<p>I really have a big problem deciding sending which one to colleges.
i contacted my college consultant, she told me that an ACT student would probably be less competitive than a SAT student because colleges know that sats are harder than acts(which i think it is totally not true)</p>
<p>and she was kinda forcing me to send my sat scores to the colleges (but i did better on the ACTs actually...)
i know a lot of schools prefer SATs over ACTs...............................</p>
<p>so is it really less competitive like she was talking about? (schools like the ivy league schools, nyu, and more...)</p>
<p>p.s the colleges i'm applying to are mainly east/west coast schools... and i am from california, where everybody takes the SATs..</p>
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i contacted my college consultant, she told me that an ACT student would probably be less competitive than a SAT student because colleges know that sats are harder than acts
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<p>Ask for your money back from that college consultant. I was just at the local information session Yale put on in my town on Monday, and Yale agrees with the rest of the universe in not having any preference for one brand of test over the other.</p>
<p>Capitalize your first words of sentences when you write your application essays, but, no, it won't hurt you to send in an ACT score if that ACT score is high.</p>
<p>they say that, but do they mean it? just curious. the ACTs were always a midwest type of test, coming to the coasts much more recently. altho i don't think it's true, the ACTs tend to have the rep of a test kids take when they struggle with the SATs. that isn't the case, tho kids will typically do better on one or the other, so if in doubt, do both. so, it all depends if a particular school has a bias for one or not, BUT THEY'LL NEVER TELL YOU THAT.</p>
<p>The admission officers have no incentive to systematically misrepresent their policies on which test they accept. Until quite recently, some colleges forthrightly expressed a preference for one test or the other, but all have abandoned that preference now because every college is looking for good students from all over the world.</p>
<p>This is what they told me:
"According to our experience, SAT score report shows both SAT reasoning and SAT subject (SAT II) scores. It means schools will still get your last SAT reasoning score anyway. </p>
<p>ACT is a bit easier than SAT (you know it & schools know it). Therefore, using it could bring you less competitive advantage during the application process. However, some schools (especially those around the Great Lakes) prefer ACT. Since your September ACT could be pretty good, I think it would help if you send your GOOD ACT score there. </p>
<p>BUT, for those SAT-preferred schools (unfortunately, they are the majority!), I suggest you take the Oct. SAT again! "</p>
<p>Ok. so my last SAT score was like a 1500-ish. My ACTs were 27 (as of Sept. 07).
It's a really big gap. According to the scale the college board had released, my converted score was like a 1860-1910.</p>
<p>bsn~ where are you from(in general)? i guess we've got a debate here, but of course all schools accept both scores. send both, because i still believe, ACTs ALONE in the east is a disadvantage. if the "they" from your last post is from your guidance counselor, AND you come from a good system, they are generally correct. you'll be fine. and we're missing something here..you as a person, and total "package". the rest of your application counts, too! ECs, leadership, volunteerism, etc.</p>
<p>Ok. so here's the thing.
I'm born in America, and went to Taiwan for a while and came back to the States.
So I'm pretty fluent speaking in both Mandarin and English. But my English isn't that good, which is the reason why i did poorly on my SATs.</p>
<p>And my consultant company, which is a company from Taiwan, had been helping many students from both Taiwan and the US, getting into college by providing information and suggestions.</p>
<p>Quote: "send both, because i still believe, ACTs ALONE in the east is a disadvantage."</p>
<p>I am still trying to determine why this myth (and many others about the ACT vs. the SAT) persist. happycollegemom, can you point us to a statement on ANY east coast college admissions website that says that submitting the ACT only is a disadvantage in the admissions process? Here are the facts. There are no longer any colleges or universities that I am aware of that have a stated preference for the ACT or the SAT. Virtually all schools now accept either test. The last two "SAT only" holdouts that I am aware of were Wake Forest and Harvey Mudd, and I believe that they now both accept the ACT in lieu of the SAT. In fact, many schools will accept the ACT in lieu of the SAT AND the SAT IIs. Further, the notion that the ACT is an easier test than the SAT is also a myth. All you need do to figure that out is look at the national score distributions for both tests, and you'll find that scoring in the 30-36 range on the ACT is no easier than scoring in the 2200-2400 range on the SAT. It is true that the format and the content of each test are somewhat different and that some students do better on one test than on the other, but the vast majority score about the same on both tests. For scoring multiple administrations of each test, the SAT has the advantage because most colleges will "superscore" the SAT but not the ACT (i.e., combine the highest math, cr and writing scores from multiple test dates to give the applicant the highest composite score). The ACT has the advantage of "score choice," which allows the student to choose his or her single best test date scores to be sent to his/her colleges of choice and to withhold all other test date scores. The best strategy is simply to take both tests and determine which one you prefer.</p>
