In 2012, Saeed made her screen debut in a supporting role in Karan Johar's Student Of The Year along with the main leads Sidharth Malhotra, Varun Dhawan and Alia Bhatt. She was noticed due to her child star memory in spite of her small role. Film critic Taran Adarsh from Bollywood Hungama wrote, "Sana Saaed looks glamorous and does well". film critic Komal Nahta commented, "Sana Saeed only gets to pout and flaunt her body as Tanya.". The film was released on 19 October 2012 in over 1400 screens across the country and garnered positive to mixed reviews from critics and good box office collections. Boxofficeindia declared the film as a semihit after three weeks. She placed 5th in Nach Baliye 7.