<p>My junior S took his first ACT in Dec and did well. His GPA is good (4.0 U/W with APs, etc...) and average ECs. He has no school that he is "dreaming" about but he is very practical and is hoping for some merit scholarship. My question is should he take SAT Subject Test to improve his chances for merit scholarships? Many schools he would be thrilled with requires only ACT OR SAT plus SAT subject. He would rather skip the test since there are APs to study for. Thoughts and advices will be appreciated.</p>
<p>I honestly don’t know if it made a difference for my son, but he took 2 SAT II tests in November after submitting EA applications to large public univ’s on Nov. 1 (on the chance he might have decided to apply to CMU on December 31). The scores got sent to all the schools but they did not require them. He ended not applying to CMU because he was accepted to most of the EA schools. A great math score and decent physics score might have pushed over the edge for admittance (but his GPA was much lower than your son.) I guess my point is that taking the November tests still got to the colleges before decisions were made, but it did not conflict terribly with submitting apps or high school finals.</p>
<p>I guess he thought that studying for the APs would help in prepping for the SAT2 so he would take them close to the same time. He was looking at CMU but they don’t offer merit so they came off the list. Where did your son apply for EA?</p>
<p>SAT subject tests are generally easier than AP tests, so if your son does well on a given AP test, it would probably boost his chances slightly to take the SAT subject test in the same subject. Even if a college does not require SAT subject tests, his scores will be seen by scholarship committees, and even if his scores are merely good as opposed to great, the fact that he has taken the initiative to take those tests will make him a more attractive candidate.</p>
<p>Last May my d did what you mentioned, taking Chemistry AP and SAT within a few weeks of each other. While they didn’t totally overlap, she found her studying for one helped with the other, and she scored very well on both.</p>
<p>If your s decides to take the subject test, don’t let his AP course stand alone for studying, get him some study guides geared for the SAT IIs.</p>
<p>Thanks for the input. I will encourage him to take the SAT2 and if his scores are not good, I guess we don’t have to send them out or he could retake them.</p>
<p>Definitely take them. One never knows what schools might catch his fancy by next fall, and its better to be ready if a school that requires them rises to the top. Take at least two, in June, in subjects he is studying this year, and prep with SAT II books after AP. If he’s a good student, it won’t be hard. If he does math, do math 2 and not math 1.</p>
<p>Definitely take the subject tests (May, so can retake in June if need be) in which he is taking the corresponding AP test.</p>
<p>FYI, I’ve heard taking three in one sitting is taxing, so you might take two in May and two others (or a retake and a new one) in June.</p>
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<p>Problem with this is that by the time you get your May scores, I think it’s too late to sign up to re-take in June. Also, May doubles up with AP tests which are quite a bit different in preparation I think.</p>
<p>I believe only Harvard and Georgetown require three tests.</p>
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<p>Exactly. The studying is the same; the materials on the Subject Tests is just less. Use the one-hour May test for an intro/warm-up for the four hour AP test. (Of course, our schools don’t get out until late June, so no free time to study that month.)</p>
<p>*My question is should he take SAT Subject Test to improve his chances for merit scholarships? *</p>
<p>I have never heard of SAT IIs being part of the merit consideration, because SAT and ACT scores are what colleges report for their incoming freshmen class (which is why they offer merit to those with high scores). </p>
<p>However, I agree with the others that SAT IIs should be taken near the time of similar AP tests. </p>
<p>Many schools he would be thrilled with requires only ACT OR SAT plus SAT subject.</p>
<p>I’m not sure I understand this…are you saying that his chosen schools require only the ACT…or if he takes the SAT, then he also needs a SAT subject? I know that there are some schools that don’t require SAT subjects if ACT is taken.</p>
<p>DS applied to several big public unis, but top on his list right now is UIUC, Purdue,UW-Madison, all engineering. Deadline for Purdue app. was 10/15 and UIUC and Madison had Nov. 1 app. He heard from all three the weekend of 12/11.</p>