<p>As I said before, you should ask for a refund from that college counselor. Or you should ask for the counselor's ACT and SAT scores, and then ask for the refund. :p</p>
<p>Schools had preferences several years ago (I think that ended around my freshman year in high school, I'm a senior now). East and West Coast schools generally preferred SATs but accepted ACTs. Midwest schools generally preferred ACTs but accepted SATs. I don't know of any school that has any preference today.</p>
<p>If you search these boards, including the archives, you'll find many kids that submitted only their ACTs and got into Ivies and other top schools. There is simply no reason to believe the counselor or happycollegemom. The East Coast schools have now had sufficient time to get used to comparing ACT and SAT scores in evaluating kids. </p>
<p>They could easily say, "We prefer the SAT, but will consider applicants who provide ACT scores instead." Just as some schools say, "We don't require, but do recommend, SAT II scores." Or as others say, "We accept the ACT in lieu of both SAT I or SAT II" or "You must sumbit SAT II even if you submit the ACT." It's their game, their rules. They gain no advantage by lying about it on their websites. Both are considered in the US News & World Report rankings, so colleges want to have a population that scores high on either test.</p>
<p>Submit the ACT if that's what you're more comfortable with or if that's your better score. Take the October SAT I if you wish. </p>
<p>Given that your consultants are in Taiwan, they may be a bit behind the times. Search this site for some of the domestic college counselors, like carolyn or soozievt, or for some of the admissions counselors like AdmissionsDaniel (JHU) or DanAdmiss@Tufts or the admissions counselor from University of Chicago whose screen name I don't recall right now, and see what they say about the SAT v. ACT.</p>
<p>bsn~ you might want to consider including a letter explaining your language issues.cite your interesting international background and make it work FOR you. and as i said before, and this is what all the others are saying, submit BOTH. nothing at all to lose. the "myth" some are talking about has no hard facts, nothing in print. right or wrong, there remains a silent bias/prejudice with standardized tests, the same way colleges that have taken a stand totally against SATs must pay a price in stupid rankings. my comments are experientially based, working with kids and their parents. the whole college application process is LOADED with inequities, but we gotta work with the system as best we can.</p>
<p>Thanks, guys.
So it's pretty much up to the east coast schools because the great lake schools are ACT dominated, and UCs have residential priorities.</p>
<p>I'll think about that and i'll ask more and more people for information. The info you guys provided were helpful. thanks (:</p>
<p>to:tokenadult,
well, i'm not going to ask for any refunds because they did help me a lot (i mean stuff beyond providing just basic information :p)
and yeah, daddy has money, so i'm not really worried about getting vague info.</p>
<p>in my part of the country, guidance counselors and all prep courses only focus on the SATs. as i've already said, this isn't fair and isn't what is being stated at the podiums during college visit info sessions. BUT parents of kids here come out of conferences with the kid's counselor believing in the superiority of the SATs. they are TOLD to do ACTs when the kid's SATs are low or marginal, and they make the parents and kids feel like rejects. I'M the one telling them to take and submit ACTs to balance the application. but my reality is that many kids here don't even KNOW about the ACTs or consider them a poor reflection upon their test-taking. i have never known of a kid around here who chose to take ACTs first, and in place of SATs. those are facts, whether fair or not.</p>
<p>I'm not sure what part of the country you're from, but if you're on the east coast, as I am, then I can tell you of at least one kid I know who submitted ACT scores only: my daughter. She's a college sophomore and was just accepted to veterinary school as an early admission candidate. I'm sorry, but I simply don't agree with the "ACT is not really as good as the SAT" undercurrent that you say you've encountered in the college admissions process. The facts and the admissions statistics don't support you. By the way, for those of you who think students who take the ACT are less competitive and that the ACT is so much easier, here's something to consider. In 2006, approximately 1,300,000 students took the SAT and 1,200,000 took the ACT. Of the SAT examinees, approximately 1 in 5784 scored a perfect 2400; of the ACT examinees, approximately 1 in 5594 scored a perfect 36 -- not much of a gap, in my opinion.</p>
<p>The essential point is well taken that there isn't any clear evidence that either test is easier than the other. Both are challenging for most students, who run out of time before each test section ends.</p>