. It may be that the SAT no longer measures aptitude, but it did when they took it. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2018, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-lowest-sat-math-score-of-one-with-college-math-professor-potential/809672/7 "2018-02-27T13:42:48Z")
You can’t determine the minimum possible value of a variable by sampling only thirty instances of that variable out of a large population. In order to find the minimum, you need to sample _all_ of them. And are you under the impression that the SAT is a genetic test? ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2018, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-lowest-sat-math-score-of-one-with-college-math-professor-potential/809672/8 "2018-02-27T14:03:15Z")
It wouldn’t surprise me that there’s a correlation between high math SAT scores and becoming a math professor. But as far as I know, such a correlation has never been studied or quantified. And you’re not going to find a statement of the form “It is impossible for a person with a math SAT score below **x** to become a math professor.” There’s no way to prove or verify such a statement, and as the very first reply said, nobody hiring a professor looks at SAT scores. The math SAT covers high school math, which is different from the kind of thing a professional mathematician or even an undergraduate math major does. To become a math professor, you have to have some ability/aptitude for doing original mathematical research and/or for teaching, neither of which is covered at all by the SAT. ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2018, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-lowest-sat-math-score-of-one-with-college-math-professor-potential/809672/9 "2018-02-27T14:20:15Z")
> [@Steven\_Estes](#): > > These replies simply demonstrate how widespread i among non-scientists is the is the wrong-headed view that genes are not crucial to mathematical ability and, indeed, intelligence e. (“Intelligence” being defined by IQ score, so one need not get involved in murky arguments about the definition of “intelligence”. ) > The evidence for this is overwhelming. One need merely take a cursory glance at the scientific and academic work done on the subject. > IQ score is by far the strongest of all predictors of attainment (school grades, income, social position). > I have informally asked about thirty university mathematics profess) their SAT scores (which correlate highly with IQ scores) and not one failed to be in the top five percent. > These professors are forty years old or older. It may be that the SAT no longer measures aptitude, but it did when they took it. It is hardly revelation that people who chose to specialize in math have an aptitude/skill in math and some how that proves genes? As a geneticist myself, your argument is bollocks. > [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > The math SAT covers high school math, which is different from the kind of thing a professional mathematician or even an undergraduate math major does. To become a math professor, you have to have some ability/aptitude for doing original mathematical research and/or for teaching, neither of which is covered at all by the SAT. This is truth- I was a math major in high school (we could do extra coursework in an area and specialize), scored extremely high on the math SAT, and in no way, shape, or form could I have been a math professor. I did not have the aptitude for the kind of high level math research done at the collegiate and post-collegiate level. ---
**Author:** ![GESancMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gesancman/32/2923_2.png) [@GESancMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GESancMan)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2018, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-lowest-sat-math-score-of-one-with-college-math-professor-potential/809672/10 "2018-02-27T14:27:24Z")
> [@friedo](#): > > > [@MikeS](#): > > > > The answer is “whatever the lowest SAT grade is that allows you to get into a college that offers a math major”, since that’s the usual first step after high school towards becoming a mathematics professor. > > That score is zero, since it is not necessary to take the SAT to attend college. And, an anecdote: I’m not a professor, but I have a Master’s in math and teach at the community college level. I never wasted my time taking the SAT. There’s nothing stopping me from going back and getting a PhD, should I ever muster up the interest to do so. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2018, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-lowest-sat-math-score-of-one-with-college-math-professor-potential/809672/11 "2018-02-27T15:11:41Z")
My math SAT was below 700 (694 IIRC) which is good, but probably not in the top 5%. But when I took an abstract algebra course, my interest took off and I didn’t do too badly as a math professor. A bit of googling suggests that that would have been, in 2017, maybe in the top 6 or 7th percentile. I was much much higher in the GRE four years later (off the chart essentially) which doubtless proves something, but I’m not sure what. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2018, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-lowest-sat-math-score-of-one-with-college-math-professor-potential/809672/12 "2018-02-27T15:26:31Z")
> [@Steven\_Estes](#): > > What was the lowest SAT (quantitative, i.e., math SAT) score that would still make possible eventually becoming a math professor at a (1) selective college and (2) any college. > > NOTE: I do not refer here to a rare talented mathematician who, for some reason (nervousness, flu, whatever) had an SAT score clearly not reflecting talent: I refer to the lowest score that reflects the minimal aptitude still capable of becoming a math professor. > [@Steven\_Estes](#): > > These replies simply demonstrate how widespread i among non-scientists is the is the wrong-headed view that genes are not crucial to mathematical ability and, indeed, intelligence e. (“Intelligence” being defined by IQ score, so one need not get involved in murky arguments about the definition of “intelligence”. ) > The evidence for this is overwhelming. One need merely take a cursory glance at the scientific and academic work done on the subject. > IQ score is by far the strongest of all predictors of attainment (school grades, income, social position). > I have informally asked about thirty university mathematics profess) their SAT scores (which correlate highly with IQ scores) and not one failed to be in the top five percent. > These professors are forty years old or older. It may be that the SAT no longer measures aptitude, but it did when they took it. **Moderator Note** **Steven Estes** , don’t start threads in General Questions in order to start a debate. As I instructed you by email, you need to pay attention to forum descriptions. You may start a new thread on this topic in Great Debates, but be sure to frame the OP as a debate. Colibri General Questions Moderator