I am a high school senior with the following stats:
4.03 Weighted GPA
1500 New SAT
640 Biology E 630 Math 2 Subject Tests
I also run a nonprofit middle-school basketball organization on the side as well as other extracurricular activities.
I am aware that I have a pretty bad subject test scores. I was not going to send them in because my counselor told me that sending these bad subject test scores into these prestigious universities (even though subject tests are “recommended”) would look bad on the application. Though I know that my SAT composite score and GPA are not spectacular, I think I would be able to write good application essays to send in. Should I still send in these SAT Subject scores or is it a bad idea? Has anyone gotten into these prestigious universities without sending in SAT Subject test scores? What should I do?
Thank you, and please don’t be afraid to be blunt. Any advice would help. Appreciate it!
If the subject tests are not required, I wouldn’t send them. Your scores are in the 53%ile and 26%ile (give or take a few percentiles) which will most likely hurt your applicstion rather than help. If you have the opportunity to retake in January (and if they accept January scores), that might be a better idea.
If you don’t have a “hook” (URM, recruited athlete, …), then a weighted 4.03 is also low for Stanford and the top Ivy’s and your subject tests are way low for Stanford and top Ivy’s. 1500 on the new SAT is great for most schools and great for nearly all students, but is only okay for Stanford and Harvard.
Apply if you want to, but focus on more realistic schools. There are a LOT of very good universities, and pretty much all of them are easier to get into than Stanford.
I’m in the same boat–hate myself because I used the free score sends to send subject tests to Brown ED without seeing them. Safe to say that the scores were not good. My regular SAT is OK but would be on the lower side. My standardized test scores are def the worst part of my app. They do say that admissions is holistic though, and I personally think everything else in my application is strong enough that 2 bad scores shouldn’t undo literally everything I’ve worked towards for the past 12 years, ya know? But I’ll let you know in a week! lol. I don’t know how much weight the scores hold, but I would imagine that for say Stanford and Harvard, scores that low would be pretty catastrophic, but if you’re an exceptional candidate otherwise don’t let a few bad test scores get you down.They just represent two hours of your life on a random Saturday. Personally, I was very sick when I took my tests and I think that really reflected in my scores. It’s unfortunate, but all we can do is hope for the best and present ourselves in the best light that we can, hoping that colleges will appreciate that if they are truly as “holistic” as they claim to be.
Appreciate the input. I can’t take the tests again, unfortunately. However, it is good to get a second opinion from someone who isn’t my counselor
Yes. Best of luck indeed. Well, think about it. Not everyone at Stanford can be a gifted academic person? There needs to be SOMETHING that sets each person apart from another. Sure, it doesn’t help if we have a couple bad test scores, but if they are as holistic as they say, then hopefully our free response questions can help us out a great deal .
“Not everyone at Stanford can be a gifted academic person? There needs to be SOMETHING that sets each person apart from another.”
Actually, every student at Stanford CAN and IS very gifted academically, and in addition there is also something that sets each person apart. Furthermore, Stanford could reject their entire incoming freshman class, and from their existing applications choose an entirely new incoming freshman class and this would be true of the new incoming freshman class also.