For certain schools I’m applying to, all SAT scores are required. I now have a 36 ACT and 800’s on Math 2 and Physics SAT
II subject tests, but back in my freshman year I took the normal SAT and got a 1390. I haven’t taken the SAT I since then. I don’t want this old score to count against me, since I’m applying to super-competitive schools. Can I get away with not sending it? Or will they just not pay any attention to the old score since I have the ACT score?
Read the instructions for each school as this may vary. Some will accept ACT only or ACT and SAT Subject test. Most schools won’t ask for SAT if you choose to send ACT.
This is the definitive answer. If the school requires all SAT scores regardless if you are submitting ACT, then no, you cannot “get away” with not sending them. Don’t try to circumvent the rules - it could bite you later. However, rest assured that for those very few schools, they will focus on your 36. Great job.
Except for two colleges, you can submit ACT and subject tests and withhold the SAT even though the school has a form of an all scores rule. That is because their rule requires either all SAT or all ACT but not both even if you submit subject tests.
The only two exceptions are Stanford and Georgetown. Stanford requires all SATs and all ACTs and you can submit whatever SAT subject tests you want to submit. Georgetown requires all SATs, all ACTs and all subject tests.
A third college, Barnard, also requires both all SATs and all ACTs but sending subject tests is pointless because it no longer uses them to determine admission.
Nevertheless, if you decide to withhold scores, be aware that you might not accomplish anything. That is because many high schools put all your test scores on the offical high school transcript sent to colleges and thus withholding the scores when ordering them sent by the testing agencies accomplishes nothing (except to prove you tried to withhold scores). Thus, before deciding what to do you best first determine what your high school puts on your transcript.
As to what colleges will do if you submit all scores including the prior SAT, it depends on whether you believe colleges are honest or instead bold-faced liars. Coilleges uniformily profess that if you submit multiple tests with varying scores, they will use the highest scores to determine admission (in your case the ACT rather than the SAT). But many applicants have a hard convincing themselves that is true, particularly when the college requires all scores.
No school is going to care that you got a 1390 as a freshman (which by the way is a great score and pretty setllar for a freshman). They will focus on your 36 and subject tests. Stress not!
Even if a school requires you send the SAT (few require all testing be sent – as noted above you need to read the requirements of each college) the date that you took the test will be indicated. I don’t think one college would hold a 1390 SAT taken as a freshman against an applicant in any way, shape, or form.