ACT or SAT or both?

Applying to College
1

<p>SAT I: CR 680, M 800, W 710, total 2190 (no super scoring)
SAT II: MII 800, Bio/M 800, Chem 800
ACT: E 35, R 32, M 36, S 35, C 34</p>

<p>I debated whether to just send ACT score, but was convinced by others that my SAT is not bad. By conversion they are about the same, a little over 2200. However if I looked at the middle 50% score ranges for the top schools, ACT definitely puts me at 75% on most of these schools. SAT I only puts me at average (50 percentile) for the same top schools. Not sure how the schools are going to use the scores.</p>

<p>Anyone has any opinions on this?</p>

2

<p>Your ACT is clearly stronger, but your SAT is strong enough that sending both may help you at some schools. Showing you can do quite well on both tests is a plus in admissions at some selective colleges. It shouldn’t hurt you at any school if you send both sets of results.</p>

3

<p>Yours are close enough that I too would recommend sending both. It shows your test taking ability was not just a fluke on the ACT (my D has two friends who have literally gotten 33/34 on one ACT and 2 months later gotten a 30/31 on a second one).</p>

4

<p>One more question. In my case SAT and ACT appear to be close by conversion table from ACT or SAT. However I have some admission statistics from past years. It looks like ACT scores for admitted students are lower than those for SAT students. See the table below. These statistics is compiled from commonapps site. The question I have is that it may be better off not to submit SAT even if they are about the same by conversion. In my case, ACT will put my score at 75% for most schools while SAT only puts me at 50% or slightly below 50% for top schools. If they are the same, why does ACT come in much lower for admitted students who presumably sumitted ACT scores, or both. </p>

<p>Appreciate any thought on it.</p>

<p>---------------------SAT Total------------ACT Composite<br>
College---------- 25% 50% 75%------- 25% 50% 75%</p>

<p>Princeton--------2105 2240 2375-------31 33 35
Harvard---------2075 2225 2375-------31 33 35
Yale-------------2090 2225 2360-------31 33 35
Columbia-------2045 2180 2316-------31 32 34
Chicago---------2090 2210 2330-------30 32 34
Stanford--------2030 2172 2315-------31 32 34
MIT--------------2140 2250 2350-------33 34 35
Duke------------2000 2142 2285-------30 32 34
UPenn-----------2015 2150 2285-------30 32 34
Caltech----------2230 2277 2340-------33 34 35
Dartmouth------2030 2165 2350-------30 32 34
Northwestern—2030 2157 2285-------31 32 33
John Hopkins—1940 2090 2244-------30 32 34
Brown-----------1985 2135 2285-------29 31 33
Washington U—2110 2205 2340-------32 33 34
Cornell----------1940 2090 2240-------30 31 33
Vanderbilt------2030 2155 2290-------33 34 35
Rice-------------2100 2180 2350-------31 33 35
Notre Dam------2000 2135 2270-------31 32 34
Emory-----------1955 2097 2240-------29 30 32
Georgetwn------1955--------2240-------30---------33
UC Berkeley-----1850--------2230------27----------32
Carnegie Mellon1940 2090 2240-------29 31 33</p>