<p>You and your son are in a more advanced position relative to my son, so I would listen to the other posters who suggest getting it out of the way early. I would estimate the amount of stress that November SAT II caused was greater than if he had taken it in May/June of junior year, but he was just not thinking about SAT II schools at that time. Now, in retrospect, I will get my d who is three years younger to take them earlier because you never know if a good SATII score might come in handy.</p>
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It seems like they do have some merit scholarships ( though you have to submit the FAFSA that shows that you do not qualify for the need-based one in order to get it…):
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<p>My older D didn’t take any and it was a small source of stress back in the summer when she was considering applying to some higher tier schools that required 2 (or in the case of 1 school: 3.) Ultimately, she decided that she didn’t want to jump through that hoop and those schools came off her list (for other reasons.)</p>
<p>Since our HS doesn’t mention SAT IIs, I am encouraging my younger D to take an SAT II at the end of an appropriate class so that she has options open to her come 2012/13. She’s apt to be a slightly more competitive candidate than her sister, and she’s quirky so I don’t want to have her scramble to fit in SAT IIs on top of regular college testing when the time comes.</p>
<p>nngmm beat me to it. CMU definitely offers some merit scholarships. Both my kids have taken at least 3 SAT2 tests spring junior year and done very well on them. Why limit your choices? Both applied to schools that required them in the end, something they didn’t necessarily know for sure as juniors.</p>
<p>My younger son signed up for subject tests in May and regular test in June. When he didn’t like the subject test score in math, it was easy to switch to doing subject tests again in June though I think we lost some money on the deal. Anyway that’s an option if you think you might also like to take the regular SAT.</p>
<p>I highly recommend taking Math2 if you are interested in science or math, US History if you are taking APUSH, and physics or chemistry if you are taking the AP Course and planning on going into Engineering (be warned you’ll have to study for physics topics that aren’t covered in Physics C), and if you are in AP Bio, you’ll probably do well on the Bio SAT.</p>
<p>Here is the deal - Schools such as WUSTL, USC, Tulane, Case Western, etc… do not require SATII and he would be perfectly happy to go to any of them. He scored a 35 on his ACT at the first sitting so I think that he would have a chance at some merit money with his stats but the question is whether or not it would help or hurt his case. It looks like most posters agree that he should go for it.</p>
<p>Hello my good friend - I know that you already know what I am about to say because you have been there already with your D, so this is more for others. BTW, is she safely back at school? Not to rub it in, but 68 degrees in NOLA today!</p>
<p>Frankly I disagree with most of the posters. Credit for subjects is based on the AP tests, and with his record so far (35 ACT and perfect grades) he would not only be virtually certain to get Tulane’s top automatic merit scholarship (Presidential, worth $25,000 this year), he would have an excellent shot at the Deans’ Honor scholarship, which has to be applied for separately and is worth full tuition for 4 years (5 for architecture) no matter how much it goes up. The SAT II’s would contribute nothing to this at Tulane or the other schools you mention, nor at most that I know of. They seem like a waste of time, energy and money to me. My kids took them and as far as I can tell, they had zero effect. JMHO</p>
<p>If he is becomes NMF (he took PSAT in the fall, right??), he will get an automatic 1/2 tuition scholarship at USC (I think…)
WUSTL scholarships are harder to get - don’t count on them, no matter the scores.
SAT II tests will not be difficult for him to take, since he is going to study for APs anyway. He does not have to study extra if he does not want to. But if the scores are good, they might open some doors for him. He may change his mind about his list of colleges by next December…</p>
<p>Fallenchemist - Thanks for chiming in. He will be applying to Tulane for sure (can’t pass up such generous merit possibilities for a great school) and we heard from a few friends that have happy kids there.<br>
USC is in the mix because he might become NMF (depending on the cutoff) and in their website for merit, they stated that SAT2 will be helpful for full ride consideration.
WUSTL scholarship is extremely hard to get but since we have one deliriously happy (although overworked) child there, it’s worth throwing his hat in. Can’t say enough good things about the school…</p>