A few of my top schools (Princeton and Yale specifically) “strongly recommend” that you send SAT IIs, although they state that the applicant will not be at a disadvantage if they don’t have them. I took the SAT IIs only once, and it was a bad experience - I was sick, the testing center was horrible, etc. I ended up scoring a 730 on Literature and a 630 on Math II (I have NO idea how this happened; I am normally a very strong math student). Obviously, these scores are nowhere near where they need to be. I didn’t take the subject tests again, as my parents make me pay for my own testing and I just didn’t have time. I will be submitting my 35 ACT and plan on not sending the SAT IIs. Am I totally screwed for top college admissions???
Your scores on the SAT2’s will hurt your chances-better not to send if allowed.
Colleges LOVE people who don’t pay attention to their “strong recommendations”…
@NickFlynn They also LOVE people who pay for their OWN test, instead of letting parents do it, like the OP. There is also a reason the tests are not obligatory, just recommended. I have a friend who was accepted to Harvard last year with no subject tests and a 2200 SAT. Op, if you get rejected it won’t be from your lack of Subject Tests.
“Strongly recommended” usually means that they expect them, but will give some slack to students from more disadvantaged environments (e.g. low income, first generation to college, in a high school where few graduates go to selective colleges) who may not know about application items beyond the minimal ones (high school record and SAT or ACT scores).
Okay thank you all for the tips!! I am very concerned about having them, so I hope everything turns out alright. While I don’t come from a disadvantaged background, my school has never sent a student to an Ivy League school, and the closest we have in our history is sending one student to Vanderbilt. Our GC does nothing, and I wouldn’t have even known SAT IIs existed if it wasn’t for this website.
Seriously? You couldn’t read the “Here’s how to apply” section of the school web sites?
@NickFlynn I did read that part of the website, but not until application season began in September. Additionally, I didn’t originally plan to shoot for top tier Ivies until this fall, when a few events transpired that made me a viable candidate.
Is a 730 really a bad score?
^ No, it’s not. >700 is good for just about any school.
I’m kind of in the same situation as you, OP. I have a 35 ACT but 700s on both Bio and Math 2. Yale does take the act in LIEU of subject tests/sat 1, but do they still recommend us to submit our subject tests despite that?
Personally, I think Yale is more lenient than some of the other schools that recommend SAT Subject tests.
Yale’s website reads: We will consider your application on the basis of the other testing, and all the other information, that we receive with your application. You may wish to consider whether there are particular areas of academic strength you would like to demonstrate to the Admissions Committee. Subject Tests can be one way to convey that strength.
From that, I can infer that SAT Subject tests show subject-level proficiency, but there are also other ways of demonstrating that as well. For example, if you had an internship, an art portfolio, or science research, I think that could potentially compensate for the lack of SAT Subject tests.
A 730 on lit is a very high percentile. I would send it.