<p>Hey everyone, I was wondering if colleges look differently at ACT than SAT I. I've taken both the SAT and ACT once. I have a low SAT score(660 V, 680 M) but a really high ACT score (34). If it were up to me, I wouldnt send in my SAT score, but I have to send in SAT II's to colleges and the SAT I comes no matter what (thanks college board). Anyways, do you think that my low SAT I score would affect the admissions comittee in any way? Should I retake the SAT I?</p>
<p>I think they used to be more divided about it than they are now, but most schools will consider your highest score. I'd retake if you can, if your SAT score is on the low end of the averages of the schools you wanna apply to. </p>
<p>btw there is a chart on review.com about which types of schools (private, Ivy, East Coast, West Coast, etc.) prefer SAT vs. ACT and vice versa. I don't have the link handy but it's easy enough to find on their site.</p>
<p>The official word is that colleges (except for the handful of colleges that still won't accept the ACT at all) accept ACT and SAT scores equally, and that any institutionalized prejudice against the ACT has evaporated by now. And I do know kids who have been accepted to top schools, including Ivies and top universities and LACs on the strength of their ACT scores alone (or coupled with SATIIs.) But there was an interesting discussion on this subject a while ago on the old forum. Apparently, there's some anecdotal evidence that top colleges still prefer SATs over ACTs. It's the old snob appeal. For some reason I can't post a link, but check the thread in the old Parents Forum 2004 Archive entitled "ACT or SAT?"</p>
<p>Before the ACT got going, the SAT grew to dominance in the east and California. The ACT has always been dominate in the middle of the country. Princeton still has a rule that it will not accept the ACT unless the other colleges to which you are applying require it. Brigham Young requires the ACT. There are some schools that previously did but no longer accept the SAT but instead require either the ACT, or in lieu thereof, three SAT II's (or any combination of SAT II's, AP's, or IB's), an example being Middlebury. Wake Forest and Harvey Mudd accept only the SAT (Caltech was the same but changed this year to also accepting the ACT). There are some schools that still state a preference for the SAT but the explanation is that is for maintaining the ability to statistically compare current classes to prior because the vast majority always provided the SAT, and the "preference" does not affect admissions decisions. For the most part, colleges readily accept either test and will use the score they believe is higher for the admission decision. A number of colleges that require SAT II's will even take the ACT in lieu of both the SAT and SAT II's -- examples: Yale, Brown, Penn, Amherst, Wesleyan, Tufts, Johns Hopkins, Duke.</p>