<p>“Required” and “recommended” are vague sorts of places on a continuum. “Required” means that it’s highly recommended and may be reason alone to reject you unless they really like you, in which case it may turn out not to be required. “Recommended” means the same thing as “required”, but a little less strongly.</p>
<p>Sending one is always better than not sending. If you never send the score might as well be zero.</p>
<p>FWIW, my D got into Wellesley two years ago (when the college had the same recommendation regarding SAT II tests). In her case, she had a very high SAT I math score, but no SAT II tests in a quantitative subject. The admissions office told her not to worry. I should note, however, that in my D’s case, there was no question that she had quantitative ability (as evidenced by her HS record and SAT I score). So my question to you is this, is there enough stuff in your record to show that you have excellent verbal skills? If so, I wouldn’t worry about it.</p>
<p>I’m from the “Better Safe Than Sorry” group. If it says recommended, be safe and honor the recommendation. An SAT II should not decide admission, but these days, with schools so competitive, it could.</p>
<p>My son has taken four SAT II – math 2, chem, biology and U.S. History. He also wants to take Spanish in the fall. He figures they can be used for placement in college courses.</p>
<p>Required begins with recommended for highly competitive admissions in my book.</p>
<p>Just send one of each. It won’t kill you if your humanities scores are lower than your math/science. You’ll be fine.</p>
<p>I also had to jump in to say that Wellesley has FANTASTIC math and science departments (You don’t get to #4 without great math/science). There are plenty of students here who want to major in these areas. Wellesley also doesn’t really care what you THINK you are going to study in college. Trying to present yourself as someone with a “niche” in math/science won’t help you. It’s a liberal arts college. They want you to dabble in different subjects before making a decision.</p>
<p>What about engineering recommendations? For example, Princeton says that it is recommended for engineering applicants to take Chem or Physics SAT for their second SAT. I took Bio, Lit, and Math 2. It would be pretty inconvenient/difficult for me to take SATs next year (studying abroad), and I probably wouldn’t have access to all the prep books I’d like to have (bringing one review book would be fine, but couldn’t bring the giant CollegeBoard SAT Subject test books)</p>
<p>Northwestern “recommends” 3 subject tests, and I’ve taken 2. The only (and I mean only) other subject test I’d feel comfortable taking is Chem, but that won’t be until October, when I will have forgotten everything. Should I waste my time restudying a whole year’s worth of material or just submit the 2? (I did really well on the 2 I did take; Lit-740, and Bio-M-780)</p>
<p>momreads, he could wait till Spring to take that Spanish SAT. He’s likely to have a higher score then and since he already has more than enough SAT subject tests there’s no need to take it now. That’s especially true of Spanish where a lot of native speakers skew the curve.</p>
<p>dollyflower, Princeton does more than “recommend” the specific SAT IIs. From the Princeton website:
[url=<a href=“http://www.princeton.edu/admission/applyingforadmission/standardized_testing/]Princeton”>http://www.princeton.edu/admission/applyingforadmission/standardized_testing/]Princeton</a> University | Standardized Testing<a href=“emphasis%20added”>/url</a></p>
<p>“Should” is stronger than “recommended”. It means “Do it.”</p>
<p>jerseygirl, this can be found on Wellesley’s Admissions website:</p>
<p>[Test</a> Info and Dates](<a href=“http://www.wellesley.edu/admission/admission/testinginfo.html]Test”>http://www.wellesley.edu/admission/admission/testinginfo.html)</p>
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<p>The way I read it, if you decide to go the SAT route, any two SATIIs will do (“of choice”). My D never bothered with the subject tests or the SAT; the ACT route worked for her. Good luck to you!</p>
<p>My D’s went with the number of tests of the college that required the most. If 1 college wanted 3 SAT II’s and that was the most of any, then they took 3 and reported the scores. If a college only wanted 2 they got 3 scores regardless. We figured this covered all the bases.</p>
<p>“In this context, you should ALWAYS read “recommended” to mean “required”. This is also true for any schools to which you apply which have an “optional” essay as part of their application. “Optional” also means “required”.”</p>
<p>Not necessarily true. My son blew off the “optional” Harvard essay and got in anyway</p>
<p>since they’re going to see it anyways, why not follow their directions and put it down?</p>
<p>My read of the quote in post 31 is “prefer one to be math/science” means at least 1 math/science. If you submit one math and one science or no math and two sciences, then it seems to me that you have fulfilled their recommendation. Since you’ve already taken more and it will all be on the report that you submit, I believe that they will just count your best two, which are both math/science. </p>
<p>I don’t see anything that says that they recommend a humanities. </p>
<p>Does anybody read this differently?</p>
<p>Harvard’s optional essay truly seems to be optional, I’ve known a number of students on CC reporting they didn’t submit one. Since Wellesley says “preferred” not “optional” I’d make sure I submitted at least one math or science. I agree that they don’t seem to care at all whether there is a humanities subject test.</p>
<p>We ran across a weird “requirement” on the Syracuse website. It lists requirements as “4 years of english, math, social studies and science.” Requiring four years of science is out of whack with most (if not all) colleges for non-science majors (even the Ivies). DS is missing freshman year science (due to scheduling problems). He will have lab science senior year. He wrote to admission office and got no reply. So we are just going to roll the dice and he will only have 3 years of lab science.</p>
<p>I think one way to look at this question is how good your extra qualifications are. If you think the optional essay or extra SAT II will significantly strengthen your application, then by all means do it. If you are concerned that the “recommended” or “optional” item might hurt you or look like padding, then it may be better to forget it.</p>
<p>Hello, </p>
<p>I’m newer here and stopping in to say hi.
I hope everyone has a good day. </p>
<p>Jaeric</p>