ACT vs. SAT

<p>Is it true that UVA prefers SAT over the ACT? Will a student who got the equivalent on his or her SAT to another student's ACT score be admitted over the ACT student?</p>

<p>Where did you hear this? This information is not coming out of the admission office.</p>

<p>The application instructions address this. I have also addressed testing a few times on the admission blog.</p>

<p>I don’t know of any school that has a preference these days.</p>

<p>when my mom called the admission office they said something along the lines that if everything is the same they would pick the SAT kid, but she may have misinterpreted it.</p>

<p>I did significantly better on the ACT than the SAT and UVA is my dream school.</p>

<p>We don’t sit with two files open and one spot to fill. It would never happen.</p>

<p>Perhaps someone was trying to explain that we look at the better score if a student takes both the ACT and the SAT. Check out the blog. I’ve talked about how it works in the past.</p>

<p>Don’t worry about your case…we’re looking to build a case for an offer when we read. We want to use the best scores.</p>

<p>I don’t know why, but everyone in my HS looks down upon the ACT. I think only me and 2 other friends use CC at my HS but the rest of the kids think that the SAT is regarded so much more highly than the ACT. One of the kids at my school got a 2090 and told me that his SAT score is the same as my 33? Fortunatly I’ve learned that at all colleges the SAT and ACT are looked at the exact same.</p>

<p>Dean J, I was reading in the college admissions section that some college supposidly have a conversion chart for the ACT and SAT. It is only a rumor but have you ever heard of such a thing? </p>

<p>And finally, I believe you should try to have the link to your blog stickied. I don’t think many people interested in UVA on this site know of it and it is an extremely helpful tool.</p>

<p>UVAorBust - You can find these online. Use your friend google (SAT ACT concordance 2010). It’s been discussed on other threads on CC.</p>

<p>NOTE: If you want to look for your own reasons, do so. If you are looking to see if your score was better than your classmate…well, you are better off keeping your mouth shut. You should know that scores are just one part of the applications process. Even if this students score is statistically better than yours it doesn’t mean their chances for admission at any university are definitely better. Look if you must, but be the bigger person and keep the information to yourself.</p>

<p>No, Iguana, I’m talking about every college having their own personal concordance chart. I’ve viewed the ones online and I never know what my score is worth. On some charts, a 33 comes out to a 2210 and on others it comes to a 2170. I mean I’m very proud of my score and I don’t really care if people around me do better (and plenty do). However, it would be interesting to find out if each college has its own concordance chart that they use.</p>

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<p>I’m sorry if I misunderstood. I assumed as you mentioned the above comparison this was why you were asking. </p>

<p>Your ACT score is just that. A 33 composite comprised of several subscores. As you already know from the Common Data Set this puts you in striking distance and is a score you worked hard for. </p>

<p>I stand by my above statement. As the admission cycle goes on students will want to make comparisons of every bit of data, admission, and rejection. Be the better person.</p>

<p>That is very very true Iguana. I just think that happens because everyone is so caught up in the whole college admissions process (well I know I am). I never believed my senior year would be this stressful, but hey, you got to work hard if you want to get in where you want.</p>

<p>Thank you so much! I will look for the blog. But I was mistaken it was published in the Princeton Review College Guide and there were many rumors matriculating around this area. Thank you for the responses they are extremely helpful!</p>

<p>i have 2 quick questions: </p>

<p>1) do we use the ACT English section or reading section to see how we did on the SAT CR section?
2) is UVA one of those schools that combines ACT and SAT results to come up with a new score? So, kinda do they mic and match different test scores from different tests? I ask this because the tech representative at my school said that tech does it that way</p>

<p>I’m not quite sure what your asking in your first question Eagles? The ACT and SAT are looked at differently at UVA. If you hand in the ACT they will look at the ACT, not compare it to scores from the SAT (or so I believe).</p>

<p>I believe the answer to question number 2 is the same as number 1. Many people only hand in the ACT or the SAT so it would be impossible for UVA to combine the scores. And UVA looks at your best score you submit. If you submit a 35 ACT and a 1810 SAT they will look at your ACT.</p>

<p>I have never heard of a school making up their own concordance chart for the SAT and ACT (not saying it’s impossible, just that no one I know in the industry has mentioned it). [The</a> one on the ACT website](<a href=“http://www.act.org/aap/concordance/]The”>http://www.act.org/aap/concordance/) is just fine for me and I imagine my colleagues would say the same thing.</p>

<p>We do not combine the SAT and ACT to create a different score. </p>

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Guide books are notoriously out of date. Some update in rounds, so they’ll update a set group of schools on a rotated schedule. If you have access to a few editions, you will notice the schedule.</p>

<p>Always go to the source. If we wanted you to take one test over the other, we would put it in our instructions.</p>

<p>Thank you for the response Dean J. I believe I read about schools having their own concordance charts on the Duke forum. Also, do you think UVA will ever publish data on the difference between OOS scores and IS scores? I mean even if UVA did publish this information, it wouldn’t be very accurate due to the legacies, under-represented minorities, and recruited athletes. The one source that I can view OOS acceptances is from my old school’s scattergram where the average ACT is a 32 and the average SAT is a 2140. </p>

<p>Also Dean J, does UVA take into consideration HS. Not in terms of the difficulty of the HS, but of the amount of students sent each year to UVA. There has never been an accepted student from my school to UVA (there has also never been a qualified student who has applied) and hopefully I will be the first applicant with a decent shot.</p>

<p>I don’t even bother with crunching a different SAT/ACT score for IS vs. OOS. The statisticians probably could do it. I think you all fixate on SAT a bit too much.</p>

<p>Your school’s history with UVa won’t affect how your application is reviewed. Whether they’ve sent 1 or 100 students here, we’ll still be looking at what was offered to you by your school and what you opted to do in light of that.</p>

<p>Aren’t you at a NYC Jesuit, boys high school? Are you sure no one has ever been accepted? Perhaps no one has enrolled? There’s a difference there.</p>

<p>Dean J, I’ve looked on both my Naviance scattergram and on the School Stats page, and out of the 31 applicants to UVA from my school in the past 5 years, 0 people have been accepted. There has also been a lack of quality applicants from my school to apply, but that is aside the point. I’m going to ask my GC today about that though, just to see if he knows any information about the number of students accepted/enrolled from my school.</p>

<p>Also Dean J, if I would like to send in a extra supplement, should I send it in through the mail or email it to an Adcom?</p>

<p>Thanks for the help again Dean J.</p>

<p>Alright, I went to my GC and looked at the acceptances for FP. So far 31 kids have applied from my school over the past ten years. Two kids were accepted to UVA in 2001, and I’m assuming that those kids applied ED. Since then, out of the 29 applications, 0 kids have been accepted.</p>

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Are you referring to an arts supplement? The directions for those are on the website.</p>

<p>Dean J, I was actually referring to an actual sheet of paper as a supplement. Not really an essay, but more of like a humorous description of why I want to attend UVA and the journey to the school.</p>

<p>UVAorBust- are you posting while at school? Hopefully not during class! ;)</p>